Continued from Part I: Rather than saying that Yihe is magical, it is better to say that "love" is magical (I)
[Breeze] the beauty of Yihe
When I first saw Yihe, it was smaller and older than in the photo, and yes, he was not beautiful enough. However, there is a natural, appreciative and acceptable beauty in the Summer Palace, and this beauty goes straight to the depths of my soul. All the doors are open here, the classrooms, the offices, the reading room, all of them are open, the rows of neat cups in front of the tea cabinet, and the coffee and tea leaves that are readily available are all open. Openness is trust and acceptance. Only trust can breed trust, and being trusted is more valuable and touching than trust itself. For two days, I put my bag and mobile phone everywhere and casually, and I felt at peace. Trust is built in security. I wondered, when a life first feels the world, it is open, and there are not so many boundaries of "yours" and "mine", so can there still be so many troubles?
Thinking of our campus, classroom doors need to be locked, cabinet doors need to be locked, and reading rooms are open on a regular basis... We are worried about repairing things, worrying about being destroyed, all the worries are that we have already imagined the ending of "being lost" and "being destroyed", and we are always unwilling to believe that children are beautiful. Because we grew up in "being disbelieved in beauty".
Outside the campus, there are roads paved by the children themselves with stones, which are somewhat rough, with unformed bamboo canopies built by the children themselves, and the tools are scattered, and there is grass and scattered stones on the outward bound training ground. It's not neat enough, it's not beautiful enough. I asked Mr. Qingjiang if he would clean up the weeds and stones here and pave the road in the future. Teacher Qingjiang looked at me in surprise: "Why? No!" At that moment, I understood.
What is education? Education is to restore to children what belongs to the world and to nature. None of us can appreciate the happiness brought to children by a pile of stones, a piece of wild grass, a sand pit, a puddle of water, and a mud field. In Yihe, children find happiness in "clutter" and experience neatness in "clutter". And who can say that clutter is not a different kind of beauty?
What is education? Education is leaving the children's clumsy debut work to the children. When Feng Kai happily pulled me to see the gravel road he paved, he let me see not the road, but joy, pride, and success, and he was so eager to share it with me! What is in my eyes, it is the road, it is this thing. I'm glad I didn't say anything about the road, and I didn't say so sincerely, "You guys are amazing, you guys are so nice!" but when I typed these words at the moment, I was moved by the children's real efforts and selfless sharing. When the children see their work being preserved and fully accepted, what do they get - I can! I may be able to do better! Because of permission and acceptance, there is children's reflection, self-confidence and growth!
I remember how many times I tried my best to organize student activities. In the name of "helping children" to modify, supplement, and improve, I added my own ideas to the child little by little, and the child felt that "because I did not do well, it will be modified", and the child's beautiful and confident heart is our narrow "kindness" a little bit, little by little, worn away. It was only then that I understood the child's frustration and why it didn't matter when the child achieved results, because I told the child with my actions: You can't do it, because you can because of your mother. So slowly, the child begins to rely on it, his self-confidence is gone, his creativity is gone, and his passion for the rich and colorful experience of life is gone.
What is education? Education does not have to be something to do, it does not have to be good, education is what it is. It is to see, to watch, to care.
[Breeze] Yihe's love
Because of love, there is the truth and beauty of Yihe. Yihe's love is alive and flowing. Every child here will be seen by the teachers, with warm hugs, gentle nose scraping, pinching faces, loud reprimands, and running punishments, all of which are all different forms of love. It's strange that whatever the teachers give the children, the children are receptive. Only love can be so.
I have witnessed the truth of the teachers, the busyness of the teachers, and the leisure of the teachers. The sun is setting, the stars are dotted, the children are running and sweating in the playground, the teachers are busy and busy, and they can also exercise, and several children will help Teacher Yunlu and Teacher Song press their legs, sit on them, ride on their backs, and the happy laughter spreads far and wide. I watched and was moved. How many children may not have had such close contact with their parents, but between the teachers and the children in Yihe, they are father and son, mother and daughter. Lying on the playground with them and watching the stars, the night breeze blowing on my cheeks, my heart was full and silent, I was nourished by this transcendent love, seeing the hometown that gave birth to me and raised me, and seeing my childhood self.
I was a little nervous when I thought about coming to Yihe, because I was afraid of being rejected and ignored, but all the crampedness was nourished by love. Teacher Qingjiang took me to see the campus, Teacher Manjun warmly welcomed me, Teacher Wu Ji made fun of me, Teacher Yunlu helped me contact accommodation, Teacher Lin Ying and Wang Xiang sent me back to the hotel in the middle of the night, Teacher Wenyue asked me about Chinese teaching; Teacher Hong Tao sang "There is a girl named Xiaofang in the village"; When I really expressed my feelings to Teacher Song that he had ignored, Teacher Song accompanied me to look inside and feel myself, Teacher Fang Fang warmly invited me to do yoga with them, Teacher Guangming thanked me for the wildflowers I picked for her and hugged me, Teacher Zhang Feng, Teacher Xu Hong, and Teacher Mengting invited me to eat with them, and the chefs who cooked warmly asked me if the food was delicious. I seemed to be God's favorite for two days, I got so much love, I used to feel that I was not loved, and I would only be loved if I did something, but in Yihe, so many people loved me, I really felt that I was loved, and when I felt that I was loved, I believed that I was beautiful.
I was fortunate to see the children's homework - self-reflection, empathy for others, and self-positioning, which was very profound. My students' homework only has exercises, only other people's ideas, and too much deliberateness. They buried their thoughts about themselves and their lives. Listening to the children's reading in the morning, the sound of the book is loud in my ears and into my heart, so that the children can read aloud and read their own voices, which also belongs to Yihe. At night, the children played together, Feng Kai did magic tricks for everyone, and the children shouted loudly, "Okay! Come again, we have to see!" and some children went over to hug Feng Kai, and some people said: "Feng Kai, I'll cooperate with you!" Everyone cheered when they succeeded. At that moment, I was moved to tears by the beauty of the children, the children's selfless tolerance, sincere sharing of the success of others, what a beautiful love!
I think of my class, in the face of other people's failures, the children have indifference, ridicule, and countless times of guidance, but the dry truth is not nourished by love, how can it come from the heart? In Yihe, I see the happiness of "sharing" because of "sharing". It is a group of loving teachers who quietly wait, care for and nourish the children's original beauty, so that these beauty can be seen again day by day.
The children would smile sweetly when they saw me, patiently answer my questions, chat with me, take me to the shooting range, and many children gave me big hugs. Wen Tao chatted with me for more than an hour and answered many of my confusions about educating students and educating my son. The children hit my heart again and again with sincere and beautiful love.
There are too many loves, not so much that the Yihe is magical, but that love is magical. It is love that makes Yihe synonymous with beauty, a sacred place for our hearts, and the power of love that no one can refuse. When I finished writing these words, I understood the tears at parting - I was reluctant to love, my heart has been inseparable from Yihe, Yihe will also become the course of my educational career, I will definitely encounter many problems on the way forward, but I am not afraid, there is Yihe's love, Yihe's spirit, I also believe that Yihe is mine, and I also belong to Yihe. At this moment, I am very, very grateful for my profession, for my students, for my son, for making me look up and in awe!
Love is the only true meaning of education!
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