Employees of Air China teach students first-aid skills in Sonid Right Banner, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, last year. （Photo Provided to China Daily）
"They gave me a lot of enlightening suggestions on how to handle the students. With their advice in hand, I felt more confident in teaching the students," she said.
Chen selected four of the most disruptive children in the class and appointed them English-course representatives. The strategy worked. By giving them more trust and responsibility, they turned into model students who encouraged other pupils to emulate them.
Chen showed consideration for the students and they gradually accepted her, not only as a teacher, but also as a friend. Knowing she had worked at an airport, the students, most of whom had never seen a plane, couldn't stop being curious about the "big bird".
Liao Jie, one of her students, wanted to become a flight attendant after Chen explained what the job entailed. After finding out that the job required fluent English, Liao spared no effort in learning the language and achieved a perfect score in her final exam.
"What made me proud is not her good performance in the exams," Chen said. "I'm more than thrilled that she came to know there are so many possibilities in the future and she could achieve them by working hard."
On Teachers' Day, Sept 10, many students gave handmade cards and drawings to Chen, expressing their gratitude to her and telling her they wished she could stay longer.
"I found a very strong sense of belonging and accomplishment seeing their progress. Those feelings are hard to find in any another career," she said.
The only "torture" for a Chongqing local such as Chen is to live in a place where there is no hotpot restaurant - a must-have spicy dish even when out of the city.
Everyday life can also be boring, with no cultural or entertainment activities. Chen said it was very different to her home city, where people dine and sing karaoke late into the night.
But her comforts were a reminder that small gestures can mean as much as grand ones. Each day, students prepared a bottle of drinking water for her, and they often invited Chen to their homes for humble dinners.
"My students and their families' economic situations are quite difficult as most of them are from rural areas. However, they are rich in love," Chen said.
She and her colleagues are among a growing number of volunteers contributing to education in rural areas. Since 2017, Air China has sent over 300 staff to teach in the countryside.
The volunteer program aims to lift people in rural areas of Inner Mongolia and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous regions out of poverty by offering quality education to the younger generation. It also serves as an opportunity for Air China employees to build up strong bodies and minds through hardship, the company said.
