最佳进步奖 Most Improved Award

这是伍德森老师对他为什么选择彼得赢得该奖项的解释：

彼得总是准时上课，为每周的课做准备，并在整整50分钟内热切地参与。尽管他只有7岁，但他在词汇和拼写方面取得了不断的进步，现在在上二年级拼写书籍的第29页上。彼得经常听他拼写课的录音，并在自己的录音中对语音进行建模，录音流畅,准确。他可以使用英语命名分数，并且知道分子和分母。他还可以使用“大于，小于”术语来陈述不平等，并且知道如何使用术语“等于＆相等”。他可以和我谈谈他上课前一天在做什么，有时还可以向我展示他的玩具之一或他制作的东西。
教导这样一个聪明而积极进取的学生是一件很高兴的事情。

Thanksgiving, a holiday about gratitude and rejoicing, has long been celebrated by most Americans on the fourth Thursday of November for more than a century and a half. However, Thanksgiving was in fact not celebrated on the same day throughout the whole nation before Lincoln delivered this proclamation. Lincoln, through using a plethora of rhetorical techniques, builds his authority on his argument that the celebration of Thanksgiving should occur on the same day on every inch of American soil to unite the fragmented nation.

Throughout the whole proclamation, Lincoln expressively alludes to God to bring all the audience, no matter from North or South, under the same cause: religion. In a culture heavily influenced by Christianity, most, if not all, believed in God, and this makes Lincoln’s biblical allusions exceptionally efficacious. Not only does the constant mention of God strengthen the connection between the audience and Lincoln, but it also further establishes a more positive bond between the opponents during such chaotic wartime. These enemies, for once, shared the same belief and work toward God’s way of life. The effects of Lincoln’s clever allusion to the “beneficent Father” do not stop there, however. After uniting the readers, Lincoln continues to describe the fatherly love God has for all people. Just as he stated, despite the war raging over the frontiers, the nation has continued to enlarge its land through conquest, to become wealthier through the abundance of precious metal, and to increase in prosperity, but “no human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.” This brings a sense of guilt onto the audience as they participate in the destruction of the nation, ignoring God’s unconditional love and efforts in bringing peace to the nation. 

To further his argument advocating for the celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday on one day nationwide, Lincoln carefully utilizes specific diction to reinforce his point. First of all, he starts his speech by illustrating the ending days of the year with “fruitful fields” and “healthful sky.” By starting this way, he directs his audience toward a positive and cheerful mood. As people are more willing to comply with demands when in a delightful mood, Lincoln ingeniously asserts his argument through uplifting tone and diction. Moreover, this pleasant description of the ending days of the year creates a strong juxtaposition with a time of disorder, of war. As the nation stands amidst an atmosphere of fear and division, a moment of harmony or tranquility becomes increasingly desired by all. He then states that the nation’s prosperity should be “solemnly, reverently, and gratefully” acknowledge as a single, unified voice of all American people. The three words “solemnly,” “reverently,” and “ gratefully” create a strong sense of gratitude and respect, which are the essence of the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Last of all, Lincoln directly calls for a change. He invites all American people in every state, in foreign lands, and at sea to adopt the fourth Thursday of November as the day of Thanksgiving, for it is “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” Going beyond just “inviting” every single American citizen to embrace that date as the official Thanksgiving, Lincoln not only expresses the country’s penitence for its “perverseness and disobedience” to God but also an appreciation for His “tender care” for all of those whom the war impacted: the widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers. By relating these victims of society, Lincoln tugs at his audiences’ heartstrings and exhorts them to put effort into healing these people along with the nation. In his concluding sentence, he earnestly begs for divine interposition to restore the nation and heal the wounds the war had caused. Finally, he connects back to the idea of unity and harmony in which he states that the nation should soon be consistent with the “Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and Union.” 

In a time when the United States is fractured and turbulent, Lincoln seeks a way to reunify all the Americans: standardizing the date of Thanksgiving. Through the use of biblical allusions, eloquent diction, and direct call to action, he effectively delivers his argument about the importance of sharing gratitude in the same moment and fostering harmony among all. 

*****

Keep in mind, not only is Ian’s thinking and writing in this piecew at a highly developed level, this is a young man who has spent his entire life living in Chinese-language environments:  Mainland China or Taiwan. 

Granted, Ian has attended bilingual or English-language schools all along. Still, the fact that he has lived his whole life till now in East Asia yet can write English on such a high level I find remarkable. 

You can read the blog containing Lincoln’s Proclamation and the “literary analysis” essays by Ian and two of his outstanding classmates here.  

Sarah has been a faithful student in her DreyerCoaching classes for the past 2 academic years. She began with the grade 1 Spelling & Reading books, and is now in the challenging stories and articles of Reading book 2 and quite close to completing Spelling book 2. She is always punctual, participates well, and consistently sends back her reading practice on WeChat. Sarah also tells me about what she’s doing in school and talks about family activities and outings. In our class today, she taught me the Chinese word for “wasp or hornet”, which is different from the word for “honeybee”. I’m encouraged by how much Sarah has improved in her pronunciation and in her retention of the meanings of vocabulary words we’ve studied and practiced. 

*****