网络运营部的同事约我写一篇关于BOB历史的短文，给学员、家长和新来的同事作个介绍。莫言先生讲过，不要相信作家的传记，更不要相信作家的自传，所有作家的秘密都在他的作品创作里面。同样我想说的是，不要相信培训学校的传记，更不要相信培训学校校长的自传（如果有的话），所有培训学校的秘密都在老师与学生互动的课堂里面。

　　回顾BOB将近12年走过的路，留在我脑海里的不是各种各样的头衔和荣誉，而是在无数个课堂里老师引领学员主动地学习，激动地追赶，生动地进步的场面。有一次陪兄弟学校的老师观摩BOB的课堂，来访的老师被对话教学的热烈气氛所感染，情不自禁地跟学员一起抢答问题，英语作为语言的训练完全融合到脑力风暴的互动中。2006年鹤山BOB选送了一个由小学六年级学员组成的英语话剧参加江门市小学英语口语大赛，小演员们标准流畅的英语，角色的充分揣摩和准确表达，把一出浓缩版的《灰姑娘》演绎得惟妙惟肖催人泪下。六年级的女孩子们都已“邻家有女初长成”，评委席上竟有老师错把她们当成BOB的老师，惊叹BOB到哪找来这么年轻的老师。专注于英语培训，帮助学员提高学业成绩，同时又不极限于英语，为学员提供提高素质的平台（English only and not only English.）；殚精竭虑地为学员铺就一条英语成长、成才、成功之路，从尊重学员“本我”的自然出发，激发学员“自我”优秀的一面觉醒去努力实现“超我”的优化（Best Of Best）。这是BOB办学的基本理念。

　　回顾BOB将近12年走过的路，教职员工的专业化和职业化是我们孜孜不倦追求的目标。课堂是教师挥洒才华和实现梦想的地方，是成长名师的地方，是走出高徒的地方。三尺讲台堪比外科医生的手术台和律师的辩护台，台上一分钟，台下几年功。培训，培训，再培训保证了我们的同事能为师，为能师，入职后先有了安全感、进而有了收获感、最终获得幸福感。学科知识全面掌握、教学水平逐步提高、教育能力日益成熟和教研习惯逐渐形成，是我们教师专业化和职业化发展的路径。沿着这个路径，我们倡导并共同营造一种同事之间真诚相待，本职工作全心投入，与学员做知心朋友的文化，快乐工作，幸福生活。用诚（Bona-fides），用心（Omni-bearing），用爱 （Bosom-friend），这是BOB师资建设的基本理念。

　　回顾BOB将近12年走过的路，我们同样面临着“我是谁？我从哪里来？我要到哪里去？”的问题。香港大学教育学院的Mark Bray教授把私人的课外辅导统称为“影子教育”（Shadow Education），认为私人课外辅导因主流教育的存在而存在，规模与形式随主流教育的变化而变化，社会关注主流教育远多于它的影子，影子教育的特点没有主流教育明显；然而，就如日规的影子能够告诉观察者时间的流逝一样，影子教育能告诉观察者社会发生的变化。我更愿意把课外辅导以及其它各种形式的课外教育称为“精灵教育”（Ghost Education）。精灵教育包含了影子教育的含义，同时还具有以下两层意思：其一，从英文的“Ghost Education”来看，正如代笔作家（Ghost Writer）只干活不出名一样，精灵教育也只能是默默无闻地充当主流教育的幕后英雄；其二，从汉语的“精灵教育”来看，“精灵”就是灵活多变，利于创新。我们正是本着这两种精神，坚守课外英语教育阵地，坚持差异化，创新多种多样的课堂模式。甘为中国教育的改革扮演一个从幕后（Behind the scene）到台前（On the stage），从台上到台下（Beyond the mainstream）的跑龙套角色。这是BOB创新的基本理念。

　　正是基于上述的三个基本理念，如今的BOB已发展成为一个全方位提供学前英语教育、中小学生课外英语培训，成人业余英语培训，出国英语培训，以及商务英语大专、本科学历教育的英语学校。网络运营部的同事正在加班加点，把BOB各种形式的课堂呈现给每一位学员、家长和同事。

2012年12月30日

英文版：

Message from the Principal

Colleagues from the Network Operation Department invited me to write an essay introducing the history of BOB to the students, parents and new colleagues. Mr. Mo Yan (the 2012 Nobel Prize laureate in literature) once said, 'Don't believe the biography of the writer nor the autobiography by the writer. All the secrets of a writer hide in the production process of his works'. Similarly, I also want to say 'Don't believe the biography of a training school nor the autobiography (if any) by its principal. All the secrets of a training school hide in the classroom where the teachers interact with the students'.

