Stories from My Students

I had my writing students interview each other in the first class and over the past week they've been emailing me their stories. Most of them need help with their English writing but they have some remarkable stories to tell. Some are simple stories about having a bicycle stolen or being caught in a bus in a snowstorm. Or about a young woman who nearly had her ear cut off (accidentally) by a mischievous boy when she was 10.
I've been projecting the stories onto a screen in the classroom and ask the writer to discuss it first, followed by the person he/she is writing about. They are good at criticizing themselves (I made a joke about self-criticism, a Communist Party tradition, but it fell flat. But my Chinese tutor taught me how to say it in Mandarin.) The biggest challenge for me is dealing with political/cultural barriers. I'm careful not to interject my opinions about Chinese policies, but it seems as if some things are not even open to discussion. One young woman had worked as a volunteer for the Party in one of the Western provinces, sponsoring events and rallies designed to build up community spirit. I told her I had read some accounts in America about conflicts between minorities and the Han majority and asked her if any of the minority peoples were in any way hostile to the Chinese who came to help them. "No," she said. "They all want to be just like us." End of discussion.
Here are a few excerpts (names deleted) from two of the most fascinating stories so far:

Through the camera len

This is a story about a boy and his camera.

In Guangdong province,there are 67 leprosy rehabilitation villages in which 6500 leprosy recovery people are still living an isolated life.They can not work or play like normal persons.The discrimination against these poor people and their children is hurting them even more than the illness has done before.

_____ as a vonlunteer,came to Haifeng village (a famous leprosy rehabilitation village in Xuwen county Guangdong province)for the first time .During that whole volunteering week, ___had meals with the villigers on the same table,visited residents house by house and help them do some farmwork .He always took a camera along with him in order to record the life there.

“Through the lens ,many details can easily be seen,”___ said .

The head of Haifeng village, whose children go out to work , lives with his wife all year long .When it comes to important hollidays such as the spring festival,this old man’s daghters will come back.

Deng maoman and his wife suffered from leprosy at the age of 14 .To everyone’s astonishment,illness never knock them down.,but strengthen this couple’s love for each other.

Lin Qinghong and her two young brothers are espected to spend their childhood in this special village like many other habitants’ children.Without remote control car or barbies,playing with a balloon becomes their most interesting entertainment .

The faces of them are permanently kept in ____’s photos.Behind the faces,we saw the lonliness ,which is shared by all the leprosy patients.

Now, ___has entered into Nanjing University to futher his study. Before him,a new chapter has unfolded yet. When asked about his plan in photographing, ___ seems to be a little puzzled. “If time permits,I still choose to record the life of people belonging to bottom class in China.Sometims you and I also can experience the feeling of being isolated.”

“The things you choose to reveal in the photos can reflect the way you feel for the reality. ” To some degree,press photography can be more impressive than ordinanry text report.So ___ has a strong desire to attract enough attention and concern from the whole society,making his photos become a bridge between the isolated crowd and mainstream society.

*****

A DEAF GIRL

I want to tell you a story of a deaf girl. In the summer holiday, I took a part time job of teaching a 12 years old girl lip language in a countryside of Qingdao.

Her name is Wangxiao. She is a lovely girl who always with a smile on her face. Her face looks like Yanglan who is the famous TV anchor.

She had many hobbies,such as watching idol play,embroidering,guessing the riddles,and so on.

She was so optimistic to life that you couldn’t believe she was a severe inborn deaf patient.

My work was to help her correct pronunciation.We need pronounce every letter of the alphabet precisely. Meanwhile,we also need read the articles of the elementary school textbook fluently. It was not an easy task. I have no patience. When I began this work I was worried that I couldn’t persevere. However, I was deeply moved when wangxiao pronounced every letter once and again. She repeated it cautiously until I nodecd . Sometimes, she couldn’t accurately pronounce a word although she had try it many times. Then, she saw my mouth shape carefully, tought my throat to feel vibration, and put her palm before my mouth to feel my breathe. I was absolutely touched and couldn’t help bursting into tears when I saw her striving against the misfortune that she had encountered. One time, she asked me: “_____,what are you weeping for, or you have some unpleasant things? ” “No , I just feel a little pain of my eyes. ”I answered. Then she simled sweetly and uesd gesture language: “Closing your eyes for a moment you’ll be comfortable. ” As seeing the smile on her beautiful face, I recognized that what I should is to help her learn skills of communicating with other people as every normal girl rather than have a pity on her unfair life.

In the blog of wangxiao’s mother, I knew she have started to learn surfing on line. Wangxiao and her mother have written several articles to erncourage many other deaf girls,sharing their experience of surmount obstacles in life. They believed that there are great interesting things in their life. Nothing can resist a heart of cherishing life.
*****