与温哥华的一些华人家长朋友聊起与学校老师沟通的事情,发现不少家长比较挠头,担心把握不好原则和分寸。因为自己之前工作中不乏与与西人打交道的经历,再加上接触正面管教(PD理念与现代北美教育的理念非常吻合),在与学校老师沟通方面,我倒没有什么特别的障碍。在此记录下一些来温哥华之后,由于某些特殊原因,与老师沟通的经过。
大约一个月前了吧,有一天周五晚上,大儿发现自己带到学校的Pokemon卡片丢了好多张,而且都是最珍贵的。于是大儿爆发了,大哭,嘴里说着狠话,要怎么对付“偷”他Pokemon的人之类的。我具体怎么安抚他的,记不清了,总之,最后让他先睡,第二天再商量这件事。
第二天他还是很激动,不停地描述他到班上要怎么破案,怎么揪出小偷之类的。(这一点,我其实很担心)。于是我跟他解释了什么是诽谤,并且对他说他这种行为是坚决不可以接受的。他还是很激动,问我该怎么办?我建议他如果发现什么线索可以去和老师描述事实,并给他举例子什么是描述,什么是论断。另外我也指出,其实他把Pokemon带到学校丢了,自己也有责任等等。
其实就我来说,相比较孩子对这件事情如何妥善处理,才能不伤害别人,以及从这件事情当中,他能学会什么(自己有没有责任?该如何避免丢东西?)来说,东西丢了(我也压根儿没指望找回来)真不算什么。说实话,我对学校会怎么处理,心里也没底。但是我相信我的想法与学校应该是一致的。于是我给老师(老师也玩儿Pokemon)写了一封邮件说明一下情况,表示了一下我的态度。(学习PD,尤其最近一年翻译PD文章和书的结果是,在与学校老师沟通的时候,我基本上能思路清晰、流畅地表达出我的想法,当然这些想法已然是受PD影响之后的想法了。)
以下是来回邮件的原文(不是英文范文,错误在所难免。请关注内容):
Hi Miss XX,
XX took his pokemon book to school yesterday, while last nighthe found 12 cards from the first page of his pokemon book were lost , which are his favorite ones. Around 10 of them were bought from China, therefore they are easily distinguished with the cards available here. XX was upset and angry about the lost.We had a talk this morning. We've agreed that he can not act as a detective trying to get back his pokemon cards, which is not good to him andthe other kids.XX老师您好,XX昨天将POKEMON带到学校,昨晚他发现他最喜欢的12张卡片丢了。其中10张是从中国买的(因此很容易与这里能买到的区分开来)。XX对此很难过也很生气。我们今天早上谈了一下,我们都同意他明天上学之后不可以充当侦探去要回他的卡片,那样对他自己和其他孩子都不好。
Frankly speaking, I am not quitesure what is the most appropriate way to handle this case here, just to let you be aware of what happened, and I trust you to deal with it in case the kids bring this to you. From my perspective, the important thing here isnot the lost cards, but to teachkids how to handle the similar situation, and how to take his own responsibility (e.g - think about any precautionary way to avoid loosing cards etc.).说实话,我也不清楚该如何妥善处理此事。写这封信主要是想让您知晓发生了什么,这样万一孩子因为这事找到您的话,您心里有数。从我的角度来说,重要的不是丢失的卡片,而是教会孩子如何处理类似的情形,以及如何学会承担自己该承担的责任。(例如,想想该如何避免此类事情再度发生等)。
Have a nice weekend,周末愉快
XX
老师的回信:
Hi XX,
Thank you for letting me know. XX is very upset about the cards - understandably so! We had a big class conversation today about taking things that do not belong to you. I have let all of the students in the class know that they have an opportunity to return the cards without there being any consequences this time.Fingers crossed they will show up! I've got my eyes peeled!谢谢你让我知道这件事,XX对这件事非常难过---我非常理解!我们今天开了全班的班会,讨论了拿走别人东西的事情。我已经和全班的孩子说了,如果有人能将卡片归还,这次将不会有任何后果。但愿卡片能够找回来,我也会多加留意。
Have a good afternoon,
XX
以及我的回信:
Hi Miss XX,
Thank you so much for your such prompt response and of course, the action taken inclass! Yes as I indicated before, the most important thing here is to teach kids how to confront similar situation but not any sort of "punishment". Thank you again for smartly handing this as a good opportunity of teaching kids!XX老师您好,非常感谢年如此快的回应,当然,还有在班上的迅速行动。是的,正如我前面所说,重要的是教会孩子们如何处理此类情形而不是任何形式的“惩罚”。再次感谢您巧妙地处理了这件事,并且把这件事当成一个教孩子的好机会。
Have a nice day,
XX
后来大约过了2个礼拜,班上有个孩子说找到了这些卡片并还给了我家大儿。这事算圆满解决。在(结果出乎我意料的好)