I would definitely say that effort is more important when learning a language. There are so many new words to learn, that making flashcards, and putting in a little bit of time each day is so much more important that talent.

　　Aaron Cooper來自英國。2010年，Aaron在英國利茲大學取得英語文學碩士學位，但他對自己取得的成績仍然不滿意，2013年，他取得教授劍橋IGCSE課程的資質，從去年開始，他也一直在攻讀專業教育領域(專攻教育)碩士，除了對教育方面的熱情外，他對語言也充滿熱情，目前正在學習俄語，日語，古挪威語和古英語的翻譯。在職業發展上，Aaron擁有十年的教育經驗，在英國，馬來西亞，中國都任教過，負責對整個學校英語課程的審核和報告以及對跨校園教師團隊的管理。

　　Aaron Cooper comes from UK. In 2010, Aaron achieved his master’s degree in English Literature in University of Leeds but he is still not satisfied with what he has achieved, so he got accredited to assess and deliver Cambridge IGCSE coursework in 2013 and is doing a MSc leadership in Proffessional Contexts (specialising in education) since last year, besides the passion in education, he is also passionate about languages and he is currently learning Russian, Japanese, Old Norse and Old English for translation. On his professional development, Aaron has ten years teaching experience in UK, Malysia and China, responsible for reviewing and reporting upon English programmes across the school and managing a cross-campus team of teachers.

　　1、“在北京君誠同時學習英文和中文給了你們很大的優勢”

　　小君：Cooper先生您好。首先祝賀您將在君誠開啟一段美好的旅程!據我所知，您除了在教育方面非常有熱情之外，您對于各國語言也非常熱衷，學習過俄語、日語、古挪威語和古英語的翻譯。對于高中生來說，您會建議他們除了學習主業外，另外再學習一門語言嗎?在學習語言中，天賦與后期努力哪個更加重要?

　　SIBS：Hello Mr. Cooper. First of all, congratulations on your coming wonderful journey in SIBS ! As far as I know, in addition to being very enthusiastic about education, you are also very keen on the language of each country and you have learnt Russian, Japanese, Old Norse and Old English for translation. For high school students, would you suggest them learning another language besides studying the main courses? When comes to learning a language, what is more important , talent or later efforts?

　　Aaron：謝謝，我非常期待加入君誠并且很快見到你們。隨著時間的變化，我對學習語言的感覺發生了改變——實際上我在學校的時候語言并不是一件我特別感興趣的事情。現在我想分享給你們我最大的建議。在君誠學校同時學習英文和中文給了你們很大的優勢。學習一門語言將讓你們受益終生——即便我只在高中時候學習了一些基礎的法語，他們也能在我去歐洲旅游的時候對我產生了很大的幫助，就好像學習日語在中國也很有用一樣，因為可以幫助理解一些基礎漢字的結構。

　　Aaron：Thank you!I’m really excited about coming out to join you and meeting everyone very soon. My interest in languages changed over time – the truth is that when I was at school, it wasn’t something I was particularly passionate about. Now, it would be one of my biggest recommendations! At SIBS, you’re already studying both English and Chinese, which gives you a big advantage. Learning a language is something that sticks with you for the rest of your life – even knowing a small amount of French from high school, helps me when I go on holiday in Europe, and studying Japanese was useful in China, because I can understand some basic characters.

　　Aaron：我肯定會說努力是學習一門語言最重要的因素。有如此多的新詞需要學習，制作記憶卡片，每天都要投入一些精力，這些都是比天賦更重要的事情。不管你有多大的天賦，都不可能在短時間習得一門語言。其實每個人都是有學習語言的天賦的，的證明就是你已經學會了一門語言。

　　Aaron：I would definitely say that effort is more important when learning a language. There are so many new words to learn, that making flashcards, and putting in a little bit of time each day is so much more important that talent. No matter how talented you are, you can’t cram and learn a language in a short time. The great thing is that you all know at least one language already, so that’s proof that everyone is talented enough!

　　2、“從文化碰撞中受益”

　　小君：您之前在英國、馬來西亞、中國都有非常豐富的任教經驗，您認為英國學生、馬來學生、中國學生在學習方面各有什么優勢?可以舉一個令您印象非常深刻的例子嗎?

