教
jiāo
Teaching is sending what's in your hands across to theirs
The picture What was stacked inside you is lifted out, sent across, and set into the other person's hands. 教 hands what's stacked out; 学 takes it in and stacks it up.
Where the picture shows up in 教
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across to the classroom
她教我们数学。
tā jiāo wǒmen shùxué
She teaches us maths.
At the board, the working travels out line by line toward the rows of desks
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from my hands into yours
你教我怎么用吧。
nǐ jiāo wǒ zěnme yòng ba
Show me how to use this.
At the machine, one person takes the other's hand and sets it on the button
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sent across for thirty years
我爸爸教了三十年书。
wǒ bàba jiāo le sānshí nián shū
My father taught for thirty years.
Chalk-dusted hands and a worn platform facing a new set of faces every year
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it crossed and stuck
这个动作我教会你了。
zhège dòngzuò wǒ jiāohuì nǐ le
I've taught you this movement already.
The guiding hand lets go and the learner carries the motion through alone
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handed over with care
师傅教得很认真。
shīfu jiāo de hěn rènzhēn
The master teaches very carefully.
A wrist angle corrected by hand before the same motion is shown again
All of it in one picture
教 is one picture: what's yours going across to someone else. Send maths across to the desks in a classroom and it's the subject you teach; send the how-to from your hands to mine and it becomes asking me to be shown. Send it across for thirty years and it's a teaching career; let what crossed stick so they can do it alone and it becomes "I've taught you that one". Send it with care in every detail and it becomes teaching well.