朱奇琪
唐代詩(shī)人劉皂寫(xiě)過(guò)一首旅居懷鄉(xiāng)的七言絕句:“客舍并州已十霜,歸心日夜憶咸陽(yáng)。無(wú)端更渡桑乾水,卻望并州是故鄉(xiāng)?!比q金秋,我去阿塞拜疆巴庫(kù)大學(xué)孔子學(xué)院支教。關(guān)山萬(wàn)里,離鄉(xiāng)十月,完成支教后在今年盛夏回安徽合肥、復(fù)返故鄉(xiāng)海寧。回望阿塞拜疆首都巴庫(kù),有類似的感覺(jué)。有對(duì)該國(guó)首都巴庫(kù)若干“鄉(xiāng)情”之懷念。
肩負(fù)使命遠(yuǎn)赴絲路古城
在亞歐大陸的交匯處,在里海的西岸和高加索山脈的東南部有一個(gè)面積為8.66萬(wàn)平方公里的國(guó)家叫阿塞拜疆。這個(gè)國(guó)家崇拜火,在很多地方可以看到各種各樣的長(zhǎng)明火臺(tái);國(guó)內(nèi)盛產(chǎn)石油,石油產(chǎn)業(yè)促進(jìn)了整個(gè)國(guó)家的現(xiàn)代化發(fā)展。其首都巴庫(kù)有“小迪拜”之稱,是古代“絲綢之路”上的一座名城,也是當(dāng)下“一帶一路”建設(shè)中十分重要的節(jié)點(diǎn)城市與合作伙伴。然而我和很多人一樣,在未踏入這片土地之前,對(duì)這個(gè)“名不見(jiàn)經(jīng)傳”的國(guó)家一無(wú)所知。2016年初秋,我在合肥的安徽大學(xué)文學(xué)院就讀“對(duì)外漢語(yǔ)”碩士生第二學(xué)年,經(jīng)過(guò)考試合格,通過(guò)國(guó)家漢辦的“漢語(yǔ)教師志愿者”項(xiàng)目來(lái)到了巴庫(kù),成為巴庫(kù)國(guó)立大學(xué)孔子學(xué)院的一名志愿者教師。
2016年9月4日,我和同行的志愿者們乘坐飛機(jī)抵達(dá)阿塞拜疆,飛機(jī)還未降落時(shí)我就看到了里海,以及一片廣袤的土地。眼下見(jiàn)不到綠色,我心里不禁有了一絲忐忑,擔(dān)心這個(gè)穆斯林國(guó)家會(huì)不會(huì)物資匱乏,物價(jià)昂貴,也擔(dān)心自己會(huì)不會(huì)因?yàn)槲幕町惗贿m應(yīng)。但在巴庫(kù)的街頭漫步三五天后,這些困惑就隨著里海的風(fēng)煙消云散了。巴庫(kù)是一個(gè)古老與現(xiàn)代完美結(jié)合的城市,巴庫(kù)最著名的景點(diǎn)便是它的古城,這座始建于12世紀(jì)的古建筑位于市中心繁華地帶,它讓我想到了北京的紫禁城。
往外走是沙俄殖民期間的巴洛克式建筑,現(xiàn)在已成為市民購(gòu)物娛樂(lè)之地,再往外就是高樓聳立的新城。我所住的公寓,工作的學(xué)校就在那里。我們?cè)诎蛶?kù)最主要的交通是地鐵和公交車,地鐵的主要干道是前蘇聯(lián)時(shí)期的產(chǎn)物,挖得非常深,乘電梯一眼望不到頭,不過(guò)電梯速度也比中國(guó)快很多,由于我不會(huì)俄語(yǔ),通過(guò)英語(yǔ)的溝通,出門選公共交通是最佳的選擇。
在巴庫(kù)生活了一段時(shí)間不久,我知曉了此行增派七八名志愿者教師、擴(kuò)大巴庫(kù)孔子學(xué)院教育陣容之緣由。中國(guó)與阿塞拜疆建立外交關(guān)系已有24年,彼此友好相處。2015年該國(guó)總統(tǒng)阿利耶夫訪問(wèn)中國(guó),受到了熱烈歡迎,與我國(guó)國(guó)家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人會(huì)談中達(dá)成重要共識(shí),簽署了一批合作文件。就在我們到達(dá)該國(guó)的三個(gè)月前,中國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)院副總理張高麗應(yīng)邀訪問(wèn)該國(guó),落實(shí)上年兩國(guó)國(guó)家元首會(huì)談的具體任務(wù),除了能源、交通、基礎(chǔ)建設(shè)等以外,還就擴(kuò)大“教育、文化和旅游”等方面豐富和拓展了諸多項(xiàng)目,簽下了相應(yīng)的備忘錄。所以,在我們一批新的孔子學(xué)院志愿者腦海中,可以說(shuō)補(bǔ)上了“國(guó)家使命”的責(zé)任感。
寓教于樂(lè)傳播中國(guó)文化
我在巴庫(kù)待了十個(gè)多月,每一天我都很充實(shí)。在巴庫(kù)大學(xué)的孔子學(xué)院我第一次以老師的身份站在講臺(tái)上,那時(shí)的緊張和激動(dòng)我到現(xiàn)在都不能忘記。還記得我所帶的一個(gè)中學(xué)生班。我?guī)О鄷r(shí)已有大部分學(xué)生達(dá)到HSK(中國(guó)漢語(yǔ)水平考試)三級(jí),上課用漢語(yǔ)進(jìn)行教學(xué)基本無(wú)障礙??墒牵覐膩?lái)沒(méi)有接觸過(guò)外國(guó)孩子,剛開(kāi)始不知道如何交流,學(xué)生根本不聽(tīng)我的話,上課亂跑,讓他們寫(xiě)作業(yè)也直接說(shuō)不想寫(xiě),這讓我很頭疼。但后來(lái)我了解了中學(xué)生的學(xué)習(xí)特點(diǎn)和心理后,就能較好的掌控班級(jí),按進(jìn)度實(shí)施教學(xué)工作,一個(gè)半小時(shí)的一節(jié)課中我會(huì)預(yù)留15分鐘做游戲,讓學(xué)生們通過(guò)游戲鞏固本節(jié)課所學(xué)知識(shí),也可以通過(guò)游戲激發(fā)他們學(xué)習(xí)漢語(yǔ)的熱情。比如上課前75分鐘,學(xué)生表現(xiàn)好就可以玩游戲,表現(xiàn)不好還是上課,學(xué)生們就會(huì)自我管理,他們特別喜歡玩“詞語(yǔ)接龍”、“拼音詞語(yǔ)連連看”、“跳七默寫(xiě)”等游戲,每次都樂(lè)在其中。
