汉语之花盛放在澳洲沙漠

随着中澳贸易往来和文化交流日益加深，汉语学习对澳大利亚人而言越来越有特殊意义。截至2017年，由西澳大学孔子学院参与教学的汉语学习人数超过6000人，比前一年增长四成。

西澳大利亚大学孔子学院于2005年5月20日揭牌成立，是中国在澳大利亚创建的第一所孔子学院，由西澳大利亚大学（以下简称西澳大学）与浙江大学合办。学院派教师和志愿者到珀斯、奥尔巴尼、班伯里、杰拉尔顿和卡尔古利各地区的43所中小学协助汉语教学，为中小学提供免费的中文教学支持。

26岁的宁波姑娘朱意炜就是其中一名志愿者。去年1月，她通过国家汉语办公室在国内的选拔，作为浙江大学毕业生赴西澳大学孔子学院，并将于今年12月底结束任期回国。作为志愿者，她协助中文教学和文化推广工作，让澳洲本地学生和居民体验中国文化的博大精深，这也让她充分感受到澳大利亚人学习汉语的高涨热情。

由此，朱意炜给本刊发来一篇亲历，记录这段跨文化交流的特殊经历—

初见卡尔古丽

作为西澳大学孔子学院的一员，珀斯是我最先踏上的澳洲土地。它被称为这个世界上“最孤独的城市”，因为附近再无第二个相当规模的大城市作伴。因为工作安排，两周之后，我和另外一位志愿者就出发前往距离珀斯车程6个多小时的小城卡尔古丽，去开辟一个新的汉语教学点。这是一个120多年前因淘金热而发展起来的城市，至今仍以矿业闻名澳大利亚。前往卡尔古丽的这一天，我们眼见着路边的植被由茂盛变为稀疏，土壤渐渐裸露并且颜色变得越来越红，一路上车辆寥寥，一直与我们相伴的，是与公路并行的从珀斯往内陆输水的管道。

两位中文教师志愿者的到来，对小城卡尔古丽当地居民来说是件大事。到达第二天，我们就接受了当地报社的采访。我们任职的学校是当地的一所私立学校，教学对象是该校小学部的学生约140人，从学前班到六年级，这样大跨度的教学对象，一开始就对我们形成了挑战。初来乍到，我们受到了学校同事和学生们的热情欢迎，但同时也苦于记不全他们的名字。

学说汉语乐趣多

终于到了正式开课的日子。刚开始的几个课时里，我们向学生们介绍了中国的基本情况、文化历史和汉语的一些基本知识。对于中国文化，孩子们最感兴趣的永远是美食，满屏看得到吃不了的中国菜品图片在每个班级都引起惊叹。

不过，因为卡尔古丽的教学点是新开设的，所以学生的中文基础和教学物资的积累几乎都为零。曾经有段时间，我每天一到办公室，不是旧物堆里翻找，希望能找到一些材料，就是剪剪贴贴，不管用不用得着，先做一点什么出来再说。渐渐地，我也发现了一些窍门。比如第一个语言教学主题是“家庭”，在教学过程中，一些低年级的孩子会扳着手指計算自己有多少堂表亲和叔叔阿姨，数个没完。看着他们数手指，我突发奇想，结合一首当地孩子熟悉的《手指歌》的内容，制作了贴有熊猫头像的手指套，套在手指上，改编《手指歌》，一边唱一边教说家庭成员称谓。对于中国国宝熊猫，孩子们都很喜欢，还争着抢着把指套戴起来，很快就学会了。

