I am not discouraged. / 我不沮喪。

暑假裡唯一的課程業務就是上重修班，想到要把上學期的內容再重複一次，我想最後記得最熟的總是我，於是我決定來上暑期讀本，是有關安地斯山印地安人的故事，雖然我個人覺得這是一本很好看的書，但我可以預期已經打開這本書的人寥寥可數。

The only classes I am assigned during the summer break are those given to the girls who flunked their English. My head aches when it occurs to me that I have to repeat what I said during the past semester one more time. I figure it will be much more pleasant to read the summer reading novel--Secret of the Andes. Personally I find it an excellent book, but since I know my students well, I can predict that only a handful of kids have started to read it. 

        天真的孩子們以為我會一句一句講解，我是不可能讓大家這麼舒服的，學習語言若沒有對閱讀有點熱情，並且腳踏實地閱讀，就不可能進步。雖然這些同學在英文上是有點問題，但我很樂觀，我把大家分組，一起做閱讀的工作。

   The girls might be too innocent to know that it's not my thing to explain the story sentence by sentence. My belief is that it's impossible to learn a language well without doing any reading. I trust them though they are not good at English. I put them into groups to do the reading together. 

        我的學生或許不是最聰明，不過有被琢磨的潛能，花了幾乎六個小時，每一組都把分配的章節大意寫出來。

   My students might not be the smartest, but they are willing to be trained. Each group comes with their summary of the chapter assigned after six hours of hard work. 

        這個課程中我最期待的部份就是讓女孩們挑喜歡的佳句畫插圖，我把過去幾天的筆記紙搬出來，我說：讓我們用壓克力把這些討厭的英文全部塗掉！有趣的是，雖然脖子扭到很痛，從頭到尾我又叫又跳的，很像托兒所老師，不過下面的學生沒有幼兒的熱情，她們從頭到尾只是安靜地任我擺佈。

   And what I am most looking forward to is the part where the girls have to pick their favorite quotes and illustrate them. I take out the notes they have made over the past few days and yell like a madwoman: Let's erase all the detestable English words with acrylics! In fact, I have had a neck cramp, but I can't help jumping and shouting in excitement. I feel like a kindergarten teacher; the only difference is that my students don't have the passion of children. Throughout the process, they act as if they were my quiet puppets. 

        七月上完幼兒班之後心裡有些難過，為什麼過了十年之後，那些會畫畫的本能全都不見，大家會的就是不斷地滑手機，就是因為這個疑問，讓我想要把畫圖的實驗應用到高中生身上，小說裡的文字敘述的是無限的畫面，而我們每個人都有與生俱來的想像力，應該只是我們把這個能力藏起來罷了。

   After the summer camp for children in July, I have had a hard time trying to figure out something: How come our instincts to draw disappear with time passing? The five-year-olds, who can draw freely and wildly, turn out to be teenagers who are into nothing but staring at their cell phones in ten years. Because of this, I'd like to apply to the same teaching plan to the teenagers. The novel is so full of images. I believe that we all have imagination, and thus we can envision the pictures in our heads.  

        討論小說期間為了讓同學能夠想像險峻的安地斯山風景，我問二十多個人有否去過太魯閣，居然只有五個人去過，這也許不能全說是爸爸媽媽的問題，我於是說：你快要可以自立了，至少上大學前要去看一下這麼美麗的自然資產！

   While we are discussing the novel, I try to give the girls an image of the Andes by asking if they have been to the Taroko Gorge. Surprisingly, only 5 out of 22 have been there. Well, maybe I can't say the parents have to be all responsible for this, so I give a very sincere piece of advice: You are about to be 18. I think you can go on your own soon, and you shouldn't miss such beautiful natural assets! 

        這是最容易畫的佳句，到了十幾歲大家對於「不會」的東西很沒有安全感。

   This is the easiest quote to illustrate. It interests me that we feel unsafe about what we don't know as we age.

        這本書的主角之一是美洲駝，書中形容牠的叫聲是風和水的音樂，像風撫過水面。

   The llamas play an important role in the book. Llama-humming is described as wind-and-water music, like wind rippling over the water. 

        我的教書生涯要進入第十二年了，感覺卻像才正要開始，外在的環境越來越糟，但是我可以走我自己的路，儘管我的熱誠總是比學生多，但過了這個暑假，我又有了新的展望，我想我一定可以造成一點小小的不同。

   I am about to start my 12th year as a teacher, but in many ways it feels I've just begun. The outer environment is getting less and less ideal, but amidst all the chaos, I think I can always stand my own ground. It was discouraging to think that I always have a bigger dose of enthusiasm than my students, but after this summer, I have gained a new perspective. I so firmly believe that I can make a difference, no matter how small it is.