80-year-old man who teaches children English for free for 10 years

A classroom which was converted into from an old tile-roofed house, scores of swinging desks and chairs, two boards painted with black ink, a gray-haired old man and a group of unattended children comprise a special class.

It is in this classroom that Ye Lianping, an 80-year-old retired teacher from Pucheng Middle School in Wujiang Town, Hexian County, has voluntarily tutored the unattended children from the surrounding areas English for ten years and supported a "home for unattended children" by himself. In the past ten years, more than a thousand students have spent their time in the "home" during primary and even middle school periods. They warmly call him "grandpa Ye."

An 80-year-old man voluntarily taught English

At 10 am on October 17, when reporters arrived at Ye's home in Pucheng Village, Wujiang Towns, Hexian County, 16 students were coming out of the "classroom." They were ready to go home by bike. Ye said, pointing to these children, "they, the students studying basic courses, arrived here at about 7 am and have taken two hours of class and finished their homework. I just have time to have a talk with you now. There will be another 21 students in the junior courses who will attend classes at 1 pm."

"Now the English teaching conditions in rural schools are very poor, and even there is not an English class in some schools. This is bad for children's future study and development." Since Ye retired from Pucheng Middle School in 1991, he has never been free because many schools successively hired him to teach classes. But Ye found that the gap in the English level between rural and urban schools is too large. Once children from rural areas are admitted to urban schools, they are at an immediate disadvantage for studying English.

Therefore, since the year of 2001, Ye specially opened an English tutorial class at home to voluntarily coach the unattended children English. Currently, nearly 70 primary and middle school students come to his class to study English every year. Most of them are the unattended children and other needy students from the surrounding area. Ye divided them into four classes according to their academic records and gave them specific guidance on each Saturday and Sunday. Ye has a rule, however, that they must attend class regardless of bad weather.

Being "stingy" to save money for children

While Ye taught a lesson, his wife, who had been busy in the kitchen, told reporters, "We do not have sons and daughters. Aside from basic daily expenses, Ye spends all his pension on these children. They are all poor children. Some children are left at home by their parents who have gone to work in big cities. Many other children live a difficult life because their families have encountered misfortunes. At present, there are still two children living together with us."

In the past there was not a flagpole at Huangba Primary school in Wujiang Town and Ye spent 500 yuan buying one for the school. Six primary schools in the town could not offer students music lessons because they did not have musical instrument and Ye rode a bike to Nanjing and bought six accordions for these schools from a second-hand store there. This year, he spent 4,000 yuan buying school bags and suitcases for those students who were admitted to universities. When he saw the roads in the village were in bad condition, he again donated 5,000 yuan. Two sisters, one named Jiang Mingyue, are orphans and they has lived with the Ye couple since they were young. They call Ye "grandfather." This year, Jiang was admitted to Nanjing University of Science and Technology with a good grade of over 600 points on the college entrance examination. Ye personally accompanied the girl to the university.

Ye is generous in terms of the children"s education. He spends several thousand yuan each year taking children to visit Yuhuatai in Nanjing and the Hefei Science and Technology Museum to receive an education on patriotism and increase the children's knowledge about science and technology. However, Ye is sometimes a "calculating" character. Ye's wife said that in order to save money, Ye always rides a bike to the town and Ma'anshan to buy vegetables when he does not have lessons. During the past years, he has never bought a bottle of soft drink or mineral water. He has spent all the money that he saved on those children.