“Right, ‘turn back’ is to turn backward.” This time, there was no need for Qiao Nan to explain. All of them understood right away and acted according to her commands. It was as if they were going through military training. They were humble and respectful toward her.
Qiao Nan only made them turn backward four times, two rounds in total.
“Now that all of you are already familiar with turning left, turning right, and turning backward, next, I won’t use Chinese. I will only say it in English. We will go according to what we practiced just now. Let’s see who will end up in the wrong direction, going face to face with each other, making the mistakes that not even new recruits will make.”
They had to keep up with Qiao Nan’s fast pace. As soon as they learned the phrases, they had to put them into practice right away.
Qiao Nan used the same teaching method that Zhai Sheng used on her and she taught them whatever that she learned from him.
Although they had practiced for a few times, when the three phrases were used together, some of them were still confused and ended up in an embarrassing situation, coming face to face with each other. But because of the mistakes that they made, it left a deeper impression on them. In no time, nobody made any more mistakes.
In the beginning, they only practiced turning in three directions. Qiao Nan then changed her commands all of a sudden. “Turn back, start, 121, 121…”
The soldiers could not understand what ‘start’ meant, but when they heard ‘121’, their bodies reacted automatically to it and they started marching forward.
“Halt!”
“12.” The soldiers were not too sure of the meaning, but they made guesses and came to a stop.
“Turn back.”
“12.”
“The person in the first row, come forward.”
“Yes!” The soldier stepped out in a firm and powerful stride. As soon as he went forward, the rest of the group rearranged to form an orderly group.
“Next, you will lead the rest to do the revision, in English. Do you remember them?”
“Remember!”
“Start.”
“Wait, reporting to teacher!”
“Go ahead.”
“How do we say ‘121’ in English?” The soldier wanted to strive for excellence. he did not wish to mix English with Chinese.
“One, two, one.”
“Oh, Wang 1, Tu 1, Wang 1. Easy! Thank you, teacher!”
At first, the practice was full of mistakes, but after everyone had a few rounds of practice, the atmosphere got better and all of the soldiers cooperated well with each other.
“How’s my little disciple doing?” Lin Yuankang, who stood out of Qiao Nan’s sight, looked as proud as a rooster. He held his head high. There was an air of pride and arrogance about him.
“Elder Lin has taught well.” It took a while before Zhai Yaohui made this comment.
Qi Minlan was educated and cultured. She was young, pretty, and open-minded. Why did she fail in teaching her daughter?
On the contrary, Elder Lin might be old, but he was good at choosing people. His disciples were one better than the other.
It was less than two years since Elder Lin took Qiao Nan as his last disciple. Besides, Qiao Nan was a student. She had to go to school every day, do her assignments, and prepare for exams. In other words, there was not much time for Qiao Nan to learn from Elder Lin.
Thinking of the clothes that Qiu Chenxi wore today and the underhanded method that she used, as a soldier who was righteous and just, Zhai Yaohui could not agree with Qiu Chenxi’s shameless behavior today.
If Qiu Chenxi really wanted to defeat Qiao Nan, she should do it openly and aboveboard, not to use such underhanded methods that were borderline indecent. Zhai Yaohui found it embarrassing to bring himself to say that.
Luckily, Zhai Sheng did not like Qiu Chenxi. Her political stance was not firm, and there was a problem with her character. If she married into the Zhai family, sooner or later, the Zhai family would be everyone’s laughingstock.
On the contrary, Qiao Nan was not flattering with her words and her actions were louder than words. It seemed like Qiu Chenxi’s way of thinking was fundamentally wrong. Otherwise, she would have self-respect and would not come up with such indecent methods.
“Okay, we did some revision and learned some new words today. Everyone’s learning ability is exceptionally good. We have finished today’s lesson ahead of schedule. Even though time is not up yet, let’s call it a day. After a day of training, all of you still have to learn English. You must be tired. You should go back to have a good rest so that you can cope with tomorrow’s training. End of class!”
“Goodbye, teacher!” Everyone was in high spirits. They did not feel tired or sleepy. Besides, Teacher Xiao Qiao was indeed bold and liberated. Since all knowledge points were already covered, she ended the lesson before the scheduled time. They must give her the utmost support!
Those people who were secretly observing the lesson were stunned that Qiao Nan ended the class before the scheduled time.
The political commissar received Zhai Yaohui’s consent and was the first to come out. “Comrade Xiao Qiao, you have worked hard today. You have done an excellent job. Thank you very much.”
Qiao Nan was flattered. “Political commissar is too polite. It’s not tiring at all.” She had to thank Qiu Chenxi for that.
Though Qiu Chenxi read through her lesson plans, she did not understand them and did not use them well. But aside from that, she also had to thank her for taking away a large number of students with her.
In her lesson plans, under the part where she planned the classroom exercises, she only wrote down ‘interaction’. She did not go into the details.
If there were too many students in the class, she could only get them to stand up and practice turning toward three directions in the small space.
However, there were not many students today, and there was a lot of space on the stage. It was big enough to accommodate thirty to forty students. As such, the students could have more interactive and hands-on learning. She had to thank Qiu Chenxi for this. If not for her, she would not be able use such teaching methods.
There was no way that they could march forward or halt.
It was impossible.
“In any case, thank you. Comrade Xiao Qiao, you have put in a lot of effort.” The political commissar could tell that though the two classes were of the same contents, the two different teachers had made the lessons to be vastly different. Aside from being shrewd, he had taken extra effort to observe the differences between the two classes.
Comrade Xiao Qiao was invited by their army, yet Qiu Chenxi came at this time to make trouble for her. On top of that, something so embarrassing happened in the army camp today. However, Comrade Xiao Qiao did not lose her temper or felt wronged. Instead, she prepared for her lessons conscientiously and conducted the lesson to the best of her ability.
Such attitudes were definitely worthy of respect and praise!
“Comrade Xiao Qiao, are you interested in joining our army?” It was a pity that people like her with such revolutionary quality did not join their army as a soldier!
According to what he understood, Comrade Xiao Qiao had very good living habits. She went to bed early and woke up early. She would then run around the field early in the morning, doing quite a lot of exercises. Even if her physical condition might not meet the entry requirements for the army, she could work on her stamina first. By the time she was fit enough to join, she could be officially enlisted into the army.
He was unwilling to let go of such rare talent.
Footnotes:
Wang phonetically sounds like ‘One’.
Tu phonetically sounds like ‘Two’
Wang phonetically sounds like ‘One’.
