我在中国当教育大使

文/Samantha Marie Hubner 译/张佳艺

听起来像是些陈词滥调，但2016年10月，我初次踏出国门之时，真的从未料到即将置身中国的两年会给我的生活带来多大影响。自从我在大学接触到中文课程以来，到中国去一直是我的愿望。意料之外，我竟在背井离乡8000英里的一座中国小城找到了我的第二个“家”。是的，这一切实实在在地发生了。

我记得在距阿尔及利亚边境40公里远的一家招待所里，正准备彻夜跋涉到撒哈拉沙漠时，我收到了一封来自衢州的电邮。那时我刚毕业一个月，一直以来都在国外生活、工作，享受着可以融入世界各地的机会。据维基百科显示，衢州是中国浙江省一座小城市，尤因孔子第二故乡而闻名（从未听闻的地方很是让人印象深刻）。但话虽如此，当我第一次踏足衢州时，我并没有感受到衢州值得期待之处。事实上，这反倒成为我成功转型的关键之一。AYC（安生美国青年教学使者项目）并没有去画毫无根据、不切实际的“大饼”，而是竭力使我们拥有开放的思想和乐观的态度，以迎接随着在异国他乡生活而来的种种挑战。无论落脚何处，生活向中国化转变无疑是个挑战。

好客的中国人

外籍教师的中国工作经历中最重要的内容之一就是社区。起初，你自然会被当地这些外国人吸引。这倒是个宝贵的机会——同他们分享国外生活经历，发掘与这些本不会有交集或本不相关的人之间的深厚友谊。除此之外，中国文化中的好客特征十分显著。直至今日，我在中国的任期即将告一段落，但这种文化一直让我倍感惊讶。我此前曾到中国旅行过，对地道的中国话有一定掌握，于是我和同事很快地与这座城市的许多当地人建立友谊。回想起来，我几乎无法相信我们在这么短的时间内便成为彼此生活中不可或缺的一部分，也不敢置信当我临别这个我心爱的堪称我第二个家的社区时，我竟如此依依不舍。

本文作者（前中）和学生们在一起

我最久最亲密的朋友之一是学校里的数学老师。说起来，我作为伴娘参加了他的婚礼！平时，我们几乎每天都在一起打排球。周末，尤其是在他家亲戚来拜访时，我还常去他公寓里和他们夫妇二人一起下厨。现在，他们和尚未出世的宝宝已经共处五个月了。虽然我将错过新生命的诞生，但在和朋友们一起为这个美好节点做准备时，我感到无比激动。他和我的其他同事们，也可以称之为我的兄长们，一直是我在中国期间最坚实的支持。在美国，我是家里三个孩子中最年长的。我以前从没想过要拥有一位长兄（我承认我享受做同龄人中最大的那一个），但我永远感激我在这里的七位兄长。我们共进午餐时，我们的其他同事有时会称呼我们为外教。这七个“小矮人”身高约在5英尺9英寸（约1.78米），我比他们当中的大多数人都要高。这些人是我和中国千丝万缕联系中的“冰山一角”，同其他人和事一样，他们都将成为我今后常回衢州看看的动力。

是教师更是知己

本文作者和其他AYC教育大使在一起

我的中国教育大使经历的另一亮点就是曾与我共事的优秀学生。作为一名高中教师，我拥有独特的机会和他们在接受教育的关键时期互动。高考是很多学生高中生涯中压力和焦虑的源头。考试分数决定学生未来去哪所大学、就读哪个专业。因此，压力在他们高中生活的第一个年头就开始了。我的学生们平时住在学校宿舍，早上6点直到晚上9点半或10点10分都要被“束缚”在教室里。如果没有课程安排，他们就要做作业，或者为下一批考试做准备。这和我的高中经历大相径庭，当初我的学业和运动以及其他课外活动相平衡。但正是由于这种文化差异的强烈敏感性，促使我最终突破传统外籍教师的角色界限，接受了教育大使的理念。

在学校领导、父母和学生自己的高标准支配下，中国的高中教师和学生一样兢兢业业。教师必须克服无休止的评分、每日的备课等日常挑战，以帮助学生达到高考要求。这些要求并不总是能让教师有额外时间去迎合每位学生的心理健康，但这种健康在生命的这个时期却是至关重要的，对那些在高三冲刺期背负强压的学生来说更是如此。作为一名外籍教师，从某种程度上来说，我的责任与同事的不同之处在于我能够为学生提供对课外时间与注意力的需求，使我成为学生摆脱应试压力以及从不同角度看世界的窗口，这是其他老师常无法实现的。在这种作用下，我发觉自己所履行的是教育大使的职责，而非仅仅是外籍教师。

