守護夢想，不負青春

Waste No Time to Pursue Our Dreams——my Teaching Experiences at Confucius Classroom at Rome ConvittoNazionala Vittorio Emanuele Ⅱ of italy

2019年3月18日，古老的羅馬城陽光燦爛。課間休息的時候，我打開微信，幾十條未讀信息刷爆了朋友圈，一條新聞跟意大利有關，跟我任教的羅馬國立住讀學校有關，跟“我的孩子們”有關。

在中國國家主席習近平即將對意大利進行國事訪問之際，羅馬國立住讀學校校長雷亞萊和該校8名高中學生致信習主席，表達了對他訪意的熱切期盼和從事中意友好事業的良好意愿。習主席親切地回復了這封信，勉勵他們做新時代的馬可.波羅，成為中意文化交流的使者。習主席在信中說，青春總是與夢想相伴而行。你們即將高中畢業，邁入大學校園。愿你們青春正好、不負韶華，都能成就夢想。歡迎你們來華學習和工作，希望中國也能成為你們的圓夢之地。

孩子們收到信，驚喜又開心。校長表示，我們的學生們始終努力而勤奮，這封回信是對他們最大的獎勵。而看到孩子們的笑容和成長，也是我在這里和他們朝夕相處七年來，每天都收獲的獎勵。

我畢業于北京外國語大學意大利語專業。記得上中學的時候，學習世界歷史，很多關于戰爭的歷史，讓我十分反感。某天打開一章，眼前一亮，燦爛的藝術、文學、思想……魅力勃發、引人入勝，那一章叫作：“文藝復興”，那是我第一次對意大利這個國家及它的文化有了認知。一直到現在，每當有人問我為什么選擇學習意大利語，我都會講起那節課，記得那時課本上的插圖，也記得那時渴望學習未知文化、了解多元世界的心愿。于是選擇大學的時候，我選擇了北京外國語大學，主修意大利語言與文學專業。

意大利語是一門富有音樂感的優美語言，更是一門文化底蘊極為深厚的語言，從但丁到卡爾維諾，從意大利文學記錄了西方文化的重要篇章，從奧勒留到艾柯，穿越千年的思想家們也常常和中國的歷代先哲不謀而合。音樂、建筑、設計、美食，意大利文化的多彩也豐富了我的大學生活。在北外的四年學習，讓我不出國門，已經對意大利的歷史文化風土人情有了充分的了解，我第一次踏上意大利的土地時，并未感到陌生，反而像是回到故鄉。羅馬的出租車司機跟北京的哥一樣健談，羅馬某個街角小廣場的樹影，也常常讓我想到雍和宮冬日的陽光。從文化遺產到家庭觀念，中意文化中，其實有諸多相似點。在意大利留學的經歷，也讓我對此有了更深的體會。意大利人民熱情好客，尊重文化、熱愛藝術，對大自然的重視與保護，都跟中國人的文化傳統深度契合。兩個文明古國的悠久歷史與燦爛文明，像兩條平行流淌又終將相遇的河流，每一次對話都碰撞出新的水花，滋養了我的精神生活。

畢業后，我有機會來到羅馬大學孔子學院從事漢語教學工作，在下設羅馬國立住讀學校孔子課堂負責漢語教學、文化活動與國際交流項目。我還記得第一次來到學校的那天，我走過“民族復興”橋，經過美麗的臺伯河，來到對岸河邊的學校。從那天起，我從曾經的追夢者，變成了孩子們夢想的守護者。

羅馬國立住讀學校下設中文國際理科高中部，漢語是必修課并作為第一外語和畢業考試科目，教學比重超過意大利語和英語，構成該校的核心課程。在羅馬大學孔子學院的指導下，經過意大利和中國老師的不斷融合，積極探索，如今已發展成為意大利中學漢語教學的典范。

“我的孩子們”是一群正值青春的年輕人，他們的眼里總是有光，里面充滿對陌生文化的好奇、對知識的渴望和對未來的期待。就像當年我在北外的老師努力讓我們愛上意大利語一樣，我也不遺余力地讓“我的孩子們”愛上漢語，愛上中國。從中國到意大利，從在國內學習意大利語到前往意大利教漢語，一來一往之間，交換的并不僅僅是語言，更是語言背后兩個千年文明古國的文化傳承與沉淀。學習一門新的語言，也是一個打破重組的過程，打破固有認知和刻板印象，重新發現一種觀察世界的角度，重新組合表達自我的方式。從語言學習到跨文化對話，漢語國際教育這條路上的每一步不僅見證了我個人的成長，更為我和我的學生們提供了一種探索世界的方式。

