我在美国教汉语
上QQ阅读APP看本书,新人免费读10天
设备和账号都新为新人

第2章 The Crystallization of Collective Wisdom

It is an honor that Professor Wu Huimin and Professor Jiang Hong have decided to publish this collection of writings about the exchange program between Hampshire College and Anhui Agricultural University,an exchange program that has meant so much to Hampshire College and to me personally as a teacher and scholar. I am pleased to write a preface for this collective record written by those who have participated in our twenty-year exchange program,generously devoting their time and talent to this joint endeavor.

As Professor Huang Banghan writes,this exchange grew out of his early mentorship of a Hampshire College student learning Chinese in Beijing and doing research on nannies from Wuwei County. His great kindness and guidance as her teacher,inviting her to his home in Hefei and taking her to Wuwei,led in turn to our own research collaboration on infant adoption in China and the US,a long-term collaboration that began in 1995. As part of our research collaboration,Lao Huang came to Hampshire College for the first time in 1996,using the college as a home base for his research interviewing American adoptive parents of Chinese children raised in the US. During his stay at Hampshire College,he became a popular and beloved “uncle” of many Hampshire College students who visited him in his campus apartment,a favorite of the staff at the college dining hall who greeted him every morning,and a good friend of the college president Gregory Prince with whom he frequently met to discuss a possible exchange. The two of them decided to create a very special exchange program based on the principle of mutual benefit to meet the special needs of both institutions,their teachers and students. In order to foster close relationships between faculties and students,president Gregory Prince welcomed AAU scholars each semester to come visit Hampshire College to pursue their own academic interests and explore Hampshire and the Five College Consortium that Hampshire College belongs to. This resulted in a rich and unique exchange that has lasted for twenty years,successfully building close and meaningful ties between many teachers and students whose educations and lives have been broadened and deeply enriched through cross-cultural exploration and understanding.

Within a few years,teaching and learning Chinese language became a central focus of the exchange program activities. Through this program,Hampshire has been able to build its own program in Chinese language study. Although as part of the Five College Consortium,Hampshire College students could take foreign languages at any of the other four colleges,as originally intended by the founders of Hampshire College in 1970,through our exchange program we have been able to offer both first and third year Chinese on our own campus for our students. Our language program has been a small one but one of high quality. Because of the excellent teachers that AAU has sent to us each year,these classes have provided a solid foundation for our students to begin learning Chinese in their first year of college as well as to pursue Chinese at advanced levels. Our classes tend to be smaller and more intimate than those of other colleges,allowing students more time to participate and get help from teachers. The student- centered pedagogy of these classes has suited the student-centered teaching philosophy and the pedagogy of the college as a whole. Most rewarding,students and visiting Chinese teachers often develop close and rewarding relationships that extend learning and cultural exchange beyond the classroom.

In addition to sending a small number of students to AAU to study during the semester,in 2005 we added a summer session for intensive Chinese language study at AAU. This has been a wonderful addition to our exchange. It allows students to continue to study with their AAU teachers in Hefei for two additional months each summer,making it possible for students to learn two full years of Chinese in less than one calendar year. The summer program also provides an immersion experience for students,introducing them to life and culture in China. The experiences that students have outside the classroom are as important to their education and personal growth as inside the classroom. Many AAU students also participate in this experience as tutors and special helpers for the Hampshire students. Because of the strong reputation the program has earned,it attracts students from the other colleges as well.

As Hampshire College benefited by adding a Chinese language program through this exchange,AAU also benefitted by being able to use our exchange as a platform to build a strong program and undergraduate major in teaching Chinese as the second language(CSL)at AAU. Many universities in China now have CSL programs but AAU's teachers and students have our ongoing exchange of students and teachers to build upon and gain experience in teaching English-speaking students Chinese. American students have their own special characteristics in learning Chinese. AAU's Chinese teachers become more accomplished because they have gained and shared the experiences of teaching CSL to US students,elevating their skills above teachers from Chinese departments that do not have special programs or opportunities for gathering and sharing experiences in teaching CSL in both an English-speaking environment and in China.