而针对中高年级学写汉字，我找了块小白板，画上田字格就可以带去每个教室重复使用了；没有现成的词卡，我就自己制作模板打印塑封，不仅完全贴合课程需求，还经济实用。

随着教学的开展，当地孩子的中文水平慢慢提高了。我们平日里在校园里走动，就能听到学生们在使用简单的汉语词汇。有一次和学前班的老师闲聊，她们告诉我，汉语课以外的时间，时不时能听到有学生开心地大声说着学到的汉词，或是唱着学到的汉语歌，甚至还有孩子会用中文说自己分到的玩具的颜色。到了放学的时间，家长们会趁着接孩子的功夫和我们聊上一阵子。有一次，一位爸爸兴奋地告诉我们，他的孩子给远在中国工作的叔叔发了一条“你好”的短信。每每听到这样的好消息，我就很开心，自己的努力总算有所收获。

一笔一画最怡情

语言教学渐入佳境后，我常常想，如果能配合教学，给孩子们带去更多的文化体验就更好了。

一开始，我非常想开设书法课，但一直苦于缺乏材料，在卡尔古丽，笔墨纸砚“一应俱无”。远在珀斯的西澳大学孔子学院院长知道后，就千里迢迢开车赶来，送了大量的书法材料。我设计了针对五六年级学生的书法入门课程，从每个年级的汉语课课时中各抽出几节课，专门进行书法教学。

当我拿出墨水、宣纸和毛笔时，学生们的眼睛就没离开过这三样东西。这对他们来说，是非常新奇的书写工具。有孩子睁大了眼睛跟我说：“我在电视上看到过！”还有孩子摸着毛笔问我：“这么软，怎么写字呢？”

显然，好奇心是最好的学习动力。学生们从笔画开始学习，然后学写“福”“乐”等字以及他们的中文名字（在第一学期的时候就已经为他们取好）。有学生指着自己写的字，仰头问我：“中国的孩子也这样写字吗？”学生们很是喜爱这种独特的书写体验。在他们眼里，中国字原本就很神秘，如今用毛笔渲染在纸上，更增添了几分中国韵味。孩子们写完一张纸又要一张纸，打算把字送给家人或朋友。

值得一提的是，因为卡尔古丽地处内陆，有非常多的澳洲土著生活在这里，他们的母语为土著语，因此对本校的一些土著学生来说，学习英语已经要比其他同学花更多的精力，再要学习中文便自然有抵触情绪，所以我们特意关注他们。而随着接触时间变长，这一类学生也能较好地融入到中文课堂中。令我感到意外的是，一些土著学生对书法特别感兴趣。有个土著学生告诉我，写书法很像画画，比如“月”字，他觉得就像一个弯弯的月亮挂在沙漠的天空里。听到这样的描述，我心中莫名有一丝感动，一个七八岁的孩子竟也读懂了中国的汉字文化，同时自己心里隐隐生出“举头望明月，低头思故乡”的情结。

书法课的最后，学生们欣喜地互相展示作品，我也感受到了前所未有的满足感——就连平时不愿开口讲中文的孩子，在书法课上也兴致勃勃地拿着毛笔写了又写，描了又描。事实上，孩子们这股对书法的热情一直不减，在期末，孩子们又用笔墨书写了圣诞与新年祝福，乐趣满满。

学习汉语永远不会太迟

一开始，我们的教学对象只是小学生。等到下半年，有不少高年级的学生甚至是当地居民也跑来学习汉语。

学校中学部有一位女生Zoe获得了去中国游学一年的机会。她在卡尔古丽生活，从未有机会学习汉语。针对她的情况，我们利用备课时间，开始了一段“突击”教学的日子。Zoe勤奋好学，在短短的十节课时间内，她的中文水平实现了巨大的飞跃。如今，她已经开始了在中国东北的游学生活，时常能看到她在社交媒体上分享她在中国的见闻。作为中文“启蒙老师”的我，也很为她骄傲。

在这里，其实不少成年人也对学习汉语有着极大的热情。在学校的汉语课堂上，总会有一位本校的老师随堂管理，随堂次数最多的一位，是本校的体育老师，日积月累，他学会了不少中文词句。有时聊天，他突然就会蹦出几个发音不标准的中文词，其他澳洲同事对他刮目相看。而他也成了很好的榜样，带动其他同事对汉语学习跃跃欲试。去年10月，我们的成人汉语入门课程终于在当地的大学开设起来，来学习的学生中有大学学生，也有教职员工以及我们任职学校的澳洲同事等等。

