1.New Concept English has been most popular among English learners in China. What is its special charm or "New Concept"? And how does JNCE inherit and develop its "special charms"/New Concept?

《新概念英语》以其独特魅力风行中国几十年。您认为《新概念英语》的独特魅力是什么？《新概念英语青少版》是如何继承和发扬它的特点的？

Ans: NCE characters are serene. The people in it are entirely themselves, ‘in the moment’, innocently getting on with all the little things that people do. People do and say the funniest things, without being aware of it. The characters in JNCE do the same.

《新概念英语》里的人物都经得起时间的考验，他们与世无争，跟所有的普通人一样面对各种日常琐事，不经意间做出了各种好笑的事情，或是说出了那些让人捧腹的话。《青少版》里的人物也是这样。
2. How does JNCE differ from NCE?《新概念英语青少版》和《新概念英语》的区别是什么？

Ans. More gradual structural progression – 3 levels = same structural syllabus as NCE1. Bigger vocab. NCE1 has about 700 words. JNCE has about 1000 words per level. Pronunciation and Listening exercises. Guided Conversation, that was only in the TB in NCE is now in the SB as well. Modern kids live in a media-rich world. NCE reflects that – both in the physical materials, and in the world inhabited by the characters.

《青少版》的语言大纲更加强调渐进性，青少版的3个级别相当于新概念1的语言大纲。
《青少版》的词汇量更大，《新概念英语1》的词汇大约是1000，而《青少版》每个级别的单词量为600左右。发音练习和听力练习以及指导对话只出现在《新概念英语》的教师用书中，但是《青少版》的学生用书将这些内容都包括在内。现在的孩子生活在一个充满信息和媒体的时代，《青少版》将这一时代特色体现得淋漓尽致，整套产品包括了各种媒体，便于学习，同时，在内容设计方面，书中人物生活的世界也充分显示了这个时代特点。

3.New concept English and Look, Listen and Learn has already been a great success among young learners in China, what makes you write JNCE? And what are its new features?

《新概念英语》和《看听学》已经在中国市场上取得了巨大的成功，有很多青少年也在学习，您为什么想要编写《新概念英语青少版》呢？

Ans. New features are that the SBs, audio and Workbooks make the students less dependent on the teacher: learners have access to material that was previously only in the hands of the teachers. There has not been a new edition of LLL. We wanted to write a course that would reflect the world that modern children live in – with mobile phones, the internet, DVD’s, fashion, international travel. It’s a world of much greater opportunity than the world reflected in LLL. JNCE is also specially written for China. It is set in the UK (though the story-line also takes us to the US in Level 3), but the setting is a window on the wider world.

《青少版》新的特点是学生用书、音像产品和练习册的设计能够减少学生对老师的依赖性。学生能够接触到以前只有教师掌握的资料。《看听学》没有新的版本，我们想写一套能反映现代孩子们生活的这个世界—手机，因特网，DVD，时尚，国际旅行。与《看听学》所展示的世界相比，他们生活的时代拥有更多的机会。此外，《青少版》是专为中国学习者写作的，全书以一个英国家庭和他们的故事为主线（当然第三级也把我们带到了美国），但这仅仅是为了更好地反映这个更加广阔的世界。

4.In the past years, many latest English coursebooks for young learner were introduced into China from foreign publishers. While bringing in new methodologies, many of them can not meet the learners' learning habit and China's cultural background. How does JNCE fit for the requirements of Chinese teenagers pychologically and culturally in learning English?

目前中国市场有很多原版引进的少儿英语教材，但它们普遍有个特点是与中国学习者的心理和文化习惯有差距。新概念青少版是否能适合中国学习者的心理和文化需求？

Ans. I think that many other course books do not suit the learning habits of Chinese students because they do not have complete mastery of the 2 syllabuses. L.G. Alexander’s New Concept was that language teaching and learning requires not one syllabus, but 2. There is the Language Content syllabus – which consists of Grammar and Vocabulary. The Language syllabus is the ‘operating system’: the system we use, to do the things that we do with language. And there is the Skills syllabus, which is made up of understanding, speaking, reading and writing. Furthermore, each of the 4 skills is not a separate skill. We never just listen, or just read. We listen and respond, listen and make notes, listen and interpret, listen and laugh … the skills flow in and out of each other. Language is about communication, and communication makes us interact with different expressions of language (spoken, written, etc.) and with one another. The 2 syllabuses come together in 4 key language acts: understand, answer, ask, say. Many modern materials neglect some or all of these aspects.

