文/Konrad Kelly（美） 譯/張佳藝

本文作者Konrad Kelly

浙江省泰順縣地處偏僻，沿溫州西南方向駕駛3個(gè)小時(shí)方可進(jìn)入其所在的山區(qū)。從內(nèi)陸蒼南縣的沿海地帶到泰順縣的主要鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)羅陽(yáng)，不勝枚舉的隧道與蜿蜒曲折的小路無(wú)懼高峻地帶，在此肆意穿行。

這里的生活節(jié)奏遠(yuǎn)比中國(guó)新興大城市要慢得多。許多人在村里從事農(nóng)業(yè)或是近年來(lái)頗為吸睛的生態(tài)旅游業(yè)?！爸袊?guó)大使年”是安生教育文化交流與教學(xué)項(xiàng)目，旨在將國(guó)外英語(yǔ)教師引進(jìn)中國(guó)一些外國(guó)人稀少的農(nóng)村。機(jī)緣巧合下，我跟隨這個(gè)項(xiàng)目來(lái)到泰順縣。正是這里讓我決心撥開(kāi)迷霧，重新審視過(guò)往與今朝。智能手機(jī)為農(nóng)民所常用，豪華轎車就停在傳統(tǒng)農(nóng)家院旁。日新月異的發(fā)展有如從路邊裂縫中伸展而出的蒲公英，竭力發(fā)芽，努力生長(zhǎng)。在新興中產(chǎn)階級(jí)身上，既有古老而傳統(tǒng)的美德，也有富足的物質(zhì)條件和遠(yuǎn)大的抱負(fù)。雖然地處偏遠(yuǎn)，鄉(xiāng)村氣息濃厚，但泰順縣正穩(wěn)步完善自身，籌備復(fù)制全國(guó)各地類似的發(fā)展結(jié)構(gòu)，如由羅馬柱子、歐式外墻、平板電視和大容冰箱搭配而成的公寓大樓，如流行音樂(lè)在大街小巷的泡茶店放聲。

作者Konrad Kelly（左二）和AYC 2017—2018年溫州地區(qū)所有外籍使者一起參加溫州教育局舉辦的送教下鄉(xiāng)活動(dòng)

在泰順縣的十個(gè)月，我只在徒步旅行時(shí)偶遇到兩個(gè)外國(guó)人。那里大多數(shù)人都是當(dāng)?shù)厝嘶騺?lái)自福建的餐館老板。無(wú)論是學(xué)校附近的菜市場(chǎng)還是家族餐館，與我交談的人幾乎都講中文。盡管有語(yǔ)言壁壘、文化差異與地域偏遠(yuǎn)等困難，但與三年級(jí)的教學(xué)任務(wù)相比，不過(guò)是小巫見(jiàn)大巫。在我剛?cè)谓痰那皟芍埽乙酝馍星遗鋫湟晃划?dāng)?shù)赜⒄Z(yǔ)老師，以幫助孩子們過(guò)渡到新的學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境。第三周，雖然她認(rèn)為我可以獨(dú)自應(yīng)付三年級(jí)的課程了，但我很快發(fā)現(xiàn)一連串的行為問(wèn)題襲面而來(lái)。課堂上，學(xué)生們嘰嘰喳喳不斷，紙條、玩具和種種物件在教室里飛來(lái)飛去，有的男生還會(huì)突然站起來(lái)大笑大叫，分散全班對(duì)老師的注意力。喧喧嚷嚷大有野火燎原之勢(shì)。更糟糕的是，當(dāng)時(shí)我的漢語(yǔ)水平和教學(xué)水平不高，我很難勸誡學(xué)生終止亂象。和我想象中相比，把學(xué)生注意力重新聚焦到講臺(tái)上可謂異常艱難。

