6月和7月份的空氣中，總是彌漫著些許悲傷的氣息：畢業季讓許多人對未來充滿期待的同時，更增加了幾許畢業之后的迷茫與困惑。
許多年前，有這樣一位老師，她同樣遇到了“After graduated, it was difficult to find a professional job with my skills.”的困擾。不同的是，她用6年的時間從迷惑中找到自己，完成了從一位學生到專業教師的轉變：跨越大西洋，從美國抵達中國。成為了備受學生喜歡的老師。
本期法拉古特人物志，一起認識這位熱愛亞洲文化，與中國有著千絲萬縷緣分的美國籍ESOL教師：
Emberley Neidhardt
學生們也喜歡叫她安波麗老師
01 來到中國，我竟沒有culture shock
與我們采訪的幾位外籍教師不同，來到中國之前，他們對中國的印象都僅停留在西方媒體的表述或者耳熟能詳的華裔國際明星之上。但Emberley老師不同，她有著非常專業的亞洲文化教育背景：畢業于韋恩州立大學亞洲研究學士學位的她，更曾經有過專業選擇的迷茫：當老師，根本就不是她的首選職業。
曾想學習生物成為一名法醫，曾想將母語英語作為專業，但直到她在大學中系統接觸亞洲文化后，才終于找到了興趣所在。問到她是如何最終決定選擇亞洲文化作為專業方向的時候，她承認：高中時期參加哈佛模聯Model UN 的經歷，幫助她開啟了通向亞洲的第一扇大門。
“I did that for 4 years(Model UN). The final year, I got to be China,which is the best country to be, because China has a really good reputation and very strong, it was fun, and I did a lot of reseach about China . I had a little bit interesting because of that. That was the reason I first got in touch with China and Chinese language.”
“My major foucus is about Asian language ,Asian Culture, a little bit history,mostly for China, Korea and Japan.
“After I graduated, no experience was so hard to find a related job in USA, many of my friends went to China , I just decided like…Let’s try in China! Maybe i will be good at this.”
與中國的第一次”親密接觸”早在2010年，她落地北京參加了一次為中國貧困山區學生教授英語的活動。從北京的繁華到貴州山區的貧困落后。她說：正因為最開始對就見識了中國極端的”兩副面孔”，在真正決定定居中國的時候竟然發現：“I didn’t have any culture Shock.”
“In 2010, I participated in a program to help poor students in China prepare for the Gaokao and I taught some English in a small village in Guizhou for three weeks. I decided to get TEFL certified and try to teach. In school, I helped many of my classmates study and proofread their essays. After one year, I really enjoyed the experience and wanted to continue. “
02 定居中國6年，我是名ESL教師
2010年對中國的”驚鴻一瞥”，讓她對這個國家有種從書本走入現實的感覺。畢業之后，因為想要來到中國，她率先考取了TEFL證書后，于2014年正式搬到中國，成為了一名大學英語教師。
“In 2014, I taught English writing for a Business English program at 天津科技大學 in TEDA and in 2018 I taught English classes for English majors and general oral English for students of other majors, as well as some IELTS writing workshops in 天津工業大學. “
不止步于此，在獲得TEFL證書的幾年后，2020年，她再次考取了TESOL教學證書。
“In 2018, I started a MA TESOL program through Spring Arbor University in Spring Arbor, Michigan (online). I just completed this program in July 2020.”
2019年，偶然在網上看到法拉古特學校天津校區的招聘信息，她認為有著美國背景的學校更有助于幫助學生學習英語，了解美國文化教學體系，更能將當時正在學習中的更加先進的TESOL教學理論運用到實際之中，經過嚴格的篩選，她憑借專業的對外英語教師資格和經驗，成為了法拉古特學校天津校區的一名ESL教師。
成為教師特別是英語作為第二語言教師之后，她將許多語言學家的理論運用到課程中：其中就有十分推崇的美國教育學家：Stephen Krashen 教授外語習得理論。
Stephen Krashen教授
“Stephen D Krashen 是美國南加州大學教育學院榮譽退休教授，最知名的研究是建立第二語言學習的普遍性理論，也是自然研究法的倡立者之一。他的著作《閱讀的力量》雖然只有 163 頁，卻有 366 種參考文獻，并被讀者認為應該是教育局官員和中小學老師人手一本的必備參考書。”
她將Stephan教授提出兩種非常重要的理論：Prescriptivism與descriptivism運用到實際教學過程中，同時也非常贊同教授提出的理論的核心：“理解性輸入” 才是語言習得的關鍵和必要點。她說：英語作為第二語言的學習應該如同母語一般是自然習得的過程，而不是通過枯燥的教學理論解釋語法、句子、詞匯都是什么。
在她的課堂上：盡量避免生硬的語法講解，你會見到她講語法學習投揉入大量的例句以及練習。她說：“離開閱讀談語言學習，都不是真的語言習得過程。”
” I prepare my class my reviewing the material in the textbook provided by the school and supplementing with additional material to ensure understanding or to apply the knowledge from the book. I think my personal teaching style is focused on fluency rather than accuracy. At the 10th grade level, students should be producing as much written and spoken work as possible. Mistakes will appear, but the small mistakes will be corrected over time if the students continue practicing. I do not believe in criticizing students because of mistakes or correcting mistakes that do not impede understanding – these things are not important. If we embarrass a student too often, they will lose confidence (丟臉) and give up. That’s not what I want.”