The recent addition to our summer program of AAU undergraduates with majors in CSL has greatly enhanced the program. Indeed I feel this element has made our exchange truly unique and exciting for both sides. Our students enjoy the close,daily interaction with AAU students. Unlike in other summer programs,when they arrive in Hefei they instantly have the opportunity to make friends with Chinese students,all of whom graciously help the US students get settled and feel at home in Hefei. The AAU student language tutors also provide excellent daily support for intensive language learning. (These AAU students are earnest practicing teachers who are becoming skilled in CSL and work hard to meet the individual learning needs of their Hampshire College students.)These student-to-student relationships have quickly become among the most important element of our exchange program,building mutual understanding and lasting relationships among our students. Few programs offer such a full and meaningful experience to its foreign students,who sometimes remain isolated in their own groups and are separated from Chinese students and society,like foreign islands on Chinese university campuses. In contrast AAU's exchange program provides a more fully integrated,mutually beneficial,real-life experience for our students in China. For AAU students it provides an opportunity to get to know US students,their culture,ideas about education and hopes for the future. It further gives AAU students an opportunity to learn how to teach through actual practice at the early stage in their CSL education. Indeed one of those AAU students,Danni Song,became the main Chinese teacher at Hampshire College after obtaining a Master's degree in the US.

Our exchange has more recently expanded to include the agricultural and environmental sciences,including tea and food science. In February 2011,AAU president Wan Xiaochun visited Hampshire College and urged an expansion of our exchange program to include more study and research in the areas of agriculture and the sciences. This suggestion led a group of Hampshire faculty to apply for a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation aimed at fostering students’ interests in environmental studies and sciences within Asian studies,with a focus on agriculture. As part of this initiative,Hampshire College has been able to bring undergraduate students from AAU to participate in the Farm,Food,and Sustainability Institute(FFSI)summer program located on the Hampshire farm. Hampshire College students have also gone to study and visit programs related to agriculture at AAU,such as their large bee program and well-known tea science and tea culture program. At the same time,AAU faculties in these areas have visited Hampshire College,becoming close colleagues and friends with science faculties at Hampshire College and the Five Colleges. Shared interests in learning more about organic and sustainable forms of agriculture and food production,as taught through Hampshire's FFS Institute,and the creation of “Community-Supported Agriculture” organizations(CSAs)in our exchange areas have now become an important core area of interest for many of the faculties and students who have participated in our exchange program.

Personally,working with our dynamic exchange has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my career and in my personal life. I have made so many wonderful friends,sharing common interests and goals based on fostering the education and cross-cultural understanding of the students and teachers of our institutions. One of the great pleasures of my life is working with the dear friends and colleagues I have made at AAU. Hefei and AAU have become my second home over the last twenty years,enriching my own life as well as my professional work as a teacher and scholar. I will always be grateful to the efforts of those who have built this exchange,year by year,many of whom have contributed to this volume of essays. I am most grateful to Lao Huang and to Jiang Hong,who have helped to build this exchange from the beginning and given generously their time and energy to this twenty-year venture.

Through these various aspects of exchange,the program has grown organically and fruitfully over the years,fulfilling Huang Banghan and Hampshire president Gregory Prince's original goal of mutual benefit in new and deeper ways. We are very fortunate to have this rich and dynamic program at Hampshire College.

Kay Ann Johnson

Professor of Asian Studies and Politics

Director of the Hampshire College China Exchange Program

Hampshire College

Amherst,MA

March 2016

[译文]

集体智慧的结晶

很高兴得知吴惠敏教授和姜红教授决定就罕布什尔学院和安徽农业大学的交流项目出版专题论文集。这个交流项目对于罕布什尔学院和我个人(无论是作为一名教授还是一名学者)而言都意义重大。我很荣幸为这本集体的创作写序言。这本书的作者们在过去的二十年间参加了我们的交流项目,并慷慨奉献出时间和才能。这个交流项目是集体努力的结果。

