与诺德安达教育集团首席执行官对话/Smart Talk with NAE Global CEO

Andrew提到：寄宿生活给予你们独特的机会，可以加强社交能力，并且可以与其他同学一起建立一个关系密切的社区。你们可以使用指定的娱乐区域与同学交流，做游戏，阅读，度过有趣的闲暇时光，同时，你也在学习知识和技能。

在诺德安达教育集团学校大家庭中，我们也在努力建立世界上最具品质的寄宿项目。这意味着你能够增强能力、追求理想，并且建立一生的友谊。

Andrew问寄宿学生最喜欢的学科时，有的孩子说是生物、化学、有的说是心理学。而对于学习困难的学科很多孩子都提到了历史。

Andrew告诉孩子们，对自己不喜欢的学科更要努力的学习。“有多少人现在就明确地知道自己以后在大学要主攻的专业？毕业后将从事何种职业？在大家目前的这个年纪, 很难准确地设想自己未来的专业或职业。”Andrew说道，“我们现在能做的就是努力学习，这样才能让自己的以后有更多选择。大家要记住学习的努力程度与今后选择的多少成正比。作为寄宿生，你们拥有更加完整的时间来安排自己的学习。现在我就会利用出差在飞机上的整块时间，来学习为期两年的硕士研究生课程，诺德安达的老师们都有机会学习这个由英国伦敦国王学院提供的课程。” Andrew在跟孩子们分享自己有效利用时间学习的经验时谈道。

在互动环节，有人向Andrew提问：“在您像我们这样的年纪时，以后想做什么呢？” 

Andrew思考片刻，说道：“当时，我想在体育方面有所发展。那时我学习不够努力，成绩也不好。有一次我的母亲去参加家长会，问我的老师我将来可以去大学学习什么专业？我的老师坦诚地说她不知道，因为我的学习成绩不理想。母亲回家后很生气，与我进行了一次长谈。母亲说我正在错失良机。自此之后，我便开始努力学习，最后顺利进入大学。所以，如果让我给你们一些个人成长的建议，我首先要说：充分利用在校时间，不要错过任何机会。不管你是否认识到这点，不管你可能面临怎样的挑战，来到这里是变成“最好的自己”的绝佳机会。人生是公平的。大家毕业时从学校带走的，其实就是你们在校期间努力付出后所获得的。成功与努力付出是不可分割的。”

最后, Andrew提到几年前北京市房山区诺德安达学校所在的地方还是一块空地，随着教学楼一点点建成，校园逐步完工，他每次来看到学校的发展进程都十分欣喜。但最让他感到欣喜的是现在看到孩子们在校园中快乐的学习。

“You are all in a unique position to strengthen your social skills and develop a close-knit community with other students on campus. You have access to designated recreational areas to socialize with peers, relax, play games, read and have fun free time, while you’re also developing your knowledge and skills at school.

Within the Nord Anglia Education family of schools, we’re really trying to build the best international boarding programme in the world. That means you can accelerate your skills and ambitions, and develop relationship that will last your entire lives.

When Andrew asked the boarding students what their favorite subjects are, some said biochemistry or chemistry, and others said psychology. But for the most difficult subject, most kids mentioned history.

Andrew noted that it’s best to create a more positive attitude about the subjects you don’t like. How many people know exactly what major to choose in university or what career to pursue in the future? It's very hard to predict exactly what your college major or future career will be at this age.

"What we can do now is to study hard to have more options in the future. The chances of success vary according to the degree of your effort. Boarding life gives you more time to study." Andrew shared with the students his effective time management tips. "Now I often spend my flight time devoting myself to a two-year master degree course that are available to all NAS teachers."

In Q&A section, Andrew was asked what he wanted to achieve when he was a teenager. "I wanted to go on in sports at that time. I didn’t work very hard, and often got poor grades. I remember one time when my mother attended the teacher-parent meeting, she asked my teacher about my choice for university major. My teacher said honestly that she had no idea because of my poor grades. After my mom returned home, we had a long talk. She warned me that I was allowing great opportunities to slip through my fingers. After that, I studied very hard and made it to university."

Andrew said: "So if I had to give you all some tips for development, I would start by saying: make the most of your time here at school and don’t let any opportunity pass you by. Whether you recognize it or not, and despite any challenges you may be facing, being here is a wonderful opportunity for you to grow to be the best you can be. Life is fair enough, for no pains, no gains. What you gained from school is in direct proportion to how much you put in it."

At last, Andrew mentioned that NAS Beijing campus was a sterile island ringed by empty lots few years ago. With the completion of our teaching buildings, he was delighted to see the process we have made. The most promising moment for him is to see students’ faces lit up with joy to the ear when they were studying in the campus.