It has been more than four months since I unknowingly communicated with Yuancun Village. I want to write something, but I don't know where to start. I can only sigh that time is flowing.

When I remembered standing on the platform on the first day, I asked the children to make a brief self introduction. One child came on the stage and said, "My name is xxx, my family lives in xxx, and I am 13 years old this year. My favorite is playing basketball, because playing basketball can make me forget the trouble of doing homework..."

"I also like physical education, because I can play basketball in physical education..."

Like all junior high school students, children are playful and like novel things.

Because I am a student majoring in teacher training and have participated in volunteer teaching before, I always think I can easily carry out my work. However, I overlooked that during the internship, because they didn't spend much time with the children, they would "show mercy" to the new teacher. This time, I got along with them day and night, and after a long time, my "nature" was exposed.

Yao Yanqun instructed the small announcer in the school radio station to read aloud. Courtesy of Yao Yanqun

How helpless? Every morning reading class, I need to spend 15 minutes to write all the pinyin on the blackboard. Because they can't spell by themselves just by listening to me. Even after I write, more than half of the students will make mistakes in spelling. In each class, I tried my best to make most children understand the lesson, and they were only interested in things that had nothing to do with the classroom.

Teacher Yao: "Did you understand this lesson?"

The whole class: "No!"

Teacher Yao: "Where didn't you understand?"

The whole class: "I don't understand anywhere!"

Teacher Yao: "Do you know what the text says?"

The whole class: "Got it!"

Teacher Yao: "Do you understand what each sentence means?"

The whole class: "I understand!"

Teacher Yao: "Show the author's feelings, do you know?"

The whole class: "Got it!"

Teacher Yao: "What else did you not understand?"

The whole class: "I understand!"

Teacher Yao: "(- ▽ -;)..."

But on second thought, is it possible that such a long life of volunteer education can only be helpless and angry? No, more, in fact, is moved and happy.

Teacher's Day students wrote to Yao Yanqun holiday wishes. Courtesy of Yao Yanqun

How touched? Maybe they have to go to the office to recite the text at recess every day; Maybe I can see that their homework is more and more serious each time; I'm probably in their weekly notes every week; Maybe they began to really recognize me as a teacher, and I began to really treat them as my children.

The boy sitting in the last row is not familiar with words. For him, there are probably dozens of words in a text that are new faces. I asked him to choose a learned text to read here every week. He should mark the words he cannot read with Pinyin and learn them bit by bit. Score is not the most important, as long as you can understand the words, it will be great. Later, he began to recite the text on his own initiative. Although he was stuttering, he refused to let me remind him to recite it by himself. After listening carefully, every word in his mouth was shining.

And the child who had to answer the questions in class every day, with his imagination that day, I don't know how many times he disturbed the classroom discipline. Every time I talk about something in class, I go south and he goes north. The students in the class like to listen to his stand up comedy. After all, this is one of the few happiness they have in class. Later, I talked to him several times. After he had paid attention, he began to listen carefully. Although there was a slight lack of language organization when answering questions, they were basically "in tune". In class, he would take the initiative to say to me, "Teacher, I will stand to listen to the class, otherwise I will sleep easily. I can learn some knowledge while standing..." Look! In such a sentence, we can recognize his progress. Later, his homework became more and more serious, and he thought more about answering questions in class than others. He studied hard in class, and his eyes twinkled with stars.

How happy is it? Maybe the children began to really accept me.

Yao Yanqun took a group photo with the students. Courtesy of Yao Yanqun

I ask them to write a weekly diary every week. Some children will chat with me in the form of dialogue, "Teacher, is it wrong for me to do this? Can you tell me what to do?" Some children will tell their confused feelings about teenagers; Some children will write all the words they haven't said in their weekly diary, "I prefer to write them down, because it seems that I'm embarrassed to say them." I'm like a treasure digger, and I can find new treasures from children every week.

What children can give me is not only the words of "good teacher", but also the collision between one heart and another, and the communication between one soul and another.

I planted a flower this summer and waited until next spring to see if it would sprout. If some seeds haven't broken the ground, don't lose heart. Not all flowers bloom in spring. Those flowers that bloom in every four seasons are called growth.

(About the author: Yao Yanqun, member of the 23rd Postgraduate Teaching Support Group of Guizhou Normal University, serves Yuancun Junior High School in Jinsha County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province.)