第一學(xué)期，我在掙扎中前行。如同試水一般，我不知道自己的課程是否達(dá)標(biāo)又或是否偏離。我的課程不似預(yù)想般多樣化或條理化，我所教的三年級(jí)學(xué)生也索然無(wú)趣，心不在焉。深知教書(shū)不易，但我卻未料有大把時(shí)光與情感都會(huì)隨之消逝。課程進(jìn)展緩慢，時(shí)間卻在從課堂內(nèi)容轉(zhuǎn)向課堂管理中消耗殆盡了。在充滿挑戰(zhàn)的第一學(xué)期結(jié)束后的那個(gè)春節(jié)月，我開(kāi)始反思教學(xué)。每當(dāng)我休息時(shí)，一種強(qiáng)烈的想法都會(huì)涌上心頭：摸索一套全新方法，自如應(yīng)對(duì)可期未來(lái)。

接下來(lái)的一學(xué)期，我的確有所改進(jìn)：走出課堂局限性，感受真切成就感，感受到學(xué)生的參與度有所增強(qiáng)。我的第二學(xué)期課表有了些許變化，校方問(wèn)我是否愿意每周給四、五、六年級(jí)上一節(jié)英語(yǔ)會(huì)話課。而在那之前，我一直在教三個(gè)三年級(jí)班，周周如此。新課表雖然插入更多課程，但課程頻率有所降低。這讓我有充足時(shí)間提前備課并測(cè)評(píng)效用。樣本量增加，同一堂課便可以反復(fù)教授，學(xué)生的接受程度也由此得到檢驗(yàn)。與第一學(xué)期以教科書(shū)為綱的教學(xué)不同，學(xué)生每天都有作業(yè)，所有材料與課程都必須從頭構(gòu)建。這樣的方式雖然耗費(fèi)更多時(shí)間，但卻贏得更好的教學(xué)效果。那年春天晚些時(shí)候，我有幸在僅有40個(gè)孩子的小學(xué)上公開(kāi)課。我花了一個(gè)多月時(shí)間備課，其間換過(guò)三次課程主題，后來(lái)我覺(jué)得仍有很多地方值得修補(bǔ)完善，盡管如此，觀察員老師們?nèi)宰ＹR我可以出色完成。最終，看到改進(jìn)版教案試水成功后，我的教學(xué)信心大增。

2017年10月13日，作者Konrad Kelly（后排右六）和AYC 2017—2018年溫州地區(qū)所有外籍使者一起參加甌北小學(xué)新生入隊(duì)儀式

無(wú)論是課程還是學(xué)生，抑或是發(fā)展機(jī)會(huì)，都自成一派，各有千秋。例如，五年級(jí)某班成員很喜歡小組作業(yè)和小品表演，擅長(zhǎng)小組合作，攜手共進(jìn)、不懈參與、互相成就。反觀另外一個(gè)班卻對(duì)此不感興趣。后來(lái)我從另一位老師那里得知，該班英語(yǔ)成績(jī)墊底，學(xué)生們都缺乏信心。那個(gè)學(xué)期，我總是試圖統(tǒng)一兩班的教學(xué)計(jì)劃，但收效甚微。沮喪、困惑，我對(duì)現(xiàn)狀的改進(jìn)束手無(wú)策。最后幾周，期末考試與暑假迫近，我增加了一些個(gè)性化十足的作業(yè)，以求使學(xué)生將時(shí)間投放到語(yǔ)法、詞匯與翻譯中去。很快，我便注意到因這類活動(dòng)與學(xué)生水平更為接近，學(xué)生對(duì)此表示更容易接受。那些善于分析、寡言少語(yǔ)的學(xué)生也喜歡這類活動(dòng)。令我欣慰的是，為了更好地解決問(wèn)題，這些學(xué)生齊心協(xié)力，合作學(xué)習(xí)。在第二學(xué)期，我意識(shí)到作為一名教師，教學(xué)活動(dòng)的選擇務(wù)必要基于學(xué)生興趣，做到因材施教。

