安上村给了我工作的激情
An Shang Built My Passion
By Matt Roberts
编者按：美国教师Matt Roberts是美国环球志愿者第119队的队员，2005年8月13日至9月3日在安上村参加了培训中国英语教师的义务服务活动。这是他回国后的一个演讲稿。
Nimen Hao! That means hello to all of you in Chinese. This is one of the many things I learned this summer during my fellowship in China. Ni Hao is hello to you, just one person. Nimen hao is hello to all of you. So, Nimen Hao.
My name is Matt Roberts and I am a teacher of Global History and Geography at South Brooklyn Community High School in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.
I am a teacher. Wo Shi Lao Shi means I am a teacher in Chinese. Teachers are greatly respected in China so I took great pride in introducing myself and saying Wo Shi Lao Shi. Pronouncing and tones are so important when speaking Chinese. Said incorrectly, which I did more than once, Wo Shi Lao Shu means I am a mouse. I got used to quizzical looks and snickers as my new friends took a good look at the tallest mouse they’d ever seen.
SBCHS is a “transfer school” for students who have been truant from other high schools. Every student has been either excessively truant or had dropped out altogether. Our mission, like the mission of all the teachers here, is to bring them back, reengage them in school and help them graduate. Our student body is mainly African American and Hispanic. 90% qualify for free or reduced lunch and each one arrives with his or her own set of skills, strengths, and attitudes about school. But as the other teachers here today know, each comes with a unique background of knowledge to share and with great curiosity about the world. It is the job of us teachers to engage that curiosity every day. Underline every day. When we engage them there is no limit to how much our students can learn. But when we fail to engage the barriers go up and learning is limited.
The challenge of engagement comes mainly from the teacher’s ability to bring the lessons to life. This comes not just from subject knowledge, but from passion about a subject. This is what makes the Fund For Teachers so essential and how it directly helps our students to achieve, for it instills in teachers new passion about teaching.
At this time last year I was waiting to hear whether my FFT application had been approved. At the time I was teaching a trimester course called “Global China.” I had proposed a trip to China where I would spend a week touring the historical sites of Beijing and then a month teaching English in An Shang Village in ShaanxiProvince. Beijing would build my knowledge; An Shang would build my passion. One of the motivations for making the application was that I’d noticed that my students had many stereotypes about Asian people. You’ve probably all heard them. They all look the same. They eat cats. These stereotypes have their root not in malice, but a lack of knowledge. For many westerners China has historically been a mysterious place. My students did not think up those stereotypes on their own. I hoped that traveling in China would help me to grow in a way to dispel the stereotypes. I’d hoped that what Mark Twain said would apply to my teaching:He said: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.”
And so last Summer I traveled to China. I spent one week in Beijing. I stood in Tiananmen Square. Passed Mao’s preserved body. Walked through Forbidden City. Climbed the Great Wall. Toured the SummerPalace. Each of these experiences has directly contributed to my lessons this term.
Teaching in An Shang Village was a time of growth for me. I taught at a school which had been built by generous contributors and volunteers from the United States. Chinese English teachers traveled from all parts of central China to improve their conversational English and learn new teaching methods. Some had never met a native English speaker before. I was inspired by each of them. Each had left his/her homes and family to spend most of the summer participating in a program that they hoped would make them stronger teachers. I had that same goal for myself so we had something in common from the start. During class we discussed teaching and found that the challenges of teaching high school students are very similar in China and North America. We sang songs, and for each English song I taught them they taught me a few more Chinese words and a little more about Chinese culture. We engaged in discussions about topics directly related to the curriculum that I teach here in New York - the One-Child Policy, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the three Gorges Dam, the status of Taiwan. I was surprised at their willingness to share their opinions, listen to mine, and debate among themselves. After only a few short days of classes the small village developed a campus atmosphere. In the evenings I was fortunate to take long walks with groups of teachers. I learned to count and the names for water, corn, and tree. We sang Karaoke together, played cards, and spent long evening sharing stories about home.
One evening we held a speech contest. Each teacher prepared and delivered a 5 minute speech on a topic of importance to them. One brave young woman spoke about her family and the birth of her daughter. She said that her in-laws were disappointed that the baby was not a boy and they demanded that she send the girl to the countryside to live with relatives. She refused and decided that her daughter’s love was more powerful than her in-law’s animosity. This term I related her story to my students in Brooklyn as we studied the impact of the one-child policy.
When it came time to return home I left behind new friends, but came home with new passion.This passion I’ve been able to apply in my classroom this term. I begin each class the way I began these remarks- Nimen Hao class! From the first moment of the first day of class students got the message that this class would not be boring, for this teacher was excited and passionate about teaching it. And that is because of the Fund For Teachers.
The positive impact of the Fund For Teachers is clear. In January my “Global China” students took the Regents Exam in Global History and Geography. The passing rate was the highest we’ve ever had. Their essays were full of images they’d learned about in class and this learning had been made more vivid and memorable because of my fellowship. The Great Wall, the Opium Wars, the Last Emperor, the Communist Revolution. I believe these topics became a part of my students’ knowledge because they were part of my passion.
Beyond test results I see real evidence that the stereotypes of this group of students are beginning to crumble. Student’s eyes and minds are opening wider and as they learn more the old stereotypes are becoming less relevant.
When I look through the list of fellowships that occurred last summer I can only imagine the ripples of impact FFT is having in our schools and our society.
I want to close by sharing with you something about the school in the An Shang village. The school grounds were surrounded by a wall and on the wall written in Chinese characters and English letters was this statement:
“It is education, and education alone, that is the only way for the farmers to break down the circle of poverty”
For farmers in China and young students in Brooklyn the truth in that statement cannot be debated. And so on behalf of the all the 2005 Fellows I want to thank the Fund For Teachers and its generous supporters for allowing us to work towards breaking the circle of poverty. |
