Translated…
In the school I taught at, most of the students were younger generation immigrants. Last year, there was a grandmother from Taiwan, who sat in with the younger students, and learned. I’d originally worried, that she may have difficulties adjusting, but, Grandma Yueh-Xiang had been extremely focused in my lectures, and never missed a session.
Before midterms, she’d taken her practice exams, came to me, said that if she couldn’t find a Chinese character on the texts, then, she didn’t know how to write them. I’d consoled with her, it’s okay, that she doesn’t know how to write some of the characters, so long as she could communicate with others.
Grandma Yueh-Xiang was very happy, that the teacher could understand her, she’d continued, “My grandson would laugh at me when I got something wrong, and, said that I forgot what I’d learned so easily.” I’d asked her, “Grandma, how old is your grandson?” “He’s in the second grade!” She took out her cell phone, and showed me the photo, and started sharing with me.
Turns out, that grandma lives with her son and daughter-in-law, after her grandson was born, she’d worked hard, taking care of him during the day time, but, what seemed to be a peaceful life started changing. Her daughter-in-law who often carpooled with someone, had struck up a love with the man, decided to divorce Grandma Yueh-Xiang’s son. Feeling bad about how her grandson no longer had a mother, she’d put all of her energy into caring for him.
Because she’d wanted her grandson to have a great teacher to start, Grandma Yueh-Xiang had even hired a tutor for him, to encourage her grandson to work hard in school. Later she’d learned about there’s Chinese lessons from the continuing education schools, she’d wanted to learn the phonetics and the Chinese characters again, to become a role model for her grandson, and so, her grandson could teach her too, and hoped that through the interactions, she can help him build his self-confidence.
“Teacher, seeing how my grandson improves by the day, I’m really happy, he saw how his elderly grandma rode the motorcycle to school every single day, said that he shall study hard too.” “Grandma Yueh-Xiang, you truly ARE a good role model for your grandson.” Turns out, that grandma not only just read the texts from the books, she also saw the hopes for her grandson too.
And so, this grandmother is using herself as a role model, for her grandson to take after, and, by studying hard in school, she’s inspiring her grandson to work hard in school as well.