Looking back on the nearly 12 years of BOB, I would rather recall scenes on which the teachers guided the students to learn initiatively, to compete excitedly and to advance evidently than reminisce about the various titles and honors we have received. I remember that once I accompanied some teachers from another training school to watch the classroom instruction of BOB, and the visitors were so carried away in the class discussion that some of them couldn't help racing with the students to answer the questions, which proved that the learning of English as an acquired language was actualized through the interactions of brainstorming. In 2006, Heshan BOB selected and sent an English Drama 'Cinderella' played by the students of Grade Six to participate in the Oral English Competition for Primary Schools of Jiangmen City. The vivid performance and accurate expression drew tears from the judges, some of whom even mistook the girls of Grade Six for young teachers of BOB. We focus on English training, helping the students improve not only their academic record but also their personal quality (English only and not only English); we go to great lengths to pave the way for the students to lay a solid foundation in English when they are in their primary school, to reach the English level of a university student before they go to the university and to become excellent in English when they are in the university at home and abroad. Starting from respecting the “id” of the students, we stir up the best aspect of their “ego” to achieve the optimization (Best of Best) of their “superego”. This is the fundamental philosophy of BOB's education.

Looking back on the nearly 12 years of BOB, I know that the professionalization of the faculty and staff has always been the objective we pursue tirelessly. Classroom is a place where the teachers give play to their talent and realize their dreams, and where both top teachers and top students grow. The platform of a teacher is just like the operating table of a surgeon or the defense seat of a lawyer, a minute on the stage taking ten years' practice. Training and retraining ensure that our colleagues can first become a teacher and then a good teacher, and obtain the sense of security, the sense of harvest and the sense of happiness successively. The path of the professionalization of our teachers is to have a full command of the subject knowledge, to gradually improve teaching skills, to increasingly develop educating abilities, and to get into a habit of teaching and doing research. Along this path, we advocate to create a culture of treating colleagues sincerely, being devoted to work and making friends with the students, working happily and striving for a happier life. Bona-fides, Omni-bearing and Bosom-friend constitute the fundamental philosophy of teachers' construction of BOB.

Looking back on the nearly 12 years of BOB, we also have to answer such questions as 'Who am I? Where am I from? and where am I going?' Professor Mark Bray of the Faculty of Education of Hong Kong University refers to private supplementary tutoring as Shadow Education, believing that the private supplementary tutoring only exists because the mainstream education system exists, that as the shape and size of the mainstream system change, so do the shape and size of supplementary tutoring, that in almost all societies much more public attention focuses on the mainstream than on its shadow, and that the features of the shadow are much less distinct than those of the mainstream system. However, just as the shadow cast by a sun-dial can tell the observer about the passage of time, so the shadow of an education system can tell the observer about changes in societies. For my part, I prefer to name the private supplementary tutoring and the similar extracurricular education modes as Ghost Education (“精灵教育” in Chinese), which includes the meaning of shadow education and the following two more aspects: on the one hand, just like a Ghost Writer who works and never becomes famous for what he writes, Ghost education is a unsung hero behind the scene while mainstream is on the stage; on the other hand, in Chinese, “精灵” means flexible and variable and therefore conducive to innovation. Holding the two spirits, we persist in extracurricular English education, create various classroom modes based on the differences of the students and enjoy playing a walk-on in the education reform of China, behind the scene, on the stage and beyond the mainstream. This is the fundamental philosophy of BOB's innovation.

Based on the three fundamental philosophies, BOB has currently developed into a comprehensive English training school providing preschool English education, after-class English training for students of primary and middle schools, English training for adult amateurs, English training for those going abroad as well as curricula education of business English of junior college and undergraduate courses. My colleagues of the Network Operation Department have been busy working to present various classes of BOB to the students, parents and colleagues.