　　SIBS：Considering you have had a lot of educational experience in the UK, Malaysia and China, What are the advantages of British students, Malay students and Chinese students in learning? Would you like to share an example that impressed you a lot?

　　Aaron：我學到最重要的一件事就是無論在哪里，人與人的個體差異其實不大。人們在文化上會有一些差異，我曾經在馬來西亞和中國接觸到過一些學生，他們總是努力做到，但是我也見過一些學生并不符合我們對文化的成見。

　　Aaron：The biggest thing that I have learnt, is that everywhere I have been, people are really quite similar. There are some differences in cultures, and I have maybe met more students overall in Malaysia and China who have been really dedicated to doing their best, but I’ve also met people on both sides who don’t fit any stereotypes.

　　Aaron：有一次在北京的學校旅行給我留下了非常深刻的印象。這些學生來自不同的地方，其中多是來自韓國、中國、和日本的，我們一起住在一個不錯的賓館里。晚上，我在的忙碌后來到休息室放松，休息室里面有一個臺球桌和一個臺球桿。我原以為一定會有爭搶的情況出現，首先跑過來的兩個學生先占領了臺球桌，而其他人都在旁邊靜靜地等著，或者其他人會找一些別的事情來做。但是出乎意料的是，所有的人都在一起玩兒這個游戲。大多數學生都站在了臺球桌子邊上開心地交談， 他們傳遞著臺球桿輪流擊球。沒有隊伍和分數，也沒有爭吵和沖突， 而且他們甚至沒有商量過怎么玩兒——就這么自然的發生了。他們用晚上的時間給著對方建議，拿對方糟糕的擊球開玩笑， 一起為好的擊球慶祝。我想學生在學校時候的壓力是很大的，我們總是想做到。但是大多數時間，你們是不和其他人一起競爭的， 看到人們互相合作是一件令人欣喜的事情。

　　Aaron：One of my favourite memories is from a school trip to Beijing. The students were from lots of places – the biggest groups were from Korea, China and Japan – and we were staying in a nice hotel. One evening,we went to the lounge to relax after a busy day, and in the lounge there was one pool table, and one cue. I expected there to be a rush, for the first two people to run over to claim the table, and slowly play their game while everyone else waited, or tried to find something else to do. But what actually happened, was that everyone played a game together. Around ten students stood around the table talking happily, and they passed the cue to a new person for every shot. There were no teams, or points, no arguing or fighting, and they didn’t even have a discussion about it – it was just natural. They spent the evening giving each other advice, laughing together at their terrible shots and celebrating the good ones. I think there is a lot of pressure at school and we always want to do well. But most of the time, you aren’t competing against each other, and it’s great to see what can happen when people work together.

　　3、“就像學生一樣，老師們也會經常嘗試新鮮事物”

　　小君：作為學校的教學指導，您曾經引進和開發新的學習和評估工具，并創建了“動手工作坊”來指導教師。這些新型的事物對于改善教師的教學有哪些好處?學生的反饋如何?

　　SIBS：As a teaching guide for the school, you have introduced and developed new learning and assessment tools and created “hands-on workshops” to guide teachers. What are the benefits of these new things for improving the teaching of teachers?What is the student's feedback?

　　Aaron：就像學生一樣， 老師們也會經常嘗試新鮮事物。一直以來總有新的技術出現，我們可以用不同的方法幫助學生學習，或者和從未有過的更權威的聽眾來分享我們想法。你也可以閱讀教育有關的研究，人們在那里分享涉及教育教學的方法，或者說，哪種給學生的反饋形式最能幫助到學生，如何激發學生的想象力還有其他的東西。舉辦教育工作坊是教師們覺得最有效的獲得靈感的方法，因為教師可以在那里分享他們的想法。

　　Aaron：Just like students, teachers are always trying to learn new things. There is new technology coming out all the time, which we can use to help approach learning in different ways, and to share our ideas with a much bigger audience than ever before. You can also read about research in education, where people try to look at the best way to design a classroom, or what type of feedback students find most useful, how to help encourage creativity and all sorts of other things. Having education workshops, where teachers can share their ideas and what they have found most effective, is a great way to get inspired.

