Dear friends,

亲爱的朋友们，

Rereading my New Year’s message of last year, I must confess that I clearly am a poor prophet: the light that I so hopefully saw at the end of the tunnel still has to gain in strength.

重新读了一下我去年的新年致辞，我必须承认，我是一个不合格的预言家：我迫切地希望看到疫情尽头的光明，而现在看来，这束光仍须增强。

All the same, I can confidently repeat that 2021 again has given us many acts of kindness and self-sacrifice by people across the world; caring for each other remained a valued currency.

尽管如此，我仍然可以自信地重申，在2021年，我们还是可以在世界各地看到许多善良和英勇的行动；互相关爱仍然是一种宝贵的财富。

Many in our community rose to the challenges of the pandemic, adapted practices to provide training and education opportunities for adults and children alike, both in-person and remotely, and helped to address the impact on our children, of a childhood turned on its head with school interruptions and social distancing. Our response has to be modelled on the words of Maria Montessori when she said, ‘The question of education is fundamental, because it is an exigency common to all human beings on earth’.*  Every child must have the opportunity of a quality education; an education that enables the development of the whole human being; which is not merely focussed on academic achievement. We are committed to providing an education that is directed to enabling children to grow to their full potential and become active global citizens, going beyond one designed to develop competent functional skills.

我们社群中的许多人都积极应对了疫情所带来的挑战，大家调整了方式方法，通过线下和线上，继续为成人和儿童提供培训和教育机会，并帮助儿童减少因学校停课和需保持社交距离进而对他们产生的影响。我们必须以玛丽亚·蒙台梭利（Maria Montessori）的箴言为蓝本来作出反应，她曾说过：“教育问题是根本，因为它是地球上所有人类共同的迫切需要。”每个孩子都必须有机会接受优质教育；这是一种促进全人类发展的教育；这种教育不仅仅是关注学术上的成就。我们致力于提供一种可以使儿童能够充分发挥他们的潜力，并且成为积极的全球公民的教育，而不仅仅是为了培养他们合格的实用技能。

The past year we have also seen the consequences of our behaviours on this planet, of climate change, of vast economic disparities acerbated by Covid, of political unrest and vulnerable situations. The nature of the challenges facing parents, schools, educationalists in today’s world, I believe, reinforce the importance of the Montessori pedagogy. Our response to these challenges must be to further strengthen the study and dissemination of her pedagogy, to expand its reach and make the Montessori teaching profession even more attractive; we need to demonstrate the urgency of adopting an educational approach that will make a positive difference to the lives of children.

在过去的一年里，我们还看到了我们的行为给地球带来的后果，气候的变化、新冠疫情加剧所致的巨大经济差距、政治动荡和脆弱的局势。我相信，当今全球的家长、学校、教育者们所面临的挑战的本质，更加凸显出蒙台梭利教育学的重要性。应对这些挑战，我们必须进一步加强蒙台梭利教育学的研究和传播，扩大其影响范围，使蒙台梭利教学更具吸引力；我们也需要证明采取一种将对儿童生活产生积极影响的教育方法的紧迫性。

Maria Montessori’s call for a just, equitable and peaceful world must be echoed by every Montessorian, a call we cannot be shy to articulate as we work our way towards that time, as Renilde Montessori put it, ‘when wars will cease and humanity will no longer inflict horrible hurts upon itself and its habitat’.

玛丽亚·蒙台梭利呼吁建立一个公正、公平与和平的世界，这一呼吁必须得到每一位蒙台梭利人的响应。在我们努力迈向那个时代的时候，我们不能羞于表达这一呼吁。正如雷尼尔德·蒙台梭利 （Renilde Montessori） 提到，“当战争将停止时，人类将不再对自身及其环境造成可怕的伤害”。

Our message is one of hope for the future. It is supported by practical actions that will lay firm foundations to continue our mission of connecting Montessori to the world. These include the Montessori Architecture website providing a key to supporting children’s learning environments, the innovative and transformational outreach initiatives taking place around the world, and a new Course Administration System which will enhance the way we support and engage with Training Centres as well as those who have completed training.

我们想要传达的是对未来的希望。这得到了实际行动的支持，这些行动将继续为我们蒙台梭利教育与世界联系起来的使命奠定坚实的基础。其中包括蒙台梭利建筑网站，该网站为支持儿童的学习环境提供了一把钥匙；以及在世界各地开展的创新和变革性的拓展活动；还有一个新的课程管理系统，该系统将加强我们对培训中心以及往届学员的支持及联系。

My time as President of AMI will come to an end in 2022; my years on the AMI Board have shown me what the community’s dedication and commitment can achieve, and I can with great sincerity say how proud I am to be part of this global family.

我的AMI主席任期将在2022年结束；我在AMI董事会的这些年，我看到了社区的奉献和承诺能够实现什么，我可以非常真诚地说，我为自己是AMI大家庭的一员而感到自豪。

Wishing you, your families and close ones a healthy, happy and hope-filled 2022.

祝您和您的亲朋好友在2022年健康、快乐、充满希望。

Philip D. O’Brien

President

Association Montessori Internationale