受这一角色启发，我发现自己不仅要成为一名教师，更是要做学生的知己和导师。于是我开始“头脑风暴”，试图寻求其他方式，让自己可以为学校、为社区带来长久的影响。外籍教师不仅在课程设计上享有很大自由，在学校整体方面也是如此。于我而言，作为学校唯一的外籍教师，我希望自己是平易近人的、赤诚待人的、跨文化自如的。因此，在过去两年中，我发起了许多社区项目，如为学校图书馆购入英国小说之类的国际图书。该项目推行“阅读无国界”全校阅读活动，旨在激发并点燃学生在阅读与英语学习方面的热情，使其学会欣赏并接受不同的思维方式。来自世界各地英语国家的人邮寄来100余部小说，我们定期核对，学生自由阅览。我还精心策划了为期一个月的在线笔友项目，将我的800多名学生与通过社交媒体招募的来自世界20多个国家的英语人士联系起来。虽然我在招募人员和组织项目时付出了很多艰辛，但每当看到学生收到笔友来信后脸上露出溢于言表的喜悦时，我就觉得一切都是值得的。

作为美国国务院的前雇员，我另一个成功的付出是组织了该县有史以来首次高中模拟联合国会议。目前，我正在协调我的学生同我母校的中国教授之间的一次交流访问，借此为学生们搭建讨论及对比从高中生活过渡到大学生活的平台。现在最让我激动不已的是我正筹备的周末毕业舞会，打算从中让学生体验美国高中的生活方式。正如在他们这个年龄时我所做的那样，学生们将精心打扮，在照相机前留影，在健身房听音乐。

谈及过去两年对我的深远影响，我可以滔滔不绝地说下去。这足以说明AYC经历的价值的确不可估量。作为一个美国人，要在中国找到自己的生活节奏绝非易事。但正是有了这段经历，我才形成更具社会意识和全球参与意识的人格，这也让我在返回美国之际，自豪满怀。［Samantha Marie Hubner（美国），2017—2018年度AYC大使之一，任教于中国浙江省衢州市第一中学］

本文作者与衢州小朋友交流

Cliché as it may sound, when I first moved abroad in October of 2016, I truly had no idea just how much the next two years in China would impact my life. Coming back to China had always been part of my plan ever since I began studying Mandarin in university but I certainly never expected to find a second home in a small Chinese city almost 8,000 miles away from all of my family and friends back in the USA. And yet, that is precisely what happened.

I remember I was in a small hostel about 40 kilometers out from the Algerian border getting ready for an overnight trek into the Sahara when I received my placement email...a city called Quzhou. I had just graduated for all of one month and was living and working abroad ever since,enjoying the opportunity to immerse in other parts of the world. According to Wikipedia, Quzhou was a small city in Zhejiang Province that was most famous for being a recognized hometown of Confucius (pretty impressive for a place I’d never heard of!). But that being said, I didn’t have much of an idea of what to expect of Quzhou when I first arrived. But truth be told, I think that was one of the keys to a successful transition... instead of coming in with illfounded and grandiose expectations, AYC worked to equip us with the open minds and optimistic attitudes necessary to adjust to the challenges of expat life in China. Because no matter where we were going to be living, the transition to life in China was sure to be a challenge.

Extremely Hospitable Chinese

One of the greatest parts about working as a foreign teacher in China is the community. Of course at first, you naturally gravitate toward your fellow foreigners in the area which creates a valuable opportunity for you to discover meaningful relationships with people that perhaps you would not have been able to connect to or relate with, save sharing the experience now of living abroad. Beyond that though, the Chinese culture is extremely hospitable which is something that continues to amaze me even now as my time in China comes to an end. Because I had traveled around China before and already had a decent command of the language, I quickly stumbled into a great deal of lasting friendships with my colleagues as well as many other locals in my city. Thinking back, I can hardly believe how quickly we all became such integral parts of each other’s lives and how difficult it will be for me to move away from the beloved community and home I’ve found here. One of my first and closest friends is a math teacher at my school; in fact, I was a bridesmaid in his wedding! We play volleyball together almost every day and I often go to his apartment to cook with him and his wife on weekends,especially when their other relatives come to visit. Right now, they are about five months along with their first pregnancy. And while I will unfortunately miss out on the birth, I could not be more excited to help my friends now as they prepare for this milestone. He and my other colleagues, turned adoptive “big brothers,” have been such a crucial source of support for me during my time abroad.Back in the US, I’m the oldest of three children. And while I can’t say I ever wanted a big brother (as I admittedly did enjoy being the oldest), I am forever grateful for the seven big brothers I found here. When we eat lunch altogether,our other colleagues sometimes call us the foreign teacher and the seven dwarves because at 5’9/178cm, I tend to tower over most of them! Nonetheless, they are just one example of the many meaningful relationships that are going to be the force that pulls me back to visit Quzhou frequently throughout the rest of my life.

