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Published: August 10th 2007
We are the 3 Foreign English Teachers of Taizhou Teachers College
Ms. Stephanie from Kansas City, USA, on my left and Ms. Sue from Brisbaine, Australia to my right.It's April at Taizhou Teachers College in Jiangsu Province of China, and spring is in the air. The sky is bluer, and the warmer days are more frequent and very pleasant.
Campus life at our college is at fever pitch, especially since this is also the month, when our small teachers college is to receive its five year evaluation by the Education Dept. of Jiangsu. This most important report will present the success and short-comings of the college's academic performance to the city, to the province, and to China.
Administrators, Department Chairs, Teachers, Support Staff, as well as the Students are totally committed to a successful outcome, and are working 12 hours a day and 7 days a week, attending to all of the details, making sure the college maintains its good standing as Taizhou's "premier" teachers college.
Our College President, Mr. Xu, burdens an overwhelming responsibility to maintain the school's academic standing among the many schools and colleges in and around the city of Taizhou. His calm demeanor, his approving smile, his skills as a respected administator and educator, and his intuitive nature have brought him to this position of success.
This evaluation is important, and Mr.
Xu seems the right man at this moment of great optimism for a successful academic-report from the government of Jiangsu.
As all of the paper-work in preparation of the evaluation is nearing completion, the campus grounds and its buildings have also been carefully groomed. I have not seen the campus so beautiful as at this moment. Many wonderful older trees, that have been standing since the founding of Taizhou Teachers College some 50 years ago, are turning to glowing shades of green, while others blossom profusely in rich colors below the blue skies.
The subtle spring breezes offer a challenge to the flight of the bees and insects, as they wing-dance toward the intoxicating blossoms of the peach- and cherry-, and apple-trees. These lure with their deep reds, and shades of pink among the gentle willows, that line our small lake. Even the schools of gold-fish make more regular visits to the top, as they skim along the water and chase the sunlight.
Our campus has truly become one of the city's garden-jewels. The local news-crews make sure they film some of the campus-colors, and record a small spectacle of spring at our school for the evening
news.
My first spring-semester in China continues to flourish among very special people: My collegues, my friends, and most of all my "lovely" and gentle students who surround me and comfort me daily.
All of my students continue to strive and thrive under very obvious pressures, as they each do their "extra-part" in the success of the provincial commission report, now only three weeks away.
For each of them, there are simply not sufficient hours in the day to prepare, and to study, and to read, and to memorize, to learn, to agonize, and to succeed in the "ever-next" examination.
But they never complain. They continue to giggle and to play like students in younger ages, and they accept every new stress and anxiety as their duty. I often wonder about inner scars, "if any", each of my students will carry with them into their future from this structured and academic riggor; or will it truly make them the stronger women/men and the better person, they always tell me, they wish to become?
( Remember, there are 2 pages of photo images, and enlarging them will provide a better vista of our beautiful little college)
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Sandra
non-member comment
the flowers are breathtakingly GORGEOUS... they seem as though they're reaching out to you. we miss you and love you here, as always :)