作者：Sam Keir
翻譯：潘澤彬
校對：Luz、Zuzana、Joanne
I am a bit of a self-confessed teaching geek. Both my parents, a sister, uncle and in-laws work in various education roles in the UK. My teenage-self swore I would never be a teacher because of this! By accident or design, I find myself a High School English teacher at Chiway-Repton School in Xiamen.?
我自認為是一名教書匠。父母、姐姐、叔叔和公婆都在英國從事教育工作。十幾歲的我曾發(fā)誓，永遠不要當老師。不知是否是天意使然，我還是成為了一名老師，在廈門華銳萊普頓學校教高中英語。
After teaching in Thailand for two years, my journey in China began in 2015. In a small city (1,000,000 people) outside of Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province. I was blown away by the sights and smells of the Walking Streets where grills, bowls and tables heaved under the weight of delicious snacks.?I was also deafened by the loudness of the local Wenzhou dialect being thrown around the streets. Apparently, it is so complex that it has been used as a military code in the past.
2015 年我的中國之旅正式起航，在這之前我在泰國當了兩年老師。我來到浙江溫州以外的一個小城市（100萬人口）。步行街散發(fā)著煙火氣息，令我震撼，烤架、碗碟和餐桌在美食的重壓下顯得格外沉重。街上人們響亮的溫州話震耳欲聾。溫州話確實非常復雜，過去曾用作軍事密碼。
I made some great friends there and attended my first Chinese wedding with over 400 people. As I settled in to life in China, the value that Chinese parents put on education really began to shine through. This can come across as a little extreme in some cases, but on the whole, the education of children is central to the success of the family and the society as a whole, and I really respect that.
我在那里結(jié)識了一些好朋友，第一次見識了 400 多人參加的中式婚禮。在中國安定下來后，我開始注意到中國父母對孩子的教育非常重視，雖然有時會顯得有些極端，但總體而言，孩子的教育對家庭乃至整個社會至關(guān)重要。我真的很尊重中國父母的想法。
In the summer of 2019, after moving to bright and clean Xiamen, I was looking for a volunteer project to keep me busy for a couple of weeks in the summer. After connecting with Stepping Stones, an NGO in Shanghai, I was placed with a summer camp for ‘left-behind’ children in the Yong Kang area of Zhejiang. This really made me experience a different side of China. I had explored a number of bigger cities at this point and was taken aback by the relaxed and chilled rural life there. We taught in the morning and later had time to explore the fields, mountains and even rode in a hot air balloon!
2019 年夏天，我搬到了明凈的廈門，然后一直在尋找志愿項目，讓我在接下來幾周保持忙碌的狀態(tài)。我與上海的一個非政府組織“鋪路石”(Stepping Stones) 取得聯(lián)系，他們安排我去浙江永康地區(qū)的“留守兒童”夏令營工作。這確實讓我體驗到不一樣的中國。我已經(jīng)游覽過中國的一些大城市，仍對那里寧靜閑適的鄉(xiāng)村生活感到吃驚。我們上午授課，一得空就去山野間探險，坐熱氣球！
Alongside another volunteer from Shenzhen, we learned about the difficult childhoods these kids have had. Growing up in villages where a large proportion of the adults have migrated to cities in search of work. Some of the kids wouldn’t see their parents for two years at a time. The local volunteers there were left-behind children themselves and they were acting as stand-in parents for many children. It was heart-warming to see the extended family and support network they were creating around the children. Inspired by these stories, I decided to write my MSc dissertation on the topic of left-behind children and the community groups supporting them. To learn more myself, and I believed it would benefit my High School students in Xiamen to learn about how other children grow up in China.
我與一位來自深圳的志愿者一起工作，我們了解到這些孩子的童年十分艱難。他們在村子里長大，但村子里大部分成年人都已到城市里謀生。有些孩子已有兩年沒見過父母了。當?shù)氐闹驹刚咴?jīng)也是留守兒童，他們充當?shù)木褪歉改傅慕巧?。志愿者與孩子們組成一個大家庭，互愛互助，真是令人感動。受到這些故事的啟發(fā)，我決定以留守兒童和支持他們的社會團體為主題撰寫碩士論。我想深入了解他們的故事，然后講給我在廈門的學生聽，讓他們了解留守兒童的成長歷程，我相信他們定會受益匪淺。
Wanting to continue after graduation, I connected with Zuzana and we organised volunteer teaching at Guanren Library & the Bird Nest Kindergarten?for migrant children. The highlight of this for me was watching my own students excel as responsible classroom teachers. Shy students came out of their shells to teach, prepare lessons and look after children, who took great delight in having some strangers come to their classroom and teach them English. At the mention of education, I had the full support of school administrators, parents and a core team of students who wanted to give their time and energy.?
