English/Chinese Interview

Ameson Outstanding Teachers Series——Lauren Tivey

Lauren Tivey (center) with her AP English Language and Composition Class, atNanjing Senior High School, Jiangyin, China

Lauren Tivey is from New Hampshire in the U.S. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Poetry and Literature from Granite State College in 2005, and MFA in Poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2008. Tivey is also a published writer and poet of over twenty years. Her writing pieces, travel articles, and poems have appeared in numerous literary journals in the U.S. and the U.K., and her book of poetry, The Breakdown Atlas, was published in 2011. In 2009, she joined Ameson as an AP English teacher, and in 2013 she was honored Ameson Advanced Educator.

*Scroll down for Chinese translation

Reaching the essence of English by learning Shakespeare’s works

Tivey’s favorite unit to teach is Shakespeare. Students are often terrified of trying to read Shakespeare, but she insists that it’s important to be familiar

with his masterpieces, which have stood the test of time, and continue to illuminate the human experience to this day. Tivey usually does two Shakespeare plays a school year. In the past, her students have studied Romeo & Juliet, King Lear, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth.

Live plays, shown in Shanghai, are also part of this “Shakespeare experience.” As most students have never attended a Shakespeare play before, they are now able to witness his work come alive on stage, which is quite memorable for them. For the entire month before the performance, students study the chosen play in-depth, with each one picking a character out of a hat, in order to research the part and the character’s motivation. Also, historical, social, and economic background of the play is analyzed for better understanding. Though some students struggle with the archaic language at first, they soon pick up on the rhythm and style, and learn to love Shakespeare. A four page literary analysis on one of the themes is also requested. Finally, the kids travel to Shanghai to attend the play! This is a very exciting and rewarding culmination of their study, as the youngsters get into the real beauty and essence of Classic Literature through a live show.

Essay writing prepares students for university academic research

Tivey also places great importance upon the research paper. In addition to all the shorter essays for her class, she requires her students to write three 10 page research papers during their two years of study. This huge undertaking, with beforehand research and argument development, is ultimately rewarding, as students will be writing research papers in university, and Tivey wants them to be prepared by getting familiar with every step of the process. The research includes a trip to the local library, as not to rely solely upon internet sources. All those tasks have due dates, and as students complete each task, they realize that their papers are coming together—it is no longer such an overwhelming prospect.

Tivey gets wonderful papers, on subjects as varied as Greek mythology, feminism, mental health, and media responsibility, which she enjoys reading. Though the kids’ first attempts are by no means perfect, they are still achievements, as some students had believed they would never be able to complete them--besides, students then go on to show great improvement with their second and third attempts, in preparation for the rigors of their upcoming university course loads. In fact, Tivey has received former students’ letters of thanks for preparing them in this way.

Knowing students enables effective teaching

One thing Tivey has learned from teaching high school students is that a teacher must keep the material fresh and surprising—students are teenagers after all, and if a teacher is ever to get anywhere, they need to hold the students’ interest. She does a fair amount of traditional lectures, with note-taking, and classroom discussion, but she also utilizes music, art, short videos, films, PPTs, handout exercises, group exercises, demonstrations, and guest speakers, and even goes outdoors for certain activities. This not only keeps it interesting for students, but for her as a teacher!

In Tivey’s classroom, she prefers a horseshoe-style seating arrangement. Breaking out of the age-old tradition of uniform rows has certain benefits—students, now able to fully face one another, are more apt to open up and participate in class discussions. This arrangement also allows Tivey to freely move around in the center of the horseshoe, to be a PART of the group, and no longer the intimidating figure at the head of the class. She has found this fosters mutual respect and trust.

Staying student-centered has been the biggest insight

Tivey thinks that working for Ameson has been interesting, as well as rewarding. She has found the organization to be fully supportive of her and her ideas, and always willing to assist. She believes that in staying student-centered, one can’t go wrong. What’s most important is that students are fully prepared for the American university experience when they leave her classroom on that last day, that they have found joy in the learning—something which will help them to be successful in their university careers, as well as their lives in general. Though Tivey spends a fair amount of free time tutoring students, correcting papers and marking essays into the wee hours, or on weekends, it’s worth it when she sees students improve, and it’s even more rewarding when she receives excited messages from former students, now studying in the U.S., about how they are at the top of their classes. So, that’s her best insight about teaching anywhere, including Ameson: stay focused on the students—it will yield great results.

【名师系列】Lauren Tivey: 名著引导精髓 培养学术研究

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　 　 Lauren Tivey老师来自美国东北部的新罕布什尔州，她于 2005年获得新罕布什尔花岗岩州立学院诗歌和

文学学士学位，2008年获得佛蒙特艺术学院诗歌艺术硕士学位。因为本身的专业爱好，Tivey老师在过去二

十年中，一直是一个诗歌和文学出版作家。她撰写的游记，诗歌等出现在很多美国和英国的文学刊物上。她

的诗集《奔溃的地图册》于 2011年 7月正式出版发行。Tivey老师于 2009年 12月加入安生，作为美国 AP

课程英语文学和作文教师。由于她出色的教学工作，于 2013年被评为安生年度“先进教育工作者”。

 

 

通过学习莎翁名著引导学生掌握英语精髓

 

