“孔子”让我圆梦中国

文/Jens Hhne（何彦斯，德国籍）

Jens Hhne，北京语言大学外籍教师

7岁生日那天，我收到了一份新奇的生日礼物——一本来自中国的德语儿童书，内容是关于一位名叫“孔子”的中国古人的故事。我被书里的图画和内容深深吸引，一方面觉得书里的人物长相和自然环境与我生活的德国小镇非常不同；另一方面是因为孔子作为一名伟大的教育家，为了推广和普及他以“仁”为根本的儒家思想和教育理念，终其一生都在周游列国，过着颠沛流离的生活。孔子这种执着于内心的信念和以其思想改变世界的决心让我非常佩服，因此在我幼小的心里把成为一名教师和到中国去作为自己长大后的理想。

On the day of my 7th birthday, I received a very surprising birthday present, a German children's book from China, about the story of an ancient Chinese named Confucius. I was deeply attracted by the pictures and content in the book. On one hand, I felt that the Chinese characters and natural environment in the book are very different from the small German town I lived. On the other hand, because Confucius is a great educator, in order to promote and popularize his state and educational philosophy based on “Benevolence”, he spent the rest of his life traveling from country to country and living a life of a homeless.Confucius’ belief in obsessing the heart and the determination to change the world with his thoughts made me admire him. Therefore, in my young heart the plan took form to become a teacher and go to China.

梦想成为现实

My childhood dream became a realily

With a lot of reading, my boyhood had passed by. Of course, this included a lot of books related to China. Unfortunately, there was no place in Germany to learn Chinese at that time, so I could only read Chinese literature translated into German to understand the distant and magical country. Time flies as if I have obtained a master’s degree in German language from the university in the blink of an eye, and I also obtained a professional teacher’s qualification. I have taken a step towards my childhood dream.

In the fall of 1997, my childhood dream finally became a reality. I came to China as a German Teacher with a German Government Program.The ancient capital of Nanjing was the first stop to open my life in China. At that time, there were very few foreigners in China, and my knowledge of the Chinese language was almost “zero.” Fortunately, the Chinese teachers and students around me extended their help to me with their enthusiasm and friendliness. When I first arrived in China, I was not used to eat delicious Chinese food that I eat today, so I ate very few and got hungry and thin. The German-speaking Chinese teachers who I worked together with learned that I missed German food very much. One weekend a teacher took me to the Western Restaurant of Nanjing Jinling Hotel where I had a good meal of German bread and sausage. After that, my Chinese colleagues often invited me to their homes to be a guest, and personally made a variety of delicious home cooking for me to eat. In this way, my “German stomach” began to slowly accept and eventually fell in love with the Chinese taste!

伴随着大量的阅读，我的少年时代匆匆而过，当然这其中包括了很多与中国有关的书籍，只可惜那时候在德国没有可以学习汉语的地方，所以我只能通过阅读翻译成德语的中国文学作品来了解那个遥远又神奇的国度。时光飞逝，仿佛转瞬之间我就从大学获得了德语语言学硕士学位，同时还取得了职业教师资格，我离自己儿时的梦想又近了一步。

1997年的秋天，我童年时的梦想终于成为现实，作为德国政府外派德语教师，我来到了中国，古都南京是开启我中国生活的第一站。那时候在中国的外国人还非常少，而我的中文基础几乎是零，幸亏我身边的中国老师和学生们热情、友善、及时地向我伸出了援手。刚到中国的时候，我还不太习惯吃如今习以为常的中国美食，所以经常吃得很少，人都饿瘦了。一起工作的会讲德语的中国老师们通过聊天，得知我非常想念德国的食物，就特意在周末休息的时候带我去南京金陵饭店的西餐厅，让我好好饱餐了一顿德国面包加香肠。此后中国同事们经常邀请我到他们的家里做客，亲手做各种好吃的家常菜给我吃。就这样我的“德国胃”开始慢慢地接受并且最终爱上了中国味道！

Teaching without feeling tired

At that time, at the Nanjing Foreign Languages School where I worked,my students were middle school students ranging from age 13 to 18 years old. They were very smart and hardworking students. There was a little boy named Peter who was very clever and especially fond of learning German. He often came to me after class with a lot of questions.He especially liked to read German books. Whenever I saw him, I could see myself collecting Chinese reading materials when I was young.Since the original German-language books suitable for young people in the school library were very limited, I ordered some books from Germany and sent them to China. In addition, every time I went back to Germany during the holidays, I would also carry back a lot of books suitable for students to read. When the new books arrived in my hands after a long journey, I would inform Little Peter to look at the books and to be the first to read them. I saw him sitting between the piles of books,he looked at me and asked me more questions, I felt very satisfied and the exhaustion melted away like snow. Perhaps this is what Confucius meant by saying “teaching without feeling tired”. Later, there were more and more books in my room and there was hardly a blank space on my desk and bed. After Peter’s father heard about it, one Sunday he came to me and made a small bookshelf, so that our “small reading room” would look more decent. Since then, this small bookshelf has travelled with me all the way from South to North China. I think it is the most perfect symbol of Confucius's concept of “respecting teachers and education”and it is the most precious gift I have ever received in China.

In 2006, I found a family in China. In order to reunite with my wife, I moved to Beijing, her hometown, to continue my work as a German teacher. In order to follow the “Chinese Dream” in my heart, I temporarily put down my beloved teaching in 2012 and came to the Chinese Language Institute of Beijing Language and Culture University to become a student,because here I could learn Chinese more systematically and learn more about the traditional Chinese culture that I am fascinated with. During my studies at BLCU I was deeply impressed by the extended knowledge and professional attitude of the Chinese teachers. At the same time, they care and help the students’ lives beyond the classroom. I should treat my students like my Chinese teachers treated me and educate my students from many aspects. “When you see the virtuous you want to be one of them” This is what Confucius said.

