美国学校国际部主任为国际学生申请支招

 

吴老师有话要说：事实上，这篇博文源自余情环绕的博客，原文的地址：http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_594407670100i866.html，是她儿子学校的老师写给所有国际学生家长的一封信。这封信写的太好了，我们终于可以听到一个美国老师的肺腑之言。

对于申请美国大学的国际学生，她有几点非常中肯的建议：

1.关于SAT 培训：应在学生至少具备了中级以上程度的英语能力时参加为好。如果一名学生的TOEFL成绩低于50分时，参加这种培训是金钱和时间的双重浪费。

2.关于申请材料：在美国，如果学生不如实向学校介绍自己，那将被看做很恶劣的行径。如果被发现申请短文并非该生亲笔，这种行为足以使该生从被录取名单中移除。

3.关于大学的选择：亚洲家长热衷的常春藤盟校，期望申请者除了要有很高的标准化成绩和接近4.0的GPA以外，他（她）们在下述至少二个方面能力超凡：音乐、艺术、社会服务、领导才能及体育运动。强烈建议家长仔细观察您的孩子目前在学术方面以及他（她）们正选修的其它技能的表现，从而清晰勾勒出他（她）属于何种类型的申请者。

 以下是家长信的全文：

 

尊敬的家长：

我写此信与下述事项有关：

1.关于我近期计划的说明；

2.高中期间国际生家长关心的问题概述；

3.暑假及升大学概述

或许您还不知道，或许您已听说，从今年八月份起，我将担负另外的工作。我已在ESL教学主任（Director of ESL）的岗位上工作了十三年，有幸见证了二百多名国际生从这里毕业。我无时无刻不发自内心地珍爱这个岗位，尤其珍爱与我深爱的学生们建立起的情谊。然而，对我来说寻求新的挑战的时候到了。因此，我决定出任暑期活动与会议服务部门主任（Director of Summer Programs and Conference Services），我将致力于暑期开办的面对国内外学生的暑期课程。我仍将留在校园里并打算在某些方面与国际生保持联系，但我不再是你们关于国际生问题联系的对象。目前，我们在寻找我的继任者，并将在暑假期间致信加以介绍。尽管我不再担任国际生的指导教师，我仍然期待看到您的孩子几年后顺利毕业并取得一名学生和青年应取得的成就。

    在这个岗位的最后几个月，我想把国际生家长重点关注的事项整理出来。

    课程安排——由于我与国际生及其家长之间有过相当大量的交流，我认为有必要让您了解课程安排原则。学生课程安排遵照下述原则:

 

• 学生的课堂表现
• 标准化语言测试成绩(TOEFL 和 SLEP)
• 驾驭课业负担的能力  
• 兼顾学术方面的挑战性和GPA分值的最佳化

   考虑的关键因素： 

•  只有上学年在同学科的加速级（ACCELERATED）的学生才能选AP课，并且，必须获得该科教师的推荐。
•  生物学是非常难的一门课程，在语言上非常有挑战性，因此，在具备较好的英语能力之前，英语水平较低的学生不要选生物学。
• 事实证明，即使对ESL课程成绩突出的学生来说，AP生物也是非常有挑战性的。成绩单上有AP课的成绩，看起来虽然不错，但在选择AP生物课之前，一定要考虑到对GPA可能的负面影响。
• 学生被安排学习基础级、标准级或是加速级的课程，是依据他们的表现，而非他们自己的表述。

   关于ESL课程

• 被安排学ESL课并非坏事。过去十年已有众多ESL课程的毕业生升入了优秀的大学。
• 学ESL课有下述几项好处

o   由于课业难度在他们的能力范围内，因而能够得到较好的GPA

o   有极好的机会在班级担任领导职务

o   学生有机会把自己打造成为下学年主流事件中强有力的参与者

 