Emberley老師的課堂PPT
平日里，她更會將自己喜歡的亞洲文化作為分享內容穿插在教學活動之中。比如，她會跟學生分享Haiku-一種被稱為日本俳句的內容。
“Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry. Typically, haikus are written about nature, but they can be about any topic. Haikus have a very specific syllable structure. The first line of every haiku has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the last line has 5 syllables.”
談論學生們喜歡的video Games
再比如在世界讀書日的時候推薦學生們閱讀一本好書，想知道Emberley老師推薦了哪本圖書嗎？
03 與學生們的互動
Emberley在課堂上
作為一名國際學校的老師，面對著個性更加多樣化的學生們，Emberley老師對師生關系有怎樣的獨到見解？How to balance a “kind” teacher or a “strict” teacher?
“I think it is important to have clear guidelines for classroom rules and expectations. For example, I do not accept very late homework and I do not allow the students to speak Chinese during class time. In this way, I am strict and I think that it is important to remain consistent in terms of rules or expectations so that there is a sense or authority in the class.
“On the other hand, I think in a language class it is important to build rapport with the students so they will feel comfortable in the class and want to participate. We play games, make jokes, watch videos, and chat casually when there is extra time. Maybe in this way, the students will see me as more “serious” than “mean” and understand that we have work to do but we can still occasionally have fun.”
與學生們在一起的Emberley老師
而從學生們的角度，又怎樣看待這樣一位”和藹卻嚴格要求”的老師呢？
-來自不被透露姓名同學們的真實反饋
不得不承認：教師的言行舉止于點滴之中深刻的影響著學生們的成長。而諸如這樣一位無論是從教育經歷還是專業背景上都堪稱滿分的嚴師，則可以幫助學生們建立良好的世界觀，價值觀。
正如張桂元校長所說：“看到學生們對老師的愛和良師益友的師生關系，就看到了每一位教師的用心的精彩，就看到了這個學校教育的特色！”
04 The cole value to be a teacher
法拉古特2020秋季開學典禮，左二為Emberley
“I think that being a good teacher involves a lot of things: knowledge and competence but also the humility to admit when one does not know something. “
顯然，即使經歷過漫長的職業迷茫期，盡管教師職業并不是曾經的首選，但在采訪即將結束，問到為何會繼續留在中國選擇成為一名教師時，她也用如此多年的中國經歷回答我們：”因為熱愛，熱愛職業及背后帶來的滿滿成就感。”
“I hope to continue teaching ESL and Reading and Writing for College Success and working with the students to polish their English skills. I hope to continue to help students with their college application materials and develop my own teaching skills further. I also hope to start some challenging academic clubs and activities next year. “
2020屆畢業典禮，Emberley老師擔任主持人
作為2020年畢業生帶班老師，她給畢業班的學生們送上滿滿的祝福：
“To the class of 2020:
Thank you for all of your hard work. I wish you all the best and I hope you adjust to your new lives as painlessly as possible when you get to finally go abroad. My advice is to keep all of your old work, files, documents… having visual examples of work will help you when it’s time to produce new work. Don’t forget to keep improving your English by reading as much as possible. Be sure to reach out to me if you need anything and I look forward to hearing about your experiences abroad! Remember to always cite your sources .”
寫在最后
有些人終其一生尋找以興趣為導向的職業，有些人終其一生仍無處安放，而在這所魔法學校里，教師們會用多樣的經歷告訴孩子們：如何成長的更加有意義。這是教育的己任，更在每一位教師的教學中體現的淋漓盡致。
所謂教師，正是一種在潛移默化之中與學生共同成長、亦能改變其人生軌跡的職業。正如老電影 Apache War Smoke寫道：“He（The teacher) taught me without teaching. That’s the best way.”
最后，Emberley的粉絲們，
千萬不要忘記在留言區給我們留言噢～
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