Applying for a fellowship recently, I was asked to respond to one of the following two prompts:

A. Describe the most significant thing about teaching that you have learned.

B. Describe your most memorable teaching moment.

I chose A, but quickly realized that the two are difficult to separate. For me they both involve a student named Carla.

最近申请奖金的时候我被要求在以下两个问题中任选一个回答：

A. 请叙述在你所学到的教学知识中最重要的是什么

B. 请叙述你最记忆犹新的教学时刻

我选择回答A问题，但是很快我意识到这两点很难区分开来，对我来说这两个问题都会与一个叫卡拉的学生有关。

Carla was an English major taking a senior-level sociolinguistics course with me to fulfill a general-education requirement. I was covering the linguistic argument that nonstandard language forms are not substandard. I’d felt resistance from her all term, yet she was doing well on exams and papers.

卡拉是英语专业的学生，在我这修高级社会语言学来完成教学大纲。我一直认为在语言学中非标准的语言格式是不标准的。整个学期中我一直觉得她不认同这个观点，然而她一直在考得不错，论文也写得很出色。

One day in class, I proposed a scenario in which we all wake up one day and find that the academy accepts both nonstandardand standard English dialects equally. Carla got very agitated and countered with, "It’s easy for you to say! You’ve already mastered the right type of English." I could have reflexively repeated the linguistic tenet that all dialects are equally communicative, but there was so much emotion in Carla’s voice that I could do nothing but stop and consider. After a few moments (quietin the classroom is like radio silence), I told Carla that she made a very good point and that I had to digest it.

一天在课上，我假设了一个场景，我们有一天醒来发现语言学同等地接受了非标准英语和标准英语方言时，卡拉很激动地反驳道：“你做这种假设当然很容易！你早就已经掌握了正确的英语格式！”我本可以本能地重复语言学的原则：所有的方言都是同等的交际语言，但是我发现卡拉的声音中包含了太多的感情，我还是停下了一切沉思。过了一会儿（教室里鸦雀无声）我告诉卡拉她提出了一个很好的问题我得去仔细好好消化掉它。

All dialects are equal linguistically, in that they are regular, rule-governed, and just as effective at communicating as is standard English. They are not, however, all equal socially. Coming from a position of privilege, it was indeed easy for me to toss off such a scenario of equal acceptance. Carla reminded me of the other side of the argument, that the field of linguistics was not going to change the "privileging" of the standard, and that those who choose to fight that fight without standard English as the medium, or at least as backup, are at risk, educationally and economically.

在语言学中，所有的方言都是同样的，因为它们跟标准英语一样普遍存在，有语法规则，可以进行有效的交流，但是他们却不拥有平等的社会地位。作为语言学的教授我的确可以用假设一下子解决了方言平等接受的情况，但卡拉的话让我想到了这个观点的另一面，是语言学领域是不会改变标准的“特权”的，而那些在没有标准英语作为媒介，或至少作为备份的情况下选择为方言的社会性地位的人无论从教育方面还是经济方面上都是有风险的，。

That summer, Carla still in my head, I delved into the linguistics literature and found a book by Deborah Cameron called Verbal Hygiene. Cameron argues that linguists like me are disingenuous when we hold to the label of descriptivist, believing ourselves to be objective when it comes to how language is used. In fact, says Cameron, we are just as biased about language issues, and so under the thrall of our teachers’ and discipline’s mantras that we cannot acknowledge our own blind spots. We are prescribing, too. We prescribe rights for nonstandard dialects;for acceptance of variation in accent, grammar, and narrative style; for gender-neutral language, etc.

那年夏天，我始终记得卡拉。我开始钻研语言学文献，并找到了一本狄波拉·卡梅伦的书《口头卫生学》。卡梅伦认为，语言学家像我一样都是虚伪的，我们举着摹状词的标签，相信自己在讨论语言运用上是客观的。实际上，卡梅伦说我们也只不过带着偏见去看待语言问题，所以在老师的授课与学科原本就存在的原理框架内我们没能发现自己的盲点。我们也在墨守成规。是我们擅自指定了什么语言是非标准方言，擅自指定了不同口音、语法、叙事风格的接受度，擅自指定了什么是中性语言等等一系列的语言问题。

Carla did not fully realize the lesson she set in motion, and I didn’t fully learn it until after she graduated. She led me to reflect, to Cameron’s work, and to start new research into themisalignment of assumptions between students and educators.

