A junior-high school student’s correspondence with his teacher through poems has helped the two garner millions of online fans after the writings were published on social media.
Taoyuan Sinwu Junior High School eighth-grade teacher Lu Chang-hsiao (陸昌孝) said that since April, he has been sharing poems with a student in his daily communication book after the student began writing poems to communicate his thoughts to the teacher.
Lu on Sunday said it was rare to see a student express his thoughts through poetry.
Photo copied by Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
After the beginning of the school year in August, the student wrote poems every day for a month, Lu said, adding that he responded to them every time.
The poems were posted on the school’s Facebook page, drawing more than 2.95 million visitors, many praising the student for his prowess at poetry.
“Is this the talented child poet Tang Po-hu (唐伯虎) of the Ming Dynasty?” one netizen asked, while others praised the teacher for his patience and compassion.
In response, Lu wrote a message jokingly saying: “He writes poems every day and I do not have the wits to keep up.”
When asked about his reaction to the poems garnering about 3 million views on Facebook, Lu said: “I was shocked. This will be the death of me. All this attention, I wonder how many more viewers will there be?”
Lu said he asked Taoyuan Sinwu Junior High School principal Chen Ta-kuei (陳大魁) to reduce his course load so that he can have more time to respond to students through their communication book reports.
Lu, who is a geography teacher, said it was the first time that he had encountered a student who writes poems in his daily communication book.
He added that writing daily poems had him doing mental gymnastics and that all he can do is tell the students that “you have to stop writing” poems.
The school said the student is the top of his class, but prefers to keep a low profile and only wanted to share his thoughts with the teacher, adding he is happy that he and the teacher can have such good rapport.
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