“Warm Project” in a Warm Holiday--from Foreign Teachers at BRFLS 温暖的节日，要给别人送温暖——初中外教的圣诞日记

Happy Holidays!  Feliz Navidad! Geseënde Kersfees! Жаны Жылыныздар менен! 圣诞快乐! срећан Божић! Hristos se rodi! С Рождеством и Новым Годом! შობასგილოცავთ ! Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël!  There are so many ways to express the spirit of the holiday season with colleagues from difference countries in an international school. In this Christmas dinner, teachers were sending their season greetings to each other, and communicated our first experience in this country. How do you celebrate Christmas and New Year in your country？ How is your first experience of seeing a doctor in China？

世界上有很多方式来表达圣诞祝福，尤其是在一个多语言环境的国际学校。 在这个圣诞节晚餐中，老师们互相表达着节日的问候，分享在中国的新鲜体验。你在家里怎样庆祝圣诞节和新年？ 你第一次在中国看牙医的体验如何？

Christmas could not be without little gifts. The principal provided Holiday cookies. And our dear colleagues, Altynai and David, arranged their little surprise for everyone—red Christmas stockings with coffee, candy, and other goodies were stuffed in them.

圣诞节当然少不了小礼物。校长精心准备了节日饼干。同事Altynai和David为每个人都准备了小惊喜—红色的圣诞袜，装着各种咖啡豆、糖果和其他小礼物。

There were a variety of cultures gathered in China, making this Christmas warm and special for us. It felt warm reminding us of the Christmas family dinner in our hometown. It was also special to spend time with our global teacher-family no matter the venue.

这次圣诞节很温暖，使我们想起了家里的圣诞晚餐。这次圣诞节也很特别，来自不同国家的同事，聚集在一起，在哪里就不再那么重要了。

Donations to the Sun Village

The holiday season wouldn’t be complete without giving back to our community. With some publicity, teachers and students collected a total of 12 large boxes of clothes, stationary, books, and other items for the Sun Village in Beijing during the month of December. Some students even filled an entire suitcase with books. This was an opportunity not only to help those in need, but also to convey the concept of community service to the students. The sense of service and contribution to the society is like a small seed; we, as educators of students, help plant it, water it and fertilize it, hoping to see it grow into a big tree. On December 29th, nine students came along with three teachers to deliver the donations to the Sun Village, which serves children whose parents are incarcerated. While only housing 63 children right now, they are also sponsoring about 10,000 kids all over China in impoverished areas. Some items we donated will be used in the village, and some will be given out to others that need them even more.

对我们来说，公益活动会让这个节日更加有意义。12月期间，老师和学生们为太阳村收集了12个大箱子的衣服、文具、书籍和其他物品。这不仅是一个慈善的机会，也在一个向学生传达社区服务理念的机会。服务意识和对社会的贡献理念就像一粒种子。作为教师，我们为这些种子浇水和施肥，看着它长成大树。12月29日，九名学生和三名教师一同前往太阳村，为那些父母不在身边的孩子们送去爱心。除了太阳村的孩子们，我们还参与捐助了全国其他地区的10,000个孩子。捐赠的物品一部分给孩子们使用，另外一部分给其他需要的人。

After talking to the Sun Village representative who received us, BRFLS Junior High intended to continue working with them in the future in the following aspects: 1 – help tutor their kids on Fridays (their most urgent need currently); 2 – Help them with their fruit/vegetable farming—either labor work or help them sell (right now it’s strawberries); 3 – Fundraise for them (large amount of money is needed for daily operation).

在这个社会服务项目中，王府学校的初中学生将继续为这里的孩子提供帮助，这些包括：1. 周五帮孩子们补习功课 （他们目前最迫切的需要）；2. 帮助学生种植蔬果并出售（现在主要是草莓）；3. 为学校筹集经费（主要用来维持日常运转）。

We were pleased to see that our little student volunteers were quite attentive when listening to the village representative, and also asked questions and raised ideas for possible ways to help.  Let’s continue to share with our students the spirit of the community service, and the spirit of social responsibility for the rest of the school year!

我们很高兴地看到，我们的学生志愿者在听村长的发言时，都非常专注。不仅提出了问题，还进一步提出了解决方案。在今后的日子里，我们会继续趁着节日的契机，教导学生帮助他人，承担更多的社会责任!