卡拉并没有充分意识到她在那次冲动之下留下的教训，我也直到她毕业后才充分明白了这个教训。他让我理解了卡梅伦的书中所说的深意，并为学生与教育者之间假设的偏差开始了新的研究。

I realized that I could (and even should)say "let me think about that" to a student’s question when I am not sure. And that such an answer is the start, not the end, of an exploration. AndI learned to trust my belief that the classroom is for sharing of responsibility and for making public the part of the educator that continues to learn.

我意识到当我不确定学生提的问题的时候我能（甚至是应该）说“让我想想”。这样的回答只是一个探索的开始，并不是对学生问题的结束。我学会去相信自己的信念：教室是一个分担责任并且是公开的教育者继续学习的地方。

Few professors are comfortable going public when they encounter gaps in their knowledge. After all, we are the professors!However, the realization for me went further, beyond knowing and acknowledging that I might need to look up some fact or another to answer a student’s question. More important are the moments when students bring their own perspective to material I know so well that I cannot see it from any other angle.

很少有教授在发现自己的知识领域出现空白的时候能够安然地出席公共场合。毕竟，我们是教授！然而，对于我来说认知的意义不仅于此，它不仅仅是知道并且承认我有可能需要去看清事实亦或是回答一个学生的问题，更重要的是当学生提出他们的观点时我能够发现我因为早已熟知知识而不会从其他角度看待的问题。

Last year I received an email from Carla. I hadn’t had any contact with her since she graduated, but I frequently thought about finding her on Facebook or LinkedIn. Carla had read about me in the alumni magazine; a new book of mine had just been published. Here is the email:

去年我收到了一封卡拉给我的电子邮件，自从她毕业后我一直没和她联系过，但我会不断地想在Facebook或者LinkedIn上去找找她，卡拉从小看上得知了我的新书已经出版了，这里是她的邮件：

Dear Prof. Behrens:

I doubt you remember me, I was in just one of your classes, but it completely changed my life. It’s so rarely that you can remember one aha! moment that totally changed you, but I can still remember when you finally convinced me that it was important to have a descriptive rather than prescriptive view of language.Suddenly, I was forced to examine so many prejudices and preconceived notions.It was that moment of understanding that sparked my passion for English as aliving, evolving language. Now, as a TESOL teacher, I work every day to make sure that my students appreciate that the rules we study aren’t the "right" English,and that there’s a right English for the right situation. I tell them what their home languages have contributed to ours, and about the beauty of nonstandard English. So when I saw the announcement about your book, I thought I should write and tell you what an impact your class had on me. I think teachers often have no idea how far their influence reaches—yours reaches each of my students every day!

尊敬的贝伦斯教授：

我怀疑你是否已经不记得我了，我曾经上过你的课，但你的课完全地改变了我的人生。你还记得那个完全改变了你的震惊时刻我觉得很罕见，但是我仍记得你最终让我明白看待语言要用描述性的视角而非规定性的视角。突然，我检查发现自己原来对语言有那么多的偏见以及先入为主的观念。这是这一时刻激发了我对英语的热情，把英语，甚至拓展到整个语言当做是一种生活。现在我成为了一名对外英语老师，我每天都在确保我的学生能够明白我们所学的并不是“正确”的英语，“正确”的英语应在它所对应的情况下使用。我告诉我的学生们他们的母语为我们的英语做出了多大的贡献，非标准的英语是多么的美丽。所以当我看到你的书出版了的消息我觉得我应该写信告诉你你的课对我的影响有多大，我觉得老师通常不知道他们他们对学生的影响可以多深远——老师你每天也给我的学生有着深远的影响！

Now it’s my turn to write to Carla, which Iam starting with this essay. I can even use some of the same phrases, expressthe same gratitude for her lesson to me. And ultimately, what is that lesson?Be more open and, yes, respond.

现在该轮到我给卡拉写信了，从这篇文章的开头我已然开始。我可以用她给我的信中同样的话来对她给我带来的影响表达我同样的谢意。那么，她让我明白了什么道理呢？对学生们的意见更加开放，以及，是的，对学生们意见的恰当回应。

原文转自：http://www.chroniclecareers.com/article/The-Value-of-Admitting-What-We/147983/#sthash.JEXlzreE.dpuf

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