In Yanchihe Village, Yangxie Town, Shangzhou District, deep in the Qinling Mountains, there is a lighthouse-like rural female teacher Gao Xiongxia, who uses her youth and enthusiasm to light the way forward for the children in the mountains and become the guide of their dreams.
On September 4, the reporter met Kaohsiung Xia in the seventh-grade classroom of Yanchihe Nine-Year School. She is explaining the Chinese texts with emotion, using vivid language and rich expressions to lead students into the wonderful world of literature. The students were attentive and active in their thinking, and the classroom atmosphere was lively. Seeing the students' suddenly realized expressions, Kaohsiung Xia showed a relieved smile.
Kaohsiung Xia was born and raised here, and after graduating from the Chinese Department of Baoji College of Arts and Sciences in 2012, she resolutely returned to her hometown to teach. There are many left-behind children here, and due to the family environment, although they have the dream of going out of the mountains, it is difficult. Gao Xiongxia recalled that in 2020, two students who were transferred back from Xi'an had different results due to different parents' attitudes, which made her deeply aware of the seriousness of the problem of left-behind children and the importance of family education after the "double reduction". In addition to completing the teaching task, she gave the children love and care, took care of the children's life, taught the children to sing and dance, and let them feel the warmth of a mother.
"Teacher Gao is like our mother, who helps and encourages us in our study and life. In the future, I must study hard, go out of the mountains, succeed in my studies, and return to my hometown and serve my hometown like her. Zha Yanan, an eighth-grade student at Yanchihe Nine-Year School, said emotionally.
In Kaohsiung's memory, 2017 was particularly unforgettable. At that time, Kaohsiung Xia served as the ninth-grade class teacher, the child was only 4 months old, got up early and went to bed late every day, and even held the child to supervise the students' homework, and lost 40 pounds in a year, but the results were gratifying, and in 2018, she sent 13 students to the provincial key middle school. Her teaching ability has been affirmed by parents, schools and organizations, and she was awarded the title of "Shangluo City Teaching Expert" in 2019. The work she was responsible for in campus environmental sanitation, student union, and radio station was also completed impressively. As a probationary member of the Communist Party of China and a first-class teacher, Kaohsiung Xia has won many honors such as "Dedicated and Dedicated" Good Youth in Shaanxi Province and "National Model Teacher", and was selected into the Shaanxi Provincial Rural Outstanding Teacher Training Award Program.
"Ms. Gao is very dedicated, she is the last one to go back to our office. Her dedication to her students' lives and studies is obvious to all. For more than ten years, she has been a role model for us to learn. Speaking of Kaohsiung Xia, Ji Chenqian, a teacher at Yanchihe Nine-Year School, immediately gave a thumbs up.
In life, we must have the original intention to stick to and the dream of struggle, play a role in an ordinary position, and realize value. Kaohsiung Xia is not just talking, but also interpreting with actions. 12 years of hard work, no regrets and growth and tempering, full of youth. Although she also wavered to go to a high-quality school in the city, she finally chose to stick to it after seeing the smiling faces and eager eyes of her children, and after hearing the parents' instructions. She knows that she can't give up this land and the lovely children, and vows to bloom with dazzling brilliance in her ordinary post.
"Every year, I see those teenagers who are the same as themselves in the past, and they are admitted to high school and walk out of the mountains through hard work, which is the best encouragement and honor for me. I always firmly believe that teaching is a profession with feelings, and only by being a person with feelings can we do this job with feelings. Therefore, every year when teachers ask me if I want to go, I say that I need a teacher like me here, but there is no shortage of teachers like me in the city. Kaohsiung Xia said affectionately. (Text: Dong Dandan)