September 2nd was a Saturday, and classes officially started at school.
A few people from the commune also came to inspect the primary school that Qiu Yi and his colleagues had set up.
Those who visited the school praised Taojia Village Primary School highly, and also gave high marks to Qiu Yi, the principal, and the other educated youth teachers.
They also set a date a month later, when they would arrange for someone to come and observe the class, and then fill the vacant positions for private school teachers with them.
Although there is no salary, there are some benefits and care. The teacher is registered with the education department and there is a record of teaching experience. After becoming a permanent employee, the teaching time is continued.
In those days, if you wanted to become a private school teacher, and there was a shortage of teachers in the area, the production brigade would recommend people with high levels of education to go to the commune and pass some simple exams to fill the teacher vacancy.
However, these were privately-run teachers who did not earn a government salary. Instead, they were paid work points by the production brigade, and their wages and grain were settled based on these work points throughout the year.
Of course, the education department does pay attention to them, providing some benefits to these private school teachers and organizing them to learn and improve themselves.
Teachers who complete the training and pass the teacher qualification exam will become nationally recognized public school teachers, securing a stable job and receiving a monthly salary from the government.
After a busy first week, things gradually stabilized in the second week.
Zhao Huanhuan began her normal work-from-home routine every day.
When some children are sick and have to take leave, their teachers will arrange for a few of them to visit their homes after get off work and teach them the lessons they missed that day.
After more than half a month, the villagers spoke highly of the teachers during their spare time, saying that the children had learned many characters and could sing many revolutionary songs.
For the past month, the villagers have been busy with the autumn harvest. Gu Yifeng and the remaining educated youth have also been working alongside the villagers. After a month of continuous labor, everyone was so tired that they didn't want to talk every day, and they all got several shades darker from the sun.
When Hu Doudou occasionally bumps into Wen Yan and Fang Mei, looking at their fair and clean faces and then at her own tanned face in the mirror, she feels so frustrated she wants to scratch the wall.
Zhao Huanhuan and her classmates also had a wonderful time at school. On September 25th, they organized a simple sports meet for the students. The event consisted of only a few simple events and was completed in one morning.
Finally, the school gave some rewards to the children who won first place, such as pens and notebooks or pencil cases. The children had a lot of fun and were happy to receive their prizes.
It was the end of the month, and National Day was approaching. After discussing it, Qiu Yi and the others decided to have the children prepare some programs to perform for their parents in the brigade's courtyard on National Day.
All the programs and dances were taught by the teachers, and most of the music programs were created by Zhao Huanhuan.
In the morning, we study academic subjects, and in the afternoon, we learn songs and rehearse performances.
The crosstalk performance written by Qiu Yi was performed by two fourth-grade boys.
Fang Mei led her second-grade students in rehearsing a play, a duet, and a chorus, with Zhao Huanhuan as the instructor.
Wenyan led her class in a poetry recitation and two solo performances, all under the guidance of Zhao Huanhuan.
And you know what? Zhao Huanhuan is really enjoying teaching this grade of child, no matter how she teaches them.
In order to ensure that the children's music lessons were well-taught, the brigade leader found an accordion in a storeroom of the brigade, which had been used in the past when the brigade held cultural and artistic activities.
However, the person who knew how to use it is no longer alive, so it's just stored in a warehouse.
Zhao Huanhuan didn't know how to use this at first; she only knew how to play the piano. In order to teach music well, she took this accordion to the commune's school to consult the music teacher there.
After the teacher taught her, she practiced for a few days and mastered it.
Fortunately, the children were taught some simple songs at the beginning.
The revolutionary songs they sang were the kind that were widely sung and known to everyone, and she gradually became proficient in them.
Zhao Huanhuan will be the music accompanist for the children's musical performances this time, providing accompaniment for all the musical programs.
Qiu Yi and Tao Shize are the two hosts.
Qiu Yi had already communicated with the brigade leader about the performance on National Day. The brigade leader had also had someone announce over the brigade's loudspeaker that on the afternoon of National Day, there would be no labor, and everyone should come to the brigade to watch the elementary school children perform their cultural programs.
On the morning of National Day, the teachers still led the children in one last rehearsal at school before letting them go home for lunch.
At 2 p.m., everyone put on their new clothes and went to the brigade to perform.
Since there aren't many children in their primary school, only 52, each child has a performance to give. Some of the more talented children may even have three or four performances.
The team leader also said that outstanding programs and children will be rewarded.
As for what reward he would give, Qiu Yi and the others didn't know.
When Zhao Huanhuan returned home for lunch, Aunt Chu smiled and said, "Huanhuan, Lin Yuan sent a letter. Mom put it in your room."
Zhao Huanhuan was taken aback. "Really a letter? The kind with a stamp?"
It has been three months since Lin Yuan left, and she has received nine letters, all without stamps. Each letter is as sweet as a love letter.
Zhao Huanhuan blushed every time she finished reading them. Luckily, this guy glued the mouths of each letter shut, otherwise it would have been so embarrassing for her mother-in-law to see the contents.
Aunt Chu smiled when she heard Zhao Huanhuan's words and quickly nodded, "Yes, the kind with stamps. The postman delivered it to the brigade this morning. The brigade leader saw me and asked me to pick it up. I was afraid of disturbing your rehearsal, so I didn't bother you and brought it back directly."
"Thank you, Mom. Shall I go take a look?" Zhao Huanhuan said shyly.
"Go on, go on, take a rest while you're at it. Mom will call you when dinner is ready!" Aunt Chu said with a smile, urging Zhao Huanhuan to hurry back and check the letter.
Aunt Chu's biggest wish is that her son and daughter-in-law can always have a good relationship. Since her son is often away from home, she feels indebted to Zhao Huanhuan, so she is willing to do more housework herself to make her daughter-in-law happier.
Zhao Huanhuan returned to the room, washed up first, and then picked up Lin Yuan's letter. She looked it over and saw that it was his handwriting. There were also three eight-cent stamps with a picture of a mountain on them.
It must be Lingshan Mountain within the Xiling area. I've heard it's quite famous, and there are still pillboxes and gun emplacements used during the war years on the mountain.
The envelope was addressed to Zhao Huanhuan.
In order to open Lin Yuan's letter, Zhao Huanhuan even bought a small pencil sharpener and put it in her cabinet.
She gently used a knife to cut open the seal of the envelope and took out the letter inside.
Goodness, the envelopes left at home usually contained only a thin sheet of paper, but this time, they put three sheets of paper in them.
Unfold, the first and second lines, it's still that familiar Wu Qi Huan Huan, Zhan Xin Yue!
Seeing those familiar words, Zhao Huanhuan smiled and continued reading.
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