PureInsight | December 8, 2003
[PureInsight.org]
Greetings respected Master!
Greetings everyone.
I am a Dafa disciple from Washington DC. When we first started making TV programs for the Fang Guang Ming, in DC, I would receive emails that the TV team sent asking for people to make TV programs. At that time, I was busily involved in working with the Epoch Times newspaper. I knew very well that I did not have the ability to do anything with TV programs. So I would ignore these kinds of emails. I felt that I was not pre-destined for TV.
A year later, a fellow practitioner asked me if I wanted to help make a TV program about introducing American universities. I used to work for a university in China for many years and I also obtained a master's degree in education in America. I believed that I could do this, so I accepted the offer without much thinking. Then we began to do some preparation work. When we were busy working on it, a fellow practitioner called me from New York asking me if I wanted to help make an English teaching program. I did not know what to do. I would debate in my mind during work, "How can I make two TV programs without any experience? Maybe I can not even make one TV program well." I did not give her a definite answer and I told her to look for someone else. If she could not find anyone, I would reconsider.
A few days later, she called me again telling me that she could not find any one with English teaching experience among the practitioners over there. She suggested I think about it again. Our Master said that Dafa disciples are one body. I began to seriously analyze what knowledge and experience these two programs needed. I also tried to find someone in our area more qualified than I to make this program. I found out that I was the most suitable person to do it. I have had 10 years of language teaching experience both in China and in the United States. I also studied language education for about two years in America. Even though I had never compiled any teaching materials, with the help of my fellow practitioners and the guidance of Dafa, I might be able to do it. As for the program of introducing universities, it did not need much experience. As long as someone possessed basic knowledge of the American University System and had the ability to do translation, he or she would be fine. So I wanted to accept this challenge of the English show and have another practitioner to work on the university program. Then I began to worry as I had already promised other practitioners that I would do the university program and we had begun work on it already. How could I tell them that I wanted to quit? Further more, who was going to replace me on the university program team? With this dilemma in my mind, I went to New York to meet the western practitioner who was going to be my partner making the English TV program.
He just came back from teaching two years of English in China. After having a talk with him I became clearer and more confident about the meaning and direction for making this English program. I told my team members about my idea of making the English program and they all supported me. We also found someone to replace me in the university program. Very soon, we organized an English program team. We began to buy equipment and my western co-host moved to DC from upstate New York, so we began to make the program in January of last year.
The first few episodes were shot in a basement of a residence. As you see the opening of our program, it was cut from the footage that we did not use when we were making the first episode. The funny thing is that before I began making this English program, I had never done any make-up for myself. A practitioner who knew that I was going to make a TV program told me a joke. He said, all our dreams would come true in our cultivation of Dafa. I said to him, "I have never dreamed that I would be on TV in my life." Anyway, Dafa's needs is our Dafa disciples' unshakable duty. What is interesting is that on our small TV team, only one of us had any experience in making TV programs; all the rest of us were new. Our camera crew had not even touched a video camera before, let alone receiving any training. Our editor spent many many hours on the first episode and actually had to revise it three times before it was finished. Master said: "When it's impossible to do, you can do it."(From Lecture Nine in Zhuan Falun) As long as we have a heart to save sentient beings, we will have the guidance of the Fa as well as Master's help, we can do everything and we can do everything well.
We made our text in the form of dialogue. We broke through the old teaching method, which is to teach pronunciation, new words, sentences, grammar and texts. Instead, we used the way children learn language, by directly teaching daily conversation, so that when people learn it, they can use it right away. In order to make the program more appealing, we try to put in real scenes with real people, such as going grocery shopping, opening an account in a bank, and sending a letter in the post office, and so on. We not only teach the language, but we also teach Northern American culture, people's habits, and the different usage between Chinese language and English language. In addition, we try to manifest the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance in our program whenever we can, for example, how to solve problems with a compassionate heart and how to endure when someone comes across conflicts in the work place.
It made us happy that our audience very much welcomed our program. Many people wrote telling us how much they liked our program. Many of them said that they wanted to study English very much, but they could not find the right material. Now they have found the best English teaching program. Some people even encouraged us by saying that we are the best teachers in the world and they wanted us to continue to make this program forever. Some people called the TV station and wrote to us asking where they could buy the book and VCD.
