雪松

Mr. Xu Fasong

Mr. Huang Kai

As
we recall the works and life of the Chinese Medical Team to Botswana, we fondly remember a kindly lady, who is not only an English teacher and helpful friend, but also an indispensable part of the Chinese Medical Team.
Her name is Sandra Moreira, a beloved friend, respected by all members of the Team. For the first time to meet，Snandra Moreira gives people an impression of a grandmotherly housewife. A rosy moon face , light flaxen curly hair，Phnom Penh glasses plating purple thin film, dressing Leisurely but fits, just like a neighborhood mamma. And the following days when we get alone together, we found out that this neighborhood mamma’s attitude to her job and her passion to culture propagate are so over-absorption of her mind and bring great assistance to our work..
Sandrais a woman of British descent. After an excellent primary and secondary education, she ultimately graduated from a college in Cape Town, South Africa.
Her education brought her a wide range of knowledge; she mastered English and German, and also studied French and Greek as secondary subjects.
In 1984 Sandra emigrated from Zimbabwe to Francistown, Botswana.
After two years she met Dr. Ni, the General Surgeon of the 3rd Chinese Medical Team, and began to forge a lasting bond with the Team.
She then
accepted an invitation from Professor Pan Pei Zhong, the interpreter for the 4th Chinese Medical Team, to undertake the task of improving the English communication skills of all the Chinese medical staff.
From that point on she devoted herself to teaching all of us English.
In our eyes not only has she has been our English teacher, but she has also been our consultant on life.
Sandraappreciated the fact that these doctors and nurses from the Orient, with its rich ancient civilization, might possess some outstanding characteristics.
These intrepid doctors came from thousands of miles away, leaving family and friends, to survive on their own in a foreign country,
dedicating themselves to serving the people of Botswana.
In the hospital they worked closely with other medical staff from different countries.
Although English was the only language commonly spoken and understood between the Team members and the locals,
some of the doctors and nurses from the Team experienced difficulty with the English language aspects of their work.
If they could reach a point where they were making good progress in English, they would then be more confident in their work and achieve greater success. As a gracious South African lady who was always willing to help others, Sandra believed she had the ability and the responsibility to help these doctors and nurses to eliminate these deficiencies and to enhance their English skills.
It was not easy for Sandra to think of the best way for us to achieve the most progress in English in the least amount of time. All members of the team were extremely busy with their work, as was evidenced by the frequent hospital pages blaring over the loudspeakers.
She mulled over this problem again and again until one day an inspiring thought sprang to her mind.
She would use the necessary activities of daily life as her classroom.
Sandra began to invite us to go with her and learn how to shop in the supermarkets, how to mail letters and parcels at the post office, and how to manage our banking issues, etc.
Our most useful lessons were practiced on these leisurely journeys arranged by our teacher.
As Sandra believed that free-flowing
conversation could achieve better learning results than lectures in a classroom setting, she would invite us to places where we could all relax and discuss various topics.
On sunny Saturday mornings, it was not uncommon to see a milky white car slowly winding its way toward the Chinese Medical Team building.
Our dear teacher would chauffeur us to new ‘classrooms’ with their peaceful surroundings of lush, green trees and cool, soothing grass.
Each conversation, carried on in such a delightful and relaxed atmosphere, brought us another step closer to complete fluency.
Not only were we able to enjoy the life style of an exotic foreign country, but more importantly we received valuable information, both practical and spiritual.
Through these methods, Sandra was able to achieve her goal of combining teaching with joy.
In addition to helping us learn idiomatic English, Sandra attached great importance to our English expressions, to our pronunciation, and to correcting the mistakes we would make.
No matter how tiny they were, she would correct them immediately.
At times Sandra would be confused by some of our questions and find it difficult to answer.
She would then ask for advice by making calls, sometimes even international ones, to her friends and various experts around the world until she found just the right answer.
Even questions that stumped and haunted us were brilliantly answered by our savvy teacher.


Time has flown.
Through the past 20 years of faithful teaching, Sandra has persevered in her efforts to produce the best possible language results for the different teams that have continued to cross her path.
Through her years of experience, Sandra found the most effective way to teach English, that is, to combine English teaching with real life activities.
She discovered where the Chinese doctors and nurses commonly made mistakes and promptly corrected them in context.
Through years of communicating with Chinese nationals, she came to understand their ‘Chinglish’, and guided them in the proper use of standard English.
This combination of teaching through everyday activities and through enjoying leisurely times together, made a great impression on us, and caused us to progress rapidly.

[ 本帖最后由 雪松 于 2008-4-16 10:49 编辑 ]

雪松

Because of Sandra’s efforts the Chinese Medical Team members achieved marked progress in a relatively short time. Those of us who sat under her tutelage could now freely exchange ideas with our colleagues in English during work time. Writing skills had also improved.  A fine example of this was Dr. Zhang Bi Qing, the Team leader in Francistown, Botswana.  Without a full-time interpreter assigned to the team there, Dr. Zhang had to struggle to conduct the routine medical work, as well as the administrative duties of the hospital, in a foreign language.  As the leader of the Medical Team, he also had the responsibility of supervising the interpersonal issues within the medical team.  In addition to this, he had to interface with different departments of the local government, while dealing with the day to day stress of living in a foreign country.  Without an interpreter, his English ability would be tested every day.  Practice makes perfect, however, and Dr. Zhang can now easily manage a multitude of different issues, be they medical, administrative, or governmental, because of the training he received from Sandra Moreira.



Other fine examples of those who benefited from Sandra’s teaching were the medical specialists in our team.  Dr. Fang Chen, from the Urology Department, Dr. Yang Lin and Dr. Zhang Xiao Chen, from the Anesthesiology Department, often had to step into the lecture room to deliver medical reports in front of other specialists,

scholars and medical staff of all levels and from many different countries. Applause and high praise were given to them for their splendid lectures.  They were later given the opportunity to speak at the Hospital Medical Cases Consultation Conference, where they distinguished themselves with authority, professionalism and assurance.



Even the young nurses of the Chinese Medical Team exhibited diligence and grace thanks to the teachings of Sandra Moreira.  Not only could they freely exchange views, in English, on work and life, but during their free time would willingly deal with the interpersonal issues of the team.  This provided them an even larger stage upon which to exercise their oral and written English, and brought their English ability to a higher level.  Due to their excellent performances, they were given nick names by their hospital colleagues such as “Secretary” and “Secretary-General”, which showed the affectionate yet respectful relationships they enjoyed with the other hospital staff.  



These hard working Chinese doctors and nurses worked long hours to give their medical lectures in English and to participate in the discussions on cases in English in their respective departments.  No pain, no gain.  All these achievements resulted from their own persistent study in combination with the careful English instruction from a dedicated teaching professional.  Thanks to Sandra’s hard work, sumptuous fruits were sure to come forth.



If she could hear this, Mrs. Sandra Moreira would smile from her heart and give a thumbs-up to her beloved students to praise them. She would feel fully delighted and satisfied.  It would gratify her to hear that her students believed she has fulfilled her goals and made her most heartfelt wishes come true.


It is the sincere wish of her students that the tree of friendship between our South African friend and the Chinese Medical Team blossom forever.