正如黄邦汉教授写道,这个交流项目源自于他对一位在北京学习中文并做关于无为县保姆相关研究的罕布什尔学院学生的指导。他对学生非常友好,邀请学生来他在合肥的家,之后又带她去无为,并对学生予以指导。因为黄邦汉教授指导罕布什尔学生的机缘,我和他于1995年开始了中美儿童收养问题的长期科研合作。作为我们合作研究的一部分,黄邦汉教授1996年第一次来到罕布什尔学院,他主要通过采访收养父母研究美国家庭收养的中国孩子在美国生活的情况。在罕布什尔学院期间,他成为一名受罕布什尔学院学生欢迎和爱戴的“叔叔”,许多罕布什尔学院的学生都曾访问过他居住的校园里的公寓;他也成为一名在校园餐厅广受员工欢迎的人,那里很多员工每天早上向他问候致意;他还成为罕布什尔学院时任校长Gregory Prince的朋友,他们经常见面讨论可能开始的合作交流。他们两人决定本着互利互惠的原则,设计出一个特别的交流项目,以满足两所学校教师和学生的特别需要。为进一步促进两校师生的关系,Gregory Prince校长欢迎安徽农业大学的学者每学期来罕布什尔学院访问,欢迎他们来做学术交流,同时了解罕布什尔学院以及它所属于的“五校联”联合体。正因为此,我们有了一个持续了20年的丰富而独特的交流,这个交流成为密切两校众多老师和学生之间关系的有意义的纽带。跨文化交流和跨文化理解拓展了这些老师和学生的视野,丰富了他们的教育和生活。

在交流开始之后,教汉语与学汉语成为活动的中心和焦点。通过这个交流,罕布什尔学院得以设立自己的中文学习项目。虽然作为“五校联”的成员之一,罕布什尔学院的学生可以在其他任何四所学院学习外国语言课程(这也是1970年开始设立罕布什尔学院的目的之一)。通过我们的交流项目,我们可以在自己的校园为我们的学生提供一年级和三年级的中文课。我们的语言项目规模不大,但是质量很高。因为安徽农业大学每年给我们派遣最优秀的教师,这些教师教授的课程为我们的学生在大学第一年开始学习汉语以及以后学习更高水平的汉语打下了坚实的基础。与其他学校的中文班相比,我们的班级更小,师生关系也更紧密。这让学生有更多的时间来参与课堂学习并得到老师更多的帮助。以学生为中心的教学法与以学生为中心的教学理念相适应,也和整个大学的办学理念连为一体。这样安排最好的回报就是,学生们和来自中国的访问老师发展了亲密的关系,使文化交流和学习已不仅仅限于课堂。

除了在学期中选派少数学生去安徽农业大学学习以外,2005年我们还在安徽农业大学增设了一个暑期强化学习中文的项目。这极大地补充了我们的交流。每年夏天,学生能有另外两个月的时间与他们来自安徽农业大学的教师一起在合肥继续学习,这为学生在不到一个学年的时间内完成两个学年的中文课提供了可能性。暑期强化项目还为学生提供了浸入式学习的体验,通过项目他们可以了解中国的生活和文化。学生的课外经验与课堂所学对于学生的教成。很多安徽农业大学的学生作为罕布什尔学院学生的助教或特别助理也参与到体验当中去。因为这个暑期交流项目取得了较高的声誉,它也吸引了一些其他美国高校的学生参与到项目中来。

罕布什尔学院在交流项目中由于增加了中文项目而获益良多,安徽农业大学通过这个交流也获益匪浅。安徽农业大学以这个交流项目为平台设立了汉语国际教育专业。很多中国的大学都开设了汉语国际教育专业,但安徽农业大学的这个专业尤为特别,该校师生因为参与这个正在进行的项目而获得了许多教授以英语为母语的留学生汉语的经验。美国学生在学习汉语中有他们的特点。安徽农业大学的汉语教师也因为有机会获得和分享在美国(母语环境下学习汉语)、在中国(目的语环境下学习汉语)教授以英语为母语者汉语的经验而取得了更多的成就。

