The morning in the mountains seems to come earlier. With the first ray of dawn in the sky and the first crow at the village entrance, children will go to school in the dim light. The undulating mountains are wrapped with white jade belts, surrounded by clouds and rising sun. This place, located at the eastern foot of Ailao Mountain, is called Shuangbai in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. At the top of Yunshan Mountain, the story of the south of colorful clouds and the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties has lasted for more than ten years.
"Do you remember Mr. Xiao Chen, who taught us politics two years ago? When we learned that we were going to take the college entrance examination, Mr. Xiao Chen came back from Nanjing to Shuangbai No. 1 Middle School to cheer us on."
The name of the teacher Xiao Chen in the mouth of the students is Chen Tengfei. Now he is a graduate student of the School of Government Management of Nanjing University. He once served as the head of the 23rd Nanjing University Graduate Volunteer League, and from 2021-2022, he served as a volunteer teacher in No. 1 Middle School of Shuangbai County.
After class, the students surrounded him. "Mr. Chen, I still remember that your first lesson was to introduce Nanjing. I was really shocked by the Jinling City in the documentary film. At that time, I decided to study hard to improve myself and visit the world outside the mountain in the future." Another student took out the book that Chen Tengfei had given him, and the title page was written with words of encouragement.
When asked how to view the identity of a volunteer teacher, Chen Tengfei said: "If you want to improve students' performance, it is equally important not only to focus on the results, but also to expand students' horizons. When they realize the gorgeous world outside the mountain, and have a vision and expectation for future life, they will naturally stimulate the internal drive for learning, self motivation, self reflection, and self improvement."
Chen Tengfei told the reporter that he taught politics in four classes and was the head teacher of one class. "Mr. Chen, after you left, I still insisted on writing discipline books, and wrote five or six books." The student who spoke was a naughty underachiever in the class at that time, and Xiao Chen was deeply impressed with him.
"I just entered the class at that time. He was flexible but had some difficulties in learning. He often violated classroom discipline and liked to show off. I gave him a small book to record his daily performance. He wrote good and bad things, and asked him to be a discipline committee member to maintain class order. He felt the importance of the teacher. Later, he not only set an example, but also managed the class well." Chen Tengfei recalled.
Under a series of incentive policies of Chen Tengfei, this "backward class" has jumped to the first place in the grade, and students are more and more eager to learn. "Teaching and educating people is like playing with flowers and plants. We should make roses become roses and pines and cypresses become pines and cypresses, help them find the most suitable development path for themselves, let them see the dawn of hope, and eventually they will also become their own light." Chen Tengfei said sincerely.
Chen Tengfei often told himself and encouraged his team members that as a college student in South China, he should not only do his job well, but also actively give play to the profound disciplinary advantages of South China University, convey the spirit of South China University, dare to compete in teaching, and dare to innovate in class affairs.
During a home visit, the students' home was deep in the mountains, and it was difficult to walk on the rugged mountain road. Chen Tengfei and his party hired a taxi. When the driver learned that they were the volunteer teachers in their children's class, he refused to take any money. Finally, Chen Tengfei quietly put the money in the back seat. Both sides have realized two-way rush in the flow of love.
As a member of the research group, like Chen Tengfei, there are more than 20 volunteers from Nantah who go to the central and western regions to support education every year. After curriculum vitae screening, personal defense, course trial, and comprehensive investigation of their academic achievements, volunteer service experience and other factors, the school selected a group of students who are excellent in both character and learning to form a graduate student support group.
Nanjing University, as one of the colleges and universities implementing the project of "postgraduate teaching support group", has sent a total of 463 members of 25 research support groups to 33 schools in 11 counties in 6 provinces, including Tibet, Ningxia and Yunnan, since 1999.
It has been 25 years since I dreamed of going west. Over the past 25 years, hundreds of students of the research group of Nantah have spread love and hope among the mountains, went to the podium, the grass-roots level, taught knowledge and learned knowledge, connected the east, middle and west of the motherland with teaching achievements and volunteerism, and built bridges to the vast world for children deep in the mountains.
In 2008, under the promotion of the research group, the Second Middle School of Longde County, Ningxia, set up a "South Class" to recruit students from rural areas who are excellent in both moral and academic qualities and poor in family. In addition, the research group also took the initiative to contact the social caring people in the eastern region to provide "one-on-one" funding for students, so as to effectively solve the learning and living problems for poor students. Up to now, dozens of students from "Nanda Class" have been admitted to well-known universities in China.
In 2022, Nanjing University will give full play to its leading edge in astronomy, and the science and technology museum themed "Hundred and Twenty Spring and Autumn · Bright Star River", which is planned and designed by the research group and mainly funded by the university, will be completed in Shuangbai County, Yunnan Province, which is the first science and technology museum in Shuangbai County. In the same year, Zhang Guimei, the national moral model and principal of Huaping Women's High School, wrote back to the research group of Nantah University, "forge ahead on a new journey and make contributions to a new era", encouraging volunteer teachers to become college students worthy of the times.
In 2023, the research group will actively link the advanced education and science and technology resources in the eastern region, invite academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to give lectures in local middle schools, recruit science and engineering students online and offline to carry out scientific education and cultivate programming thinking. The specially trained children have won 3 first prizes and 5 second prizes in the final of the World Robot Competition in the past three years There were 5 third prizes, and the light of science lit up the spark of the dream of the mountain children.
Wang Weijia, deputy secretary of the Nanjing University Committee of the Communist Youth League, said that he hoped that more and more young people from Nanjing University would join the research group family and introduce high-quality education resources from the eastern region to the mountainous areas in the central and western regions. In the future, we hope that the research group of Nantah University will live up to its mission and pass on its legacy, achieve the linkage effect of "1+1>2" through resource integration, help the development of national education with "hematopoietic" services, and join hands with children to cross mountains and seas to go to a beautiful future. (Reporter Su Yan, Correspondent Zhang Wenjing)