Beauty in Each Flower， Wisdom in Each Student

Yilin Chen

【Abstract】A delicate fragrance hides deep in the mountains and swings between the tall trees. Sunshine flows through the shade of the trees， and slides on the ground in the yard beside the little wooden house. Here， in Portland， Oregon， where I go to high school as an international exchange student from China， people live a slow lifestyle with spare time to enjoy weekends and holidays， and the beauty of nature. During my spare time， I relax and care for flowers in the garden.

【關鍵詞】Each Flower； Each Student； English； vocabulary

【作者簡介】Yilin Chen， Westside Christian High School， Tigard， Oregon， USA.

When I spend a long time with the flowers， I feel they become me and I become them. Their colors plant in my heart， and sometimes I do not even need to see them because I can feel who they are. Different seasons have different flowers， and they each represent different beauty. Yet， the flowers share a common factor： they each have a value and reason to exist. I do not have a single favorite flower， as I see the beauty and important role of each and every flower in my mind.

Each summer， when I return to China for the school break， I go to a poor village in NAME OF PROVINCE/STATE to teach English for a month or half to elementary school kids. Education resources in China are really unequal between the rich and the poor and the cities and the country. Some kids receive little education and rarely skills in other languages like English. As an exchange student from China to America， I have unique experiences and knowledge. I want to share with kids.

In the beginning， the classes were really hard. I treated the kids as my students. I forced them to memorize vocabulary required by the Chinese government， vocabulary not of my own choosing. Each student needs to know a certain amount of vocabulary in English before they graduate and take the middle school entrance test. These kids were already in fifth grade and two years away from middle school， but they had not learned much English as no teacher was available. While fifth grade students in Beijing and other big cities often knew many English words and could speak simple sentences， these kids in this poor village knew no words and not even the alphabet. The students had no enthusiasm and tested my patience. I didnt know what to do.

I almost gave up， because I did not know what to do to help. “Maybe Im too young to be a teacher，” I thought one day after school. I took a walk on a small path in the mountain and reflected， “Im overwhelmed， but I dont want to give up as the other teachers did.” I walked carefully over and around rock and brush， and felt I had no choice but to stay as I knew the kids needed me. The early summer afternoon in south China was hot， but the walk gave me a needed break， and so I watched the flowers dancing with the rhythm of the wind.

The jasmine special fragrance stood out to me； although jasmine is not as pretty as peony， or as colorful as rose， it smelled really good. I felt released. I picked some of the jasmine petals， planning to make some healthy Chinese jasmine tea. I kept walking， and some grass type of stuff stopped me， mugwort， a type of plant which keeps mosquitos away. The smell of mugwort is not as good as jasmine， and its appearance is not that attractive， but it plays a role in nature nonetheless. On my way back to the school， I passed a pond with lotus floating on the surface， and they looked so nice. Though they were not as colorful as some of the other flowers， they still looked perfectly placed， and I thought out loud， “I should make lotus cake for my students.”

During this adventure， I discovered some new things about education. There are no bad students everyone has something good to offer， and a special intelligence， almost like a super power， they bring to the world. Each flowers is different and yet equal in value， role， and purpose， and students are not the same either. A good teachers job is to take an adventure and discover and train the super power in each student.

After my walk， I started to treat the students as my friends and to figure out each ones uniqueness. The situation in the classroom became much better， because I noticed their different beauties. Some were good at art， while some were good at acting， and then there was a girl I can never forget. Her name was Siyu， and she had a hard time memorizing the vocabulary， but she was really good at music. So， one day， I encouraged her to create a song which included all the hard vocabularies， to help her memorize. She really did it， brought it to the class and shared with others. The whole class used her song as a tool to get through the hard time of memorizing. I was like a gardener fertilizing new growth and beauty in her flowers.

Now， getting my own education in America， spending time with the flowers in the garden is a habit. I love all the flowers and know， somehow， they each have a reason to be here， each with wisdom and beauty to share.