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摘要：
为什么要过“间隔年”？
Thomas Hayton：麦克米伦全球教育集团亚洲区总监
以下内容来自Thomas Hayton于2017年5月14日在“向日葵国际教育高峰论坛（2017）”上海论坛的演讲。
I have three things to share today.
1. My own experience being a British person and growing up to be more international.
2. The thing we should always remember is that there are great things about our culture and other cultures; Bad things as well.
3. The advice which is very recommendable for Chinese students to study abroad.
今天， 我想与大家分享三个主题。
1. 我，作为一个英国人的成长经历，以及如何在成长过程中让自己更加国际化；
2. 每种文化都有好的方面与不好的方面；
3. 给中国学生在海外学习的建议。
I would like to start with some topics raised in Beijing yesterday. One of the topics is that family influence plays an important part in teaching values, such as money and independence; this certainly is a big part of my family.
I got my first job, when I was 14 years old. Delivering newspaper every Wednesday and Thursday after school before homework, no matter whether it was sunny, rainy or snowy.When I was 16 years old, I also started working in a pharmacy as well as delivering newspaper on Wednesdays.When I was 18, until I graduated from college, I worked every holiday period in hotel kitchen—washing dishes and sometimes even toilets.
昨天，在北京，我们谈到了几个话题。其中一个话题就是家庭在孩子成长过程中的重要影响，例如在金钱观和独立性方面；在这些方面，我的家庭给我很重要的启示。
14岁的时候，我得到了第一份工作——无论晴天、雨天还是雪天，每周三和周四，我都需要在放学后去送报纸。16岁的时候，除了每周三送报纸 ，我还在药店打工。从18岁开始，直到大学毕业，每个假期，我都在宾馆的餐厅里工作——洗盘子，有时还需要洗厕所。
The value of education is very high in my family. My mother graduated from Oxford, and my uncle graduated from Oxford as well. We took study very seriously, but it is also important to work. I am lucky to be born in a quite wealthy family. My parents could easily give me money, but they are very happy not to.
我的家庭对学习要求很高。我的妈妈和叔叔都是从牛津毕业的。他们把学习看得很重要，但他们认为工作也同样重要。我很幸运能够成长在一个很富裕的家庭，我的父母可以给我钱支持我的开销，但是他们很开心不用支付这一部分金钱，我就能自力更生。
On top of those part-time jobs, something very helpful is that between finishing high school and going to college, I took a gap year which is very common in the UK. I think this is the most important thing that I ever did.
In order to save money, the first thing I did was to find a full time job. I worked in a supermarket, selling cheese all day. Everyday, cutting cheese, selling cheese, working with people who did not go to university, and whose life was very different from mine. The job had me interacting with them and made me get them to do things. It is called managing; it is called collaborating, and these are very important life skills. I saw things about my country that were not so great. Sometimes, these people had views and different beliefs I did not share. I can also see many other things I did not know but I learned from their lives.
除了这些兼职工作，我做过对我成长最重要的事情就是，高中毕业后，在上大学之前，我选择过一个间隔年。这在英国很普遍。
为了攒钱，我找了一份全职工作——全天都在超市卖奶酪。每天切奶酪、卖奶酪、和那些没上过大学、与我的生活完全不同的人一起工作。这份工作让我有机会和这些人接触，并给他们安排工作。这就是管理与合作——非常重要的生活技能。这份工作让我有机会看到英国不是很好的方面。这些工人的观点和观念与我很不一样，我能从他们的身上了解到以前我不知道的事情。
My identity developed as I went into this job. I was an upper middle class, a wealthy white kid, but at the end of this, I was broader than that.I have become a much more real British person that have seen different realities and different parts in British culture. When I earned money from supermarket, I became a cheese expert. I spent rest of my time, traveling by myself, with this money, all around Europe. I, as a British kid, met people from other countries, learned about their countries and also became completely independent.
