Translated…
Recently, I’d often felt touched by my over-twenty kids’ childish words, and, they’d always, done the improvisations, never gone according to the scripts, and, the name of the play is called, “Walking All Around to See All the Trees”.
the artwork of a child…
When I’d taken the group of kids to the garden of our community for a stroll, the group immediately turned into the busy honeybees instantly, flew all over the places, here and there, making the discoveries of their external environments. All of a sudden, Kiki pulled my hand, exclaimed, “teacher, there’s a flower, growing out of the walls!”, everybody circled around, and looked closely at the pink flowers, the periwinkle that’s found everywhere, because the most exotic flower the kids had, ever seen. The four-year-old Yu saw some small leaves he’d described it, “feels prickly to the touch, like sharpened teeth.”, Jun saw a favorite tree of his, pulled my hand, to feel the bark, “teacher, the bark feels so slippery, the branch looks like a flying eagle!” ah, so, there’s not a mustang inside of Jun’s mind, but an eagle that’s, soaring, high, above the skies.
here’s another, to hang up on those classroom walls…
A little while later, some of the children started playing a game of trains and tunnels, Ying and Yun were still observing the different trees, then, Ying called out loudly, “So many ants came out of the tree!”, and, all of the other kids dropped what they were doing, and ran over to see. Yun said, “This tree looks like something you’d find on the beaches.” Yu said, “There are, segments on the outside bark”, Chih said, “it looks like bamboo shoots.”, turns out, every child observes this tree at the different angles.
Ying found, another big secret, there was, a snail shell, hiding, beneath the tree the kids all told each other to talk softly, “The snail is napping inside, let’s not wake him up.” At which time, Jia whispered into my ears, “teacher, I saw a green tree that looked like a Christmas tree!”, turns out, a young pine can bring so much nostalgia to a child, imagining, that there are, an assortment of gifts that he loved hanging from it.
with the kids’ wishes too…
As we’d returned to the class, I’d asked the children to think back to how they’d felt, seeing the trees, and draw out “My Most Favorite Tree of All”, through the real-life experiences of touching, and observing, every child drew out a unique tree that’s her/his own favorite, some were segmented, some had snail inhabitants, some with prickly leaves………, they all looked, lively.
I loved how curious these children are about their external environments, they’d used so much passions, to examine each grain of sand they see, seeing a heaven, from a small flower, it’d filled my days, with endless number of surprises. I hope that until they grow up, they won’t forget, the beauties in their minds, as well as in the world all around.
here’s one, bearing the fruits!
So, this, would be the wonderment, of taking care of a group of children, because they’re so very innocent, they can see things that the adults usually fail to notice, and this, is just how amazing children really are.
Life, the Obstacle Course 