校长说 为孩子们线上学习的表现点赞! Principal's Message Well Done, Students!

在过去的几周，中国采取了一系列强有力措施减缓新冠病毒的传播，防疫措施十分有效，也得到了质的飞跃，大幅度减少了新冠感染人群的数量。然而，目前世界上许多国家仍处在危险时期，仍在与新冠病毒作斗争。

尽管新冠的发展在中国得到有效控制，但全国范围内仍有不少地区的学校仍处于闭校状态。自2月17日开始，宁波市奉化区诺德安达的学生们就开始了线上课程的学习。虽然这对我们所有人都是一次全新的挑战，但同时不论对学校，对我们的学生和老师而言，都是一次非常成功的经历。我们感谢老师们始终保持着高质量，高标准的授课水准，感谢孩子们在学业上的勤奋努力，更加感谢父母在这段特殊时期给予的无限支持和鼓励。宁波市奉化区诺德安达学校是融合多元文化的学校，97%的家长们坚信学校能够为学生们提供优质教育。

Over the past several weeks, China has implemented a number of measures to decrease the spread of COVID-19. These measures have been effective given the substantial decline in the number of new infections in the country. Sadly, many other countries around the world continue to struggle in their fight against the spread of COVID-19.

Despite the significant progress in the reduction of COVID-19 cases in China, still many schools remain closed for the time being. Students at NAS Ningbo have been engaged in a virtual learning experience since February 17. This has been a very successful experience for our students and we must not only thank them for remaining committed to their studies, but also thank parents for their ongoing support and encouragement, and to our teachers for maintaining high quality lessons. NAS Ningbo is the most international bilingual school in Ningbo and 97% parents believe their child will receive high quality education with us.

对于宁波市奉化区诺德安达学校的学生而言，线上课程允许学生和教师进行实时交流，与面对面课堂类似，可以通过使用Microsoft的相关工具进行交流。但遭受疫情影响，部分外教所处国家在时区上与国内有所不同。因此，在课程同步上会有延迟。但尽管如此，老师们仍会在线布置学习任务，在线进行反馈。

近期，我一直在思考关于学生线上课程的学习。尽管我们所有人都期待看到老师和学生返校，想念之前面对面的课堂教学。但换个角度，线上课程同时给学生带来了完全不同的学习体验。例如：线上课程加强了学生的自主性。学生必须学会如何在没有外部激励的情况下完成学习任务，获取成功；需要鼓励自己每天按时上线，完成线上学习，在没有老师监督的情况下完成课业。除此之外，线上课程体验使学生熟练掌握软件技术。学校的线上课程均是在一个名叫Microsoft Teams 软件上进行的，线上课堂软件的使用是孩子们从未接触过的。孩子们也正是因为这次特殊的学习体验，自主钻研，开始熟练使用此软件。

For NAS Ningbo students, their virtual learning experience has been either asynchronous or synchronous, though synchronous has been the most common by far. What do these two terms mean? Synchronous learning allows students and teachers to interact in real-time, similar to the way an in-person class would have a scheduled date and time, and can occur using tools such as Microsoft Teams.  We have some teachers who are spread out over multiple time zones yet they still continue to deliver a lesson synchronously, regardless of the time of day or night it is for them. Asynchronous learning, on the other hand, allows students to interact with the content, and each other, on their own time and send the work back to the teacher.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about this virtual learning experience for children. While everyone would like to see the students and teachers back in school, our students will have acquired a new set of skills during this experience. For example, the virtual learning experience teaches students self-reliance. Students must learn how to succeed with perhaps little outside motivation and must find it within themselves to get online every day and do the work without anyone watching them. Secondly, the virtual learning experience familiarizes students with technology. Our students are now well-versed in a new platform called Microsoft Teams, a platform which none of them used prior to the Chinese New Year.

上周，我们有98%的学生参加了学校的线上课程内容。这个参与比例令大家振奋！我们振奋的原因是距离上一次见孩子们已经过去了一个半月，尽管时间已经过去这么久，孩子们仍旧保持的高度学习热情让我们感到兴奋。宁波市奉化区诺德安达学校将继续保持，与学校的专业团队一同，为孩子们带来优质的教学体验，使他们成为全球校园中的一员，为他们的将来努力。

Last week, 98% of NAS Ningbo students participated in their online lessons. This is super! Even though children have not been sitting in school for one month and a half, the NAS Ningbo learning experience continues to help each child become a globally-connected, future-ready leader of tomorrow.