打開(kāi)教學(xué)之門的另一把密鑰是處事沉著。有時(shí)我也會(huì)犯錯(cuò)誤，時(shí)而過(guò)于嚴(yán)厲，時(shí)而放任自流。作為老師，我在學(xué)生面前會(huì)有些失衡。從某一天開(kāi)始，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己傾向于盡量抑制隨時(shí)可能迸發(fā)的吵鬧與粗暴，但我卻錯(cuò)在將這種抑制轉(zhuǎn)化為沮喪并表達(dá)出來(lái)，這也是讓我深感懊悔的。責(zé)罵學(xué)生往往會(huì)使結(jié)果適得其反，甚至?xí)谡n堂上煽動(dòng)引發(fā)更多不良行為的火苗。有一次，我和一位老師討論教學(xué)問(wèn)題，她提醒我就算有時(shí)上課會(huì)倍感壓力，也要牢記教師切不可對(duì)學(xué)生發(fā)脾氣。找兩個(gè)“托兒”，請(qǐng)他們?cè)谡n堂上隨時(shí)附和，以建設(shè)性方式給予他們正能量（如表演小品或閱讀對(duì)話），讓他們帶頭做課堂游戲，這些都不失為好辦法。根據(jù)學(xué)生個(gè)性，找到合適的表達(dá)方式，一個(gè)活躍和諧的課堂便會(huì)躍然眼前；理解學(xué)生的思與行，尊重學(xué)生的創(chuàng)造力，而非限制其體內(nèi)燃燒的年輕活力，教學(xué)成果便會(huì)頗有成效。

同學(xué)生建立好融洽關(guān)系，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)他們?cè)缫咽熘绾芜M(jìn)行自我調(diào)節(jié)。在意課堂的學(xué)生們，會(huì)站出來(lái)勸誡干擾制造者安靜下來(lái)。作為一名教師，要知道學(xué)生性格各異，班級(jí)和而不同。教師是一種富有創(chuàng)造力、交流性和回應(yīng)度的職業(yè)，請(qǐng)打好有準(zhǔn)備之仗，更好地融入這個(gè)角色。

（Konrad Kelly在中國(guó)浙江省泰順縣第二實(shí)驗(yàn)小學(xué)任教，安生教育AYC項(xiàng)目2017—2018年度教育大使。）

Taishun is a little remote of a place. Tucked away in the mountains three hours southwest from the city of Wenzhou.There are many tunnels and winding roads that traverse higher in elevation from the coastal city of Cangnan inland towards Taishun’s main country-town, Luoyang.

There, the pace of life is much slower than that of China’s emerging megacities. Many of the people who work in the countryside work in agriculture or, in recent years,ecotourism. I came to the county through a cultural exchange and teaching program called, “Ambassador Year in China.”The idea of the program is to bring foreign English teachers to China’s countryside, where foreigners are few and far between. Being out in this part of the country, allowed me to see a landscape blurred somewhere in the past and present.Farmers used smartphones and posh cars are parked beside traditional farm-style-houses. It seemed as if aspects of development were sprouting up and entangling itself like dandelions do when unwinding out of roadside cracks.The old and traditional complimentary standing beside the appliances and aspirations of an ever well-to-do and moneyfocused emerging middle-class. Taishun is a place that despite its remoteness and countryside feel is steadily growing and reproducing similar structures to the development seen across the country. Tall apartment buildings with roman pillars, European facades, flat screen TVs, big refrigerators,and bubble tea shops blasting pop music out onto the street.

In my ten months in Taishun, I only came across two other foreigners while hiking. Most people there are locals or restaurant owners from Fujian province. Whether walking into a wet market nearby my school or a family owned restaurant, almost everyone I spoke with was in Chinese.And although aspects of this new environment such as the language barrier, cultural differences and remoteness of the place presented unique challenges, all of these seemed trivial in comparison to the task of teaching third-graders. For thefirst two weeks of teaching I had another English teacher and Taishun local whose presence helped keep the kids at bay.Though by the third week when she felt I was good enough to handle the third-grade classes by myself, I quickly began to notice a string of behavioral problems unfold. There was chatter and throwing of paper, toys, and miscellaneous objects.A boy would stand up laughing or yelling and capture the whole class' attention away from me. Rowdiness would then spread like wildfire. On top of that, back then it was harder for me to tell the kids to stop as both my Chinese language and teaching skills were low. Reorienting these youngsters back to the front class was harder than I had imagined.

