INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION LAST QUARTER 2024 二○二四最後一季國際交流

 

What is love or loving kindness?

 

 

People say that love or loving kindness is without forms…

 

 

Simply because it is without any form, every person can interpret LOVE or LOVING KINDNESS with varied explanations. For me, I have found that love or loving kindness is a way people behave when they feel loved. This means, when groups and groups of students of mine at different grade levels communicate with the others, claiming that “Our Teacher Hope is quite a charming lady” after they are taught or instructed by me, they may have received the care or warmth I have showered on them, who, in return, would be praising someone like me who is absolutely one small potato.  

 

 

Whatever the reason is behind my students’ recognition of me, I intend to keep spreading such loving kindness via connecting students from different corners of this world. After many discussions, it is currently considered quite helpful for all of those students of elementary school and junior high school levels at various schools involved in Kenya, east Africa, Bali Island, Indonesia, and Taiwan, my homeland, to interact with one another—there are people around these nations outside Taiwan whom I have dearly served.  

 

 

How possibly can such students interact with each other without seeing each other face to face? Due to concerns of violations of privacy issues, this whole project will focus more on paper work instead of leaving specific groups of students’ images via videos. During the end of this year, 2024, there are at least three things which can be advised to be done.  

 

 

The first step, preferably to be done in the recent weeks or so, is with students from the above-mentioned nations, with their teachers guiding them, to form into groups (of around 6 to 10) and write letters of introduction telling the others stories about them, like what their respective nation(s) is(are) like, esp. there can be students with multiple citizenships, what food people eat there, what their school life is like, and how people there live daily and so on. On the “letters,” there can be handwritten words, drawings or other artworks attached. After the students finish writing such letters, teachers can photo them and share them with Hope so that Hope can compile such works from these various schools at least in this same blog for everyone’s references.

 

 

Afterwards, before the end of Oct. 2024 or so, students from different nations can discuss on-line, with their teachers’ kind assistances on-site, about what they have written (shown in the previous paragraph), especially regarding questions different groups of students can raise towards their counterparts, once teachers have arranged the proper time to do so. Dialogues done cross straits can hopefully be recorded (with only the sound, not the recording of images) and shared on this same blog of Hope, at least.

 

 

Lastly, before the end of 2024, each and every group inside each class across nations, through their teachers’ help, will be urged to choose one issue from SDGS and present their thoughts in English. The format of presentation can also be ideally recorded with the audio part, or it can be written down for purposes of further exchanges of ideas in 2025. Such presentations can be pictured and shared with Hope so that from these various schools, presentations can be listed here inside the same blog for everyone’s references.

 

Details of SDGS can be found here: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

 

 

Across nations, teachers guiding their students for related projects above-mentioned are much appreciated. It is the hope that through such interactions, more and more constructive interactions will be built in the days to come so that altogether, we can make the world a better place through more understanding of one another.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

什麼是「愛」、或者什麼是「慈愛」呢?

 

 

人們說「愛」或「慈愛」並無其形體可言。

 

 

正因為「愛」或「慈愛」並無其具體樣貌可言，每個人都可以用不同的方式來解說「愛」或「慈愛」究竟是什麼。

 

 

而我發現從我的觀點看「愛」或「慈愛」，是某種他人對我們所表現出的「愛」或「慈愛」的具體行為或者反射動作，像是如果在小學裡面，一群又一群不同年級的學生們，在與他們的同儕討論事情時，說及：

「我們泡芙老師很漂亮哦」的時候，這樣的學生應該就是接收到我所給予他們的關懷與溫暖，而為了回敬這樣的關切給我，他們於是說到我是一位好看的老師。

 

但實際上，我就是個微不足道的老師罷了，當然也承受不起那麼多學生們對我的稱許。

 

 

只是，不論學生們對我的認同基於何種緣由，我都預期自己將透過讓在世界各地的不同學生之間相互串連的事實，來持續散播這樣的「愛」或「慈愛」。透過這段時間的諸多討論，目前的計畫是使來自於我長期進行服務工作的東非肯亞、印尼葩里島、以及台灣的中、小學生們，進行交流活動。

 

 

這些學生們如何在沒有見到對方的情況之下，而與這些不同國度的人產生真正的互動呢?

 

 

由於隱私權的考量，這個計畫將於文書作業上進行更多關注，而非將學生們的影像透過攝影方式而留存及公布。

 

 

具體來說，相當期盼在本學期結束之前，能有下列各國學生交流模式的步驟：

 

 

第壹，在最近這幾週，建議上述各地學生群在指導教師帶領之下，以六至十位學生為一組，創作一個文字、或者文字輔以圖像的作品，介紹他們自己的家鄉。作品當中可探討舉凡每日所食之餐點為何、學校生活之現況、學校本身狀況、以及當地人們一日作息情形等等。學生完成此一作品之後，教師們可拍攝該作品影像傳輸，由Hope統整放置於本部落格中，以便大家共享。

 

 

第貳，大約在本年度十月結束之前，各校學生可經由教師們的從旁協助，以及協商合宜之時間，而與上述其他地區學生們討論各方在第壹項中所書寫、創作之文字和圖片，藉由提問、討論而更加了解對方地理所在之處的風土民情。期許這些跨國之討論的內容，可以在音聲(而非影像上)進行錄製，並以此部落格為平台放置，以供參考及進行持續的討論等等。

 

 

第參，在本年度(2024)結束前，每個參與上開兩項活動的組別，在透過當地教師的協助之下，可讓各組學生們透過了解「聯合國永續發展目標」後，在十七項目標中選擇其中一項，並仍以不同組別之方式，表現針對其中一個單一議題的看法，表現方式可以為文字、或者任何書面態及以錄製音頻方式，將想法及表現方式記錄下來，以便於在2025年繼續交流前預作準備。

關於「聯合國永續發展目標」，敬請參酌下列網頁 https://globalgoals.tw/resources

 

 

上開各項所有指導教師們，都是為了地球更加永續的未來而進行此項計畫；期待如此的交流活動能夠促成各方未來的良質互動，創造世界更加美好的未來。

AFTERWARDS

For many, many years, I was told to be "extremely ugly." That was the moment before I became a flight attendant flying internationally, a kind of profession where people from my part of the world believe that those who work as one must be good-looking. For whatever had taken place, only gratefulness is left behind, yet to this day, when people praise me of my outward appearance, I find this claim to be misplaced somewhere deep in my soul. 

後記

在我成為空姊前的許許多多歲月，我被定義為是「非常醜」的。

因此，成為飛航國際線的空姊之後、乃至於現在，每每遇到乘客、旅者、各國交流人士、學生們等等，讚賞於我的外表時，我往往感覺到某種格格不入……

然而，對於所有曾經發生的過往，我卻是如此感恩^^