學習漢語的五年也是他們青春歲月中最重要的五年。而了解中國、發現中國的過程，也正是他們了解自己、發現自己的過程。七年來，我見證了漢語與中國文化如何陪伴了孩子們的青春與夢想，見過他們第一次登上長城的興奮，見過他們在東方明珠的雀躍，見過他們第一次用筷子吃烤鴨的小小狼狽，也驚訝于他們敏銳辨別不同茶香的味蕾。零零后的他們一秒鐘學會用移動支付叫外賣，騎共享單車，也懂得靜下來欣賞烏鎮的小橋流水，西湖的落日余暉。

很多人現在來采訪我的學生，總是問起他們跟中國的之間的關系。有時候，其實他們自己也說不出來，但我知道，那是因為他們跟中國已經融為了一個整體，他們已經成為中國的一部分，中國也成為了他們生活中不可分割的一部分，也許今天的他們，還并不清楚自己的夢想究竟是什么，但無論如何，都與中意兩國間的友好交流相關。與曾經的漢語學習者不同，這一代年輕人有更多元化的專業背景與職業發展路徑。我常常鼓勵學生，主動思考他們未來的專業學習、職業選擇，以及如何發揮他們的優勢，在其專業領域內，為未來兩國行業合作搭建橋梁。我希望他們每個人都能真正看到自己的潛力與價值，看到未來的愿景，并以主人公的心態去積極實現夢想、開拓未來的無限可能。我會鼓勵學醫的學生，學習中醫理論與針灸，中西醫結合學習，學習經濟的學生，收集中國創新經濟模式的案例，去思考他們將來從事的領域，如何尋找新的合作契機。

時至今日，我常常鼓勵新老師，不斷思考我們工作的本質。每個人對工作的認知，決定了他工作的廣度與深度。如果我們只把自己定位為一名漢語老師，你會盡心教授語言知識，如果你認為自己是文化使者，傳播文化會成為你的首要責任。而我認為，作為跨文化教育工作者，我們的工作應該不僅僅停留在漢語與文化的層面，更重要的是如何將漢語教學轉變成為漢語教育，將語言教學與全人教育理念相結合，培養面對未來全球化挑戰的世界公民。

我帶著孩子們連續三年獲得意大利“漢語橋”中學生中文比賽總冠軍，并代表意大利赴華參加全球總決賽。別人只看到榮譽和臺上的高光瞬間，但讓我最欣慰的從來都不是成績和榮譽，而是通過這個過程，見證孩子們不斷突破自己，持續獲得成長。很多人也來問我獲勝的訣竅，其實沒有任何秘密，我對孩子們的要求非常簡單：忘記競爭，享受過程，超越自己就是勝利。合作、信任、友誼、視野，跟來自全球的同齡人對話，走出自己的舒適圈，挑戰自我，放眼世界，這是學習漢語帶給他們的寶貴的可持續發展價值，我堅信，這些價值在課堂之外，在比賽之外，會陪伴他們走得更遠。

為了讓學生有親身感受中國的機會，羅馬大學孔子學院與北京外國語大學合作，連續九年在北京為他們舉辦為期三周的夏令營。帶著孩子們回到我熟悉、熱愛的母校，讓他們近距離接觸北外這個中國“外交官的搖籃”，100多個語種，多元文化交匯，在這里，孩子們有機會和中國同齡人交流，他們看到許許多多像他們一樣懷抱夢想的年輕人，在為實現跨文化交流與溝通，奉獻青春。他們看到了中國年輕人，走向世界，擁抱世界的強烈愿望。 不同文化之間的對話可以形成，是因為心靈可以真正相通，“教育就是一個靈魂去喚醒另一個靈魂”，我相信我和學生之間就是彼此喚醒的這樣的一個過程，共同成長，互相成就，成為更好的自己。

On March 18， 2019， the ancientcity Rome was bathed in sun-shine. During the class break， Ichecked my WeChat and founda deluge of unread messages in WeChat Mo-ments. One of them was a news item relatedto my students at Rome Convitto Nazion-ale Vittorio Emanuele II where I have beenteaching Chinese.

