Opening a School in China
在中国办学校
By David Cotter
大卫•考特尔
David Cotter grew up in Northern Ireland and Canada. He studied for his bachelor degree at the University of Calgary and went on to study for a master degree and a PHD in Trinity College, University of Dublin. He spent the next few years teaching in
a variety of schools in Ireland and later giving lectures in Tsinghua University. He has also published a book on Irish writer, James Joyce. About three years ago David came to Beijing to set up a school. In the following article he describes this experience.
大卫•考特尔在北爱尔兰和加拿大长大。他在卡尔加里大学取得学士学位以后，前往都柏林大学圣三一学院求学，先后获得了硕士和博士学位。此后几年，他先后在爱尔兰的许多学校从事教学工作，随后又前往清华大学举办讲座。他还出版过一本关于爱尔兰作家詹姆斯•乔伊斯的著作。大约在三年前，大卫来到北京，成立了一所学校。在下面这篇文章中，他讲述了自己的这一经历。
I have been in Beijing for almost three years. During this time, I have worked together with a very trusted and talented Chinese partner on establishing and managing Ai-Hua English. We have overcome many difficulties, and I am so proud of the product of our labour.
我来北京已经差不多三年了。在这段时间里，我和一位非常值得信赖的、能干的中国伙伴建立起爱华英语学校，并一起从事着管理工作。我们克服了重重困难，对于我们的劳动成果，我感到了无比自豪。
After arriving in China with this project in mind, we spent six months ascertaining the best way to set ourselves up legally. This was a time of long meetings at long elliptical tables, at which I could understand nothing of what was being said, followed by strange dinners with gallons of baijiu, at which I still understood nothing of what was being said, but nonetheless had opportunity to laugh and roar. I often felt very helpless at this time.
我们是怀着从事这个项目的想法来到中国的，之后，我们花了六个月的时间来确定如何才能最好地使我们的事业规范地建立起来。这段时间里，我们总是聚在椭圆型长桌旁开着冗长的会议，开完会后就是吃着备感生疏的饭菜不停地喝白酒，在长桌旁别人都说了什么我也是一点也听不懂，吃喝时别人都说了什么我也是一点也听不懂，不过，即使是这样，有时还是会开怀大笑一番的。这段时间，我经常会产生无助感。
Eventually we succeeded in attaining a license from the ShiJingShan Department of Education, and opened our school in 5 office rooms in ZhongChuDaSha, right beside Bajiao subway stop. A little later, there was a great hullabaloo over a separate license to hire foreign teachers, but we had impressed and befriended some of the local government leaders by this time, so that after a series of negotiations, we were issued this license.
最后，我们还是顺利地获得了石景山教育局颁发的执照，在地铁八角站旁中础大厦的五间办公室里开办了我们的学校。之后不久，又开始为办理招聘外籍教师的专项执照问题而忙得不可开交，但此时，我们已经给当地的一些政府官员留下了深刻的印象并成为了朋友，所以在进行了一系列沟通之后，我们获得了这个执照。
SARS was a great blow to us. We had just gotten up and running when we were told that we had to cancel all classes and all of our teachers packed their bags. I have to say, though, that despite my worries about the survival of Ai Hua I enjoyed the SARS period very much. I was alone in Beijing at this time, and I had nothing but time on my hands. This gave me an opportunity to get to know the city more intimately.
“非典”对我们是一个巨大的打击。当我们被告知要取消所有课程，而我们的所有老师也都在打点行囊之际，我们才刚刚开始运作。即使