Dear my friends, especially those old ones,
It’s been a long time since I wrote here last time. But that doesn’t mean I have forgotten you. Instead, I often think of you and have always been attempting to write to you. I didn’t because there are always more urgent tasks before me. I’m busy turning 55 students that are strangers in my class into an effective studying group and a well-working collective. Almost none of them had ever met each other before. And I’m busy handling new teaching problems that have come together with new students and new teaching materials.
I work 6 days and a half each week, about 12 hours a day with only about 5 hours on Sunday afternoon for “rest”. Every morning, I have to get up before 6:10 and then after a brief moment over the washbasin, hurry to the school. I have breakfast on the way at stalls by the road. Then a usual weekday begins. I get home for lunch at about 12:00 and after a nap, return to school at 13:30 (I can’t do without the nap because I work late at night). And then after a busy day, I get home for supper. But alas! I can hardly stay at home for half an hour before I will hurry back to school. I have to go back to watch over students’ night zixi (work independent of teachers at night) and be ready there to answer their endless brain-racking questions! Worse, “Watch over” doesn’t simply mean looking at them. I will have to take the chance to deal with my other tasks such as correcting students’ exercises, talking with individual students over various problems, and so on. One time, two jobs, in short. Finally, at about 10:00 pm, I get home for “sleep”. But then another work period begins. There are stacks of test papers waiting for marks, because the students are eager to see them or I plan to explain about the testing problems tomorrow; There’re teaching materials to select and study; There’re exercises to design… I won’t be really able to go to bed until 12:00 at midnight. I do all these by my own willingness. Nobody is there demanding that I should work for so long hours, neither will he be justified to. I work in such a frantic way only because I’m teaching really excellent students! I can’t fail their expectations. They are excellent students selected from many junior schools scattering across the county, and most of them are strongly motivated and hardworking. They are very energetic and active yet surprisingly obedient; smart enough to excel some of their teachers yet very respectful to them. Should I ever fail such students, I feel I deserve hell!
I thank Cobra and Sally, for their concern for me when I was absent; thank Mary for her welcome and knowledge of Canadian schools; and thank Pan for his diligent work maintaining this forum alone when both David and I were away. I promise I’ll return when things get smoother, because, you, my dear friends, are here!
Best wishes to you all!
Charles
