Second-Season Rice Transplanting Day

On this year’s whole-school return day, students and teachers gathered together for one shared purpose: Luoyang’s school-designed rice transplanting course, held right in the campus farming garden. The second season of the year’s rice was about to go into the ground, and everyone had a part to play.

一年一度的螺陽第二期稻作開鑼囉！這天全校返校日，學生和老師們總動員，來到農耕園進行校訂插秧課程，一起迎接新一期稻作的開始。

The school is grateful to the Beidou Farmers’ Association, which reached out and invited young local farmers to come guide the children by hand — showing them how to hold the seedlings, how far apart to space each one, and how to read the mud beneath their feet.

感恩北斗農會傾力相助，邀請青年農夫來協助指導孩子們，手把手示範怎麼拿秧苗、怎麼抓間距，也讓孩子讀懂腳下這片爛泥巴的訊息。

Stepping into the paddy field barefoot split the students into two happy camps. Some lit up the moment their feet sank into the mud — pure joy. Others made a face and groaned, “Ugh, this mud is disgusting!” Both reactions were exactly right, and exactly the point.

光腳踏進水田的那一刻，孩子們分成了兩派：有人整個人樂開懷，覺得超好玩；也有人一臉嫌棄地喊「唉唷！爛泥巴耶！」——兩種反應都很正常，這正是這堂課想讓孩子親身感受的事。

Every child carries their own gifts and their own likes. But out in the world, not everything that comes your way will be something you enjoy. It’s good to lean into what you’re good at — that’s where real confidence grows. It’s just as important to learn how to face the things you don’t particularly like.

每個孩子都有自己的天賦，也有自己喜歡的事物。但以後在人生路上所遇到的人事物，不見得全是自己喜愛的。發揮天賦當然會帶來成就感，但學習如何面對自己不喜歡的事，同樣是重要的一課。

What stood out most were the children who never let the mud stop them — who jumped straight into the clean-up afterward without complaint. That kind of willingness is worth celebrating just as much as a straight row of seedlings.

最讓人感動的是，那些不怕爛泥巴、還主動幫忙善後整理的孩子——這份不怕髒、願意動手的態度，和插得整整齊齊的秧苗一樣，都值得被看見。