Because of work’s needs, I came to Miramichi from Fredericton on August26th ,2015. I live with an old man who is also the neighbor of Harkins Middle School’s principal . Landlord,Donald,is a very kindhearted and nice person, he offered me various of convenience in order to make me feel happy to live here. Jennifer who is the principal of Harkins Middle School is a very friendly lady and also an excellent principal. In particular, she has strong China complex ,because her mother-in-law is Chinese people who came to Canada from China,so Jennifer’s husband is also half Chinese,and their daughter has a quarter of Chinese descent. With the help of principal, I ‘m familiar with the school’s colleagues and environment as soon as possible . This city is not very big and has three directs. The house I rent is not very far from school and downtown making my life here very convenient.
Harkins Middle School is a English and French bilingual School, 320 students in total,15 classes. At first , principal asked me to listen PE teacher’s lessons to know how they teaching. After listening on round I started to exhibit Chang Quan and Taichi . The kids in middle school’s age are usually like foot ball and basket ball and so on. They are very interested in Chinese martial arts,but they can not understand totally what is Chang Quan or Chinese martial art. I order to make they have more chance to know Chinese Cultures, I talked with principal if I can teach every class,but she refused. Because she thought to find some good classes to learn. However, I was thinking I’m here , it’s better to make every student has chance to know different cultures. So I intended to teach all students around the school, and we started to try.
I shared the students with PE teacher, half students with him ,half with me,and switch next time. I felt tired but fulfillment after the whole day’s lessons. Karate and taekwondo are popular here,so I combined bisic Chinese kongfu movements that made students are interested in.
Harkins Middle School’s schedule is very special ,they use six days course schedule,but actually they have five school days which keeping the sixth day’s schedule . There is a good advantage that they can go on the schedule in case of the special situation and make sure to finish all the plans. However ,this brought me difficulties in some degree, because I have to remember where is my class every time. I planed basic training ,Body coordination exercises,short routine exercise and games to make the lesson more interesting,which makes students gain more.
November26th ,2015 is a big day for me. I held the activity calling “ Play Taichi Together” around school,and leaded all students to play Taichi in the gym. The director of CINB, Ms. Teng Jing came here and brought the customs for students.
Principal Jennifer gave opening speech and let me give a speech too. I was very excited when I saw all the students wearing CINB’s T-shirt and played Taichi With me together. With the music of Taichi ,we started with Fist-palm salute and greeting with each other in Chinese. I lead students to do Pranayama techniques, Taichi routines. All students felt comfortable and proud. Local journalist also came to interview and reported this activity. We made a very big success ,and all the teachers and students said CINB made Chinese martial arts to put down roots here. I was very proud when principal said “these kids will still remember this scene after many years ... ”
中国武术走进加拿大新布伦瑞克省米罗米奇市
2015年8月26号，因工作需要，我从Fredericton来到Miramichi（米罗米奇），租住在离Harkins Middle School走路七八分钟的一个老人家里，这老人也是校长Jennifer的邻居。房东Donald是个很友善的老人，为了让我安心舒服的住在这里，给我提供了很多方便，开车带着我熟悉这个小城。 Harkins Middle School校长Jennifer是一个非常有亲和力的女士，作为校长也是个很优秀的校长。特别是她有浓厚的中国情结，她的婆婆是从很小的时候随父母从中国来到加拿大的，所以校长的丈夫是2分之一的中国人，他们的女儿是4分之一的中国人。
在这样的校长的帮助下，我尽快熟悉了学校里的同事和工作环境。这个城市不大，分了三个区，我租住的房子，离学校和downtown很近，生活工作都很方便。
Harkins Middle School是一所英法双语学校，一共有320多人，15个班。校长让我先跟着学校里的体育老师听课，了解他们是怎么上课的。所有的班级都听了一遍，然后我就在每个班展示中国武术的长拳和太极拳。对于初中年龄的孩子多数喜欢激烈运动，如足球篮球等。对于中国武术的基本功动作及长拳也非常感兴趣，但是这个年龄段的孩子对于太极的理解还是很模糊的，感到很神秘。为了让更多的学生都能有机会了解中国武术文化，我和校长商谈能否教所有的班？校长说不用，可以找几个比较好的班级教即可。但是我想既然来了，就让每个学生都有机会了解一下不同的文化也是好的，于是坚持教全部学生，校长答应了我的要求，说先试试，随时可以调整。
我和本校体育老师分享学生上课，一人一半学生人数，下次课交换。全部班级武术课一轮下来，让我感到充实也很累。当地比较流行空手道和跆拳道，所以我结合中国武术基本功教了相似的动作，学生们都很感兴趣。
Harkins Middle School的课程表很有特色，是六天的课程安排，实际上课是五天工作制，六天的课程留着上，这样有个好处，有特殊情况停课的话，第二天根据课程表继续上课，而不是根据星期几来上课，这样保证不耽误教师学生完成计划。当然给我带来了一定难度，我必须记住在哪上课。
在武术的教学内容上，安排了基本功练习，身体协调性练习，简短的套路练习，游戏的加入让学生更有兴趣，还有视频欣赏，兵器展示，防身术等。这种多样式的上课方式让学生有更多的收获。
2015年11月26日，在对于我来说是个重要的日子。我带领全体学生在Harkins Middle School举行了“全校学生练太极”活动。外方院长滕菁女士专程从蒙克顿驱车近两个小时赶到这里，给全校学生送来了为此次活动定制的服装。Harkins Middle School全体师生参加了这一活动。
校长Jennifer首先致开幕词，并让我讲话，我非常激动，望着全体学生都穿着带有孔子学院标志的T恤衫，我真正看到了和平鸽在几百名学生胸前飞翔。在太极音乐的伴奏下，以 “抱拳礼”开场，大声说 “同学们好”，学生齐声答：“老师好”，汉语问好的方式倍感亲切。我带领学生一起练习调息功法，太极套路，整套拳下来，学生们都感觉非常舒服和自豪。
当地报社记者也来采访，给予了报道。此次活动非常成功，师生们说：孔子学院让中国武术在当地生根发芽。校长说；几十年以后这些孩子也还会记得中学这难忘的一幕---
(费发洲 蒋洁供稿)
