6月和7月份的空气中，总是弥漫着些许悲伤的气息：毕业季让许多人对未来充满期待的同时，更增加了几许毕业之后的迷茫与困惑。
许多年前，有这样一位老师，她同样遇到了“After graduated, it was difficult to find a professional job with my skills.”的困扰。不同的是，她用6年的时间从迷惑中找到自己，完成了从一位学生到专业教师的转变：跨越大西洋，从美国抵达中国。成为了备受学生喜欢的老师。
本期法拉古特人物志，一起认识这位热爱亚洲文化，与中国有着千丝万缕缘分的美国籍ESOL教师：
Emberley Neidhardt
学生们也喜欢叫她安波丽老师
01 来到中国，我竟没有culture shock
与我们采访的几位外籍教师不同，来到中国之前，他们对中国的印象都仅停留在西方媒体的表述或者耳熟能详的华裔国际明星之上。但Emberley老师不同，她有着非常专业的亚洲文化教育背景：毕业于韦恩州立大学亚洲研究学士学位的她，更曾经有过专业选择的迷茫：当老师，根本就不是她的首选职业。
曾想学习生物成为一名法医，曾想将母语英语作为专业，但直到她在大学中系统接触亚洲文化后，才终于找到了兴趣所在。问到她是如何最终决定选择亚洲文化作为专业方向的时候，她承认：高中时期参加哈佛模联Model UN 的经历，帮助她开启了通向亚洲的第一扇大门。
“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.”
与中国的第一次”亲密接触”早在2010年，她落地北京参加了一次为中国贫困山区学生教授英语的活动。从北京的繁华到贵州山区的贫困落后。她说：正因为最开始对就见识了中国极端的”两副面孔”，在真正决定定居中国的时候竟然发现：“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 定居中国6年，我是名ESL教师
2010年对中国的”惊鸿一瞥”，让她对这个国家有种从书本走入现实的感觉。毕业之后，因为想要来到中国，她率先考取了TEFL证书后，于2014年正式搬到中国，成为了一名大学英语教师。
“In 2014, I taught English writing for a Business English program at 天津科技大学 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 天津工业大学. “
不止步于此，在获得TEFL证书的几年后，2020年，她再次考取了TESOL教学证书。
“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，偶然在网上看到法拉古特学校天津校区的招聘信息，她认为有着美国背景的学校更有助于帮助学生学习英语，了解美国文化教学体系，更能将当时正在学习中的更加先进的TESOL教学理论运用到实际之中，经过严格的筛选，她凭借专业的对外英语教师资格和经验，成为了法拉古特学校天津校区的一名ESL教师。
成为教师特别是英语作为第二语言教师之后，她将许多语言学家的理论运用到课程中：其中就有十分推崇的美国教育学家：Stephen Krashen 教授外语习得理论。
Stephen Krashen教授
“Stephen D Krashen 是美国南加州大学教育学院荣誉退休教授，最知名的研究是建立第二语言学习的普遍性理论，也是自然研究法的倡立者之一。他的著作《阅读的力量》虽然只有 163 页，却有 366 种参考文献，并被读者认为应该是教育局官员和中小学老师人手一本的必备参考书。”
她将Stephan教授提出两种非常重要的理论：Prescriptivism与descriptivism运用到实际教学过程中，同时也非常赞同教授提出的理论的核心：“理解性输入” 才是语言习得的关键和必要点。她说：英语作为第二语言的学习应该如同母语一般是自然习得的过程，而不是通过枯燥的教学理论解释语法、句子、词汇都是什么。
在她的课堂上：尽量避免生硬的语法讲解，你会见到她讲语法学习投揉入大量的例句以及练习。她说：“离开阅读谈语言学习，都不是真的语言习得过程。”
” 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 (丢脸) and give up. That’s not what I want.”
Emberley老师的课堂PPT
平日里，她更会将自己喜欢的亚洲文化作为分享内容穿插在教学活动之中。比如，她会跟学生分享Haiku-一种被称为日本俳句的内容。
“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.”
谈论学生们喜欢的video Games
再比如在世界读书日的时候推荐学生们阅读一本好书，想知道Emberley老师推荐了哪本图书吗？
03 与学生们的互动
Emberley在课堂上
作为一名国际学校的老师，面对着个性更加多样化的学生们，Emberley老师对师生关系有怎样的独到见解？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.”
与学生们在一起的Emberley老师
而从学生们的角度，又怎样看待这样一位”和蔼却严格要求”的老师呢？
-来自不被透露姓名同学们的真实反馈
不得不承认：教师的言行举止于点滴之中深刻的影响着学生们的成长。而诸如这样一位无论是从教育经历还是专业背景上都堪称满分的严师，则可以帮助学生们建立良好的世界观，价值观。
正如张桂元校长所说：“看到学生们对老师的爱和良师益友的师生关系，就看到了每一位教师的用心的精彩，就看到了这个学校教育的特色！”
04 The cole value to be a teacher
法拉古特2020秋季开学典礼，左二为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. “
显然，即使经历过漫长的职业迷茫期，尽管教师职业并不是曾经的首选，但在采访即将结束，问到为何会继续留在中国选择成为一名教师时，她也用如此多年的中国经历回答我们：”因为热爱，热爱职业及背后带来的满满成就感。”
“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届毕业典礼，Emberley老师担任主持人
作为2020年毕业生带班老师，她给毕业班的学生们送上满满的祝福：
“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 .”
写在最后
有些人终其一生寻找以兴趣为导向的职业，有些人终其一生仍无处安放，而在这所魔法学校里，教师们会用多样的经历告诉孩子们：如何成长的更加有意义。这是教育的己任，更在每一位教师的教学中体现的淋漓尽致。
所谓教师，正是一种在潜移默化之中与学生共同成长、亦能改变其人生轨迹的职业。正如老电影 Apache War Smoke写道：“He（The teacher) taught me without teaching. That’s the best way.”
最后，Emberley的粉丝们，
千万不要忘记在留言区给我们留言噢～
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