回答：我认为很多教科书之所以不能适应中国学生的学习习惯，是因为这些教材没有完全把握住L. G. 亚历山大说的两个大纲。他的《新概念英语》编写理念是：语言教学不能只有一个大纲，其实是需要两个大纲的。一个是语言内容大纲——主要是对语法和词汇的要求。语言大纲是“操作系统”：我们通过这个系统来运用语言完成任务。另一个是技能大纲，包括听、说、读和写四项技能。而且，四项技能互不可分。我们不可能只会听或者只会读。我们会听而后作出反应，听而后记笔记，听而后理解，听然后笑…… 这些技能互相交错。语言是用于交流的，交流让我们使用各种表达方式（如说、写，等等）互相沟通。这两个大纲贯穿于听、答、问、说这四种主要的语言行为中。许多现代教学材料都忽视了其中的某些部分。

Many native-speaker teachers underestimate the difficulty of learning the system. Think how complex, for example, the regular and irregular verb system of English is. (e.g. What did you say? I said… Oh, you didn’t say that, did you? / Oh, you said that didn’t you? When did you say that? I wouldn’t have said that, if I were you! Etc.) There’s a fashion for making things seem easier than they are. Many native speakers think that repetition drills are old-fashioned and boring, that there’s no need for any of that: you just listen to a dialogue, and then you ‘communicate’. This is facile nonsense. Learners must be able to operate the system. How can they communicate without it?

许多以英语为母语的老师低估了学习这个系统的困难。举例来说，你知道英语里的规则动词和不规则动词到底有多复杂吗？(e.g. What did you say? I said… Oh, you didn’t say that, did you? / Oh, you said that didn’t you? When did you say that? I wouldn’t have said that, if I were you! Etc.) 现在有一种普遍的做法是把困难的问题简化。这些外教认为句型重复这种练习形式落伍了，不能吸引学生的注意力，因此完全不需要这种练习存在：学生只需要听对话，然后“交流”就可以了。这绝对是胡闹。学习者必须能够操作这种系统，否则，他们怎么能实现交流呢？

It’s like turning on a computer that hasn’t been loaded with an operating system. You’d have to start by inventing your own o.s.! (And of course, this is what leaners do, when a course is inadequate: they invent their own solutions, and these solutions become embedded errors. This is how remedial students are created!) It’s no use learning to say, ‘I’d like a cup of coffee, please,’ if you cannot also say, ‘And my friend would like a cup of coffee, too.’ Learning to communicate requires learning all the basic stuff too. Chinese teachers and students know this. This is why they like and understand the Alexander course books: it’s because they really work! Nothing is left to chance. The books are designed to answer the questions that arise in learners’ minds as they progress. This way, we can prevent errors from arising in the first place.

这就像一部没有装运行系统的电脑，即使你打开它也无济于事。学生必须先建立自己的运行系统！（当然，当课程不能够满足需求时，学习者们往往都会创造自己的解决方案，而这些方案将成为根深蒂固的错误。这就是差学生产生的原因！）如果你只会说“我想要杯咖啡”，却不会说“我的朋友也想要杯咖啡”，那你的学习就没有什么意义。学习交流需要打好全面的基础。中国的老师和学生都清楚这一点。这也是他们为什么会喜欢并理解亚历山大编写的书：因为这些书真的很有效！这些书不是随便写出来的，是经过作者精心设计的，专门用于解决学习者在不断进步的过程中遇到的各种问题。这样，就可以从根本上避免产生错误的解决方案。

5.2008 is the 5th year of NCE Reciting Competition. How do you comment this competition? Have you witnessed any changes or improvements of English learners, in what aspects?

新概念英语大赛已经举办5年了，您对于这种比赛形式有何评价？您觉得这些学习者有没有变化或者进步？表现在哪些方面？

Ans. Every year, the contestants are more and more fluent, more and more confident; their pronunciation has improved enormously. You see the biggest difference when the students respond to questions from the judges that they have not prepared: 5 years ago, fewer students had really good listening comprehension. Some of them seemed fluent in the prepared sections, but they didn’t always perform so well in the unstructured interview, with different speakers, with different voices and accents. These days, kids have had much more practice, and they do very well. Each generation builds on the achievements of the previous one. I think modern language learning in China began in 1981. If you count 7 years for every school generation since then, we are now in the 4th generation. The children today are standing on the achievements of the people who have taught them, and the level rises every year.

选手们的英文一年比一年流利，他们也一年比一年自信。他们的发音有了明显的提高。从每年选手们回答评委随机提问的表现就可以看出他们的进步。五年前，能够真正听懂问题的学生还是比较少的。他们在提前能够做准备的比赛部分说得都很流利，但是在随机交流的环节表现得却有失水准。面对不同的讲话人，不同的声音和口音，他们会感到迷惑，不能够很清楚地理解问题。如今，孩子们有了更多的练习，他们表现得都很好。每一代人都会在上一代人的成就上更进一步。我认为中国的现代语言学习始于1981年。自那以后，按7年为一代学生来算，现在已经是第四代学生了。现在的孩子们站在老师那一代人的肩头，水平年年都有提高。

6.You have been in China many times in teacher training. How do you comment them in teaching English and what is your expectation for the future?


