家长心声：我很庆幸当初选择了夢沃!

I am grateful that we chose MVA Shanghai!”

　　大家好：

　　先自我介绍下，我是美国夢沃学校(上海)12年级庄毅同学的妈妈。今天很高兴能有机会站在这里和大家分享下庄毅梦沃三年的学习经历和庄毅的成长。

庄毅妈妈与各位家长分享孩子的学习与成长

　　今天是庄毅入校以来我最高兴的的一天，因为就在昨天，庄毅收到了她梦寐以求的学校的录取通知。所以当刘老师昨天说希望我能分享下庄毅的的学习和成长经历时，我毫不犹豫的答应了，因为我希望能用这种方式表达我对梦沃全体老师的感激。

　　但今天说些什么呢?事前和刘老师有过沟通，刘老师就说了一句话：分享我真实的感受就好。

　　我很庆幸我当初选择了梦沃!

　　当庄毅初三毕业，由于希望孩子能开阔眼界，能让孩子走得更远，我和众多的家长一样选择上国际高中，我基本上跑遍了上海全部的国际学校，参加了很多的入学考试，也和国际学校的很多老师有过很深的沟通。普遍的感受是，学校的教学两极分化，要么就是以TOEFL、SAT考试为目标的教学，类似国内的高考;要么就是完全宽松的教育。这二种教育方式和我理解的教育不一样，我希望孩子能在张弛有度的环境中健康、愉快、幸福地成长。

家长之间的分享与沟通最能引起共鸣

　　所以当我偶然间看到梦沃的招生广告时，我抱着试一下的心态，来到了梦沃。当时还在杨浦区，是借别人的教室，地方很小，第一印象是有点失望，但这种失望立刻被激动、兴奋所替代。那天接待我的就是陈老师，他描绘了老师们创立梦沃的理念、梦想，他说他要办一所上海最好的学校，要办一所百年学校，让每一位梦沃的学子能自信、充满希望地进入美国名校深造。老师的激情，让我非常的感动，凭直觉，梦沃应该是我最好的选择!虽然是一所新办学校，只要有激情，持之以恒，有什么可担心的呢?顶着周围的压力，我选择将我的孩子交给了梦沃。

　　如果说，当初选择这个名不见经传的新学校有“赌”的成分的话，那么，在其后的学习中，赌赢的概率持续不断的增长。

夢沃的孩子们

　　进入学校二个月后，有一天孩子和我去超市购物，在路上，孩子突然和我说：“妈妈，你知道吗，我们现在的学习压力一点都不比初三中考时候的小，每天的作业都要做得很晚，也挺累的，但是感觉不一样，以前做作业是为了明天交给老师，而现在做作业觉得想做，其实学习还是挺有意思的，以后也应该会有用的。”听到这话，我激动得可以用“热泪盈眶”来形容。我花费了十几年的时间想让她明白的道理，在梦沃不到二个月的时间，她就明白了。这是怎样的一群老师啊!我很庆幸我的孩子能进入梦沃，碰到如此优秀的老师们!

　　庄毅的这种变化不仅仅是庄毅一个人，还有她的同学们。

　　学校为改善教学环境，从杨浦区搬到了金山区。有一次开家长会，由于比较远，学校安排大巴从人民广场接家长和同学开家长会。那天我们早早来到了人民广场候车。由于时间比较充裕，我就以局外人的视角去观察陆续赶到的学生和家长们，我喜欢这种局外人的感觉。梦沃的学生和普高的学生还真的不一样，普高的学生喜欢三五成群地窃窃私语，而梦沃的孩子，有礼貌、阳光，是一个健全的社会人。家长会后我调侃式地问我的孩子：丫头，你们的同学，每个人都很自信，神采飞扬啊!孩子给我的原话是：那当然啊，他们每一个都有自己的特长啊，谁摄影特别好、谁演讲特棒….他们在我们学校是独一无二的，他们都很优秀。孩子的回答让我震撼，能够学会欣赏，对孩子以后的成长意义非凡!孩子真的变了，她对周围人的欣赏、对人的态度远超我这个母亲，虽然我很早知道欣赏他人欣赏他事是必备的品质，但能若此自然发至内心的去欣赏，我还真做不到啊。那以后我知道我该对孩子放手了，梦沃老师会把每一个梦沃学子当做宝贝! 从那以后我真的放手了，我给她办了张信用卡，除了在经济上必要的支持外，我就再也没有过多的关心她的学业了!当然非常感谢，学校每周一次的学校情况通告，让我能在放手后，还能时时了解学校和孩子的情况。