    关于暑期项目：许多家长向我咨询关于为孩子选择暑期学校及暑期计划安排之事。我是这样认为的：三个月的暑假时间过长，学生们的英语水平难免有所下降。我强烈建议在每个暑假期间，所有的学生都应参加至少六周的英语强化训练。在哪学我倒觉得无所谓。但我建议在圣诞节长假期间，学生和家长就能共同研究制定好暑期计划。最近，一些家长热衷于把重点放在TOEFL 和SAT的考试培训上面。这方面的培训有必要，但应在学生至少具备了中级以上程度的英语能力时参加为好。事实上，如果一名学生的TOEFL成绩低于50分时，参加这种培训是金钱和时间的双重浪费（依本博主的看法，低于80分也是同样的结果）。以我之见，学生应参加提升写作和阅读能力的英语强化训练，以保证他（她）们能在主修的课业方面有所作为，也有利 于SAT和TOEFL备考。同时，我必须强调一点，暑期学校需要的推荐函，至少要在截止日期前二周提交给特定的老师—— (老师乐于为学生填写推荐函，而至少要在截止日期前二周提交给老师也被视为一种惯例)。

    如实展示自己：过去的几年里，我发现申请我校和暑期学校的申请材料中，他人代写短文的现象越来越多。在美国，如果学生不如实向学校介绍自己，那将被看做很恶劣的行径。我知道，每位父母都渴望自己的孩 子能获得竞争力强的学校的通行证，但是，学生必须亲自写申请短文。一篇近乎流畅、貌似原滋原味的短文，搭配以低值的TOEFL分数，尤其是写作部分的得分，其实是在向所申请的中学（大学）明示：申请短文并非该生亲笔。这种行为足以使该生从被录取名单中移除。

    关于大学的选择：另外需要提及的是关于在美国申请大学的步骤，我觉得有必要进行重要的家长教育。通过最近这些年的了解，我逐渐意识到许多亚洲家庭只知道美国的常春藤盟校。我们的许多学生似乎认为他（她）们的去向只有这几所院校。事实上，这些院校中绝大多数要求GPA分数要达到或非常接近4.0，TOEFL成绩110分，SAT成绩2000分。除了高分之外，这些学生还要具备多方面的才能。也就是说，除了学术方面优秀之外，他（她）们还要有另外二个方面的专长。这些院校期望他（她）们在下述至少二个方面能力超凡：音乐、艺术、社会服务、领导才能及体育运动。因此我强烈建议你们仔细观察您的孩子目前在学术方面以及他（她）们正选修的其它技能的表现，从而清晰勾勒出他（她）属于何种类型的申请者。知道了这一点，那么你就能为暑期和其它假期设定目标，以拓展个人能力并找寻更切合实际的大学。我建议了解一下“新常春藤”院校，那些被归类为最具竞争力并被视为优秀的学术机构的小型人文科学院校。还要看孩子将来想从事的领域，以此找 到在那一领域知名的院校。

    参考网址：  http://www.newsweek.com/id/39401

     http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-doct-engineering

     http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-business

    虽然这些院校也很有竞争力，但最重要的还是让孩子找到一所符合他的兴趣、能力以及学习风格的院校。

    非常希望此信能令您感到内容充实、在某些方面有所帮助。如果您对信中的内容有何疑问，请不必客气，发邮件给我。

 

    此致

 

Dear Parent

I am writing for a number of reasons. First, I want to explain my plans for the near future.  Second, I wanted to outline some considerations that international parents may want to think about over their child’s high school career, and third I want to outline summer and college expectations. 

You may or may not have heard that I am taking on a different role here at Brewster Academy, starting in August this year.  I have served here as Director of ESL for thirteen years now and have had the good fortune to see over two hundred international students graduate.  I have truly loved every minute of it and especially the relationships I have been lucky to create with my much beloved students.  It is however time for me to seek a different challenge.  Therefore I have decided to take on the role of Director of Summer Programs and Conference Services and focus on the programs we run over the summer, international and domestic.  I will still be on campus and plan to be involved with the international students in some ways, but I will no longer be the person you contact about international student issues.  We are presently in the process of searching for my replacement and we will send out a letter of introduction during the summer.  Despite my movement out of the role of director, I look forward to seeing your children graduate over the next few years and watching their progress as students and young adults. 

