Learning Beyond the Classroom

Music, stories, and meaningful learning activities can make language learning more engaging and memorable.

Here you’ll find songs and educational resources created to reinforce classroom learning, helping students build confidence and develop a deeper appreciation for the Chinese language.

A Tree I Didn’t Mean to Plant

Music & Lyrics：Teacher Irene (邹老师) × ChatGPT

— a faithful rendering, not a literal translation.

Verse 1

That morning,

the teacher read out a difficult word.

I stole a glance at my deskmate —

he shook his head too,

and my heart began to sink.

The teacher walked over,

tall and commanding, eyes like lightning.

In an instant, I shrank.

The words stuck in my throat;

tears like pearls, afraid to fall.

In that moment,

“I’m sorry” buried itself in the soil of my heart.

I began to believe that learning Chinese

was a gift only for clever children.

Chorus 1

Without meaning to,

a tree took root inside my heart.

Its name was — “I don’t like Chinese.”

The grown-ups’ scolding

fell like rain that fed it.

The tree grew taller and taller,

until it hid the light inside me.

Verse 2 · The Conversation

Do I really dislike Chinese?

Or am I only afraid?

One wrong stroke,

and I want to hide in a hole in the ground.

Learn it today, forget it tomorrow —

it knows me, but I stare at it like a stranger.

I ask myself:

am I like my grandmother,

losing my memory to illness?

That tree

was never my fault.

I was only missing one kind word,

one hand to hold mine.

Chorus 2

Do I really dislike Chinese?

Or am I just too fragile?

One mistake,

and I want to vanish underground.

That tree was never my fault —

there was simply no hand to hold mine.

Bridge · The Turn

Then I met a teacher.

She said, “It’s okay to write slowly.”

She took the characters apart,

like playing with Lego.

She said,

“Learning Chinese is forging a sword —

one more treasure for your future.”

And in that moment,

something in my heart began to sprout.