Upon Chinese President Xi Jinping'supcoming state visit to Italy， Paolo M. Reale，President of Rome Convitto Nazionale Vit-torio Emanuele Ⅱ and eight students wroteto President Xi Jinping， expressing their eageranticipation of President Xi Jinping's visit andthe good will to make efforts to promote Chi-na-ltaly friendly relations. In a warm reply tothe Italian teachers and students， President XiJinping encouraged them to become modern-day Marco Polos， serving as cultural ambas-sadors between China and Italy. President XiJinping said in his letter that youth alwaysgoes hand in hand with dreams. As studentsare going to graduate from high school andembark on college life， he hopes students cangive full play to their youth and realize theirdreams. He also welcomes students to studyand work in China and hopes that China willbe the place where their dreams can cometrue.

The children were both excited and sur-prised when receiving the letter. In his re-sponse， the president of the school said thatthe students have always been hard-workingand diligent， and this letter is the greatestreward for them. Also， seeing the children'ssmiles and growth is the reward I have re-ceived every day during the seven years Ispent there.

I graduated as an Italian language ma-jor from Beijing Foreign Studies University（BFSU）. I remember when I was in middleschool， I had to study world history， whichcontains a lot of wars and thus made me feeluncomfortable. One day I opened a chapterin the book and was surprised to discoverthe brilliant art， literature， thought and soon. It was fascinating and intriguing. Thechapter was entided \"The Renaissance ，and it was the first time that I had beenintroduced to Italy and its culture. Un-til now， when asked why I had chosen tostudy Italian， I will talk about that lesson，recalling the illustrations in the textbookand my desire to learn about the unknownculture and the pluralistic world. That'swhy I decided to major in Italian languageand literature in BFSU.

Italian is not only a beautiful and mu-sical language， but also a language withprofound cultural elements. From Danteto Calvino， Italians literature has left animportant chapter in Western culture. Ideasof Italian thinkers， ranging from Aureliusto Eco， coincided with those of ancientChinese philosophers. The colorfulness ofItalian culture， which lies in music， archi-tecture， designing and cuisine， has alsoenriched my college life. During the fouryears of study in BFSU， I have had a thor-ough knowledge of Italian history， cultureand customs though I had never been toItaly. So when I first set foot in the country，I didn't feel it alien to me， but felt that Ihad returned to my hometown. The taxidrivers in Rome were as talkative as thosein Beijing. Also， the shadow of trees in thesmall square on a street corner often re-minded me of the winter sunshine pouringdown on the Lama Temple in Beijing. Ac-tually， similarities abound between Chineseand Italian culture， including aspects vary-ing from cultural heritage to the concept offamily life. When I studied in Italy， I hada deeper understanding of those similari-ties. The Italian people's hospitality， respectfor culture， love of art and tender care fornature are deeply in line with Chinesecultural traditions. The two ancient civiliza-tions， with their long histories and splendidcultures， are like two rivers running paral-lel but destined to meet. Each time theycommunicate with each other， there willbe fresh inspirations which nourish myspiritual world.

After graduation， I had the oppor-tunity to teach Chinese language at theConfucius Institute at the University ofRomeLa Sapienza. I was responsible forteaching Chinese， organizing culturalactivities and administering internationalexchange programs at the ConfuciusClassroom at Rome Convitto Nazion-ale Vittorio Emanuele II. The scene ofmy very first day in this school is stillfresh in mind. I walked across the PonteRisorgimento， walked past the beautifulTiber River and then to the school onthe opposite bank of the river. From thatday on， I， once a dream chaser， became aguardian of the children's dreams instead.

The Chinese language internationalscientific high school， opened by RomeConvitto Nazionale Vittorio EmanueleII， included the Chinese as a compul-sory course and a subject in graduationexam. As the first foreign language in theschool， Chinese， the teaching of which evenoutweighs that of Italian and English， hasbecome one of the core courses. Under theguidance of the Confucius Institute at theUniversity of RomeLa Sapienza， the Italianteachers and Chinese teachers in the schoolhave made coordinated and unremitting ef-forts to conduct trials， making the Chinesecourse a model of Chinese language teach-ing for other Italian middle schools.

\"My children\" is a group of youngpeople in their prime. Their eyes are alwaysbright， overflowing with curiosity about theunfamiliar culture， the desire for knowl-edge and the expectation of the future.Just like my teachers in BFSU， who hadtried to arouse our enthusiasm for Italian，I spare no effort to make \"my children\" fallin love with Chinese language and China.From learning Italian at home to teachingChinese in Italy， the experience is not onlyabout language exchange， but also the cul-tural exchange between the two ancient civ-ilizations. Learning a new language is also aprocess of deconstruction and reconstruc-tion. It means that you have to abandonyour deep-rooted perceptions and stere-otypes， find a new perspective to observethe world and reconstruct ways to expressyourself. From language learning to cross-cultural dialogue， each step forward on thepath of international education of Chineselanguage not only symbolized my personalgrowth， but also provided a way for me andmy students to explore the world.

