I began practicing Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) before 1999 and was illegally stripped of my public office and imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for clarifying the truth about the practice. After my release, the only way I could earn a living was by tutoring, because the CCP restricted me. Nevertheless, I demonstrated Dafa’s superior and extraordinary qualities through my moral integrity, guided by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. I will share some of my experiences.
Aside from a few top-performing students aiming to further improve their grades, most children need tutoring due to learning obstacles. I teach Chinese, and a common challenge for my students is writing essays.
Through studying Dafa, I realized that the CCP’s use of education to brainwash students is the main cause of their writing difficulties. For example, the essays praised by teachers are often those that flatter the CCP. Children who are good at imitating learn to write empty and pretentious articles, losing their innocence. Those who don’t imitate are stuck, unsure of how to write.
I teach children to write down whatever comes to mind, recording their thoughts in words. Then, they learn to add details and make their writing more specific. After completing the training, children are able to write well enough to meet the school’s standards. After a year, they can easily produce longer, unique, and original essays because their writing is based on their life experiences. Therefore, they often receive high marks and praise from their teachers.
Students also find reading comprehension tests to be quite challenging. To improve, they need to read more. So I often borrow books from the city library for them. I don’t borrow books written by leftist authors recommended by the CCP; instead, I mainly choose Chinese and Western classics. I also download articles from websites like Minghui, Chinese Epoch Times, and Zhengjian that contain authentic Chinese culture and help readers detox from Chinese Communist Party culture.
Unfortunately, there are many brainwashing articles in the textbooks. For these, I only explain the real stories of the events or just teach the vocabulary to students.
Families that can afford tutors are usually well-off. However, influenced by modern distorted values, many families are incomplete because the parents are either divorced or unfaithful to their spouses.
Although they try to compensate for their children’s lack of parental care by spending money on them, the children feel little affection. So I try to care for my students’ daily lives. That’s why both parents and children value my character and teaching.
The mother of a student named Lai rarely saw her son after she was divorced. She asked me to look after her child and appreciated me for giving her a DVD of the Shen Yun performance because the CCP does not allow the group to perform in China.
One day, Lai had a severe stomachache. His family called an ambulance. The child kept chanting, “Falun Dafa is good” during the trip. By the time the ambulance reached the hospital, he had recovered and didn’t need to be admitted. Sometimes, he loudly greeted me, saying, “Falun Dafa is good!”
Another student, Bai, lived in an affluent community. His father was busy with his business, and his mother often spent time with friends. His mother would beat and scold Bai if he did not obey her. Sometimes she beat Bai so severely that he couldn’t attend school. Therefore, in addition to tutoring, I taught him life skills.
Because Bai’s IQ was rated two years below his peers, he was slow in reading comprehension tests and often criticized by his teachers. His self-esteem was very low. He once said in despair, “No one is dumber than me!” Sometimes I nearly lost confidence, too. But I kept reminding myself that I couldn’t give up on him. If I did, he would fail. I reminded myself not to think that he was slow, but to encourage him instead. I knew his parents didn’t value their child’s education, but his aunt insisted on having a tutor for him. Other tutors would scold him because they focused on grades, which only made him more frustrated. Therefore, I kept my tuition fee low so Bai’s parents would not change tutors. His aunt was grateful and told me, “This child’s scores in Chinese are the highest of all his subjects.”
Tutors working outside of institutions earn only the tuition fee and do not receive income subsidies or social security. Therefore, the longer they can teach a student, the more stable their income becomes. However, as a Falun Dafa practitioner, I have a mission to save sentient beings. I hope to reach more students so that they and their parents can learn the truth and be saved. That is why I have never worried about short-term students. I accept students of all ages and challenges, and I teach them how to study independently, so I can be available for the next students.
I have taught students from kindergarten through college. With experience across all education levels, I can create step-by-step study plans for my students. Some of my students ranked in the top ten in Chinese in the top classes. One high school junior became first in his class after just 12 sessions, whereas he previously failed the tests. Hence, he didn’t need a tutor before taking the college entrance exam.
Because I also teach traditional culture and authentic history (as opposed to the CCP’s fabricated versions), my students’ grades in history and politics also improved. One student ranked first in history. His cousin ranked first in politics in the entire grade at a top middle school. Meanwhile, she agreed to quit the Young Pioneers, which is affiliated with the CCP. Her score in Chinese on the high school entrance exam was 17 points higher than usual. Her scores were in the top three in the entire grade at a top high school, hence her school tuition was waived for three years.
One elementary student, Chen, found it challenging to write an essay. After I gave him a few lessons, he was even able to comment on his younger sister’s poetry. His relatives were amazed, and his parents felt proud.
Chen’s cousin Wei, who is from Taiwan, has a divorced mother from mainland China and is tall and beautiful. Her previous English tutors either encouraged her to hang out at dance clubs or argued with her whenever they met. Believing that most people love their homeland, I showed Wei videos of Taiwanese dancers from Shen Yun while teaching her Chinese to help her connect with her roots.
I found she had learned many four-character idioms that were unfamiliar to me, despite my background in classical literature. I felt shocked and miserable for having been deeply brainwashed by the CCP culture. I would find new problems after every lesson with her and study hard at home. That semester, Wei ranked first in her entire grade, whereas she had been just average before.
Another Falun Dafa practitioner in my community, whom I didn’t know personally, was being secretly monitored and followed by the police. They accidentally discovered that Wei’s parents had three Dafa practitioners as Wei’s tutors. The police officer pressed Wei’s mother to fire us. Despite the pressure, her mother refused, saying she had hired many tutors, including principals from prestigious schools, but none taught Wei well. “Only Falun Gong practitioners can teach my child well. I can’t find such good teachers,” she said. Her husband agreed to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations after we clarified the truth about Dafa to him. Later, a hospital check-up showed his chronic illness had disappeared. She happily drove me home after our talk.