歡樂向前行 Marching Forward Happily
It’s not the first time a foreigner working
with me specifically requests that s/he would like to showcase certain things
to some guest audience in particular when I am also around. This is not about
the foreigner(s) and I work side by side with each other on an isolated island;
instead, such incidences often take place at working environments where there
are quite a few other locals whom they can also designate.
Is this thing, their option of pointing me
out to “perform” with them job-wise, a kind of coincidence?
已不是第一次，在並非僅有數位本地人士工作的單位裡面，外籍工作夥伴並非希望與其他本地人士、而是特別期待與我，共同呈現某種工作相關事務之樣貌給一些觀者。
這是種偶然嗎，當他們偏好在他人面前顯現出與我共事的融洽時?
目前所教授科目、及其與英語和主題串聯，教材雖然有一個像是「種子」這樣的主題，但是所有的教學內容必須自行設計，在如此的教學景況之下「被」學生們「流傳Hope老師創意無限」這件事，是另一個偶然嗎?
Under the current educational system
linking a subject with English, a foreign language for the majority of the
students, although topics like SEEDS can be in existence, contents teaching the
students about SEEDS need to be created by the person(s) teaching them. By and
by, when amongst the students, word-of-mouth spreading notion like “Teacher or
Miss Hope has endless creative ideas…” Can it be another kind of coincidence?
How do I learn that in between students themsevels, cross different grade levels, they have comments towards teachers like us? Well, one thing took place one day early in the morning. A student went inside the current classroom where I teach since she is a fifth-grader cleaning the restroom area right next to that classroom of mine. Seeing I was organizing certain things, she commented,
"Teacher Hope, my younger sister taught by you last school year always says you are always with many cute ideas they like. What are you creating now?" After she commented so, her other classmate told me the same thing, with the person's sibiling also taught by me during the previous schoolyear. That is how I learn students have word-of-mouth regarding teachers teachers who are teaching them.
我是如何得知學生們之間也有「口耳相傳」這樣的事情呢?
實則，是某一日上午發生的事情「啟發」了我對這方面事宜的理解。
一位高年級學生由於必須打掃靠近目前我所使用的專任教室，而在早晨與我「閒聊」時，由於發現我看似又在變什麼不同的花樣，而有了這樣的評語：
「妹妹說她之前上老師妳的課的時候，妳就變化多端，充滿創意……老師妳現在又要變什麼花樣了呢?」
這件事情隨後馬上得到這位五年級同學的另一位同班同學的証實，表示自己的手足在上我的課時，
「非常享受這種有意思的課程」。
當我所結識的前輩們了解我的授課內容、對待國小低年級學生的方式(包括矯正他們的坐姿及站姿等端正與否、與人說話客氣與否……)等種種細節時，說出「妳已經有教育家的風範，不再是單單的教師罷了」的時候，是否，也是一種偶然呢?
When those whom I have associated with have
truly understood what I’ve been teaching the lower graders in elementary
schools about, including how to properly behave themselves while sitting,
walking, talking and so on, they jointly explain to me that “You have become an
educator, Hope, not merely a teacher.” I wonder whether this is another
coincidence.
如果這些「偶然」都是偶然，那麼，這些「偶然」一如魔法般，遍布了我這充滿魔幻境界的生命場域。
As perhaps all these events taking place in
my life can be coincidental, in fact, they are all so magically prevalent
existing in territories linking with my personal universe filled with magic
moments.
“You are an artist, not a teacher, Hope.”
Some peers have expressed. By the way, this looks so much so like a coincidence,
too.
「與其說妳是個老師，不如說妳是個藝術家比較正確。」
我的同儕如此跟我說。
而我也揣想著，這是否也是個偶然呢?
我的外籍友人們稱呼我是「充滿藝術色彩的人道主義者」。這件事情，是否也是個偶然?
My foreign friends claim that “Hope, you
are artistically humanitarian.”
Is this also one of those coincidences?
在學期已經到達尾聲的時刻，很長一段時間沒有請七、八歲的稚齡學生們書寫對於課程的反饋，結果，他們的聲音再次一面倒，表示自己在教室裡面的歡樂情懷，對於我的搞笑、溫和等等，甚至包括髮型，他們都有許多意見可以描述，令人讚嘆不已。
When the entire semester is about to come
to an end, there are many months and weeks which I have not tried to understand
what pupils at 7 or 8 years of age feel about things they have learned. Once investigated,
their inner voices seem to unanimously express things towards identical
directions, in which they have enjoyed the class sessions tremendously.
不知道這是否為種種偶然當中的另一件偶然呢?
