{"id":3154,"date":"2013-04-02T08:49:28","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T00:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/2013\/04\/02\/qing_ting_tian_20130402\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T11:18:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T03:18:39","slug":"qing_ting_tian_20130402","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2013\/04\/02\/qing_ting_tian_20130402\/","title":{"rendered":"Lis\u00adten\u00ading to the Sound of Flow\u00aders Bloom\u00ading in Heav\u00aden (Reflec\u00adtions on \u201cThe Girl with the Brown Cray\u00adon\u201d)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u503e\u542c\u5929\u5802\u91cc\u82b1\u5f00\u7684\u58f0\u97f3\uff08\u300a\u62ff\u68d5\u8721\u7b14\u7684\u5973\u5b69\u300b\u8bfb\u540e\u611f\uff09\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Three years ago, in order to bet\u00adter trans\u00adlate Lion\u00adi\u2019s works, I found the orig\u00adi\u00adnal ver\u00adsion of \u201cGirl with the Brown Cray\u00adon\u201d, because it is said that this book records many chil\u00addren\u2019s reac\u00adtions to read\u00ading Lion\u00adi\u2019s works.<\/p>\n

I absolute\u00adly adore Lion\u00adi\u2019s work. I know many adult read\u00aders love it, too. Lioni has been called the \u201cAesop of pic\u00adture books\u201d because his sto\u00adries, craft\u00aded through text and illus\u00adtra\u00adtion, have a dis\u00adtinct alle\u00adgor\u00adi\u00adcal bent, pro\u00adfound yet unpre\u00adten\u00adtious. Almost any\u00adone with exten\u00adsive read\u00ading or life expe\u00adri\u00adence can find some\u00adthing in his sto\u00adries, spark\u00ading reflec\u00adtion and dis\u00adcus\u00adsion. I even feel that Lioni is a very old-fash\u00adioned sto\u00adry\u00adteller. Per\u00adhaps only \u201cLit\u00adtle Blue and Lit\u00adtle Yel\u00adlow\u201d can be described as \u201cnov\u00adel.\u201d Most of his sto\u00adries are told in a leisure\u00adly, unhur\u00adried flow, and the struc\u00adture and artis\u00adtic tech\u00adniques are restrained\u00adly adher\u00ading to a self-imposed \u201cclich\u00e9.\u201d It\u2019s not sur\u00adpris\u00ading that those who enjoy Alfred Field Mouse\u2019s \u201cdaze\u201d (or, in oth\u00ader words, med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtive con\u00adtem\u00adpla\u00adtion) also enjoy Lioni. But what about chil\u00addren? After all, they are the pri\u00adma\u00adry read\u00aders of pic\u00adture books.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As a father and a sto\u00adry\u00adteller who pro\u00admotes read\u00ading, I often tell my chil\u00addren sto\u00adries by Lioni. They rarely leap for joy when lis\u00adten\u00ading to Lion\u00adi\u2019s sto\u00adries. While they might occa\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly laugh, they\u2019re gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly quite qui\u00adet. Indeed, they often lis\u00adten qui\u00adet\u00adly, a spark of light flick\u00ader\u00ading in their clear eyes, a smile play\u00ading on their lips, and then the sto\u00adry ends. I\u2019m deeply curi\u00adous: what do the sto\u00adries of the lit\u00adtle black fish, Alfred the field mouse, Cor\u00adnelius the croc\u00ado\u00addile, Alexan\u00adder, and Willy the Wind-up Mouse evoke in these chil\u00addren? But I don\u2019t want to spoil the won\u00adder\u00adful feel\u00ading of the sto\u00adries with poten\u00adtial\u00adly bor\u00ading ques\u00adtions; the qui\u00adet reflec\u00adtion and reflec\u00adtion after lis\u00adten\u00ading to a sto\u00adry is tru\u00adly sat\u00adis\u00adfy\u00ading.<\/p>\n

Read\u00ading The Girl with the Brown Cray\u00adon opened up a whole new world for me. We saw a state of read\u00ading that could be described as perfect\u2014reading like this is almost like heav\u00aden!<\/p>\n