Not only teacher,but a confidants and mentor

One of the other highlights of my time in China as an Educational Ambassador was the incredible students I worked with. As a high school teacher, I had a unique opportunity to interact with students at a very crucial time in their education. The GaoKao, is the source of a great deal of stress and anxiety throughout students’ high school experience. The score of this exam is what determines a student’s prospective university and major. Thus the pressure begins immediately during their first year of high school. My students live in dormitories during the week and have to report to their classrooms from 6:00 A.M. until 9:30-10:10 P.M. every day. If they were not having class,they were either doing homework or studying to prepare for their next set of exams. This greatly deviated from my personal high school experience where my coursework was balanced out by a number of sports and other extracurricular activities. But it was an acute sensitivity of this cultural difference that ended up pushing me to go beyond my traditional role as a foreign teacher and embrace AYC’s idea of an Educational Ambassador.

At the mercy of school leadership, anxious parents, and their own high standards, Chinese high school teachers are worked just as hard as their students. Interminable grading and daily lesson preparation are daily challenges the teachers must overcome to help students meet the demands of the GaoKao, which doesn’t always allow them the extra time to cater to every student’s individual mental health. However this emotional well-being is certainly crucial at this time of life, especially for those students feeling the full force of pressure in their last year of high school preparing for their final attempt of the GaoKao. As a foreign teacher, my responsibilities differed from my colleagues in a way which allowed me to provide the time and attention students needed outside of class that other teachers often could not. By creating a consistent presence in the office, I was able to become an outlet for my students,giving them an opportunity to escape from the pressure of exams and see the world from a different perspective.It was in this capacity that I first began to feel like I was fulfilling my role as an Educational Ambassador and not just a foreign teacher.

Inspired by this role I had found as not only a teacher, butas a confidante and mentor, I began to brainstorm other ways I could create a more lasting impact on my school and community. Foreign teachers are granted a lot of freedom not only in designing their lessons, but also in their overall school presence. And for me, as my school’s only foreign teacher, I wanted to create a clear presence of approachability, authenticity, and cross cultural engagement.

This was what gave way to many community projects over the last two years, including an international book drive of English novels for the school library, which launched a school-wide reading campaign entitled “Reading Without Borders”, aiming to stimulate enthusiasm and passion for not only reading and English, but appreciating and embracing different ways of thinking. In total, people from English-speaking countries all over the world mailed us over 100 novels which are now regularly checked out and read by students. I also orchestrated a month-long online pen pal project connecting my 800+ students with English speakers from over 20 different countries around the world,all recruited using social media. Though an admittedly arduous endeavor to recruit and keep organized, it was so worth it to see my students’ faces lighting up with excitement every time they received a new letter from their pen pal.

Another successful endeavor that is deeply personal to me as a former employee of the US Department of State was organizing the county’s first ever high school Model United Nations conference. And right now, I’m finishing up coordinating an exchange and visit from my alma mater,including my own Chinese professor and current students,to give my students a platform to discuss and compare the transition from high school to university. However what I’m most excited about right now is the small prom I’ve planned to give my students a taste of American high school tradition this coming weekend. I have arranged for students to dress up, have a photo booth, and listen to music in the gym just like I did at their age!

While I could go on and on about the many ways these last two years have profoundly impacted me, suffice it is to say that the worth of the AYC experience is truly immeasurable. By no means was it easy to find my rhythm as an American living in China, but through this experience, I’ve cultivated a more socially aware and globally engaged persona that I am proud to take back to the US with me.[Samantha Marie Hubner (US) is one of our 2016-2017 & 2017-2018 Educational Ambassadors. She teaches in Quzhou No.1 High School, Zhejiang Province, China]