As I look at my students’ feedback, I am
again in awe that countless of them, once more, demonstrate to me their
generosity regarding how they have appreciated my sense of humor, patience,
gentle demeanor to them. They have never felt reserved in showing me their
appreciation towards, for example, my hairstyle(s) which can change from time
to time. When these students express that they enjoy working with me, is this a
kind of coincidence?
Coincidences or not, I am more than
grateful to be exploring my own horizons under the determination to serve more,
when students are discussing about “My Dreams in the Future Are…” guided inside
the class sessions. It is due to the fact I would like to serve the others
better, more skillfully, that I made up my mind to “visit” public elementary
schools in Taiwan, my homeland, once more. So far, what I have discovered have
elevated my standards of teaching to other levels previously not known by
myself. The more I dig into my soul, the more I have found that I can keep
cultivating myself to be working for the others in better senses. As I’ve been
through different places because of such visits to all the variously different
public school system, I am more than humble to say that such experiences have
taught me things that I could not have imagined aforehand shall this trip not
taken at all.
不論是否為巧合、偶然、命中註定，我都極為感恩自己可以因為希望無償服務工作的更加堅實，而決定重返台灣的小學環境藉以磨練自己，而至今為止，這趟重返國民小學的旅程使我發現的不僅僅是個人更多的樣貌、學習的空間，也有我在教育他人之手法上未曾經歷的轉變。
種種實際走訪的過程，令我自己嘖嘖稱奇。
這趟因為希望探訪小朋友的世界而來到的離島、偏鄉、台灣及對岸大都會的際遇，讓我在砥礪自我服務的道途上，再度攀升到另一個我不曾想像過的境地。
It is at this moment that I realize why my
peers would address me as a YOUTHFUL ARTIST when I was in my 20s. Was I in the
preparational stage for the current styles of mine?
我突然理解為何當我在成為國民體系正式教師的養成階段，我的同儕在當時會稱呼我是「文藝美少女」。那個時期的我，難道就在為現在做準備了嗎?
Further, it is at this moment that I
realize when I decided I’d become a teacher before reaching the age of 20, why
I had told myself “There is plenty of time for you to learn to be a better
teacher. Take your time and teach throughout your life, including yourself.” As
a result, I have actually had the pleasure to learn with everybody all the time
in my career.
也就是在現階段，我更加能夠體會自己在少女時期立定要做為教育人的志向時，為何我會告訴自己「妳有很多可以學習成為一位良質教學者的時間，請勿燥進，請多多學習。」
這也造就了我不斷在各種場合中，總是期望自己的學習不要中斷，也總是享受著學習的快感。
How good can this be?
天下有這麼好的事兒嗎?
為何我就這麼幸運呢?
Why am I so lucky?
“It is your destiny to be a wealthy
person,” a few fortune tellers or psychics I have met across cultures have told
me. For me, to be rich inwardly seems to be far more important than to be
materially wealthy, and I never bother asking these people who have voluntarily
shared with my fortune with me “Does this fortune you talk about fall into the
category of materialism or senses of fulfillment?”
行腳於世界各地，偶然間會遇到算命大師、靈媒等等人物，我常常被告知：
「妳很富有」這件事情。
對我而言，一個人在內心世界的富足，遠比物質條件上的豐盛來得要緊，我也從來沒有詢問過這些主動向我透露天機的人：
「請問您所說的富有，是金錢、還是內在?」
I feel it is very coincidental that they
should express the same thing through the years!
我只覺得他們會「看到同一件事實」，相當神奇。
And guess what?! This morning, someone just
proposes to me about another path in my professional career which I have never
explored before, for this supervisor believes I am capable of doing so. This
means that the chapters in my life are not merely developing, but unfolding itself
in front of my own eyes.
How cool can this be?
更加令人不可思議的，是就在今天早晨，一位目前在業務範圍所接觸的主管才向我提及了一件過去在我的專業方面，未曾全面開發的項目。這讓我感到自己的無限可能，仍在無限延伸著。
請告訴我，還能有比如此這般更加美好的生命體驗嗎?
「妳的小學生們應該都像妳一樣，平平靜靜但又開開心心地上著課，不吵不鬧，因為他們不會想把那麼舒適的學習狀態給破壞掉吧?!」我的同事這樣對我說。
My colleagues express that “The students
sitting in your classroom must be learning things happily and quietly like you,
don’t they? They would not want to make any noise to break the spell. Correct?”
當然，我無法克制笑了出來，如此充實而歡樂的生命，夫復何求。
Certainly, I cannot control myself from
laughing: what can I ask for as this is such a much fulfilled life already?!
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