第五章：老师，我又忘了

Marco's first real Chinese class was not in Class 3 of Grade 10, but in the International Department.

The International Department's classroom is on the other side of the teaching building. There are not many students here, including exchange students from Italy, France, South Korea, and Thailand. They have Chinese class in the morning, Chinese culture class in the afternoon, and sometimes go to partner classes to participate in activities.

When Marco walked into the classroom, Teacher Chen had already written today's topic on the blackboard:

My First Day

"Today let's chat first," Teacher Chen said. "After you came to China, how did you feel on the first day?"

This question seemed easy.

Marco had thought about it many times yesterday: excitement, nervousness, not understanding, the cafeteria had a lot of dishes.

But when Teacher Chen looked at him, he suddenly didn't know where to start.

"Marco, you go first."

The whole class looked at him.

Marco opened his mouth.

"I... yesterday..." he said, "I was very... yesterday..."

He wanted to say "excited," but that word suddenly disappeared.

It was originally in his mind, but now it was gone.

Teacher Chen waited for a moment and reminded him: "Very happy? Very nervous?"

"Right!" Marco immediately said, "I was very happy and very nervous yesterday."

Teacher Chen nodded. "Very good. Why nervous?"

"Because..." Marco looked at the desk, "because everyone speaks Chinese very fast. I can hear, but... but..."

He wanted to say "I don't understand."

He had learned this word many times. Understand, don't understand. Very simple.

But he got stuck again.

The French student sitting next to him whispered, "I don't understand."

"Right, I don't understand!" Marco immediately said.

The whole class laughed.

It wasn't unfriendly laughter. But Marco's face still felt a little hot.

Teacher Chen also laughed. "It doesn't matter. You don't not understand, you are too nervous, so you forgot. Let's try again."

She wrote on the blackboard:

I am very happy and also a little nervous, because everyone speaks Chinese very fast.

"Everyone read together."

The classroom echoed with not quite uniform Chinese.

Marco read very seriously. He found that reading the sentence on the blackboard was easy; when he spoke himself, the sentence would become distant.

Next, Teacher Chen had everyone practice in pairs.

"Ask your classmate: How did you feel on your first day? Then answer."

Marco was paired with a Korean student. The other person spoke Chinese very fast, much more naturally than Marco.

"How did you feel on your first day?" the Korean student asked.

Marco took a deep breath.

"I am very happy and also a little nervous, because everyone speaks Chinese very fast."

This time he said it.

The Korean student nodded. "Very good."

Marco was a little happy.

When it was his turn to ask a question, he looked at the other person and suddenly forgot again.

"You on the first day... what..."

Teacher Chen passed by and gently reminded: "Feeling."

"Right, feeling!" Marco laughed, "Teacher, I forgot again."

This time, even he himself laughed.

Before class ended, Teacher Chen gave everyone a small piece of paper.

"Write three sentences," she said, "The topic is still 'My First Day.' You don't need to write very complicated, as long as others can understand."

Marco bowed his head and wrote:

On the first day, I arrived in China.

I am very happy and also a little nervous.

Everyone speaks Chinese very fast, I don't understand many words.

He looked at it and felt the third sentence was a bit long, but the meaning was correct.

Teacher Chen came over, after reading, drew a small smiley face next to it.

"Very good," she said. "I understand."

"But are there mistakes?" Marco asked.

"Of course there are," Teacher Chen said.

Marco looked up.

Teacher Chen smiled. "But the first step is not to have no mistakes. The first step is to let others understand what you want to say."

Teacher Chen slowly said it again:

"First let others understand. Then, slowly speak better."

Marco nodded.

Before going to the cafeteria in the afternoon, he took out a pen and wrote two words on the back of his hand: feeling. I don't understand.

Lin Hao saw it and asked, "Is this a cheat sheet?"

"No," Marco said, "This is my Chinese first aid kit."

Lin Hao was stunned for a moment, then laughed for a long time.

Today he forgot many words.

But he remembered one thing: it doesn't matter if you make mistakes, you must first let others understand.