In March, the flowers bloom
In March last year, I was in Qingdao, one of many office workers, shuttling through the city's reinforced concrete every day, nine to five, two o'clock and one line. On weekends, I occasionally take my parents for a walk by the beach, blowing the sea breeze, picking up shells, and watching seagulls skillfully take food from tourists.
In March of this year, I was in a primary school deep in the Mountains. Volunteer teaching is something that I have been thinking about for many years, a thing that I feel must do but do not know when to do the right thing. When I finally made up my mind to walk on the way into the mountain and stand on the campus of Ba Qian Elementary School, I found that no matter what you wanted to do, the moment you decided to leave, it was the best time.
The first time I stood on the podium, my heart was a little complicated. In the face of those children who are eager to learn, there is a small throbbing of dream realization, and there is worry about their own teaching level, afraid of not teaching them well. The atmosphere in the classroom was far more active than I had imagined. Before I met my classmates, I thought a lot, I was thinking about their Mandarin level, can they understand my speech? What if the students are very timid and do not actively answer the questions.......
When it came time to actually go to class, they found that these expectations were superfluous, and they were as smart, cute, and naïve as the children in the city. They answer the teacher's questions out loud, they frown a little when they think, and they have little stars twinkling in their eyes when they think of the answers to the questions.
They are also curious about many questions, and they are also trying to explore the world. What they lack is not ingenuity, what they lack is the way to understand the world. This made me feel even more responsible as volunteer teachers, we not only have to teach them the knowledge in the textbook, but also let them know what the world is like outside the mountain.
Volunteer teaching, from this moment, has only just begun.....
On my first weekend at school, I went to climb the mountain with the teachers, and the sky was very high and blue, and the clouds were very white. The March wind, through the woods, blows on the face, soft and warm.
The way down the hill back to school is uneven and winding, but every teacher walks very strongly. Along the way, I saw many flowers blooming, and suddenly felt that this year's March, better than ever, was better!
2022 Spring Volunteer Zhang Yuanhua
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