在做这份工作的同时，我的身份认同也在成长。之前，我是一个来自上中产阶级，富裕的白人男孩；这份工作之后，我了解到更多社会现实与各种方面的英国文化，变成了一个更加名副其实的英国人。这份工作让我成为了一个奶酪专家。结束了这里的工作，利用剩下的时间和赚到的钱，我开始环游欧洲。在旅途中，我，一个来自英国的男孩，认识了来自世界各国的人，了解他们的国家，也变得更加独立。
My parents just said "bye". Then I went off and took trains to everywhere, stayed in very cheap and not very nice hotels, but had the best time.
My mother said, “Hey, you went away as a boy and came back as a man.”
我的父母就只是跟我说：“再见。”之后，我就离开了，乘着火车到处逛，住非常便宜、环境不是特别好的旅馆，却拥有最棒的时光。
我妈妈说：“离开前，你是一个男孩；归来后，成为了一个男人。”
I observed many wonderful attributes in Chinese students, which British children did not have.I really admire the ability to focus and the ability to be disciplined, because there is something in life you cannot be creative about, just have to study hard. This is what I observed during my work in China, and it is a wonderful thing that any teacher back to UK right now would love to see more in our students. It is the cultural value that I hope Chinese students to take with their roles.
我在中国学生身上看到很多英国孩子没有的优秀的品质。我非常钦佩中国孩子身上的专注力和良好的纪律性。因为有些事情，我们不能创新，只能努力做。这是我在中国工作过程中观察到的，是每一个英国教师回到英国后都希望在自己的学生身上看到的品质，也是我希望中国学生能够一直拥有的文化赋予他们的个性。
I wonder what we can do to bring more life experience, working experience, and experience cross different parts of Chinese society to the students who are not 100% aware of this country. I wonder in China, what we can do to help children to have that sense of identity in a grounded way, prior to going study and work.So, it strikes me that if we have incredible pressure in study, it could be very difficult to justify time in extra curriculum activities, which is actually very valuable. How can we help children also be strong people and be stronger in collaborating and communicating cross cultures?
同时，我也在思考，我们怎样做才能为那些并不100%了解自己国家的中国学生带来丰富的生活、工作和来自中国社会不同阶层的经历。我在思考，我们如何做才能帮助孩子们在学习与工作之前，更加扎实地了解自己。我们有很重的学习压力，为课外活动安排出时间很难，然而课外活动又很重要。我们如何帮助孩子成为内心强大的人?如何帮助他们拥有更强的跨文化交流与合作能力？
I think Chinese students are remarkable and the pieces of score are fantastic. It is a wonderful starting point.My hope is that we can rebalance a little bit in the direction of growing teenagers who are more grounded and possibly more aware of different types of people, different ways of thinking, even in your own country. So my hope for Chinese children is to have a little bit more life experience, and parents could direct in diverse ways of children's development. Because that is the luckiest thing I received from my parents.
中国的学生很棒，他们有很好的成绩。这是一个极好的起点。我希望各位家长在培养自己孩子的时候更加平衡、接地气，即使在自己的国家，也让他们了解不同的人，接触不同的思考方式。我给中国学生的建议是拥有更丰富的生活经历，父母可以尝试多种方式引导孩子的成长。这是我从我的父母那里收到的最棒的礼物。
本文根据Thomas Hayton先生在“向日葵国际教育高峰论坛（2017）”的演讲整理编辑，授权新航道家庭教育(nc-jtjy)独家发布。欢迎个人转发分享，转载请注明作者和出处。其他公号转载，请发邮件至nc-jtjy@xhd.cn获取授权。
Thomas Hayton与新航道总裁胡敏教授在“向日葵国际教育高峰论坛（2017）”北京现场交流
英国麦克米伦全球教育集团与新航道国际教育集团是战略合作伙伴。图片左起为：新航道总裁兼校长胡敏教授，麦克米伦教育全球总裁Jeremy Dieguez先生、亚洲区总监Thomas Hayton先生。
