傅老师在两周前曾经邀请了美国两位专业面试官给孩子们做了一场面试评估，整个面试过程采取一对一的形式进行，每一名学生分别进行两段20分钟的面试交流。傅老师惊喜地发现，在参加这次活动的12名学生中，其中一名初二(8年级)在读的女学生钟同学Bridget的表现最能获得面试官Jacobs和Ketan的认可。由于我们申请的目标院校是位于新泽西州的斯图亚特女校，面试要求需要70分以上。而Ketan和斯特亚特的关系非常紧密，第一时间就给我们的学生写了一封很长的推荐信。傅老师认为这一封推荐信值得跟大家分享的原因，正是我们可以通过专业面试官的角度了解他们面试评估的时候是如何考察申请者的英语能力。
Hi Tyler and Esther,
泰勒，艾瑟，你们好，
I had the pleasure of meeting a STUART applicant, ZHONG ***, in Guangzhou at a small agency that we have a strong relationship with. The lead consultant has visited our office before and is very trustworthy, overall her students are all above average or stronger.
我非常高兴在广州的时候遇到了一位申请斯特亚特女校的学生，钟同学。她是来自于广州的一家留学工作室的。他们核心顾问老师(傅老师)曾经到访我们美国的办公室，是非常值得信赖的伙伴。同时，她的学生处于整体学生的中上或更好的水平。
ZHONG ***, or Bridget, is a precocious 9th grade applicant. She is currently in 8th grade. I have attached her picture here to verify her identity in a Skype interview. I would rate her proficiency as Low Advanced, which is very good for her young age. While STUART has a challenging academic program, I have interviewed a large number of students and would rate her English speaking ability and comprehension as very high for her age. I am hoping you could pass on my recommendation to the school and encourage them to consider her closely. I believe she first scored a 62 on the TOEFL, which seems low, but I would rate her speaking and listening skills to be at least in the high 70s or 80+ ranges. She may be taking the test again to see if her score improves. If anything, this is another indication why no single test can tell you how well a student can use the language. 钟同学，Bridget，是一位思想成熟的9年级申请者。她目前在国内就读8年级。我附上她的照片以便你们在视频面试的时候可以辨认出来。我将Bridget的英语程度评为“中等偏高”，对于她的年纪来说是很不错的成绩。斯图亚特女校的课程难度偏高，而在我面试过了许多学校以后，我认为钟同学的英语口语能力和理解能力水平都比她实际年龄的英语水平要高出很多。我希望你们能将我的推荐反馈给学校并认真考虑一下钟同学。她第一次的托福成绩是62分，尽管成绩偏低，但我认为她的口语和听力水平能达到80分甚至更高的分数。她或许后续也会再次参加托福考试看看成绩是否有提升。这也是另外一种途径了解到成绩并不能反映出学生运用一门语言的能力。
I have some additional notes on my conversation with her, which probably lasted 20-30 minutes: 跟钟同学的20-30分钟的对话中，我做了以下的一些备注：
While she came well prepared to interview and show me picture prints representing her interests and hobbies, I made sure to take the conversation toward new topics to see how she would fare, and she impressed. 可以看得出来，学生为面试做了充分的准备，还特地带了一些照片向我展示自己的爱好和特长（备注：琵琶和画作）。正是因为这样，我有意识地引伸新话题，不断地抛出新问题，想吓吓她，但她的淡定表现让我印象深刻。
【傅老师点评】面试官在面试的时候都知道，每一位学生都是“有备而来”，准备好很多的表达方式、故事、经历，甚至会辅助于一些照片、作品等等来展现自己的特色。正因为如此，他们会喜欢引导一些新的话题或者深入问到相关的问题，从而考察学生的应变能力。能否在面对没有准备过问题上也能做出流利而富有内容的回答。
She attends Guangzhou Foreign Languages School; the Foreign Language public schools in major cities often have a strong academic reputation for English language preparation. 她就读于广州外国语学校，这是一所中国一线城市的公立外国语学校，以极强的英语教学闻名。
