【推荐1】April 20 marks United Nations Chinese Language Day. Our magazine has invited three Chinese learners to share stories of their studies!

Mike Fuksman, US: Learning Chinese brings me joy

One thing that I really appreciate about Chinese is that it is usually quite direct and literal. When you break each word down into its individual characters, they make sense together. “Elevator” is dianti—translated character by character, it means “electric stairs”. It’s pretty straightforward (直接的).

Alex Tani, UK: Learning Chinese can be enjoyable

For me Chinese had been a subject that could make the classroom deadly silent because how difficult it was to learn. But when I arrived in China in 2021, I found that learning the language could be enjoyable.

As a language lover, I would try to chat with locals in Chinese, sharing details about our daily lives. Sometimes we would also go to KTV together, where the vibe (氛围) was completely different from that of a classroom. The music and language learning flowed with ease.

Jennifer Holstein, US: Learning Chinese changed my life path

We stayed in school for 14 hours each day and attended listening, speaking, reading and writing classes. Even gym and music classes were in Mandarin (普通话). The process was challenging but I learned Mandarin quite well. In turn, opportunities started presenting themselves everywhere. Everyone wanted me to work for them. At that moment, I knew my effort was worth it.

【推荐2】Amanda hated how history seemed to be all about war. Jose didn't like memorizing names and dates. Gerald was convinced that nothing that had happened in the past was relevant to his life. Caitlyn hated tricky true-false questions.

Armed with the feedback (反馈) my students had given me, I began hatching a plan. These kids were bright. They were motivated. My honors class deserved to be taught in a way that would speak to them.

We'd study social and economic history, not just battles and generals. We'd read novels to bring home the humanity of history. Tests would cover the facts, but also require higher level thinking skills. No tricky true-false questions.

At first, I was surprised by how many of my students used poor grammar and lacked writing skills. And some seemed to hesitate when reading out loud. But we worked on those skills repeatedly while we were learning history. The school year came to an end more quickly than I could have imagined. Most had earned A and B. No one had averaged lower than C.

Before summer break. Mrs. Anderson, the headmaster, called me into her office for my end-of-year evaluation. “I want to congratulate you on a great freshman season,” she said with a smile. “Especially on how well you did with your remedial (矫正) kids.”

“Remedial kids? I don’t understand.”

Mrs. Anderson looked at me in a strange way. “Your first period class was a remedial. Surely you saw that indicated at the top of the roll (名单),” She pulled a file folder from a drawer and handed it to me. I opened it. There at the top, was the word HONORS. I showed it to Mrs. Anderson.

“Oh. dear,” she said. “What a mistake! How did you ever manage, treating slow students as though they were...”

I couldn't help but finish the sentence for her. “As though they were bright? I think we've both learned a lesson from this, one they didn't teach in any of the education courses I took, but one I'll never forget.”

【推荐1】Jennifer Rocha, who graduated from UC San Diego, said she wanted to thank her parents for support by taking graduation photos in the fields where she worked alongside them since high school.

“I wanted to take those pictures out there, specifically in the field, because that’s what made me go to college,” Rocha said. “That was my dad’s lesson of saying: If you don’t pursue a higher education, you’re going to be working here the rest of your life.” Rocha said her parents encouraged her and her siblings to pursue a higher education.

She started working in the fields with her parents when she was a junior in high school. Each day, she would go home and work planting strawberries overnight. “It was tough labor,” Rocha said as she remembered working late nights in the fields. “I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t want to be doing this my whole life.’”

Completing the past four years of college was not always easy for Rocha. While being a full-time student, she also worked at the university’s police department to help pay for her tuition. She worked long hours to fund her education. At times, her work shifts wouldn’t end until 4 or 5 am, leaving only a few hours to spare before the next class. “I have class at like 8 am, and it’s not worth me driving and then coming back,” Rocha said. “So, I would just nap in my car and then go to class after that. It was tough times, but I mean, we got that diploma.”

Rocha hopes her photos and her story will be an inspiration to immigrant families. She said it was important to include her parents in her graduation photos. “I wanted to not just honor them but honor all the migrant skilled workers, because a lot of times they aren’t recognized and we forget about them. My parents being migrant workers were able to have three girls get their college education, and you can do it, too, and your kids can.” she said.

【推荐2】Accompanied by typical Jin opera music, a red-faced performer with a long beard showed up at the hall of a high school in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. All the students in the hall stood up and craned (伸长) their necks to get a better look. In their eyes, Jin opera was something from the past.

They are not alone. It goes without saying that kids nowadays are much more familiar with popular music than traditional opera, which is why performing artist Wu Lingyun, together with his colleagues, goes to campuses to promote the art.

Wu Lingyun is best known for his role as Guan Gong, a general during the late Han Dynasty period.

Wu began playing the role in 1985, at the age of 21, and has been associated with it ever since.

Wu was significantly influenced by his parents, both of whom are also famous Jin opera performers. With a natural talent for performing and great effort, Wu was soon recognized by audiences and later awarded the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award in 2000, the highest award for Chinese drama performing arts.

Given Wu’s considerable fame, one might think he would now prefer to enjoy a life of leisure. However, this is far from the case. Deep down, Wu has a big dream. He pictures a growing future for Jin opera. Wu expected more chances for more people to get to know about the art, hoping Jin opera could become a worldwide art.

Wu has also made some changes to the traditional art to bring it up-to-date.“Jin opera should keep pace with the times if we want to bring it back to life and get the young generation to accept it,“ he says. “An art without life can never survive”“