Happy Teacher’s Day to Newton staff and to all teachers!

Teacher’s Day is the most conservative celebration at Newton. It is like your birthday, it’s special day for you but you only accept blessings from others.

Compared to teachers, parents pay more attention to Teacher’s Day than any other celebration. Even I received a bright and fresh rose from a mom. She said her husband went to pick the handful of roses from their garden this morning. To express their gratitude in a proper way to the teachers must be a challenging and interesting task for parents.

I guess the reason parents take Teacher’s Day so seriously is because it is at this point when summer vacation has just ended. Sending the child back to school, parents cheer: "finally school!" The deep gratitude from the bottom of parents’ hearts filled with love lasted until September 10th. 

For the past summer vacation, I have two words to describe it: too hot and too long. As a preschool child's mother, during the summer vacation, I resorted to fill and exhaust my daughter ‘s summer life, hoping she will have a meaningful and unforgettable summer vacation like my mother always expected for me. I took her to travel, learn, buy books, toys, I took her to work……I tried my best and exhausted the task, my daughter asked me 3 times everyday when she could go back to school.  I am desperate to find out, the open of school seemed far away...... I am deeply aware that it is a very important thing for a child to go to school. In school, children live with their friends in a regular and fulfilling life, and do not have to worry about whether it is meaningful or unforgettable day. Kindergarten is an indispensable social organization, and the teacher is really one of the most important social division.

About the summer vacation being too long, I think a lot of moms and dads will agree with me. I will now focus on it being too hot this summer.

This past summer, Suzhou had 14 days sustained high temperature from July 15th to 28, the highest temperature in the day was 38-40 degrees, the minimum temperature at night between 29-31 degrees. I checked the temperature record in Suzhou history. In July 28, 2007, the highest temperature in Suzhou reached 39.3 degrees. The other highest temperature record in Suzhou was 39.2 degrees in 1992. In July, for 4 days in a row,  the highest temperature was 40 degrees. The greenhouse effect and global warming seem to have never been so real to us. Over the past 100 years, the global average ground temperature has risen by 0.3 - 0.6 degrees, and by 2030 it is expected to rise by 1 - 3 degrees. If the annual average temperature of the earth keeps growing from 1.1 to 6.4 degrees Celsius, about 30% of the existing plants and animals will be threatened with extinction by the year 2050. These species will become extinct because of desertification, deforestation, ocean warming and climate change.

Today we have got more and more accurate weather forecasts, but no way to control the climate. We might face a hotter and hotter summer than this summer. What will the children face in the future?

To celebrate the teachers' day and to celebrate all the festivals in an environmentally friendly way is an expectation for all the teachers and staff from me.

Let's stop treat yourself by shopping and eating. Let us take a hike together donate the miles, let’s go for a 0 garbage vegan picnic; let us bury flowers we received into the soil or compost them; let us be kind and caring to our mother earth......

Happy Teachers' Day every one.

Zhang Yan

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