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Confucius Institute
VOLUME 13 | NO.2 MAR. 2011
TEACHERS’VOICES
attracted 27 students, which is a large
number in our school district. The
school principal had wanted to divide
the students into more classes but later
dropped the idea because of schedul-
ing difficulties.
I was very happy with the increased
number because more students choos-
ing Chinese indicated approval of my
teaching. But the happiness didn’t
last long. The new Class 1 was so big
that it was hard to keep it under con-
trol. There were a few girls who never
stopped ta lking in class. However
hard I tried to give them a hint, they
just didn’t take it. Some boys got an
F in English tests, let alone Chinese.
For a time, I repeatedly tried to teach
them the same single Chinese word,
but they couldn’t remember, just look-
ing at me blankly. Another boy, whose
unrul iness was wel l known in the
school, always had a dolphin toy in his
hands. Once he even climbed atop a
desk in class.
In the f irst month of the new se-
mester, I organized a Chinese Club
meeting, where the students of Chi-
nese Class 2 and Chinese Class 1 met
each other for the first time. After the
meeting, several girls from Class 2
told me that they now saw why I had
been working under so much pressure.
At that time, that Class 1 really made
me headache.
When did the situation begin to
improve? I myself don’t quite know.
Perhaps it began after I sent the stu-
dents encouraging cards; or perhaps
after I drew congratulation pictures
for some of them who won prizes in
contests; or perhaps because I took
the girls out to buy materials for the
Chinese club; or perhaps because I al-
ways said hello to the students in the
shops where they worked part-time;
or because I went to watch the stu-
dent tennis matches. But now it seems
as if it had happened overnight. The
students in Class 1 suddenly became
considerate.
Some student s a sked me to in-
troduce Chinese-learning websites
so that they could learn new words
after school; other students wanted to
make up missed classes; some others
unexpectedly spoke some sentences I
had not taught them and then proud-
ly told me how much time they had
spent learning the new words. They
wrote on the homework they handed
in, “I love you, Miss Chen!” When I
陈澜（前排右一）与学生们合影。
Chen Lan (first right in the front)
and her students.
talked about the moon in class, they
said, “You are the moon.” When it
came to the sun, they said, “You are
the sun.” Once the unruly boy, who
had to miss a class for a blood dona-
tion, came to me when I was teaching
Class 2. He said he couldn’t attend
the Chinese class that day and asked
me to give him the homework assign-
ment. All the students in Class 2 were
surprised. When the boy left, they
asked if he were the unruly boy they
knew because they had never known
him to be serious about any class.
During a meeting with parents, a
parent said their child had never writ-
ten a birthday card to a teacher before
and that I was the first one. “She re-
ally loves your class. Thank you!” the
parent said. At the end of the semester,
I had received a pile of thank-you
cards from my students, who came
from primary school, middle school
and high school. The approval from
the students and their parents is far
more valuable than material rewards,
and, of course, it is far more meaning-
ful encouragement for me. These ador-
able students of mine always fill my
heart with warmth and I can’t help
smiling whenever I think of them.