Interest is the best teacher
In respect to Yuan and his way of teaching history, many Internet users wrote, “I’m so envious of his students and really hope some changes can be made in China’s education system because the existing educational pattern is too stereotypical and boring. Our teachers just read the textbook and even told us to underline examination points on the textbook!”
In fact, Yuan had already been very popular when he was a young teacher at the High School attached to Capital Normal University. His students regarded his history classes as “popular science lectures.” Some students even regretted that they chose to study science after learning that Yuan taught history to third-year senior high school students. Some students chose to study history, which is not a hot field, as their career just because they had listened to Yuan’s lectures.
“A good teacher does not necessarily care about whether students remember something after a class, instead, you should care about whether students are interested in what you said,” noted Yuan. Different from college teachers, middle school history teachers do not study history, but rather popularize historical knowledge, a process in which interest plays a significant role. If students are interested and enthusiastic, they will take initiative to read books after the class. If students feel what their teacher said was not serious or accurate, they will sometimes personally look through the serious history. “This is the best kind of interaction.”
Translated by LOTO
Editor: Shi Taoyang | Source: CCTV.com