我们这一次系列课程，虽然目标是“入门”，但是成人学员们的学习能力比较强，有时甚至会“推着”老师走——大人们旺盛的好奇心一点也不输孩子们。课程结束之前，一位学员说，他几个月之后就要赴中国旅游，如果能在去之前掌握更多的汉语生活用语，就能在中国有更好的旅行体验。我整理了许多日常生活、旅行场景中的对话给他，他全部“啃”了下来。

其实，初到卡尔古丽，我心里很没底，这样独特的自然与人文环境，这样偏远的地区，所有在这里开展的工作，对我来说都是第一次。在当时看来，四个学期的工作将会是漫长而辛苦的。但是当月历翻到8月，我发现自己的内心早已没有了当初的那一份不安，不知从什么时候起，我的工作模式已经从“尽力而为”切换到了“享受一切”。

在卡尔古丽工作与生活的这一年，感触最深的还是当地同事或朋友的生活态度。澳大利亚人天性积极乐观，卡尔古丽人似乎比他们生活在别地的同胞更勝一筹，他们十分喜爱自己生活的这个内陆小城，时不时拿漫天的风沙开开玩笑，对生活中的种种不便也处之坦然。只要跟他们交谈，你就能感受到流淌在他们血液里的随遇而安的天性，这与我们中国人安土重迁的文化差异巨大。但是对我们年轻人来说，这样的生活却充满了冒险色彩，是值得一过的另一种生活。这一年，我生活在这里，工作在这里，让更多的澳大利亚人接触汉语、喜爱中国文化，卡尔古丽于我，便是一种“诗与远方”。

Girl from Ningbo Teaches Chinese in Western Australia

By Zhu Yiwei

As trade and cultural exchanges between China and Australia keeps growing， Chinese as a language is becoming increasingly important to Austria. Statistics in 2017 indicated that Confucius Institute of the University of Western Australia enrolled over 6，000 students learning Chinese， an increase of 40% year on year.

Confucius Institute of the University of Western Australia came into being on May 20， 2005， the first of its kind in Australia. It is a partnership between the University of Western Australia （UWA） and Zhejiang University in Hangzhou， China. Teachers and volunteers from the institute now assist Chinese language teaching in 43 primary schools and high schools in Perth， Albany， Bunbury， Geradton， and Kalgoorlie， key cities in Western Australia.

The 26-year-old Zhu Yiwei， a graduate from Zhejiang University， passed a qualification test and was selected as a volunteer by Confucius Institute Headquarters （Hanban） in January 2017. While teaching Chinese and promoting Chinese culture in schools in Kalgoorlie， she has also experienced Australians passion for learning Chinese. The following is her story she sent us from Kalgoorlie for Cultural Dialogue.

After a brief stay in Perth， another volunteer and I went to Kalgoorlie， a desert city that takes a drive of 6 hours from Perth to reach. We were there to set up a Chinese teaching course in a local private school. Kalgoorlie was born into a settlement over 120 years ago because of a gold rush. Today， mining is still the citys economic pillar. As we drove along， trees decreased in number and the soil became naked and turned increasingly red. The highway was almost empty as there were not so many cars. In our company all the way to Kalgoorlie was a water pipe system going in parallel with the highway. The pipe system distributes water all the way from Perth to outback.

Our arrival was a big event in Kalgoorlie. On the second day， a local newspaper journalist interviewed us. The private school where we were to work had about 140 students in six grades in the primary school department. The students and teachers gave us a warm welcome. We had trouble memorizing their names.