　　时间过得很快，转眼庄毅12年级了。12年级是非常重要的一年，TOEFL、SAT考试持续不断，特别是SAT的考试，国内还无法考试。在这期间我看到了一个小孩子的独立：参加SAT考试，无论是去香港考还是塞班岛考，都是自己一个人报名、订机票、订酒店、找考场;接下来是申请学校，选学校、选专业等等，整个过程完全独立完成。我没有想到孩子能独立到如此程度!我欣喜若狂!同时孩子的独立，没有让我这个母亲感到失落，相反我和孩子走得更近，无论是身体很是心灵! 我再次庆幸我选择了梦沃! 自信、欣赏、思考、独立是我们一直期望孩子能拥有的品质。今天，梦沃的老师们以他们的激情、专业告诉我们，他们能赋予我们的孩子自信、欣赏、思考、独立，那我们为什么不放手呢? 来梦沃吧!在这里您的孩子将更加优秀!

　　Hello Everyone!

　　First let me introduce myself. I am Jenny Zhuang’s mother. I am glad to be here with you today to share my own perspectives aboutJenny’s time at MVA Shanghai.

　　Today is the happiest day I have ever had since Jenny entered MVA Shanghai because Jenny just got an offer form a very good university. Therefore when Ms. Liu asked me to speak about Jenny’s experiences I accepted her invitation immediately because I wanted to express my appreciation.

　　I asked Ms. Liu what I should talked about and she said simply “tell the truth.”

　　I am grateful that we chose MVA Shanghai for our daughter!

　　When Jenny graduated from middle school as all parents hope that their children will go further I chose to send Jenny to international school. I visited almost all of the international school in Shanghai; I took Jenny to sit for many entrance tests; and I talked to many teachers who worked in international schools. During this process I found that there is a polarization between traditional high schools and “international education”with the latter often meaning having a lot of fun but doing no real schoolwork and the former being endless memorization and test-taking. Neither of these two kinds of education were what I wanted Jenny to have. I wanted my child to have a mixture of these two kinds of education and live happily.

　　When I accidentlysaw the advertisement for MVA I went there with some real apprehension. At that time MVA Shanghai was located on the campus of another high school in the YangPu district. I was disappointed when I saw their classrooms and the condition of the facilities. However after Bowen told me that they planned to develop the best international school in Shanghai which would make students truly proud of their school I was moved by their passion. Based on my intuition I chose MVA Shanghai. Although at that time MVA Shanghai was a brand new school I did not worry about it because the teachers in the school had a great deal of passion and experience.

　　You might say that I was gambling but I think that every day my chancesof winning becamegreater and greater. After two months of studyingat MVA Shanghai Jenny told me that studying at MVA was as hard as her grade nine middle school experience but more importantly she now found that she was interested in studying. When I heard her words I was very excited. I had tried for more than ten years to make her understand the importance of studying and I had failed—but the school had succeeded in only two months.

　　Jenny is not the only person who has changed. Her classmates have changed as well. When MVA Shanghai moved to the JinShan District I went there for a parents meeting. Because JinShan is very far away from downtown Shanghai the school gathered everyone at People’s Square so that they could travel together. When we arrived at People’s Square I met Jenny’s classmates and I found that they looked different form students who studyat a traditional Chinese high schools. Normally high school students like to make groups and to whisper to each other but her classmate werepolite and full of confidence. I told Jenny my thoughts and Jenny said it was because everyone at her school had their own unique talents: they were all excellent students in their own way. I was shocked that Jenny told me about others’ talents—she finally had learned how to appreciate other people rather than just to compete out of self-interest. I knew that I no longer needed to care for and control Jenny as much as I normally would because the teachers at MVA Shanghai were helping her grow as a young woman just as any loving and caring parent would do.

　　After that I had a great deal of faith in Jenny: I her a credit card and spending money and I did not continually ask her how her studying was going or anything else about her school life. I could learn whatever I needed to know form the weekly report which the school provides every weekend.

　　Time flies. Jenny soon began to prepare for the TOEFL and SAT. Because she could not take the SAT in China she had to go to Hong Kong or other countries to take the test. Jenny did everything all by herself: booking plane tickets hotel rooms etc. I was so glad to see Jenny become more and more independent. And in face as she grew more independent Jenny and I actually grew closer and closer.

　　Being confident and independent and appreciatingother people are things that we want our children to have. And the teachers at MVA Shanghai have proven that they can offer the magic that makes our children able to gain these valuable skills.

　　Let your children join MVA Shanghai: you’ll be forever grateful for the experience they gain.

　　13 March 2016