I had her talk about her favorite artist in Chinese music, she was able to talk about her favorite singer and favorite song in Chinese on the topic of unrequited love and describe why the song was important to her. Many students stumble when asked questions on topics they haven't spoken about in English before, but Bridget did so with little hesitation. She was also able to figure out what the terms C-Pop and K-Pop meant during our conversation. 我让她跟我分享她最喜欢的中国音乐艺术家，她能够自如地说出她喜欢的歌手和歌曲。除此之外，她会强调歌手不计报酬演出，也会描述为什么这些歌曲对她很重要。当我问及学生从未准备过的问题时，大多数学生都会不知所措，甚至害怕。她却淡定自若。面对一些新的词汇，她也能够通过对话语境，推断出意思。比如：通过C-Pop（中国流行音乐），推断出K-Pop为韩国流行音乐。
【傅老师点评】针对一些新的话题，或者话题的深入延伸，面试官其实在考察学生的思想深度和广度。学生千万不要被这些问题吓到，其实应变的方法很简单。以小见大，举出一个例子，然后进行说明阐述就行。我们还可以看到，老师还考察了学生的词汇推理能力。这是美国高中英语词汇学习的常见方式，可以加强训练。
I had her talk about a book she read recently on geography in Chinese; she talked about how the author describes the four seasons in China. In asking her about the author's favorite season, she both provided the answer and went into more detail about why the author liked this season. Most students her age answer the question in the simplest way possible and do not elaborate unless prompted. Her command of English gives her the confidence to say more and offer her opinion of the topic at hand. 我让她跟我说说她最近读的关于地理的中文读物。她生动地讲解作者如何描写中国的一年四季。我再问她，作者最喜欢的季节，她能够用很多细节说明作者喜欢的原因。但是，很多同年级的学生只会用最简单的方式来回答，如果我们不追问，学生不会深入阐述。而钟同学的英语理解能力，使得她有自信去对话题进行深入的探讨，给出自己的观点。
【傅老师点评】其实，面试过程中，握住主动权是非常非常关键的。面对新的问题，千万不要因为害怕犯错，就草草回答。这样你也许就错过了一个自我展示的机会。钟同学的词汇量其实很小，但是，她能够用最简单的词汇，把自己的观点表达清楚。更重要的是，她不惧怕犯错，她主动抓住每一个自我展示的机会。
I had her describe a process for me, in this case how to make a type of Chinese food, dumplings. She did well and used the vocabulary of every day life which even well educated students sometimes do not have because kitchen terms may not be taught in their textbooks. This is encouraging for her participation in a residential program where she needs to live life in English outside of school. Furthermore, she was able to take me through a process without getting lost, which not all students can do when being asked this for the first time. 我还让她描述了中国传统食物，讲解了包饺子的方法。她能够用很日常的词汇来进行表达，包括一些厨房用语，这即便是非常优秀的学生都很少能运用自如，因为这些词汇在英语课本中不会教。这些词汇的掌握，对于她未来在美国生活，会有很大的帮助。更让人惊喜的是，描述整个包饺子的过程，她都非常流畅。而大多数中国学生，第一次这类问题时，都会结结巴巴。
【傅老师点评】这类题目也是面试过程中比较常见的，描述某样东西的制作过程。这考察了学生对于动词、还有日常词汇的使用。如果想要把这类题目做好，建议可以多看些美国电视剧。学习更加贴近生活的词汇。