At the very beginning， we introduced China to students. Pictures of Chinese cuisine always created the biggest wow in classrooms. As the course was new and we had no teaching materials， we needed to be creative in teaching. In the first class， I taught them the relation names of family members and relatives. Seeing kids count on their fingertips how many aunts， uncles， cousins on father and mothers sides they had， I hit upon the idea of adapting a local nursery rhyme “Song of Fingers” to teach the Chinese words. So I made finger cots and painted pandas on them. And I adapted the rhyme. Kids loved the panda images and found little difficulty in citing Chinese words. Pretty soon they learned how to name the relations of their family members and relatives in Chinese. For children in fifth and sixth grades， I made word cards and had the cards plastic-packaged. They were cheap and perfect for the course.

As the course proceeded， more and more children began to speak Chinese in the campus. I was happy to hear Chinese words and sentences spoken loudly here and there. Teachers of a preschooler class told me that children sang Chinese songs now and then and children pronounced Chinese words loudly.

I wanted to teach calligraphy in the school， but the school didnt have any Chinese brush-pens， ink， and Xuan paper. After learning about the situation， the director of Confucius Institute of UWA drove all the way from Perth and brought us all the necessary supplies. I adjusted the classes and found time to teach children to practice Chinese calligraphy. The first time I demonstrated the brush-pen， ink and rice paper to children， their eyes widened and found these tools incredible. One declared， “I saw them on television.” Another touched a brush-pen and wondered aloud how the soft hair could write. They learned fast. After learning the essentials of brush-pen writing， they were able to write their Chinese names and well known Chinese words such as 福 （fortune， good luck） and 樂 （happiness， joy）. They wrote happily and asked for more paper. It turned out that they wanted to show off their Chinese and give away their brush-pen writings to their friends and relatives.

In Kalgoorlie live some aboriginals. They speak their own language. Some children of these aboriginal families have trouble speaking English and have to spend more time learning English. For this reason， some of these children didnt want to trouble themselves with the Chinese language. I went out of my way to get them interested. As the course went on， they became interested. To my surprise， some showed special interest in calligraphy. One told me， practicing Chinese calligraphy was like doing a drawing. He pointed out that 月 looks exactly like the moon high up in the sky above the desert. I was touched by the comment and there and then， I suddenly found myself miss my home back in China.

In the first six months， we taught primary school students only. In the second half， some students from high school and some local residents came to learn Chinese. Zoe， a girl from the secondary school， was to spend a year in China. But she had never learned a Chinese word in Kalgoorlie before. So she came to me. I designed a crash course for her. She learned amazingly fast within ten classes. Now she is in a school in northeastern China and she often shares her experience in China on the social media with her friends. Seeing her progress in Chinese， I as her first Chinese teacher feel extremely happy for her.

Adults in Kalgoorlie are more passionate about learning Chinese.

In my classes， I work with a local teacher. I teach and a local teacher observes. These teachers take turns to attend my classes. A PE teacher has attended my class most. Before long he was able to speak some Chinese words while chatting with his colleagues. His colleagues felt amazed and they wanted to come to my class. In October 2017 we started a Chinese course at a college in Kalgoorlie. This course has attracted college students and faculty members as well as colleagues from our school. Though it is only an essential course， adult students are making amazing progress and are pushing us forward. Their curiosity can well compete with that of youngsters at the school.

When I was first in Kalgoorlie， I wasnt sure about the success of my mission there. It was the first time I worked in such a remote place with its natural and cultural particulars. I thought the time I would spend there would be a long challenge. But in August I found my sense of uncertainties gone. I dont know when my work philosophy in Kalgoorlie changed from “I will try my best” to “I really enjoy everything here.”

Teaching Chinese in Kalgoorlie has given me a lot. One impression stands out： my friends and colleagues have a unique optimism toward life. They love their home city in the inland and often joke about sandy winds. They are reconciled with what they have from nature and they are contented with their special position in life. For me， working in Kalgoorlie is like leading an alternative life worth leading and trying out. Kalgoorlie is like “poetry and another world”.