亞雪芳（Sara Jaaksola）是芬蘭人，其父母曾經(jīng)于20世紀80年代在北京工作生活。受父母的影響，亞雪芳對中國文化頗感興趣。2016年，亞雪芳在中山大學獲得碩士學位后就留在了廣州工作，創(chuàng)辦了國際中文教育機構(gòu)Expat Chinese。本文是作者張念和亞雪芳的訪談實錄。

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.

張念：Expat Chinese是你在中山大學獲得漢語國際教育碩士學位后創(chuàng)辦的嗎？是什么樣的契機讓你創(chuàng)辦了這個機構(gòu)？能介紹一下它的情況嗎？、

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？

亞雪芳：2016年碩士畢業(yè)后，我創(chuàng)辦了Expat Chinese。在讀研期間，我開始從事一對一教學，從一個學生家跑到另一個學生家上課，教學時長遠遠超過了學位要求的教學實習時間。在這個過程中，我發(fā)現(xiàn)中文教學很有市場，畢業(yè)后就決定創(chuàng)辦國際中文教育機構(gòu)。Expat Chinese位于廣州珠江新城，目前除了我，還有三位兼職教師，每個學期有30 ～ 40 名學生。選擇Expat Chinese 作為機構(gòu)名稱有兩個原因：一是我本人是教中文的外籍教師；二是我的學生大多是在廣州生活的expatriate。我們機構(gòu)的銘言是“Teaching Chinese theWestern Way”，也就是運用西式教學方法來教中文。我們的學生主要有外交官員、國際學校教師、外企經(jīng)理及其家屬。我們招生主要靠口碑，除了機構(gòu)官網(wǎng)和我的微信朋友圈，基本不作其他宣傳。

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.

張念：你在機構(gòu)里主要負責什么工作？之前學習中文的經(jīng)歷對你創(chuàng)辦Expat Chinese 有哪些幫助？

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

亞雪芳：我的主要工作依然是教學，一個星期上20多節(jié)課。除了教學，我還負責兼職教師管理、招聘、招生等工作。因為機構(gòu)小，所以大部分工作都要靠自己完成。中文學習經(jīng)驗和漢語國際教育碩士文憑是我工作必不可少的“飯碗”。我自己教的學生水平從零到HSK4級，需要豐富的教學技能和技巧，如果當時沒讀漢語國際教育專業(yè)碩士的話，現(xiàn)在估計做不了中文教師。

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.

張念：作為外國人在廣州教中文，你覺得自己的優(yōu)勢是什么？

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

亞雪芳：我認為外籍中文教師和本土中文教師各有優(yōu)勢。我感覺我能更好地了解學生，更容易發(fā)現(xiàn)和理解他們喜歡的學習方法和在學習過程中遇到的困難。我考過舊版HSK5級、第二版HSK5級和6級、新版HSK8級，我能從學生說的話語或者寫作段落判斷他們的中文水平，并根據(jù)他們的漢語基礎(chǔ)來設(shè)計合適的課程。我認為，HSK1 ～ 3級的學生更適合由外籍中文教師教授，而高級階段的學生由本土中文教師教更合適。

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：我們發(fā)現(xiàn)在優(yōu)酷上有Expat Chinese的自頻道，你覺得Expat Chinese跟其他中文培訓機構(gòu)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？

亞雪芳：我們的優(yōu)酷自頻道主要用于給學生分享教學視頻，專業(yè)內(nèi)容會發(fā)到“油管”（YouTube）上，通過國外的視頻平臺來分享學習中文的快樂。ExpatChinese 跟其他中文培訓機構(gòu)最大的不同是，我們會運用西式教學理念來教中文，用學生熟悉的、容易接受的教學方法來上課。我們經(jīng)常用對比的方法來幫助學生學習中文，一般是對比中英文或者對比漢語和學生的母語。我們招聘教師有三大基本要求：一是具備英語口語能力；二是具備教學能力；三是具備漢語教學理論知識。到目前為止，機構(gòu)運營比較理想，后面我們會采取新的運營模式，更注重以學生為中心來設(shè)計優(yōu)秀的一對一或小班課程，同時著手研發(fā)并編寫教材。

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.

張念：在Expat Chinese有沒有印象特別深刻的學生學習故事？

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

亞雪芳：讓我印象最深刻的是在我們機構(gòu)學習時間最長的一位學生，是一名30多歲、來自美國的國際學校教師。2016年，我們機構(gòu)還沒正式開始招生，她已經(jīng)在跟我上一對一課程，到現(xiàn)在還在堅持。她沒有很具體的學習目標，但她很享受學習中文的過程。

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.

張念：聽說你去年申請了芬蘭的博士，為什么又想繼續(xù)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？

亞雪芳：2016年碩士畢業(yè)后，我一直在教書。這些年我也在思考今后的發(fā)展。今年1月，我申請了芬蘭圖爾庫大學的博士，研究方向跟國際中文教育密切相關(guān)，主要研究中文學習者的學習動機。不過因為事業(yè)還在廣州，只能遠程學習。

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：你有什么經(jīng)驗想要分享給今后有志從事國際中文教育的同道中人嗎？

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

亞雪芳：從事國際中文教育是一份有意義的事業(yè)。中文教師對學生的影響很大，不僅能幫助學生學好一門語言，也能幫助學生了解一種文化。想做好一名中文教師，需要記住以下三點：一是在學好理論的同時掌握實際教學能力；二是讀書的時候就要開始積累教學經(jīng)驗；三是要保持學習興趣，通過自己的外語學習經(jīng)驗更好地幫助學習中文的外國學生。

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.