NOVPUB
Chapter 369: Chapter 359: The Career of an English Teacher
After the painting album was settled, Shen Yunfang also began her career as an English teacher.
That evening, Shen Yunfang taught an English class to over fifty students in her class and received unanimous praise, so she decided to continue with the teaching job.
Of course, she didn’t have to teach the class every evening, but had set Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings for classes, allowing the students to have time to learn their major subjects.
Every time there was a class, just as agreed before, Shen Yunfang would come to school with her child after having dinner at home. Then Ma Liang, the student who didn’t like learning English, would hold Manman, while Pangpang sat at his mother’s spot and attended the class with her.
No one expected that this little guy would turn out to be the most active student in the class. Often when Shen Yunfang posed questions upfront, Pangpang would immediately raise his hand and shout, "Mom, Mom, I know this, let me answer." He learned to raise his hand only after seeing the older classmates do so since he started attending classes.
All fifty-six students from the second class of the Agronomy Department attended Shen Yunfang’s English mini-class without exception. It’s not that everyone loved learning English, but everyone had the mindset that not taking advantage of this opportunity would be a loss. Some people felt they would fall behind others if they didn’t attend the English classes, leading to full attendance whenever Shen Yunfang taught.
Also, with the active participation of Pangpang, many students who initially hadn’t taken the class seriously found motivation. They felt that they should at least do better than a two or three-year-old child. Thus, at the very least, they paid full attention in Shen Yunfang’s classes. As long as you studied hard, there was nothing you couldn’t learn well, and by the end of the term, nearly everyone in the class felt they had made progress, although the extent of it varied for each student.
But the one who gained the most was Shen Yunfang.
Firstly, finding time to come to school with her child to give English lessons to classmates added greatly to her reputation. The department head and several school leaders met with her and encouraged her to keep up the good work. The competitive learning spirit of mutual assistance in class two was worth emulating by other students. As the most dedicated ’little teacher,’ Shen Yunfang earned countless favorable impressions from the school leaders and her students.
Furthermore, teaching her classmates brought her personal gains. After all, it had been years since she spoke English, and she was essentially starting from scratch. She had previously focused mainly on spoken communication, considering her written language skills to be just average. Now, in order to teach her students well, she also worked hard to enrich her knowledge. 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
Then there was her family. There’s no need to mention Pangpang, who was like a fish in water in his mother’s classroom. And there was Li Hongjun, who was forced to listen to his child and wife chatter away in ’bird language’ every weekend. Subconsciously, he also picked up quite a bit and occasionally could muster a slightly imperfect sentence in English.
And there was Manman, just over a year old and still not speaking much, so she was always held by Ma Liang, who didn’t like to study during classes.
Ma Liang didn’t like learning English and despised anything or anyone foreign to China. So, when Shen Yunfang was going to teach English, he didn’t want to participate.
Just then, Xu Guoqiang conscripted him, reasoning that since he didn’t want to learn English, he might as well put his energy to use and help with the children. Therefore, Ma Liang sat in the classroom, holding little Manman in his arms.
Shen Yunfang thought, since he was sitting anyway, he might as well make use of ’waste’ and let him paint more to earn money. Thus, Ma Liang painted tirelessly for Shen Yunfang while holding the child in the classroom every day.
Manman wouldn’t just sit idly by and also picked up Ma Liang’s paintbrush to doodle on paper.
Occasionally, Ma Liang would find time to tutor the young student. Manman, in this half month, had learned to draw circles by herself—a significant improvement. Shen Yunfang felt that her daughter had much room for growth and decided to let Ma Liang continue to serve her little princess, and perhaps secretly learn a skill or two from him.
And Ma Liang really had talent. His paintings were both good and fast. The twenty-one painting albums that were originally scheduled to be completed by mid-July were already finished in early July.
When Shen Yunfang presented the album to Joseph, he highly praised her level of painting this time and even raised the price by thirty US Dollars for each one (ready to be used directly after returning, no need to find someone to modify, Joseph was certainly pleased). The deal was clinched at two hundred and sixty US Dollars per book (originally it was supposed to go up by twenty dollars, but Shen Yunfang felt that two hundred and fifty was a bit unlucky, so she negotiated with Joseph to two hundred and sixty), and just like that, Shen Yunfang earned five thousand four hundred and sixty US Dollars.
This time, Shen Yunfang didn’t ask Joseph to make a bank transfer and instead had him pay in cash, and in US Dollars. She knew that the exchange rates were at their lowest at that time and by waiting for two more years, when she would exchange the US Dollars, she could make a tidy profit.
Time flew by quickly, and before they knew it, it was already time for summer vacation.
"Keep these notebooks safe. I have finished writing the storylines, and you just need to add the illustrations," Shen Yunfang handed over several notebooks she had finished writing to Ma Liang. "Try to finish as much as you can, but it’s okay if you can’t complete it all. We can continue next term." Shen Yunfang had witnessed Ma Liang’s dedication when he was drawing; not stopping to eat or sleep until he finished was a common occurrence. She saw him as a long-term investment and didn’t want him to burn out over one vacation.
Ma Liang happily took the stack of notebooks, not feeling at all that the task Shen Yunfang gave him was too much. First, he truly loved drawing and could never get enough, and secondly, he had earned more than a hundred dollars from Shen Yunfang in just half a month. During that half-month, he didn’t have to force down dry buns at every meal; he could afford to buy some vegetables and even enjoy a meat dish occasionally. He was extremely satisfied with his life now. With basic food and warmth secured, he started to dream about having a home, a deep-seated desire he harbored within. Initially, he had no money, and he could only attend university because it didn’t charge tuition fees and even provided a subsidy. The idea of having a home of his own was something he had kept buried deep in his heart, not daring to think about it. But now, it was different; he was able to earn money, and he saw hope.
As long as he painted more, that home wouldn’t be far from his reach.
"I’ll do my best," Ma Liang promised.
"Classmates, classmates, big news, big news," a classmate ran into the classroom shouting.
The students in the classroom all looked over, "What news? Hurry and tell us."
"I just overheard the department head holding a meeting with our faculty at the office door, saying that our school is going to relocate and move back to the Capital," the classmate announced.
"What? Relocating?"
"Moving to the Capital?"
"Is it true?"
"Ah, am I going to the Capital?"
"When are we moving?"
"Everybody, stop for a moment, let him finish," Xu Guoqiang stood up to stop everyone’s barrage of questions, signaling the classmate to continue.
"Heh heh, that’s all I heard. As for why we’re moving and when, I ran back before I could hear more," the classmate scratched his head sheepishly, too excited to have stayed for details.
Had it not been for the belief that their college entrance exam scores weren’t high enough, who wouldn’t want to go to the Capital? That was the nation’s Capital, after all.