The author, Vivian, is a kinder\u00adgarten teacher\u2014a pro\u00adfes\u00adsion we often asso\u00adciate with a \u201ckinder\u00adgarten teacher,\u201d per\u00adhaps a young, recent\u00adly grad\u00adu\u00adat\u00aded woman, live\u00adly and adorable, tal\u00adent\u00aded in singing and danc\u00ading, or per\u00adhaps an old\u00ader, long-time pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal, some\u00adwhat fussy but also affa\u00adble. How\u00adev\u00ader, the nar\u00adra\u00adtor of this book like\u00adly does\u00adn\u2019t fit our image at all. She was 65, in the final year of her career, and she was also a writer (per\u00adhaps a very famous one in the Unit\u00aded States). While there are exam\u00adples of kinder\u00adgarten teach\u00aders ris\u00ading to fame as writ\u00aders in our cul\u00adture, there\u2019s no prece\u00addent for a writer who also worked as a kinder\u00adgarten teacher until retire\u00adment.<\/p>\n

Author Vivian is the lead teacher in a kinder\u00adgarten class of chil\u00addren aged 5\u20136 (equiv\u00ada\u00adlent to our senior or preschool class\u00ades). Her co-teacher is Nisha, and the two teach\u00aders work in per\u00adfect har\u00admo\u00adny. The class is small, with names men\u00adtioned in the book like\u00adly includ\u00ading Ren\u00adnie, Corey, Kevin, Bruce, Oliv\u00ader, Jonathan, Ani\u00adta, Wal\u00adter, and Jen\u00adny. The teacher-stu\u00addent ratio is esti\u00admat\u00aded to be around 1:5. Inter\u00adest\u00ading\u00adly, with only a hand\u00adful of chil\u00addren in the class, there are both white and black chil\u00addren (such as Ren\u00adnie, Kevin, and Bruce), Wal\u00adter, a recent Pol\u00adish immi\u00adgrant, and Oliv\u00ader, who may be labeled autis\u00adtic. Nisha is of Indi\u00adan descent, and Vivian her\u00adself is Jew\u00adish!<\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t you curi\u00adous about how this unique group of peo\u00adple, with a diverse mix of races and ages, man\u00adaged to hap\u00adpi\u00adly study Leo Lion\u00adni for a whole year?<\/p>\n

When\u00adev\u00ader adults want to lead chil\u00addren through a read\u00ading ses\u00adsion with a par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar work or author, they nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adly con\u00adtem\u00adplate how to guide them, devis\u00ading spe\u00adcif\u00adic strate\u00adgies tai\u00adlored to chil\u00addren\u2019s psy\u00adchol\u00ado\u00adgy and recep\u00adtive abil\u00adi\u00adties. Sure\u00adly, as a writer, Vivian must have some clever tricks up her sleeve? If you\u2019re expect\u00ading this, you might be a bit dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00aded read\u00ading this book. Vivian appears to have no instruc\u00adtion\u00adal design, no pre-defined learn\u00ading objec\u00adtives or spe\u00adcif\u00adic imple\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion plans. For par\u00adents who expect their chil\u00addren to learn at least some basic knowl\u00adedge in kindergarten\u2014literacy, arith\u00admetic, for\u00adeign lan\u00adguages, at least to \u201cget ahead at the start\u00ading line,\u201d Vivian\u2019s teach\u00ading meth\u00adods are like\u00adly just a tedious way to pass the time. Let go of these anx\u00adious expec\u00adta\u00adtions for a moment and read and con\u00adtem\u00adplate this book.<\/p>\n

In this kinder\u00adgarten exam\u00adple, the teacher passed the baton to the chil\u00addren! Of course, it was hand\u00aded over very care\u00adful\u00adly and unob\u00adtru\u00adsive\u00adly to a unique child, a brown-skinned black girl who always drew with a brown cray\u00adon. Reni, cap\u00adti\u00advat\u00aded by Leonie, read a pro\u00adfound\u00adly unusu\u00adal mes\u00adsage from Alfred the field mouse, and she uncon\u00adscious\u00adly shared this mes\u00adsage, unex\u00adpect\u00aded\u00adly ignit\u00ading every\u00adone\u2019s enthu\u00adsi\u00adasm. Vivian saw and heard this, and was deeply inspired (or rather, shocked) by it, so she tried to have Reni lead every\u00adone on Leonie\u2019s jour\u00adney.<\/p>\n