　 　 Tivey老师最喜欢教授文学巨匠莎士比亚的作品，中国学生通常很害怕阅读莎翁这样的古典英语著作，但

Tivey坚持阅读莎翁名著的重要性，因为它们经受了历史的检验，至今照亮着人类的人文精神领域。她通常每

学年教授两部莎翁名剧，这些年来，Tivey老师的学生已经学习了《罗密欧和朱丽叶》、《李尔王》、《哈姆

雷特》、《威尼斯商人》和《麦克白》等莎翁名剧。

 

　 　 Tivey老师喜欢推荐会在上海话剧舞台上演的莎翁名剧，因为很多学生从来没有看过话剧，而莎士比亚的

作品只有在舞台上才能栩栩如生、熠熠生辉。在观摩名剧前一个月，她带领学生深度学习被选的莎翁剧，每

个学生会抽一个剧中人物，开始研究其人物性格和行为动机，还帮助学生一起分析研究剧本的历史、社会和

经济背景，了解莎翁的生平故事，为每个学生在班上扮演好自己研究的人物做好准备。一些学生起先朗诵古

典英文很困难，但是随着学习的深入，渐渐适应了那种节奏和风格，并喜欢上了莎翁作品。Tivey老师还要求

每个人写作 4页莎翁剧作文学分析来作为名剧欣赏的积淀。最终，孩子们在 Tivey老师的带领下，旅行到上海

观摩莎士比亚的舞台剧，这是非常兴奋而又有回报的高潮部分，因为这些青少年通过名剧观摩，真正进入了

古典文学的精髓和美，并永远铭记在他们的记忆里！

 

 

 

论文写作为学生大学学术研究做准备

 

　 　 Tivey老师非常重视学生们的研究性论文写作，除了在课上要求他们写一些短作文，她还在学生的两个宝

贵学年里，要求每个人写作 3篇长度为 10页的研究性论文。这项艰巨的任务涵盖了写作前的调研和论文编写

过程，但最终让学生获益匪浅，因为学生们将来都将在大学里撰写研究性论文，Tivey老师希望他们早做准

备，熟悉掌握调研与写作的每一个步骤。调研工作还包括去当地的图书馆查阅资料，因为 Tivey不希望学生只

依赖于网络上的信息。所有这些任务都有一个制定好的完成日期，当学生们每完成一项任务，他们就知道离

他们最终的成品论文近了一步——论文写作不再是那么压力沉重的任务了。

 

 

　 　 Tivey老师常常满怀喜悦地收到各种出色的论文，主题从希腊神话研究、女权主义，心理健康到媒体的责

任感等等，题材丰富多彩，她非常喜欢阅读这些论文，虽然孩子们的第一次论文写作通常都不会那么完美，

但是至少他们已经完成了他们本来觉得永远完成不了的工作，可喜的是，在接下来的两次论文写作上，每个

人都会表现出巨大的进步，并为他们将来严格的大学课程学习做好一定的积淀。事实上，Tivey老师收到过很

多在美学习的学生的来信，感谢她在高中时代为大家做的充分准备，而他们现在正享受在美国大学的班级

里，成为优秀学子的时光。

                       

 

充分了解学生才能制定有效的教学策略

 

　 　 在安生国际课程中心分部教学，带给 Tivey老师最重要的体验就是保持教学材料的鲜活度和惊喜度——毕竟学生们都是翩翩少年，必须赢得他们的学习兴趣, 并有效地循循诱导。Tivey老师虽然花了很多时间在一些

传统的教学方式上，如讲座、勤记笔记和课堂讨论，同时她也非常善于利用音乐、艺术、短视频、电

影、PPT、讲义练习题、小组活动、实例示范、嘉宾演讲者，甚至户外出行来实施丰富多彩的课余活动，这

并不只是让学生们兴趣盎然，也是让作为老师的她，也激情投入其中。

 

 

　 　 在 Tivey老师的课堂上，她比较喜欢马蹄形课桌椅教室阵型，这样可以打破传统的课堂格局，使得所有学

生可以完全面对面和同学自由沟通，这样他们每个人都更愿意打开自己的心扉，积极投入到课堂的讨论活动

当中，这样的阵型安排，也有利于 Tivey老师在马蹄形阵型的当中自由跑动，是自己真正成为整个学生集团讨

论当中的一份子，而不是那个站在讲台上训斥孩子的老师, Tivey老师发现通过这样的安排，更能增加师生之

间的尊重和信任感。

 

 

以学生为中心的教学理念是最大的教育心得

 

　 　 Tivey老师觉得在安生教学很开心，也获得了很多回报。她发现安生对于她个人以及她的很多创意和教学

思路都很支持，并愿意提供支持。Tivey老师认为，只要树立“以学生为中心”的教学理念，工作就不会偏差，最重要的就是要让这些高中生为将来大学的生活做好充分的准备，当她的学生有一天离开她的课堂，发现自

己已经以学习为快乐，这个会使得他们的大学生涯以及个人生活更容易获得成功。虽然 Tivey老师花了相当多

的休息时间和周末时间辅导学生，批改作文，给论文打分，有时一直做到凌晨，可是当她收到以前学生令人

振奋的短信，有的真在美国优秀高等学府深造，并成为学校和班级中的顶尖学子，她觉得一切的付出都是那

么值得，所以她在任何地方包括在安生的最大教学心得，就是始终将精力集中在学生身上。

 

*Original interview in Chinese may be accessed at: http://cn.ameson.org/china/news.asp?id=1789