“诲人不倦”

那时候，在我任职的南京外国语学校，学生是年龄从13岁到18岁不等的中学生，他们都是非常优秀又勤奋的学生。有一个叫Peter的小男生十分聪明而且特别喜欢学德语，下课后经常会带着一大堆问题来找我，他特别喜欢阅读德文课外书。每当看到他，我就仿佛看到了年少时四处搜集中国读物的我。由于学校里适合青少年阅读的德语原版图书比较有限，我就从德国订购了一些图书寄到中国；另外，每次放假回德国探亲，我也会随身背回来很多适合学生们阅读的读物。当新书经过长途跋涉到达我手上后，我就会第一时间通知Peter来挑书，看到他如饥似渴地坐在书堆中手不释卷的样子，边看边问我一些问题，我就感到十分心满意足，背书的辛苦荡然无存，也许这就是孔子所说的“诲人不倦”吧。后来宿舍里的书越来越多，书桌和床上都快堆不下了，Peter的爸爸听说后，利用一个周日的时间亲手为我做了一个小书架，这样我们的“课外图书室”就显得更像样了。此后，这个小书架跟随我在中国从南到北，一路旅行，我认为它是孔子“尊师重教”理念在中国人心目中最完美的体现，也是我收到的最珍贵的礼物。

Peaches are full of the world

When my Chinese study was coming to an end, one of my teachers recommended me to the German department, so I proudly became a teacher at Beijing Language and Culture University. I changed from a student to become a teacher again. Among my students are not only Chinese students, but also international students; not only Han students, but also minority students, so I feel that it is necessary to apply Confucius’s educational philosophy of “teaching students according to their ability”. There is a Uyghur girl from Xinjiang. Because of her accent, she usually had very little communication with other students. She did not speak much in the German oral class. Realizing this, I would practice dialogue with her in my class and found out that she does not understand so I explained and described the meaning to her by drawing simple drawings. Slowly, her attitude towards speaking classes became positive. One day, when she said to me in German, “I start to like German a little!” At this moment, I felt that all my efforts were worth it!

2006年我在中国成了家，为了和妻子团聚，我搬到了她的故乡北京生活，继续从事德语教学工作。为了更好地圆我心中的“中国梦”，2012年我暂时放下了心爱的教师工作，来到北京语言大学汉语速成班成了一名学生，因为在这里我可以更加系统地学习汉语，从而更深入地了解令我着迷的中国传统文化。在北语学习期间，中国老师们专业的知识和敬业的态度都给我留下了深刻印象，同时他们在课业以外对学生们生活上的关心和帮助更是令我难忘，我想以后我也要像我的中国老师们一样对待自己的学生，从多个方面教育引导他们，这就是孔子所说的“见贤思齐”吧。

“桃李满天下”

在我的汉语学习将近尾声的时候，我的一位老师把我推荐给了德语系，这样我从一名北语的学生骄傲地成为一名北语的老师。在我的学生当中不仅有中国学生，还有留学生；不仅有汉族学生，还有少数民族学生，因此我觉得很有必要把孔子“因材施教”的教育理念运用到自己的教学方法中。有一个来自新疆的维吾尔族女生，由于她的普通话不好，所以平时和其他同学的沟通很少，上德语口语课也不怎么开口说话。意识到这一点，我会在我的课上和她一起练习对话，发现她有不懂的地方，就通过画简单的图案给她解释和描述。慢慢地，她上口语课的态度变得积极了。有一天，当她用德语对我说：“我有一点喜欢上德语了！”这一刻我觉得我付出的一切努力都是值得的！

到今年9月，我来到中国就已经有23年了。在这23年间，我的无数中国学生通过他们熟练掌握的德语，实现了他们的梦想：小Peter成为一名中国驻慕尼黑领事馆的外交官，维吾尔族女生在她家乡的海关从事入境检验工作；有很多当年的学生与我成为同行，有的在中国国内的北京大学、南京大学任教，也有的在德国的孔子学院从事教学工作。

在中国有“桃李满天下，春晖遍四方”的说法，意思是老师教授的学生遍布天下，而学子们带着学到的本领，作为知识的种子传播到四方。我非常幸运能够带着我儿时的梦想，来到中国这个东方的文明古国，在这里把我的梦想变成现实，同时通过对孔子教育理念的理解和践行，帮助我的学生们插上翅膀去放飞他们的梦想。孔子离我们的时代并不遥远也不陌生，他的思想发源于古代的中国，却始终影响着今日的世界！

何彦斯（右）和他的学生

By September of 2020, I have been in China for 23 years. During these 23 years, my countless Chinese students have realized their dreams through their proficient German: Peter has become a diplomat at the Chinese Consulate in Munich, and the Uyghur girl is engaged in immigration inspections at the customs of her hometown; Many of the students of that I taught over the years became teachers like me.Some are teaching at Peking University and Nanjing University, and some have been teaching at the Confucius Institute in Germany.

In China, there is a saying that “the peaches are full of the world and the springs are all over the place”, meaning that the teachers and professors have students all over the world, and the students have learned the skills and spread them to the Quartet as the seeds of knowledge. I am very fortunate to be able to bring my childhood dreams to China, an ancient civilization in the East, to turn my dreams into reality, and to help my students plug in through the understanding and practice of Confucius’ educational philosophy.Wings go to fly their dreams. Confucius is not far from our era and is no stranger. His thoughts originated in ancient China, but they always affect the world today!