从中文学生到中文老师

亞雪芳（Sara Jaaksola）是芬兰人，其父母曾经于20世纪80年代在北京工作生活。受父母的影响，亚雪芳对中国文化颇感兴趣。2016年，亚雪芳在中山大学获得硕士学位后就留在了广州工作，创办了国际中文教育机构Expat Chinese。本文是作者张念和亚雪芳的访谈实录。

Sara Jaaksola is born a Finn and her parents lived and worked in Beijing in the 1980s.In uenced by her parents， Sara is very interested in the Chinese culture. In 2016， a er obtainingher master’s degree from Sun Yat-sen University， she stayed in Guangzhou and established aChinese language teaching institution catering to international learners called “Expat Chinese”.Below is an interview with Sara Jaaksola by Zhang Nian.

张念：Expat Chinese是你在中山大学获得汉语国际教育硕士学位后创办的吗？是什么样的契机让你创办了这个机构？能介绍一下它的情况吗？、

Zhang Nian： Is Expat Chinese established a er youobtained your MA in Teaching Chinese to Speakersof Other Languages （TCSOL） from Sun Yat-senUniversity？ What made you want to establish such anorganization？ Could you tell us more about it？

亚雪芳：2016年硕士毕业后，我创办了Expat Chinese。在读研期间，我开始从事一对一教学，从一个学生家跑到另一个学生家上课，教学时长远远超过了学位要求的教学实习时间。在这个过程中，我发现中文教学很有市场，毕业后就决定创办国际中文教育机构。Expat Chinese位于广州珠江新城，目前除了我，还有三位兼职教师，每个学期有30 ～ 40 名学生。选择Expat Chinese 作为机构名称有两个原因：一是我本人是教中文的外籍教师；二是我的学生大多是在广州生活的expatriate。我们机构的铭言是“Teaching Chinese theWestern Way”，也就是运用西式教学方法来教中文。我们的学生主要有外交官员、国际学校教师、外企经理及其家属。我们招生主要靠口碑，除了机构官网和我的微信朋友圈，基本不作其他宣传。

Sara Jaaksola： Yes， I established the institution in2016 after graduating from my MA program. I hadstarted one-on-one language teaching during my MAand I would go from one student’s home to anotherto give classes. The time I spent on teaching had farexceeded what was required by the MA program. It wasduring this period that I found there was a huge marketfor Chinese language teaching， so I decided to set upa Chinese language institution a er graduation. ExpatChinese is based in Zhujiang New Town in Guangzhouand has three part-time teachers apart from myself.We have thirty to forty students enrolled for each term. ere are two reasons for choosing “Expat Chinese” asour organization’s name： for one， I myself am an expatliving in China teaching Chinese; for the other， mostof my students are expatriates living in Guangzhou.The slogan for our organization is “Teaching Chinesethe Western Way”， meaning we use Western pedagogyin our teaching. Most of our students are diplomats，teachers in international schools in China， ormanagerial staff of international companies and theirfamilies. We rely on a word-of-mouth marketingstrategy. Apart from our official website and my ownWeChat platform， we scarcely do any other promotions.

张念：你在机构里主要负责什么工作？之前学习中文的经历对你创办Expat Chinese 有哪些帮助？

Zhang Nian： What do you do in this organization？Does your previous experience of learning Chinesehelp you set up Expat Chinese in any way？

亚雪芳：我的主要工作依然是教学，一个星期上20多节课。除了教学，我还负责兼职教师管理、招聘、招生等工作。因为机构小，所以大部分工作都要靠自己完成。中文学习经验和汉语国际教育硕士文凭是我工作必不可少的“饭碗”。我自己教的学生水平从零到HSK4级，需要丰富的教学技能和技巧，如果当时没读汉语国际教育专业硕士的话，现在估计做不了中文教师。

Sara Jaaksola： My main job here is still teaching：I teach twenty-odd classes each week. Apart fromteaching， I also supervise the teaching sta and managethe recruiting of teachers and students. Since we are asmall business， I do most of the work on my own. MyChinese language learning experience and my MAdegree in TCSOL are my essentials in this industry.The students I teach range from beginner level toHSK Level 4， so a large repoitore of teaching skillsand techniques is a must for this job. If I hadn’t donean MA in TCSOL， I probably wouldn’t be a Chineselanguage teacher now.

张念：作为外国人在广州教中文，你觉得自己的优势是什么？

Zhang Nian： As an expat teaching Chinese inGuangzhou， what do you think is your edge over otherteachers？

亚雪芳：我认为外籍中文教师和本土中文教师各有优势。我感觉我能更好地了解学生，更容易发现和理解他们喜欢的学习方法和在学习过程中遇到的困难。我考过旧版HSK5级、第二版HSK5级和6级、新版HSK8级，我能从学生说的话语或者写作段落判断他们的中文水平，并根据他们的汉语基础来设计合适的课程。我认为，HSK1 ～ 3级的学生更适合由外籍中文教师教授，而高级阶段的学生由本土中文教师教更合适。

Sara Jaaksola： I believe foreign teachers and nativeChinese teachers each have their own edge in teachingChinese to non-native learners. I think that I couldbetter empathize with my students， discovering andunderstanding what teaching methods they prefer andwhat obstacles they have encountered in their learning.I’ve passed the old HSK Level 5， the second version ofHSK Level 5 and 6， as well as the new HSK Level 8， soI could tell the students’ Chinese language pro ciencythrough their speech and writing， and then I willdesign a curriculum tailored to their language level.I think students with the HSK Level 1 to 3 are bettertaught by a foreign Chinese language teacher， whilestudents with more advanced levels had better studywith a native Chinese teacher.