我還教授一個(gè)成人起點(diǎn)班,班級(jí)成員都是大學(xué)生和在職工作者。這個(gè)班級(jí)剛成立時(shí)學(xué)員完全是零起點(diǎn),經(jīng)過(guò)十個(gè)月的共同努力,學(xué)生們都有了極大的進(jìn)步,可以和老師用漢語(yǔ)進(jìn)行日常交流。讓我感動(dòng)的是,這些學(xué)生除了完成自己繁忙的工作外,還會(huì)抽出時(shí)間參加孔子學(xué)院的活動(dòng),比如書(shū)法課,周末文化沙龍,“中文歌曲大賽”,“詩(shī)歌朗誦比賽”等,可見(jiàn)他們對(duì)學(xué)習(xí)漢語(yǔ)有著極大的熱情。
孔子學(xué)院除了教授漢語(yǔ)外還承擔(dān)著傳播中國(guó)文化的使命,所以我們經(jīng)常舉辦和參加文化活動(dòng)。印象最深刻的是去年9月中國(guó)大使館舉辦的“迎中秋晚宴”,孔子學(xué)院需要籌備一個(gè)節(jié)目,可是當(dāng)時(shí)我們才到巴庫(kù)不久,準(zhǔn)備時(shí)間只有短短幾天,經(jīng)過(guò)志愿者老師們?nèi)找岳^夜的排練,《茉莉花 扇子舞》表演得非常成功,后來(lái)我們還將這個(gè)具有中國(guó)民族文化特色的舞蹈教給了阿塞拜疆學(xué)生。
支教歲月讓我明顯成熟
徜徉在古老的街頭你能感受到生活的愜意與安詳,穿梭在地鐵的人群里你能感受到生活節(jié)奏的歡快,潮流的時(shí)尚。我在巴庫(kù)只生活了十個(gè)多月,這些日子里我對(duì)巴庫(kù)的認(rèn)識(shí)從一無(wú)所知到漸漸熟悉。
阿塞拜疆有自己的語(yǔ)言,他們的語(yǔ)言和土耳其語(yǔ)相近,當(dāng)然也有不少人會(huì)說(shuō)俄語(yǔ)和英語(yǔ),所以日常交流沒(méi)有什么問(wèn)題。
初次走進(jìn)巴庫(kù)國(guó)立大學(xué)孔子學(xué)院的那天仿佛就是昨天,轉(zhuǎn)眼我已經(jīng)告別了巴庫(kù)。每次有人提到它,我都會(huì)想起在巴庫(kù)發(fā)生的種種,第一次見(jiàn)到學(xué)生時(shí)我的心情既激動(dòng)又忐忑,第一次看到學(xué)生登臺(tái)表演時(shí)我比學(xué)生還緊張,生怕錯(cuò)過(guò)什么。在孔子學(xué)院的十個(gè)多月里,我有了明顯的轉(zhuǎn)變,不僅是從學(xué)生到老師的身份轉(zhuǎn)變,更是從跟隨者到引領(lǐng)者的責(zé)任轉(zhuǎn)變。國(guó)家漢辦給熱愛(ài)漢語(yǔ)教學(xué)事業(yè)的志愿者提供了一個(gè)歷練的平臺(tái),使我們積累了實(shí)踐經(jīng)驗(yàn)。當(dāng)我們行走在巴庫(kù)的街頭時(shí),時(shí)常會(huì)聽(tīng)到當(dāng)?shù)厝擞弥袊?guó)話“你好!”跟我們打招呼;當(dāng)路人問(wèn)我們?yōu)槭裁磥?lái)阿塞拜疆時(shí),我會(huì)很自豪地告訴他們“我是孔子學(xué)院的漢語(yǔ)老師”;當(dāng)別人和我們聊天中表達(dá)出對(duì)學(xué)習(xí)漢語(yǔ)的興趣時(shí),我會(huì)激動(dòng)地留下聯(lián)系方式,推薦他們來(lái)孔子學(xué)院學(xué)習(xí)漢語(yǔ)。
感謝在巴庫(kù)大學(xué)孔子學(xué)院的這一年,它讓我這名青年學(xué)子度過(guò)了一段嶄新的歲月。
In 2016, the second year into my “teaching Chinese as a foreign language” graduate course, I qualified as a teacher to teach Chinese as a foreign language. Through the arrangement of Hanban (the Office of Chinese Language Council International), I came to teach as a volunteer at Confucius Institute at Baku State University.
My colleagues and I flew to Baku on September 9, 2016. Before the airplane touched down, I caught a view of the Caspian Sea and the land through the porthole window, but there was not a touch of green anywhere. At that moment I worried again about my assignment here: would I fail to adjust to the cultural differences? Would things be expensive and short of supply in the Muslin country? After getting to know the city in the first few days, I was greatly relieved. Baku is a city where the modern and the ancient come together perfectly. The Old City, constructed in the 12th century and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, reminded me of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
