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Pupils deliver proposal to their teacher

When it comes to grand romantic gestures, schoolteacher Mike Hansen is in a class of his own.

He devised a very special way of proposing to his teacher girlfriend, Holly Bradburn, by using her class of five-year-olds and some alphabet cards.

Hansen, 27, arranged a surprise performance by Bradburn's 26 Primary One students, who danced to the song Marry You by Bruno Mars and then one by one held up cards of hearts and letters that spelled out: 'Will you marry me?'

The whole romantic scene was recorded by a colleague who uploaded the proposal on to YouTube. By last night the video had been viewed more than 600 times.

At one point, when only the two words 'Will you' are visible, Bradburn wipes away tears as it begins to dawn on her what is going on.

The clip ends with Hansen getting down on one knee and presenting a ring to Bradburn as her class cheers.

The romantic proposal took place on Tuesday during a physical-education lesson at Renaissance College, in Ma On Shan, where the couple, who are both New Zealanders, have taught since 2008.

Hansen, who had been planning the proposal for about a month, said he had taken his inspiration from the film Meet the Parents, where the character played by Ben Stiller plans a similar proposal with schoolchildren taught by his girlfriend.

'The Bruno Mars song was one of Holly's favourites, and I wondered how I could incorporate it while using her class of five-year-olds,' he said. 'In the end, I made it like an end-of-year performance the children had arranged for Holly, and that was how I coaxed her down to the gym with the help of the PE teacher.'

The couple met about eight years ago at teacher-training college in New Zealand and have been inseparable ever since, even getting teaching posts at the same schools.

Bradburn, also 27, said that although Hansen was quite a romantic, the proposal had been completely unexpected.

'It was such a shock. If I'd known it was coming, I would have dressed nicer and done my hair. But he did a wonderful job, and I love the ring. There was no question I would ever have said no,' she said.

'I was in such a grumpy mood on the day. I'd been off sick and was frantically trying to pack up the class when a teacher came to tell me the kids had prepared a dance for me.

'I sat there on the seat watching them thinking: 'Have they dragged me down here to watch this?' and then the music changed and Mike appeared.

'It was when one of the first groups of kids came out with the words 'Will you' that I looked at him and said: 'Are you serious? Is this happening now?'

'Mike was very deadpan. Then the next group of kids came out with '... marry me?' and I got really quite emotional. It was very exciting.'

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