我们的项目在最近几年因为安徽农业大学汉语国际教育专业本科学生的参与,质量得到了极大的提升。事实上我觉得正是这一因素使我们双方的交流变得真正独特和令人期待。我们的学生十分享受每天与安徽农业大学的学生亲密互动。与其他暑期项目不同,我们的学生到达合肥后就立即有机会与中国学生交朋友。这些中国学生会热情相助,帮他们安顿下来,会让他们觉得在合肥就像在家里一样。安徽农业大学的语言助理每天也为学生的语言强化学习提供出色的帮助。(这些安徽农业大学学生都是实习教师,他们在汉语国际教育教学方面逐步变得熟练,并且他们会努力满足罕布什尔学院学生的个人学习需求。)这种学生和学生之间的关系很快成为交流项目中的最重要的因素,在学生间建立了持久的相互理解的关系。其他暑期项目很少有为外国学生提供如此丰富而又有意义的体验的。在其他学校,外国学生们只是生活在自己的小团体里,与中国学生和社会隔离开来,就像是中国校园里的一座海外岛屿。相比之下,安徽农业大学为我们在中国的学生提供了更加完整一体、互利互惠及贴近生活的体验。这个项目也为安徽农业大学的学生提供了一次机会去了解美国学生及其文化、了解美国的教育理念和学生对未来的希望。它还为安徽农业大学的学生提供了实际演练汉语国际教育的机会,为他们开启汉语国际教育生涯打下了一定的基础。事实上,安徽农业大学的一名学生,宋丹尼,在美国获得硕士学位后成了罕布什尔学院主要负责教授汉语的老师。

最近几年,我们的交流范围进一步扩大,现在交流领域已扩展到农业科学、环境科学以及茶与食品科学。2011年2月,时任安徽农业大学校长(现任党委书记)宛晓春访问罕布什尔学院,他鼓励、敦促我们的交流项目向农业科学拓展。他的建议促成了罕布什尔学院相关教授向亨利鲁斯基金会申请基金支持项目。亨利鲁斯基金主要目标在于提升学生对于亚洲环境科学研究的兴趣,并且以农业为聚焦点。在这项基金的支持下,罕布什尔学院邀请了一些安徽农业大学的本科学生到该校参加“食品、农场与可持续发展”机构的暑期项目,地点位于罕布什尔农场。一些罕布什尔学院的学生也来到安徽农业大学学习与农业相关的学科,比如一些学生参与了蜜蜂项目,也有一些学生参加了知名的茶学与茶文化项目。与此同时,安徽农业大学研究这些领域的老师访问了美国,成为罕布什尔学院和“五校联”自然科学教授的亲密同事和朋友。正如罕布什尔学院的“食品、农场与可持续发展”机构所关注的那样,我们交流双方的很多师生也对有机农业、有机食品、可持续农业、社区支持农业等拥有共同的兴趣,现在这已经成为双方交流的中心话题。

就我个人而言,参与这个充满活力的项目是我职业生涯和个人生活中最有意义的经历之一。通过这个项目,我与许多出色的人结下友谊,我们有共同的爱好和目标,那就是致力于促进我们两校学生和教师的教学及跨文化交际。我人生中的一大乐趣就是和我安徽农业大学亲爱的朋友和同事们一起工作。在过去的20年里,合肥和安徽农业大学已经成了我的第二故乡,它们极大地丰富了我作为一名教师和学者的人生和专业工作。我将永远感谢那些为设立这个交流项目做出贡献的人,年复一年参与交流项目的人,以及为这本论文集做出贡献的人。我还要特别感谢黄邦汉和姜红,他们从最开始到现在一直协助设立交流项目,并在这二十年间慷慨地奉献自己的时间和精力。

通过各个方面的交流,这个项目在过去的岁月里稳步成长并卓有成效,完成了黄邦汉和罕布什尔学院校长GregoryPrince的最初目标-以一种新型而更深入的方式实现互利互惠。在罕布什尔学院拥有如此丰富和充满活力的项目,我们感到十分幸运。

凯·安·约翰逊

罕布什尔学院教授、中国项目主任

麻州阿姆斯特

2016年3月