There are two main reasons for making this program. One is to attract an audience to the NTDTV station with everyday people's programs. If they tune in to learn English maybe they'll stay and watch the NTDTV news which broadcasts the truth about the persecution. They'll also come to know something about Dafa and learn how beautiful Dafa really is. The second reason is that we truly want to help Chinese people in any country whether they are practitioners or not. It is difficult to live far from home in another country. If Chinese people can learn English through our program and stop suffering because of their language skills it is a good thing. Since our audience wanted to have books and VCDs, we should have them published. But some of the programs we first made were not satisfactory, and there were some mistakes. Some fellow practitioners said that the first 20 installments and the later ones were like two different programs. The contrast was so big and I think that this had something to do with our cultivation status and our experience with making TV programs. How could we solve this problem? If we had the book and VCD published, they would be sold in the market. Then more people would get to know about our TV station. They would have a chance to get to know us, and maybe they would have the opportunity to get in touch with Dafa. What a wonderful thing this would be! But we could not publish our program if we were not satisfied with the quality, so we decided to remake the first 20 installments, which we thought were not good enough.
I did not miss this opportunity to buy some new clothes for myself. It was not hard work for the westerner and I to remake the programs, but it was a lot of work for the editors. They would work late at night to do the editing every day. They never complained. They were always delighted to make the show, talking and laughing. A fellow practitioner did not miss a single day of work even though she was pregnant. Some team members had big tribulations at home, but the tribulations never interrupted their work. Besides making the TV program, we also did some other Dafa work and participated in Fa rectification activities. Master said: "I know that you've all worked so hard. You have to work and you have to study, you have your family life and social activities, and at the same time you have to take care of your family, do a good job at work, and you have to study the Fa well and do the exercises well, and what's more, you have to clarify the truth. It is hard! It's pretty hard both time-wise and financially. It's hard, so your mighty virtue is displayed; it's hard, and so it's a good opportunity to establish your mighty virtue." (From"Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Fa Conference")
Next, we compiled the book. This was also something that we had never done before. I got to know an artist at the Philadelphia conference. I asked her to draw pictures for our book. She immediately agreed to do it. She had never drawn these kinds of pictures before. After she faxed me the first picture she drew, it was really good. My co-host and I quickly finished the book and then sent it to a fellow practitioner in Taiwan. They did the editing and proofreading work. After the book was published, I got to know a fellow practitioner who works as a professor in a university. She proofread the book three times for us. No one told her to do that. Taiwan practitioners asked a professional company to make a VCD of our program using a very expensive machine. All of us worked on the book and VCD with a heart of responsibility for the Fa. We can see that the success of making the English program is a result of collective wisdom and effort.
Let me tell you two stories here. My family members and relatives in China did not have a solid attitude towards Dafa. I sent the book and VCD to them. My sister called me a few minutes after she watched our show. She was very excited telling me how good our program was and also said some things to praise me. My uncle's family all wanted to learn. They want me to send even more books to them. They saw the beauty and power of Dafa from my change.
One of my college classmate's father-in-law came to America. He has been following the TV to learn our program. My classmate told me that his father-in-law realized that the Chinese government's persecution towards Dafa is wrong after watching our truth clarifying TV programs. Once I went to his home and the old man showed me his small notebook. He told me that after he went back to China, he would review what he had learned. He also highly praised our program.
The U.S. education department will put our book on their website, so that everyone will have an access to our program. In addition, our team has already begun to make an intermediate level program. We now try to use real situations in making every show. Our program is quite practical.
Looking back at the experience from this last year of making the English teaching program, I feel that every step we took cannot be separated from Master's care of us. Dafa has given us boundless wisdom. It seems to me that my whole life has been preparing for this Fa rectification period. Even though our program does not directly tell people Falun Dafa is good and the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance are good, we still let people feel the magnificence and beauty of Dafa. Our program can attract our audience to watch Dafa programs so that we can help our Master to rectify the Fa. I'm truly grateful to our Master for arranging this opportunity to verify Dafa.
In our authors' dedication in our book, there is a sentence which reflects the purpose of making this program: "We dedicate this book to the precious Chinese people. We hope that through learning a new language and culture, we can build a harmonious life environment according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, so that our life can be more peaceful and beautiful, and we can enjoy real freedom and happiness in the future.
Thank you Master.
Thank you everyone.