In my last few months of this job I want to list some important considerations for parents of international students here at BA. 

Placement –  As I have had quite a large amount of communication with parents and  students  I thought a  quick outline  of placement protocol may help. Students are placed into courses according to the following

    Key factors considered:

 

·         students who want to do AP courses MUST be in accelerated in the same subject area the year before, and they MUST be recommended by the subject teacher

·         Biology is a very difficult course with a lot of challenging language so students with lower English skills do not do biology until they have better English skills.

·         AP biology has proved to be a very challenging course even for strong ESL students.  While the AP course may look good on academic transcripts the possible negative impact on GPA needs to be a consideration before selecting this course.

·         Students are placed in foundational, standard and accelerated according to their performance NOT according to what they say they can do.

 

ESL

·         Being placed into ESL is not a bad thing.  Graduates from the ESL program over the past decade have entered excellent colleges.

·         Doing ESL has several advantages

 

o   GPA is better as the class work is within their skill range

o   Chances to take on leadership in the classroom are greater

o   Students can prepare themselves to be strong participants in the mainstream the following year.

 

Summer Programs. Many parents are asking me about summer school placement and summer school plans for their children. Here are my thoughts. The three month break for summer is very long and student’s English can be negatively impacted.  I strongly recommend that all students do intense English language programs for at least 6 weeks over each summer break.   I have no preference for where and would recommend that students and parents research these plans at Christmas break on their own.  Lately, parents have been focusing on programs with an emphasis on SAT prep and TOEFL prep.  These courses are needed but should NOT be done before a student’s English skills are at least at the upper intermediate stage.  It is in fact a waste of both money and time to do these courses when a student’s TOEFL is below 50.  I would recommend that students attend intensive English skills programs to work on writing and reading skills and then once they can perform in a mainstream class, look at SAT and TOEFL prep.  Also I must emphasize that summer school recommendation need to be given to the teacher at least 2 weeks before the deadline – This is a favor by the teacher and it should be treated as such.

Honest representation – Over the past few years I have been seeing an increase in applications to Brewster and to summer school that contain essays not written by the student.  In the USA it is very badly looked upon if a student misrepresents themselves to the school.  I know parents are eager for their child to gain entry into competitive schools but students MUST write their own application essays.  A near fluent, native like essay combined with a low TOEFL score, especially in the writing section is a clear sign to a school (college) that the essay is not the student’s work. This can be enough for the student to removed from the list of accepted students. 

 College Choice – Another area in which I feel there needs to be significant parent education is that of the college application process here in the USA.  Over these last few years I have come to realize that most Asian families know only of the Ivy league schools here in the USA.  Many of our students seem to think that these are the only places they can go.  The fact is most of these schools need a GPA of 4.0 or very close, a TOEFL of over 110 and SATs of 2000.  In addition to these high scores students need to be multi talented.  That is, they need to have two other strengths besides academics. Prowess in more than one of these: music, art, community service, leadership and sports, is expected.  Therefore I am strongly recommending you look carefully at your child’s present performance in their academics along with the other skills they are working on and create a clear picture of the kind of applicant they will be.  Knowing that, you can then begin to set goals for summer and other breaks to expand skills and to also search out colleges that are more realistic.  I would recommend looking into the “New Ivies,” small liberal arts schools that are in the most competitive bracket and are seen as excellent academic institutions.  Also look at the area your child is planning to study and find colleges which are well known for that field of  study.  (http://www.newsweek.com/id/39401  or http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-doct-engineering

or http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-business 

Though these too will be very competitive.  The most important thing is for you child to find a college that is suitable for their interest, ability and learning style. 

 

Hopefully you have found this  letter informative and in some ways helpful. If you should have any questions in relation to the information contained please feel free to email me .

 

 Sincerely