又是一年开学季！正如我们在新年之初会立下决心，摒弃旧习，辞旧迎新，在新学年伊始，大多数的同学也会为自己树立新的目标，比如“一定要让今年的GPA冲上3.8“，“要参加几个新的社团”，或者更为笼统的“转到了新的学校，我要重新开始，培养好的学习习惯”等。与此同时，诺美在新学年之际也定下了一系列新的目标，比如制作了新的学生手册，制定了新的校规，树立了更明确的目标等。开学前的三周，老师们进行了新学年的培训，而正当大家热情洋溢的畅谈新决心时，范校长却提出了一个老问题：“请大家思考一下，为什么家长们要把孩子送到我们这样的学校呢？我们到底能为孩子们提供什么呢？”
A new school year,a new big season!For most students,the beginning of a new school year is just as big an event as a new year.This is the time to cast away some old and undesired habits,and to establish new routines or to set new goals,such as“to make this year's GPA rush up to 3.8','to join some extra-curricular activities that never tried before',or more generally,'to reopen my school life by shifting to this new school.'Meanwhile,NAIS has produced updated student handbooks,established detailed school rules,and set clearer goals for college admission.When NAIS is taking all these new steps,an old question is raised by Principal Fan:'For what reasons do parents send their children to an international school as ours?What can we really provide our students with?”
今年是诺美创校的第三个年头了，而对指导办来说，却是至为关键的“一年”：我们将迎来首届毕业生。在努力，创造令人满意的成果的同时，我们也一直思考着范校长的“老问题”，以求在反思中精益求精。完善的硬件设施和舒适的校园环境、不断的师资、严格的管理制度、丰富的资源，这些都是家长和学生们当初选择我们的原因。然而，仅仅如此吗？学校到底能为孩子们提供什么呢？
It is the third year for NAIS to accept new students,but the first time to have graduates,making it an important year for both NAIS and CCO.While trying our best to help students with college application,we have been thinking about Fan's'old question'under this new circumstance.NAIS is equipped with advanced facilities,comfortable campus environment,qualified teachers,strict management system,and rich resources for further education.All these could be reasons for parents and students to choose us in the first place.But is that all?What is the most important thing that we offer to our students?
暑假中我们不停地接待着前来面谈的家长和同学。被问到较多的问题就是“哪家TOEFL培训较有效”？“哪家SAT培训能考“？而我们却很抱歉地无法给出确定的答案。作为学校的指导老师，作为曾在海外求学、工作和生活了多年的前辈，我们当然明白在中的作用，但我们更深知不能像培训一样止步于。事实上，不管是语言类的如TOEFL，还是综合能力类的如SAT，亦或是纯学科类的如AP，其设计都是相当合理的，基本能准确的反应出学生在这个领域的水平。因此，不同于培训，我们注重的不仅是学习的结果，更是基础的积累和知识结构的构建，关心的是整个学习的旅程。从培养积极的态度和良好的学习习惯开始，让孩子们用亲身经验发现，当自己从头至尾、尽心尽力地做一件事，努力地像挖金子一样，那么其中的过程和得到的结果将比金子更有价值。
We have been providing counseling to parents and students who come to talk with us during the whole summer.The most frequently asked questions deal with'which agency offers the most effective TOEFL training?”or“which agency goes with high marks in SAT exams?”We regret that we are not able to give a definite answer.As college counselors who studied and worked abroad for years,we are clearly aware of the role of high marks in college application,yet are even more sure that we are not pursuing only high marks as training agencies are.As long as we know,the design of all these tests,such as TOEFL,SAT and AP,is quite reasonable.The test score can reflect authentically,in most cases,a student’s level in this field.Therefore,we should focus on not only the results of learning,but also the foundation of basic concepts and the construction of knowledge structure.In fact,what we care about is the whole journey of learning.Starting with positive attitudes and good learning habits,our students should experience the whole learning process to discover that when they do one thing from beginning to end and sweat for every task as hard as digging for gold,the return is even better than gold itself.
我们在与家长畅谈之后，经常会有家长感叹“入读学校，原以为会比体制内的学校，是一条进入国外的，可是听老师们这么一说，要学这么多东西，觉得好像比体制内的学校还累啊”。的确，相比于追求，我们更重视的是让学生们拥有一段“累并快乐着”的经历。这段经历不仅可以产生出色的学习成果，更可以在未来的海外生涯中被复制，为孩子们铺路，帮助他们在中获得。因此，所提供的不仅仅是一张能上国外的毕业文凭，我们的课程是为学生能在国外里承受课程继续深造而设计的。而我们的老师更是为了服务于这一目的。通过与西方老师的接触，我们的学生能真正体验西方的思维方式、感受和了解其价值体系，学会西方解决问题的方法、为人处事的风格等。我们真正希望提供给学生的，是让他们在时尽可能地积累这些无形的资本，使他们在高中毕业时，可以手握相当的资本，在西方里购买所需的一切，如鱼得水。
Our counseling can often end with a parent’s comprehension like this:I thought studying in an international school could be an easier thing to do than that in a normal Chinese school.But now it seems to be more challenging since there are so much to learn and to develop in these years.Indeed,our students will experience a'challenging'journey in which they will learn with joy and will end with good performance in learning outcomes.The more important is that their experience at an international school could be repeated and applied in a similar way and navigate them to achieve in overseas colleges.Therefore,international schools are not only designed to provide a diploma to get you into western colleges,not also designed to prepare you well enough for overseas lives.Our teachers serve this purpose.By spending time with their western teachers as much as they can,our students can hopefully learn the western way of thinking and problem-solving,feel and understand its value system,experience the styles of social behavior,etc.What we really want to offer is to provide our children with such intangible assets as much as possible during their middle and high school studies,so that later,they could hold the right currency to buy everything they need in western universities and live well on overseas campus.
所以，诺美全体老师共同的新学年目标便是：尽我们所能，让孩子们在诺美的学习成为一段美好而有巨大潜力的经历，让家长们为之付出的物质资本，转化成为孩子们铺就之路的无形财富。
Here we go!The common goal of all teachers in NAIS in the new school year is to do our best to provide our children with a joyful learning experience with great potential,and to exchange the real currency that parents have paid into the intangible wealth that will make their children successful in the future.
