Lessons learned in county classes

They called me "grandpa", and they meant it. The preschoolers at Huichang Zhulan Demonstration School had never seen anyone with light hair aside from the elderly.

I'm a blond 33-year-old. I'm getting there, but I have a few years and hairs to go, I hope. I've been to many places where few, if any, foreigners tread, but this was a new one for me.

Other scenes at the rural school in Jiangxi province's Huichang county reminded me of visiting similar classrooms elsewhere in the country. Children bent over balconies and peered through windows. The more outgoing volunteered "hello" and "how are you?" before detonating into explosions of giggles, slapping their hands over their grinning faces.

Yet one thing stood out among the children compared with other rural schools I've visited: their English was on par with any urban student and they could hold conversations far beyond simple greetings.

Chen Yan, who is in ninth grade, hopes to be a translator. Her classmate, 16-year-old Lai Honghui, wants to be a cook. "I enjoy making food for my family," he says.

Liu Qianyi, also 16, wants to be an engineer or a singer. She asked me to sing a song to her class. Partly to get a few chuckles, I crooned one of the few Chinese songs I know, Liang Zhi Laohu, a children's song set to Brother John but with a totally different plotline than the English and original French versions.

The Chinese lyrics aren't about a drowsy Christian monk but rather two cavorting tigers missing body parts. It raised a smile in the class, but I ended up guffawing harder when Liu and her classmate retorted by serenading me with the same song, although translating the Chinese version into English. I'd never considered the possibility of singing the international tune's Chinese lyrics in English.

The teachers at the school, which pilots a composite of basic and vocational education, agree life on campus has become better over time. English-language instructor Huang Xiaoyun, who has taught in the countryside for 15 years, says it was her childhood dream to become a rural teacher, just like her father. She has realized this ambition, but admits she was initially disappointed upon arriving in Zhulan.

"I found dilapidated buildings and poorly equipped classrooms," she recalls. "But I noticed all the students studied hard despite the deprivation. They showed strong will and studied happily. So I forgot my disenchantment."

Huang is delighted the campus has been upgraded over the past decade, adding: "We have new teaching buildings, modern classrooms and new dormitories for teachers and students."

Lai Guilan, another English teacher, recalls years ago having to share a room with three other teachers. They now have individual rooms, where they live on weeknights. They also get monthly transport and accommodation subsidies of about $60 to $150, on top of salaries that max out at $170 a month.

"Many career opportunities presented themselves after I graduated from university, but I chose the countryside," says teacher Luo Cuiyun, who like Lai is qualified to work in urban schools. "It's poor and backward compared with the cities, but if you're diligent you get more opportunities."

(China Daily European Weekly 06/24/2016 page16)