我畢業(yè)后想繼續(xù)做志愿工作，于是我與 Zuzana 聯(lián)系，組織學生在官任圖書館和鳥巢幼兒園給外來務工子女上課。這是我的高光時刻，因為我看到自己的學生成為了負責任的老師，表現(xiàn)非常出色。向來靦腆的學生從舒適區(qū)中走出來，教書、備課、照顧孩子，孩子們見到陌生人進入教室，教他們英語，也感到非常高興。這次志愿教育活動，得到了學校管理層、家長和愿意付出時間和精力的學生核心團隊的全力支持。
I have continued and completed a further summer camp for migrant children in Tong’an and during the pandemic teaching continued online and will probably change the way education can be delivered in some positive ways. My current school hopes to continue to work with local education groups in Xiamen and beyond. In my day job, I am lucky to work with some of the most privileged families and students who have dreams of top universities and studying abroad.?I hope for those students who do choose to volunteer that they see how lucky they are and not everyone gets the opportunities they have had.?
我還在同安為外來務工子女舉辦了一個夏令營，疫情期間，教學活動繼續(xù)在網(wǎng)上進行，教育方式可能會迎來積極的轉(zhuǎn)變。我目前工作的學校希望能繼續(xù)與廈門當?shù)氐纳踔翉B門以外的教育團體合作。我很幸運能與最優(yōu)秀的家庭和學生一起工作，他們夢想著上頂級大學、出國留學。我希望那些選擇做志愿者的學生能知道他們是多么幸運，并不是每個人都擁有與他們一樣的機會。
Ten years of teaching later, I continue to be amazed by the passion and dedication of teachers here. One aspect that has stood out for me is the individuals who have devoted their entire lives to helping others through education. From the volunteers in Yong Kang, to Mr Ding who runs the migrant library network in Xiamen, and Sun Laoshi who converted half her house into a library and school in Tong’an. Educating children, and often books are central to their plans for getting the best opportunities for the students around them. I have only met a very small number, but I am sure there are many more all over China.?
十年的教書生涯過去了，我仍為中國教師的熱忱和奉獻精神感到驚訝，他們將自己的一生都奉獻給教書育人事業(yè)，令我印象深刻：永康的志愿者、在廈門經(jīng)營移動圖書館的丁先生，以及同安將自己一半的房子改造成圖書館和學校的孫老師。書籍往往是教育事業(yè)的核心，能為學生們帶來最優(yōu)質(zhì)的機會。如此奉獻的人，我只見過極少數(shù)，但我相信在中國各地還有許許多多這樣的人。
Xiamen is a special place with lots of talented locals and expats working in volunteer and educational roles. In many ways it reminds me of my university city, Bristol in England. Currently I am working alongside a group of 25 writers who are passionate about writing short stories for a Young Adult audience. We hope to inspire more High School students to read in English by creating stories they will find engaging. We hope to also turn this project into a fundraising endeavour in the future and publish a free e-book to share with teachers. This writing project has proved more popular than initially expected and we are hoping to begin a face-to-face Creative Writing Workshop very soon. We aim to meet twice a month, and writers can share anything they have written; receive feedback and critique of their work. The written word is powerful and has so far brought together writers from China and various countries around the world through stories.?
廈門是一個獨特的城市，這里有很多才華橫溢的當?shù)厝撕屯鈬?，從事志愿和教育工作。廈門讓我想起了我的大學城，英國布里斯托爾。目前，我正與一個由 25 名作家組成的團隊一起工作，他們熱衷于為青少年讀者寫短篇小說。我們希望通過創(chuàng)作有吸引力的小說來激發(fā)更多高中生閱讀英文。我們希望將來這個項目能募集資金，出版一本免費的電子書，與老師們分享。這個項目比預期更受歡迎，我們希望召開面對面的創(chuàng)意寫作工作坊。我們的目標是每月碰兩次面，作家們可以分享他們寫的任何東西，接受反饋和批評。文字的力量是強大的，我們已經(jīng)通過小說把中國和世界各國的作家們聚集在一起。
Happy Reading & Writing to you all! Look out for the free Sabre Short Stories (Volume 1) coming in summer 2022.
祝大家開心閱讀，快樂寫作！《Sabre 短篇小說》（第一卷）將于今夏出版，免費閱讀，敬請期待。