During the most important five yearsin their young days， they learned Chineseand witnessed China's development. Whiletrying to know more about China， theyalso found more out about themselves.Over the past seven years， I have witnessedhow Chinese language and Chinese culturecame to become their companions in theirpursuit of dreams. I remember how excitedthey were when they set foot on the GreatWall for the first time， how delighted theywere when they saw the Oriental PearlTower and how awkward and funny whenthey used chopsticks for the first time toeat roast duck. I was also surprised to findthat they had such acute sense of tastes asto distinguish between different flavors oftea. Those children， born after year 2000，managed to in a blink of eyes use mobilepayment to order takeaway and to experi-ence bicycle-sharing service. They couldalso quiet down and appreciate the sceneryof water flowing beneath a little bridge inWuzhen as well as the sunset over the WestLake.

When interviewing my students， manypeople now will ask about their relationshipwith China. Sometimes， my students findit hard to describe. I know thar's becausethey have become assimilated into Chinaand the country has become an inseparablepart in their lives. Perhaps they haven't gota clue what their dreams are， but anyway，they must be concerned with China-Italyfriendly exchanges. Unlike previous Chi-nese language learners， this generation ofyoung people has more diversified profes-sional backgrounds and career developmentchoices. I often encourage my studentsro think about their future study， careerchoice， and how they're going to give fullplay to their advantages so as to buildbridges in their own fields for future indus-try cooperation between the two countries.I hope that each of them can discover theirpotential and value， look into the bright fu-ture， be their own masters and realize theirdreams and the infinite possibilities of thefuture. I will encourage medical students tostudy Traditional Chinese Medicine theoryand acupuncture， and western medicine aswell. Also， I will encourage students major-ing in economics to collect cases of China'sinnovative economic model and considerhow to find new opportunities for coopera-tion in their future careers. Up to this day， I often encourage newteachers to keep reflecting on the nature ofour work. Our perception of our job de-termines how we're going to engage in it.If we regard ourselves as merely languageteachers， we'll devote ourselves to teach-ing language. But if we regard ourselves ascultural ambassadors， promoting culturewill become our top priority. In my opin-ion， as cross-cultural educators， we shouldnot confine ourselves to merely teachinglanguage and promoting culture. Moreimportantly， we should transform Chineselanguage teaching into Chinese languageeducation and integrate language teachingwith the philosophy of holisyic educayion soas to train world citizens who can brave thechallenges of globalization in the future.

Under my guidance， my students havewon three times in the \"Chinese Bridge\"Chinese Proficiency Competition for Sec-ondary School Students in Italy， and beenappointed to participate in the final com-petition in China. Others only focus onthe glory and honor. But for me， the mostgratifying thing is that during the process，the students have made constant progressand achieved continuous personal develop-ment. Many people came to ask me aboutthe secret of success. And I told them therewas no secret. My message for my studentsis very simple： forget about the com-petition， enjoy the process and surpassyourselves. Cooperation， trust， friend-ship， vision， communicating with peersfrom all over the world， stepping out ofthe comfort zone， surpassing themselvesand seeing the vastness of the world-all those invaluable harvests they havereaped from learning Chinese languagewill facilitate their sustainable develop-ment. I believe that those harvests willhelp them make greater achievementsoutside the classroom and the competi-tion.

To enable students to have a closerlook at China， the Confucius Instituteat the University of RomeLa Sapienzahas cooperated with BFSU to organize athree-week summer camp in Beijing fornine consecutive years. I took my stu-denrs to my familiar and beloved AlmaMater， the cradle of Chinese diplomats，which boasts diversified cultures andmore than 100 languages. There， thesrudenrs had the opportunity to commu-nicate with their Chinese peers.They alsomet many aspiring young people whodedicated themselves to cross-culturalcommunication. And they felt the strongdesire among the Chinese youth to em-brace the world.

Dialogues between different culturesare possible because people from variouscultures have a close affnity with eachother. It is said that the nature of educa-tion is one soul awakening another soul.I believe the relationship between mystudents and me is as such. We inspireeach other， make progress together and inthe process become better selves.