您曾经多次来到中国进行教师培训活动，您对于中国的英语教师的教学有何评价和期望？

Ans. There are teachers at all levels of experience and ability in China. English teaching has expanded so fast in recent years, that it is hard for the supply of proficient teachers to meet the rising demand. There are always new people coming into the profession without much training, alongside those who have been teaching for years. This has always been so, throughout my working life. When I began teaching, I had a hard time with old-fashioned materials; then I came across New Concept English. That was how I learned my job. Before that, I just taught in the way I had been taught French and Latin at school – reading and writing, and learning lists of words. NCE changed my life – in more ways than one! The NCE Teacher’s Book trained me. I believe that many Chinese teachers have had the same experience that I did: NCE freed them to become as good at teaching as they could be. I hope and believe that Junior NCE will carry this tradition forward into the future with a new generation of teachers and learners.


中国国内有的老师水平参差不齐，能力高低有别。近年来，英语教学飞速发展，合格的老师供不应求，不断地有没有经过专业培训的人加入教师队伍，与那些有多年经验的老师一起教学。在我工作的这些年里，情况一直如此。我刚刚开始从事教学工作的时候，很难找到传统模式的教学材料。后来我看到了《新概念英语》以后才学会了该如何教学。之前，我一直用上学时老师教我学法语和拉丁语的方式来教授英语——阅读和写作，背诵大量单词。《新概念英语》改变了我的生活——在很多方面都是如此！《新概念英语》的教师用书给我以系统的培训，我相信很多中国老师都和我有同样的经历：这本书让他们摆脱了束缚，发挥自己全部的能力去教课。我希望，我也坚定地相信，《青少版》将来也能够将这个传统发扬光大，让新一代的老师和学习者们受益。


7.How many languages can you speak yourself? Do you think it is difficult in learning a foreign language? Please give some suggestions to English learners and teachers in China. Thanks.


您自己会多少种语言？您觉得学外语困难吗？对于中国孩子学英语您有什么建议？


Ans. It depends what you mean by ‘speak’. I have a greater or lesser competence in 6 languages, but it’s hard to keep them all going at the same level all the time. I have to ‘tune in’ again when I go back to a country where each language is spoken. I have forgotten almost all the German I ever learned, because I never used it. My French is entirely fluent, because I use it a good deal, and my Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Greek come and go, depending on which has been used most recently.


回答：这取决于“讲”的含义。我或多或少地掌握了6种语言，但我对这6种语言的掌握很难同时保持一个水平，如果我回到说其中某种语言的国家，也得慢慢适应才能交流。学过的德语我已经忘得差不多了，因为我从来没用过德语。我可以讲一口流利的法语，因为我经常用到它，我的西班牙语、葡萄牙语、意大利语和希腊语时好时坏，这要取决于近来我是否会使用它们。


The key to learning a language is listening. Listening and understanding language in context leads all the other skills. That is how we learn our first language – not be learning word-lists, and not by translation. (Translation is an advanced-level language skill – the product of successful learning. As a learning tool, translation is very destructive: it blocks the brain’s natural learning pathways.) When we learn a second language by listening and responding, we activate the same parts of the brain as those we used when we learned our mother-tongue. The human brain is set up by nature to learn language. We can all do it. That possibility remains with us throughout life. My Mum is 85, and she’s learning Swedish and enjoying it. Of course, it’s important that learning should be fun – and when I say ‘fun’, I don’t mean full of jokes and tricks. I mean ‘fun’ because it is rewarding, intellectually, imaginatively, creatively. Learning another language gives us another dimension of ourselves and opens up our wider potential. That is why it is fun.

学语言的关键在于听。在语境中培养听力理解能力是其他技能之首。我们就是这样学习母语的——不是靠学习单词表，不是靠翻译。（翻译是一种高级语言技能——是成功语言学习的成果。但翻译作为一种学习工具，则是很具有破坏性的：翻译会阻止大脑的自然学习路径。）我们通过听和回应来学习第二语言，就像学习我们的母语一样启动大脑同一个部位。人类大脑天生是用来学习语言的。我们每个人都可以学会。 我们一生任何阶段都可能学会外语。我母亲85岁了，她还在学瑞典语，而且学得很起劲。当然学习语言首先应该是有趣的——我这里指的“有趣”不是说“像笑话一样的可笑和滑稽”，而是指“因为学习语言能让人在学识上、想象力上、创造力上受益匪浅。学习另一门语言可以让我们看到自己的另一面，为自己开发一个更加广阔的空间。这是我所指的语言学习的“有趣之处”。