Can you believe the guid\u00adance of a lit\u00adtle girl just over five years old? I do. In his book, \u201cA Child\u2019s Uni\u00adverse,\u201d Hayao Kawai demon\u00adstrates the pro\u00adfound spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal pow\u00ader that chil\u00addren pos\u00adsess, and I\u2019ve often deeply expe\u00adri\u00adenced this pow\u00ader myself in my inter\u00adac\u00adtions with chil\u00addren. Yes, Reni, the black girl with the brown cray\u00adon, tru\u00adly pos\u00adsess\u00ades this pow\u00ader. She moti\u00advat\u00aded the entire class to study Leonie for an entire year, engag\u00ading in numer\u00adous relat\u00aded activ\u00adi\u00adties: draw\u00ading posters, mak\u00ading crafts, engag\u00ading in cor\u00adre\u00adspon\u00addence with the artist, and dis\u00adcussing and ana\u00adlyz\u00ading the truths Leonie sought to explore and the secrets he will\u00ading\u00adly shared. This inspired and beau\u00adti\u00adful feel\u00ading deeply etched in the hearts of every\u00adone involved, includ\u00ading, of course, Vivian and Teacher Nisha, as well as all the par\u00adents involved.<\/p>\n

So, what role did teacher Vivian, who record\u00aded and nar\u00adrat\u00aded this sto\u00adry, play? I believe she served as a true edu\u00adca\u00adtor. She was the mas\u00adter\u00admind behind the entire event, yet she hand\u00aded the stage to her stu\u00addents, even though they were only five or six years old. Her under\u00adstand\u00ading and sup\u00adport of Reni\u2019s unique inter\u00adests were the foun\u00adda\u00adtion of this won\u00adder\u00adful event, and her time\u00adly pro\u00admo\u00adtion of each cru\u00adcial link cre\u00adat\u00aded the oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty for mir\u00ada\u00adcles to unfold. She her\u00adself, on stage, com\u00adple\u00adment\u00aded the leader with a com\u00adplete\u00adly authen\u00adtic indi\u00advid\u00adual, expe\u00adri\u00adenc\u00ading real strug\u00adgles, gen\u00aduine insights, and tan\u00adgi\u00adble growth. As we watched the chil\u00addren con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adous\u00adly unearth gold\u00aden truths through the imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtive world cre\u00adat\u00aded by Lion\u00adni, it was like watch\u00ading flow\u00aders of wis\u00addom bloom one after anoth\u00ader. Vivian smiled, and so did we. The most beau\u00adti\u00adful thing was that teacher Vivian seemed to do noth\u00ading; every\u00adthing hap\u00adpened so nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adly. Isn\u2019t this the secret of Lao Tzu\u2019s say\u00ading, \u201cTo act with\u00adout action, to teach with\u00adout words\u201d?<\/p>\n

The Girl with the Brown Cray\u00adon is a short book, but one I could\u00adn\u2019t resist shar\u00ading. I high\u00adly rec\u00adom\u00admend it to the Chi\u00adnese edi\u00adtor, hop\u00ading that friends who enjoy Leoni\u2019s pic\u00adture books and are con\u00adstant\u00adly pon\u00adder\u00ading issues relat\u00aded to chil\u00addren\u2019s edu\u00adca\u00adtion will also share in its joy. I believe this is a book worth reread\u00ading, a book that can tru\u00adly help peo\u00adple grow.<\/p>\n

Dur\u00ading the Red Mud\u2019s study activ\u00adi\u00adty on Lion\u00adi\u2019s works, I was the first to share this book with sev\u00ader\u00adal enthu\u00adsi\u00adasts. A moth\u00ader said with emo\u00adtion: \u201cRead\u00ading this book makes peo\u00adple feel warm. An angel\u00adic teacher leads a group of angel\u00adic chil\u00addren to wan\u00adder in Lion\u00adi\u2019s works for a whole year. It real\u00adly feels like being in heav\u00aden.\u201d This is exact\u00adly how I feel.<\/p>\n

Per\u00adhaps, we can live in such a par\u00adadise every day as long as we are will\u00ading to lis\u00adten qui\u00adet\u00adly to the sound of flow\u00aders bloom\u00ading in par\u00adadise.
\nAjia \u2026
\nWrit\u00adten in Bei\u00adjing, Octo\u00adber 2012<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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