“盘旋复盘旋，我听到渡渡鸟在歌唱；飞舞再飞舞，海明威拽住彩虹的翅膀：瞧，这就是毛里求斯——天堂的原乡……”

　　在毛里求斯授教中文两年的浙江理工大学退休教师张也频，将万千思绪化作行云流水的诗句，创作了长诗《毛里求斯，我美丽的梦乡》，将汉语和中国文化传播到了异国他乡。

　　日记记录两年非洲生活

　　张也频退休前是浙江理工大学的一名对外汉语教师，有着丰富的教学经验。2017年春，63岁、已经退休的张也频，作为国家公派教师前往毛里求斯任教。

　　为尽快适应当地的生活和工作，张也频在出国前做了大量功课。但各种困难还是接踵而来。

　　张也频抵达两个月后，寝室里才接通了网络；因修轻轨，交通严重堵塞，老师们要坐公交车上下班，五六公里路来回要倒4次车、耗费几个小时。

　　最难的还是语言障碍。毛里求斯的官方语言虽然是英语，但常用语是法语。当地只有法语报纸，电视、电台基本上是法语和克里奥尔语。不过，这难不住张也频积极融入当地生活。

　　当然，这两年的经历对张也频来说是全新的。她有每天记日记的习惯，不仅记录日常生活与工作，也记录当地的气候、物候与节日习俗。

　　毛里求斯是一个天然植物园。张也频在当地认识了几百种热带花卉、树木，并自学植物分类。比如，她发现毛里求斯很难拍摄到单独的一种植物，总是你缠着我、我绕着它，藤绕着树、树连着花、花缠着草，“这点与中国的城市绿化区别很大。”

　　张也频在微信朋友圈发了200多集图文并茂的“好想认识你”毛里求斯植物专题，不少学生成了“好想认识你”的忠实粉丝，这也成了一个师生交流的园地。

　　在毛里求斯，第一次从太阳投影的不同方向意识到身处遥远的南半球时，张也频顿心生乡愁；听到学生用生硬的汉语热情问候时，她又顿觉温暖。当听说不少华侨当年因不识字，由英国签证官按相近的发音写姓氏，以至于今天“Lam”姓（）华侨三姓不分的往事，张也频更觉得有责任教好每一堂课……这无数个“第一次”，就是张也频的诗与远方。

　　方块汉字的讲究

　　张也频在毛里求斯的学生，年龄最大的82岁，最小的不到6周岁。因为是业余学习，每周课时少，间隔时间又长，学生们学习汉语成了难事。

　　张也频认为，营造更好更多的有声环境、设计有趣有效的练习是关键。为了帮助学生更轻松有效地掌握汉字的发音，张也频结合普通话和学生母语的差异，针对发音偏差，编写了儿歌等有韵辅助材料，比如《小鱼和小猫》——“一条小鱼水中游，一只小猫岸上走。‘小鱼小鱼快上来，我要和你做游戏！’‘小猫小猫你下来，游来游去真开心！’”

　　对于汉字教学，张也频不仅教学生如何读写汉字，更注重将汉字背后所蕴含的文化精神传达给学生。比如，针对留学生写汉字竖画不直的问题，她从竹简木牍讲起，说中国古代条状直立的竹简要求竖画挺拔有力，要像栋梁一样在字中起支撑作用。留学生常常把多笔画的字写得很“膨胀”，张也频在讲到结构问题时，就特意借用国画的“密不插针”“疏可跑马”等审美文化，让学生在学习汉字的同时逐渐认识中华文化。

　　尽管在汉字教学上张也频已经有了不少经验，但总有新问题、新挑战让她获得新知。这是张也频喜欢教学工作的一大原因。

　　比如，有学生将“同”字“横折竖钩”的“钩”拉得很长。第一次给他改了之后，学生学写“高”字，老毛病重现。张也频仔细推敲，恍然大悟，原来该同学用拉丁文的“J”来帮助记忆“横折竖钩”的“钩”。而“J”的“钩”是要写在下面第三格的。所以“同”“高”中的“J”当然也要伸出长腿。张也频以此为例，讲解方块汉字的均衡稳重之美，并做了一个“金鸡独立”站不稳的姿势，全班同学在笑声中解决了汉字结构问题。

　　方块汉字不仅带有先天的平衡，也讲究变化与灵动。比如“川”字，原本是三竖，现在左为撇、中短竖、右长竖，体现了“川”字的流动之美。

　　而对于“三”字，张也频告诉学生，汉字是picture：“三”犹如女性的三条水平线——上横是肩膀，中间短横是细腰，下面的长横可以想象成女性裙摆的宽度。上中两横距离稍近，中下两横之间距离较远。这符合人体上身短下身长的审美观。三个横画不是死板的直线，要变化有致，富有生气。

　　尽管年过花甲，张也频依然喜欢学习，对新鲜事充满好奇。

　　在毛里求斯，张也频既是老师，也是学生。她向学生学英语，“虽然毛里求斯英语的发音有较重的法国味，但不妨多听听。”她顺便还跟着一位朋友旁听了一年钢琴课。

　　她关心华侨的历史与现状，关心毛里求斯的过去与明天；她拍照，发微信，写日记，练琴，偶尔写写不太像诗的诗句。

　　当被问及回国后怎么安排退休生活时，张也频不好意思地说：“还真没好好想过呢，学习和旅游应该是主要的内容。”鲁迅先生说过：“无穷的远方，无数的人们，都与我有关。”张也频的安排也许会因为那些“远方”的“人们”而不断变化。