　　Aaron：當然，學生的反饋也是至關重要的-——有沒有更好的方法找出來學生們覺得什么是的想法呢?以我的經驗來看， 他們往往很樂意嘗試新的東西。如果他們可以用做視頻的方式來體現他們學到的知識，而不是全都用書寫的方式來體現呢?何樂而不為呢?

　　Aaron：Of course, student feedback is also crucial – what better way to find out what they find most useful? In my experience, they are usually pretty happy to try out something new. If they can make a vlog where they talk about something studied in class, instead of writing another essay, why not?

　　Aaron：作為一名老師，有時候你的點子不是次就能實施的。但在多年后掌握更多技能或者技術后，對同一個點子再一次嘗試是必要的。

　　Aaron：As a teacher, sometimes the idea you had in your head doesn’t work perfectly the first time, but it’s great to explore new ideas every now and again, to help improve and build on other techniques you have developed over the years.

　　4、“暑期高中推薦書單”

　　小君：暑假來了，您可以給君誠的高中生推薦一些書單嗎?

　　SIBS：Summer vacation is coming. Could you recommendsome books to SIBS high school students?

　　Aaron：暑期是我讀書的時機，在旅行的時候這些書也是消磨時間的好東西。我的假期推薦如下。

　　Aaron：Summer holiday is a great time to get some good reading done. And if you’re travelling somewhere over the break, a book helps those long flight times whizz by. Here are my summer recommendations.

　　Aaron：布蘭登·桑德森的《天空》系列是一個結合了幻想和科學的小說， 講述了一個來自失去榮譽家庭的女孩奪回榮譽的故事。如果你喜歡它,桑德森也是目前最豐富的作家之一(他寫了很多的書)，你將可以有很多嘗試閱讀的書——老少皆宜。

　　Aaron：Brandon Sanderson’s Skyward is a fun mix of fantasyand sci-fi, involving a girl whose family has lost its honour, and herdetermination to get it back. If you like it, Sanderson is also one ofthe most prolific authors around at the moment (he writes a lot), so there willbe tons of other things for you to try out – for both older and younger audiences.

　　Aaron：艾米莉·威伯利和奧斯汀·西格蒙德-布羅卡著的《如果我是誠實的》是一個愛和救贖的故事。 它依據于莎士比亞的《馴服史魯》而來,所以你將從其中之前技巧受益的同時享受一個吝嗇女孩試圖改變她的方式的故事。比原著更女權主義的方法有助于幫助故事更好地融入有趣的夏季閱讀范疇。

　　Aaron：If I’m Being Honest by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka is a story of love and redemption. It’s loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, so you get some bonus points for sophistication, while being able to enjoy the story of a mean girl trying to change her ways. A much more feminist approach than the original helps the story fit well into the category of fun summer reading.

　　Aaron：薩拉·塞迪所寫的《美國化：沒有綠卡的反叛者》講述了一個在美國生活的女孩兒無意間發現自己是非法移民的故事。這是一個關于某人試圖在世界上找到自己的位置,同時也處理更多的驅逐焦慮的時代故事。

　　Aaron：For something a little different, Americanized:Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi, is a funny and engagingstory about a teenager living in America, who inadvertently discovers that sheis an illegal immigrant. It’s a good coming of agestory about someone trying to find their place in the world, while also dealingwith the added anxiety of deportation.

　　Aaron：最后,如果你不熟悉很多獎項的得主劉慈欣,這將是一個很好的機會去讀他的作品。《流浪地球》最近在Netflix上發行,在這部小說在全球取得巨大成功之后,目前正在制作《三體》的動畫片。可以讀讀原著(中文,英文翻譯或兩者),看看改編的有多成功。

　　Aaron：Lastly, if you aren’t familiar with the multi-award winning Liu Cixin, it’s a great time to get out there and give his writing a go. The Wandering Earth was recently released on Netflix, and there is currently an animation in production of The Three-BodyProblem, following the novel’s massive global success. Give the original works a go (in Chinese, English translation or both) and see how successful you think the adaptations have been.