My colleagues and I were sent to Baku largely because of the new expansion of Confucius Institute at Baku State University. The relations between China and Azerbaijan are pretty good thanks to the diplomatic ties set up 24 years ago. Three months before our arrival, Vice Chinese Premier Zhang Gaoli visited Azerbaijan to follow up the implementation of projects. One memo the two countries had inked was about a series of projects of education, culture and tourism.
Looking back at the 10-month stay in Baku, I feel satisfied in many ways. Every day of the stay was great. I was nervous and excited on the first day at the institute. My students were from middle schools. As they had reached HKS level three, I found there was no language barrier in classroom conversations. But I had never taught foreign kids. They didnt listen to me, moving around in the classroom freely and saying no to my face after I gave them homework. But I soon found ways to grab their attention. I awarded them with game time if their studies turned out to be fruitful. They loved word games very much.
I also taught an adult class. Most of the students were college students and office workers. They started from zero. After ten months of hard studies, they were able to chat with me about everyday life. They took enthusiastic part in events such as calligraphy, weekend saloon, Chinese song competition, poems recitals at the Confucius Institute, showing their great enthusiasm to learn about Chinese culture.
A Confucius Institute does more than teach Chinese language. It also does its best to spread Chinese culture. So was the case with the institute at Baku State University. We often held cultural events and activities. Shortly after our arrival, we were engaged in staging a show at the Moon Festival Banquet at Chinese Embassy. We didnt have much time, but we did our best. Jasmine Fan Dance was a sensation at the banquet. We later taught our Azerbaijani students to do this show.
The teaching assignment in Baku ended fast. All the days there were like yesterday. I transformed from a graduate student to an experienced teacher, from a follower to a leader. Hanban gave me a platform to mature. Local people in Baku greeted us in Chinese Ni Hao. Asked why I was in Azerbaijan, I always said proudly that I was a Chinese language teacher at Confucius Institute. Whenever someone said he or she was interested in learning the Chinese, I would excitedly give them phone numbers to contact the institute.