張念：我们发现在优酷上有Expat Chinese的自频道，你觉得Expat Chinese跟其他中文培训机构最大的不同是什么？

Zhang Nian： I find that you have a channel forExpat Chinese on Youku.com. What do you thinkis the biggest difference between Expat Chinese andother Chinese language teaching organizations？

亚雪芳：我们的优酷自频道主要用于给学生分享教学视频，专业内容会发到“油管”（YouTube）上，通过国外的视频平台来分享学习中文的快乐。ExpatChinese 跟其他中文培训机构最大的不同是，我们会运用西式教学理念来教中文，用学生熟悉的、容易接受的教学方法来上课。我们经常用对比的方法来帮助学生学习中文，一般是对比中英文或者对比汉语和学生的母语。我们招聘教师有三大基本要求：一是具备英语口语能力；二是具备教学能力；三是具备汉语教学理论知识。到目前为止，机构运营比较理想，后面我们会采取新的运营模式，更注重以学生为中心来设计优秀的一对一或小班课程，同时着手研发并编写教材。

Sara Jaaksola： Our Youku o cial channel is mainlyused for sharing teaching materials with our students.More specialized materials will be posted on YouTubeand other overseas channels to spread the joy oflearning Chinese. e chief di erence between ExpatChinese and other organizations is that we adoptWestern style pedagogy in Chinese teaching， usingmethods that our students are more familiar withand find more accessible. Comparison is a methodwe use frequently in our teaching： we’d compare thedifferences between Chinese and English or betweenChinese and the student’s mother tongue. There arethree basic requirements when we recruit teachers： uency in English， good teaching skills， and a masteryof theories of Chinese language teaching. So far， ourorganization has been running quite well. In the future，we will manage our teaching in a di erent way. We willfocus more on one-on-one teaching tailored to eachstudent’s needs and small group teaching， and we’llstart developing our own language learning textbooks.

张念：在Expat Chinese有没有印象特别深刻的学生学习故事？

Zhang Nian： Have you encountered any student atExpat Chinese that le a deep impresssion on you？

亚雪芳：让我印象最深刻的是在我们机构学习时间最长的一位学生，是一名30多岁、来自美国的国际学校教师。2016年，我们机构还没正式开始招生，她已经在跟我上一对一课程，到现在还在坚持。她没有很具体的学习目标，但她很享受学习中文的过程。

Sara Jaaksola： e one that impressed me the mostis a student who’s been learning with us for the longesttime. She’s from the US， a teacher in an internationalschool in her thirties. In 2016， even before our o cialenrollment， she’d been doing one-on-one classeswith me and she’s still taking classes now. She doesn’tset herself any specified goals; she simply enjoys theprocess of learning Chinese.

张念：听说你去年申请了芬兰的博士，为什么又想继续深造了呢？

Zhang Nian： I heard that you applied for a doctoralprogram in Finland last year. What made you decide tocontinue your studies？

亚雪芳：2016年硕士毕业后，我一直在教书。这些年我也在思考今后的发展。今年1月，我申请了芬兰图尔库大学的博士，研究方向跟国际中文教育密切相关，主要研究中文学习者的学习动机。不过因为事业还在广州，只能远程学习。

Sara Jaaksola： I’ve been teaching allthese years since graduation from myMA in 2016. I’ve also been thinkingabout my own career in the future. isJanuary I applied for a doctoral degreewith University of Turku in Finland. Myresearch proposal is closely related toChinese language teaching， for I want tostudy the learning motives of Chineselanguage learners. But since my careeris based in Guangzhou， I’m doing thedegree through distance learning.

張念：你有什么经验想要分享给今后有志从事国际中文教育的同道中人吗？

Zhang Nian： Is there any experience or tips youwant to share with people who want to start a career ininternational Chinese language education？

亚雪芳：从事国际中文教育是一份有意义的事业。中文教师对学生的影响很大，不仅能帮助学生学好一门语言，也能帮助学生了解一种文化。想做好一名中文教师，需要记住以下三点：一是在学好理论的同时掌握实际教学能力；二是读书的时候就要开始积累教学经验；三是要保持学习兴趣，通过自己的外语学习经验更好地帮助学习中文的外国学生。

Sara Jaaksola： International Chinese languageeducation is a worthwhile cause to take. Chineselanguage teachers have a great influence on theirstudents. They not only help them learn a newlanguage but also help them get to know a differentculture. I have three suggestions for people who wantto become a Chinese language teacher. First， you musthave practical teaching skills alongside the educationaltheories. Second， it’s better to start gaining someteaching experience while you are studying in school.Third， always keep yourself curious about languagelearning， for your own learning experience will be ofgreat help to the students.