Thatfirst semester was a struggle. I felt like I was testing the waters and often didn’t know if my lessons had hit the mark or landed way off. My classes were not as varied or structured as I would in hindsight have wanted and my third graders seemed bored and inattentive. I knew teaching was going to be hard, but not how much it can take away from you both in time and emotionally. My classes seemed to inch along at a snail’s pace while time was expended away from the lesson towards classroom management problems. It was during the month of Chinese New Years after that challenging first semester that got me re fl ecting on my teaching. While I rested,I felt a strong determination to find new approaches and do better for what came ahead.

In that following semester I did improve. I was able to walk out of more classes feeling genuinely accomplished and I could sense that the students were engaged. My second schedule semester was also quite different, the school had asked if I wanted to teach every fourth,fifth, and sixth-grade class an English conversational class per week. Before that, I had been teaching three third-grade classes consecutively throughout the week. With the new schedule, however, I saw more classes but each with less frequency. This experience gave me more time to prepare lessons in advance and experiment their effectiveness. Having a bigger sample size, you can enact the same lesson many times and see how receptive students are to it. Unlike thefirst semester where I was teaching from a textbook and the students had daily assignments in their workbooks, all the materials and lessons had to be built from scratch. This took more time but resulted in better lessons.Later that spring I had an opportunity to give an open lesson at an elementary school of forty kids! I spent over a month preparing that lesson and switched the lesson theme three times, and even though afterwards I kept on thinking of ways to tinker it the observing teachers congratulated and reminded me that I had done a good job. It was ultimately by seeing the progress made from improving lesson plans that I began to feel more confident in teaching.

Classes are not homogeneous; each has unique personalities and presents different opportunities. For example, I had a fifth-grade class whose ability to work synchronously in groups, stay engaged, and support one another was outstanding. This class really enjoyed group work and presenting skits. Another class, on the other hand, did not like presentations or group work as much. Later on I learned from another teacher that this class was scoring the lowest in English and seemed to lack confidence in it. For most of that semester I tried using the same style of lesson plans to no avail and felt both frustrated and confused about how to improve the situation. Then in the last weeks as finals and summer break were approaching, I made more individualized and pair assignments and had them to spend most of the time working on grammar, vocabulary,and translation. I soon noticed the students were more receptive to these kinds of activities as it was closer to their level. The students who were more analytical and quieter also enjoyed this. To my joy I saw students collaborate on solving problems. I realized in that second semester that it is important, as a teacher, tofind activities that attune to the interests of particular class.

Another key aspect to teaching is composure. At times, I would made the mistake of on some days being too strict and at other times letting things go. Thus my personality as teacher appeared to my students as unbalanced. On one day I could feel inclined to try to continuously stamp out rowdy behavior wherever it would pop up. But my mistake and what I regret was in expressing frustration. Scolding students is counterproductive and often fans the flames of more behavioral issues in class. One time when I was talking about teaching with a teacher, she told me that even though teaching grade school can be stressful at times,we must keep in mind as teachers not to get mad at your students. Take two “talkers” and give them the opportunity to chime in on something related to the lesson. Direct their energy in a constructive way, such as in acting a skit or reading a dialogue. Let them head a classroom game. Offer ways for your student's personalities tofind expression and you will have a much more engaged classroom. I found that in being compassionate towards and creative with students,we were able to accomplish more rather than if I had attempted to restrict their inherent and youthful energy.

Build rapport with your class and you will often find that they already know how to self-regulate themselves.Students who care about your class will tell the one’s making distractions to quiet down. As a teacher, one sifts through a river bed of personalities and each class is different. It is a creative, communicative, and responsive endeavor. Be prepared to continuously work and learn your way into this role .