"At that time, I was about to graduate from my senior year, and I met Senior Brother Junwei at a recruitment seminar. As the keynote speaker, he shared his educational experience from a rural family and the reasons why he chose to enter the education industry - he hopes to establish a school in his hometown in the future, and hopes to build a banner for county education through rural revitalization. ”
Two years ago, Zheng Lijiao was about to graduate from the Department of Chinese at Peking University, and at the critical juncture of choosing her first job, she listened to a lecture from Dr. Chen Junwei, President of Hailiang Education Technology Service Group and also the brother of Master Bei. Dr. Jun Wei's description of the educational ideal of "wanting to build a school in my hometown and revitalize rural education" made her heart pound.
Two years later, Zheng Lijiao has a new identity - a Chinese teacher at Hailiang Senior High School and a peer tutor of Hailiang Education in Qingbei. Talking about the reason for choosing Hailiang, she clearly recalls the excitement at that time: "[After listening to the lecture], I was very touched, as if I had found a balance between changing my life and building my self-worth. ”
Zheng Lijiao's "balance" is about the balance between reality and ideals.
PART.01
Ideals and aspirations coincide
The generous and confident girl in front of her, a few years ago, was the first person to be admitted to Qingbei in the nearly 80 years since the establishment of a school in a national-level poverty-stricken county in Yunnan Province.
She talked about her school and hometown, "Our classrooms at that time were not as developed as they are now, the hardware facilities were poor, and the teachers were not very good at using multimedia, PPT ......" "Now there are always some people joking and saying, 'Your math is taught by the PE teacher', which is really not a joke in our school, because my math is taught by the PE teacher." I study in a primary school in the countryside, and there is a shortage of teachers, and there is only one teacher, who is responsible for all our classes...... "There are many friends my age, who have dropped out of school when I was in junior high school, and have gone out to work or are idle at home. ”
Since then, Zheng Lijiao has been sure of one thing - "I was very clear at that time, I must study hard, and I must change my destiny through reading!" She paused, "I think that what can really change society in this world is 'education'." ”
Since then, Zheng Lijiao has set her goal of pursuing a career in the education industry, and Dr. Chen Junwei's words and Hailiang Education's ideal of revitalizing rural education almost coincide with her wishes.
PART.02
The original intention coincides with practice
After joining Hailiang, Zheng Lijiao was pleasantly surprised to find that there is really such a group of people here, who are practicing her original intention and doing what she wants to do most in her heart.
"At first, I didn't know there was a peer program, and if I had, I would have joined!" she said. By chance, she met Wan Zhenrui, the head of the Qingbei Peer Mentor Group, who introduced to her what they were doing and invited her to join. After learning that the peer mentor group was about to go to the county to carry out inspirational lectures and learning guidance for the children there, she decisively agreed to go with her.
In December 2023, the peer mentor group went to Yunnan to carry out a lecture tour, which was the first time that Zheng Lijiao participated in this 12-day lecture tour as a "peer mentor". "I came out of Yunnan myself, and when I came back to Yunnan, I really had a lot to say. ”
In every speech in Yunnan, Zheng Lijiao unreservedly told her educational experience and learning experience to the younger students in the audience. Even if there are several events that are not scheduled for her to speak, she will come forward to communicate with the children. In the face of these younger students who have similar experiences to her, she always can't suppress the desire in her heart, "Every time, I talked very happily, I didn't feel like I was working at all, and I was really happy." It would be great if my lecture could make a difference. ”
In Zheng Lijiao's view, peer mentors focus on "friends" and "guides". When communicating with classmates as peers who are a few years older than as teachers, they can be closer and more equal, and the role of "guide", whether it is a guide to the study of the law or the direction of life, may "guide" these county children to a new future.
In addition to unreserved output, Zheng Lijiao also said frankly, "Sometimes, I really envy the current younger brothers and sisters." She remembered that she had never learned English at all in elementary school, and she couldn't even read the 26 letters, so she was very helpless when she entered junior high school. Facing her classmates who were already familiar with textbooks, she had been in difficulty throughout the first half of the semester and was very confused for a while. "This kind of directional, spiritual guidance is very, very rare. "Even when it came to the high school Chinese science sub-subject, Zheng Lijiao has always lacked people around her who can give professional guidance and advice. "It would be nice if there were seniors who could talk to me about arts and sciences and my future career. ”
Because I've been drenched in the rain, I want to hold up an umbrella for others. During the lecture tour, Zheng Lijiao spent a lot of time having one-on-one contact with the children. In the in-depth contact, she "saw" herself as a child in these children - she was not confident and even a little inferior, she did not dare to look at the teacher, and she did not dare to look at the wider world outside.
She has always wanted to "tear apart" the closed "little cover" of the children in the county step by step through her own guidance, so that they can raise their heads and look at the outside world. "I hope that through our preaching, we can inspire them to take the initiative and not be forced to make a choice, whether it is to stay in their hometown or to be brave enough to go out. Zheng Lijiao said.
PART.03
Let more students see a different side of the world
In addition to being a peer tutor, Zheng Lijiao is also a Chinese teacher at Hailiang Senior High School, so she spends more time with students who have better learning resources than children in poor counties. "What else can I teach them besides exams and studying?" she often thinks when she first enters the field of education. After a short period of hesitation and reflection, she believes that although her power is limited, she hopes to use her stories and experiences to show students a different side of the world.
On the day of the interview, Zheng Lijiao had just finished class, and the content of the text was Ai Qing's poem "Dayan River - My Nanny". In the poem, Ai Qing portrays the image of a low-level peasant woman with a tragic fate and a hard life, but she is hardworking, kind, loving and amiable. Zheng Lijiao deeply understands that such an image may be far away from the lives of her classmates, so she shared with her classmates an incident she saw on the Internet: a person's family is very poor and he is still sick, but he is very strong and optimistic, and feels that he wants to live well and provide for his children to go to school. The comments at the bottom are not very friendly, saying that the cause of poverty is not enough effort.
In class, she explores this issue with her students. She told them that sometimes this poverty was not due to his lack of effort, and that his miserable fate was not of his own making. The students also began to realize that in the vast land of the mainland, there are still many people like "Dayan River", and they should see another side of the world.
In her daily teaching, there are many more such daily discussions. "I hope that through this guidance, the seeds of seeing the world will be planted in the hearts of students. 'Use one cloud to push another cloud' may be what I understand education to mean. ”
"It's impossible to say that the outside world has no influence on me at all, but my original intention will not change. I hope that I can make some changes through Hailiang and through peer companionship, and at least a few more people like me who can change their fate through education. The 25-year-old said.
During the interview, Ms. Zheng Lijiao's sincere and simple words were very moving. She said that her ability is limited and she can't do anything big at present, but her original intention remains the same, and she wants to go to the county as a peer mentor and make a small contribution to rural revitalization.
Such a wish is the common wish of more than 160 seniors of the Qingbei Peer Mentor Group. Among them, some people laughingly call themselves "small-town problem-solvers", who came from the countryside but returned to the countryside, and some put all their enthusiasm into teaching but did not forget rural education. Their stories, we hope to tell them one by one through the column of "Qingbei Peer Portraits", please continue to pay attention to the WeChat public account of "Hailiang Technology Group" and pay attention to the stories of Qingbei peer mentors~