She described her trip to Los Angeles she took. I pressed her on a difficult topic, which was to describe her favorite ride experience at Universal Studios. While she did not have the perfect vocabulary at hand (she was describing the Terminator ride which involves 3D), she did not get nervous and used the vocabulary she had to help me understand what the ride was like. Again, most students will provide a short answer in order to not make a mistake out loud, while ZHONG *** took a risk to help me understand. 她跟我分享她的加州洛杉矶之旅。我再次抛出刁难的问题，要她描述在加州环球影城的电车之旅。虽然她词汇不足（因为她需要描述“终结者”这部电影，包含3D画面），她毫不紧张，用她熟悉的词汇来向我解释这段电车之旅。我想再次强调，大多数学生，只会用简短的回答（应对新问题），比避免出错。但钟同学敢于表达，还帮助我理解这些细节。
She described her interest in Princeton. My grandfather happened to be the architect for their library, and I described for her how he inserted a statue of a gargoyle in his image on the library roof to test her comprehension. While she didn't know the word gargoyle, she was able to follow and learn the word through the conversation. 她说她对普林斯顿大学的热爱。我的祖父恰巧是普林斯顿大学图书馆的建筑师。我跟她分享我祖父如何对滴水兽雕像产生兴趣，然后以此作为普林斯顿大学图书馆的顶部雕塑。这是我又一次考察她的理解能力。虽然她并不知道什么是滴水兽，但是她跟得上我的思路，也能从对话语境中，理解该词。
Generally, her use of verb tenses was good, though there is a bit of room for improvement here. Most students her age use the present tense more than the past to describe past events or actions, whereas Bridget did well to switch tenses. 总的来说，她在动词时态上的使用非常好，当然也有一些进步空间。大多数同年级的学生，只会用现在时态来描述过去的事件和动作，但是钟同学在时态变换上，做得很好。
STUART will have a better sense if her academic and co-curricular interests are a good fit with the school's offerings. However, in examining just her English speaking and comprehension, she is well above her peers and above most students I meet in China, many of whom are applying to top schools like STUART. 在钟同学的学术和兴趣爱好方案，斯图亚特会比我有更好的判断。但是，如果就她的英语口语和理解能力，我认为她比我遇到过的大多数优秀中国学生，同样是申请像斯图亚特这类顶尖学校的学生，都要强很多。
I hope this is helpful for the school.
希望这封推荐信，能对学校有帮助。
【傅老师总评】能获得美国老师一封长达1000字的推荐信，是对学生能力的极大肯定。感谢Ketan老师的用心，还原了长达30分钟的面试过程。通过不同方面，以及与其他中国学生的对比，肯定了钟同学的英语能力。这封推荐信，对于准备申请美国高中的学生家长而言，也是一个很好的学习。该从哪些方面提高，哪些方面重点突出，显得尤为重要。
美国的面试，主要通过三个方面考察学生。
1. 英语能力
2. 个人性格
3. 学生与学校的匹配度
相比传统中介，由于学生数量庞大，只能够进行常规问题的培训。傅老师团队每年定量接收学生，专注每一个学生的申请和培训。钟同学刚来的时候，也是Ketan笔下的大多数中国学生，只能够进行简单的回答。但是经过1个月中美面试团队的培训，钟同学找到了方法。首先，我们将常规问题发给钟同学进行回答，经过我们团队和学生的反复讨论和修改，最终确定常规问题的回答英文版本。这只是初稿，我们的面试团队每周进行2次培训，会抛出许多延伸的新问题，考察学生的应变能力，每次培训完毕，都会再让学生总结归纳，再把新问题的回答落实下来。同时，针对每一所申请的学校，我们都会要求学生阅读学校英文网页和中文小册子，自己有条理地说明选择学校的原因。
中方老师进行思维和回答方向的指导，美方的老师主要通过地道的英语，让学生表达更加出色，而且更加主动去和面试官互动。通过中美团队的专业个性化培训后，学生均能够用丰富的事例，展示自己的语言能力，以及性格特征。
傅老师团队相信，每个学生都有自己与众不同的一面，如何在10-20分钟的面试中，脱颖而出，专业而个性化的面试培训显得尤为重要。
期待钟同学的理想录取。
更多留学资讯，请联系傅老师：
电话：13580349988
QQ：976480473
微信公众号：美国留学顾问lilly (lillyfu_usa)