　　《毛里求斯，我美丽的梦乡》（节选）

　　盘旋复盘旋

　　我听到渡渡鸟在歌唱

　　飞舞再飞舞

　　海明威拽住彩虹的翅膀：

　　瞧，这就是毛里求斯

　　天堂的原乡

　　火山坦露出黝黑的胸膛

　　椰树挺拔潇洒绿叶修长

　　热烘烘的海风亲吻着我

　　毛里求斯张开热情的臂膀

　　我睁大眼睛

　　仰望，蓝花楹蓝到神怡心旷

　　俯视，碧绿的蕨草撩拨着我的衣裳

　　侧目一看，火龙果火龙花缀满枝条

　　回首远眺，凤凰花点燃了天边的富丽堂皇

　　我屏息倾听

　　雨打芭蕉阵阵，伴着钟声悠扬

　　邻妇洒扫庭除，院内小狗汪汪

　　雀儿滴溜清脆，鸽子咕咕嘎嘎

　　我听到了毛岛晨曲的交响

　　……

　　七百多个日日夜夜

　　我们凭着汉语这道美丽的彩虹

　　两年的上课下课，课上课下

　　我们共同书写了华丽的篇章

　　我爱梦想

　　还爱在梦中歌唱

　　新的华彩新的乐章——

　　毛里求斯，我美丽的梦乡

Zhang Yepin, a retiree and former teacher at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in Hangzhou, spread the beauty of the Chinese language and the charming Chinese culture by teaching Chinese and Chinese culture there for two years. And she wrote poems brimming with emotions in Mauritius, which she calls “a paradise” far, far away from her hometown. One of her poems is Mauritius, My Beautiful Dreamland, in which she releases her sentiments in the singing of dodoes and the changing hues of the rainbow of Hemingway.

A TCSL (Teaching Chinese as a Second Language) teacher with vast experiences, Zhang Yepin boarded the plane that took her to the Republic of Mauritius in the spring of 2017. Though before the start of the journey she had done a lot of preparation work for her work and life in Africa, it turned out everything was a lot more difficult to handle than expected. She had to wait for two months to have the proper Internet services installed in her dorm. The ongoing construction of light-rail transit caused serious traffic congestion, forcing her and her fellow teachers to spend hours every working day on the bus going to work and coming back to their living places.

The biggest headache was the language barrier. Although English is used as the official language in Mauritius, most locals speak French. French is also the language used by the local newspapers, with Creole (a hybrid of French and the local dialect) used by local TV and radio services.

During her two years in Mauritius, Zhang Yepin kept a diary to record her daily life and work, as well as the local goings-on. Living in what is dubbed “a natural botanical garden”, Zhang Yepin took the opportunity to train herself into a “botanist”. The country’s splendid scene of tropical flora kept surprising, amazing and enchanting her, making her want to explore more in this wonderland of exotic plants. Zhang has been sharing with her friends on WeChat what she experienced in the island country in the southwest Indian Ocean. Her photo essays themed into a column-style series, titled Getting to Know You – Plants in Mauritius, have drawn many followers among her former students in China.

East or west, home is the best. Sometimes, nostalgia would swell up and take over, making her realize how far away she was from home. The sun rose in the east, but the shadow of everything was a reminder of her being in a different hemisphere.

“When my students in the island country greeted me with clumsy Chinese, I felt warm and rewarded, and I realized what I was there for,” she recalls.

The ages of Zhang’s students in Mauritius ranged from 6 to 82, which brought more difficulties to language teaching. All the students were taking classes on a part-time basis. Zhang Yepin had to make the best of every class, racking her brains to make the learning process as interesting and effective as possible. One of her innovations was to use Chinese children’s songs to improve the pronunciation of the students.

When it came to handwriting, Zhang tried her best to explain the cultural connotation behind Chinese characters, incorporating pictographic ideas into the explanation so that the students could get a feel about the basic rules and origin of the structure of Chinese characters.

For Zhang Yepin, the joy of teaching comes from not only experiences but also problems and challenges. For the students, the strokes of Chinese characters made little sense. She used a calligraphic approach to explain the aesthetic reasons behind the evolution of some of the basic Chinese characters such as “川” and “三”.

“Calligraphically speaking, the character ‘川’, meaning ‘a river’ in Chinese, is structured to display the beautiful flow of the stream,” she explained to her students.

In her two years in Mauritius, Zhang Yepin was a teacher as well as a student too. She learned how her students spoke English, and learned some basics of piano playing. The life of the local Chinese community, as well as the history of the country, also fascinated her. The multifaceted nature of the country, with its unique neighborhoods, rich history, deeply layered culture, and friendly, genuine people made the Chinese retiree come to appreciate what a true gem it is.

When asked what her plan is back in China after the teaching program here, she replies, “I haven’t any plan yet, but learning and traveling is for sure. I am going to see more of the world and meet more people.”