The principal saw her surprise and explained.
“Originally, there was a teacher for the sixth grade, but she got pregnant and is due to give birth. She won’t be coming back after the summer holidays.”
“For the first few days of school, Teacher Tang has been taking care of the sixth grade. But as you know, our salaries are so low, and she’s here as a volunteer teacher from far away. If she keeps getting overworked, I’m afraid she won’t stay.”
“The sixth graders are older, have more complex thoughts, and are rebellious. So, you’ll just take care of one class.”
“But you’ll still need to put in just as much effort, I understand that. I’ll have to trouble you in the future.”
Since other teachers could manage two classes, why should she be so particular?
Tián Tián agreed immediately.
“I’ll go and hand over to Teacher Tang later.”
The three of them went to the dormitory.
The lower bunks were already taken, so Tián Tián had to sleep on the upper bunk.
This was the first time in her life she had seen this kind of bunk bed, and it was made of iron.
The floor was uneven, and the bed creaked when it moved.
Honestly, lying on it to sleep made her feel a bit uneasy.
Chén Dōngyáng, having thought of this on his first visit, took out a few pieces of scrap iron from his pocket, prepared in advance.
He asked Tián Tián which one she wanted to sleep on. Tián Tián chose the one by the window. Chén Dōngyáng then shook the bed left and right, padding the corners of the bed.
“There, it doesn’t wobble anymore. Sleeping on the upper bunk is a bit inconvenient, but you’ll get used to it after a few days. Make do for now.”
Actually, he wanted to say: If you really can’t get used to it, you can come to my place. I’ll decorate a beautiful room for you.
But with the principal there, and afraid Tián Tián would be shy, he held back.
Tián Tián nodded, and Chén Dōngyáng went to unpack her luggage, taking on the responsibility of wiping the bed and making it.
“This won’t do. It’s too thin. You might feel uncomfortable sleeping on it. And there’s no air conditioning in the dormitory, it’ll be too hot without a mat. When you go to class, I’ll buy you a thicker quilt and a mat to put on top.”
He had also been a pampered young master since childhood. It was only after the incident that he had gone through a few days of hardship with Zēng Huì. He didn’t expect to be quite so adept at this.
Tián Tián didn’t want to trouble him further, but time was running out, and she had to go to class. She took 300 yuan in cash and gave it to him.
“This is all the cash I have. Buy what you can with this. You don’t need to get anything too fancy.”
Were they both so polite that they even needed to exchange money for buying things?
Chén Dōngyáng didn’t want to accept it, but the principal kept looking at them expectantly, so he could only take it.
“Alright, then give me the change as a running errand fee.”
Tián Tián secretly rolled her eyes at him.
The three of them went out. The principal led Tián Tián towards the office again, and Chén Dōngyáng really should have left.
“I’ll be going then. You go to your class, and I’ll come and set it up for you later.”
“Okay,” Tián Tián, already at the office door, couldn’t help but look back.
“I’ve got everything sorted out. You should head back to Nancheng. Don’t let it delay your work.”
Chén Dōngyáng didn’t like hearing that. He ignored her, waved his hand, and drove off, skillfully turning the car around.
The other teachers had finished their meal and returned to the office, each with their own desk. The principal told Tián Tián to take the empty one.
Tián Tián quickly handed over the teaching content to Teacher Tang. As the eight o’clock bell rang, she took her textbook and went to the classroom.
The villages surrounding Qīngshuǐ Town were quite backward and remote.
Originally, each village had a primary school. As young people went out to work, the population loss was too severe. Gradually, each village had only three to five students, or even just one or two, making it impossible to run the schools.
Later, with the Project Hope initiative in the countryside, the town took the lead in establishing this school, bringing together students from all the surrounding villages and housing them in a dormitory.
The more than thirty students in the classroom now represented the hope of the sixth grade for the entire Qīngshuǐ Town.
Tián Tián’s younger brother, Zhàn Jǐngchén, was already one meter seventy-five when he was in the sixth grade.
By the time he graduated from junior high, he was already one meter eighty-six.
It was said online that with the continuous improvement of living standards and scientific technology, the height of young people was increasing year by year.
However, in this remote place, the sixth graders were all little sprouts.
As Tián Tián walked in, she saw them all either slumped or sitting, staring at her with wide, watery eyes. They were so small, she even suspected she had the wrong place.
“Is this the sixth grade?”
Out of the 34 students, 28 were boys. After staring at her pretty face for a few seconds, they burst into laughter.
A slightly taller boy in the back row, who looked a bit mischievous, said in the rustic dialect of Qīngshuǐ Town.
“What else could it be if not the sixth grade? Teacher, you can’t be illiterate, can you?”
The class erupted in another wave of laughter.
Perhaps it was their typical northern complexion and accent that made one feel protective, or perhaps their appearances were too tender. Their laughter carried no malice, so Tián Tián didn’t take their laughter to heart and even smiled along.
“It’s the first day of class, I was too excited and afraid I had the wrong place. It’s good that I didn’t. Shall we start the lesson then?”
“My name is Jiāng Jǐngtián.”
She picked up a piece of chalk and, imitating her former teacher, neatly wrote her name on the blackboard.
The first class went smoothly. There was none of the peculiar naughtiness of city children.
These children, if they were willing to listen, would sit up straight and listen attentively.
If they were unwilling to listen, they would just slump on their desks, picking at their desks, their fingers, or staring out the window blankly.
No one sarcastically mocked the teacher, nor did anyone deliberately perform outrageous actions to attract the teacher’s attention.
However, the number of students willing to listen was very small; the majority were daydreaming.
Tián Tián felt a little frustrated, fearing that the students were not interested in her teaching style. She finally set aside ten minutes for the students to give their opinions.
“This is my first time as a teacher, and I know there are many shortcomings. Are you willing to help me improve?”
“What teaching style do you expect from a teacher? I’ll try my best to meet your requirements. Let’s cooperate well and work hard together, okay?”
The students were not proactive in speaking and just stared at her with wide eyes.
Tián Tián had to call on them by name.
On the dusty podium, a handwritten class roster was attached.
She randomly picked a few names, but the students were all shy. They stood up, pursed their lips and smiled, unwilling to say more than a word.
When they were in school, in order to help their children learn better and better, many parents suggested that the school cut music and art classes.
They thought, why waste so much time on entertainment? They wouldn’t learn music or art in the future anyway. Students’ sole duty was to study hard.
Actually, Tián Tián didn’t quite understand why the school arranged these subjects when she was a student.
They couldn’t master them, and most were snatched up by other teachers, creating false expectations.
At this moment, she understood.
Endlessly rigid teaching only stifled children’s childlike innocence and widened the gap between teachers and students.
Organizing humanized classes and livening up the classroom atmosphere, with a closer relationship between teachers and students, would facilitate better communication.