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Grade 6: Words from the Spring in Heart

January 12, 2017

Grade 6: Words from the Spring in Heart

Invited by Shanghai High School International Division (SHSID), “Spring in Heart” was thrilled to visit the beautiful campus for the first time. We were hoping to share stories with the students from the mountains, and also let them experience firsthand what life skills lessons are like. Yet, we were worried. Will the students who have grown up in metropolitan cities truly understand the meaning of this course? Will the stories inspire them as we hope?

When we started to show the slides, kids were quickly drawn to the photos and stories that “Spring in Heart” experienced in the Jiangxi province.

Last winter, volunteers of “Spring in Heart” delivered books and supplies to the elementary schools we support in Suichuan, Jiangxi. When we finally arrived to the schools after hours of a bumpy ride, we were surrounded by children in slippers, or even bare feet. Their warm greetings instantly showed us the world’s purest and most straightforward affection.

“Spring in Heart” started book donations seven years ago, but 2015 was the first year we started volunteer teaching. During our visit, students from village schools were over the moon to have the chance to read, dance, and sing with volunteers. As we interacted more with the kids, we started noticing a lack of warmth in some kids’ eyes. We figured it was probably colder than how they felt with no warm shoes in winter times.

70% of students in these schools in Suichuan Jiangxi are left-behind children. Their parents have to go to big cities to make money, leaving the kids at home with grandparents or other relatives. Not able to see their parents for years, these kids have higher tendency to be emotionally unstable, easily anxious, and lacking of self-confidence. Many of them have built up hatred towards their parents. After we talked to the kids, we knew that merely providing books or short-term volunteering assistance would be far from enough to fill the emptiness in their hearts. The kids need to have a channel to express their anxieties and hopes to someone who can listen, empathize, and who can give them courage to face what life has to offer them, whether happy or sad.

With this goal in mind, “Spring in Heart” formed a team with many experts who specialize in Life-Skill Education and Child Psychology. Over the past year, we have developed a whole life-skills curriculum, combining picture books, videos and interactive games. Through these craftily designed lesson plans, we hope to pass on the key messages in life to teachers and kids. Education experts have been to Jiangxi several times to train local teachers, and to provide guidance to teachers in the classes. Kids gradually opened up their hearts and started sharing moments of happiness, agony, awkwardness, and proudness with their teachers. When we saw the sparkles in the kids’ eyes, we knew we had successfully made the first step.

During our presentation, we also gave SHSID student reps a chance to experience a life-skills lesson firsthand. The lesson was about courage. We asked students to read out-loud how the kids in the mountains understood what courage is. “Courage is to do something again; courage is to try something for the first time; courage is to sleep with the light out; courage is to make friends with strangers; courage is go to hospital alone when you are sick…” When they read “courage is to leave parents for the first time”, one girl raised her hand and shared with us her own courage. “I understand that courage because I’ve experienced it. I want to donate my Lucky Money to “Spring In Heart” for the cause.” Our eyes started tearing up because we knew then we did not need to worry. Kids could indeed understand the stories because these common emotions were shared by every human being. It was the love for life, no matter rich or poor.

We very much appreciate the opportunity provided by SHSID, who has always been devoted to the public cause. From those kids, we saw the nature of education: One tree can shake another tree, a cloud will move another cloud, and a soul is able to awaken another soul.

“Spring in Heart” will continue to march on. We hope life-skills education can bring springs into the hearts of left-behind children.

(Written by Spring in Heart Picture by Mr. Johnson)