2022年11月02日VOA慢速英語：美國小鎮(zhèn)為移民子女教授英語

 

A community in the southern state of Alabama is experimenting to find a better way to teach students who are learning English as their second language. To reach its goal, the school district is hiring more local, Spanish-speaking workers.
南部阿拉巴馬州的一個社區(qū)正在嘗試尋找一種更好的方法來教授將英語作為第二語言的學(xué)生。為實現(xiàn)其目標，學(xué)區(qū)正在招聘更多當(dāng)?shù)氐恼f西班牙語的工人。
 
More than half of the 2,500 students in Russellville City School district are Hispanic. About 25 percent of them are learning English.
拉塞爾維爾市學(xué)區(qū)的 2,500 名學(xué)生中有一半以上是西班牙裔。其中大約 25% 的人正在學(xué)習(xí)英語。
 
The district is using federal aid money aimed at helping communities hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.
該學(xué)區(qū)正在使用旨在幫助受 COVID-19 大流行傷害的社區(qū)的聯(lián)邦援助資金。
 
Kathy Alfaro is one of the teachers. She was a Spanish teacher, but took a new job teaching children the English language. Students learning English are called EL students.
Kathy Alfaro 是其中一位老師。她是一名西班牙語老師，但換了一份教孩子英語的新工作。學(xué)習(xí)英語的學(xué)生稱為 EL 學(xué)生。
 
Russellville at times has struggled to find the workers and money needed to help EL students. It usually takes five years of intensive study to help a student learn English and perform well in a regular classroom. Russellville hopes to help its students and be a model for the rest of the country.
Russellville 有時很難找到幫助 EL 學(xué)生所需的工人和資金。通常需要五年的強化學(xué)習(xí)才能幫助學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)英語并在常規(guī)課堂上表現(xiàn)出色。拉塞爾維爾希望幫助其學(xué)生并成為該國其他地區(qū)的榜樣。
 
 
"We were trying to teach an increasing number of EL students with predominantly white teachers that speak English," said Superintendent Heath Grimes. "And I'm like, ‘Why are we not using resources that we have in our community?'"
“我們試圖教越來越多的 EL 學(xué)生，其中主要是講英語的白人教師，”主管Heath Grimes 說。“我想，'為什么我們不使用我們社區(qū)中擁有的資源？'”
 
As a group, English learners performed lower on language proficiency tests during the pandemic. Experts said that may be because many students did not have good online classes. Schools may have struggled to teach English by video link.
作為一個群體，在大流行期間，英語學(xué)習(xí)者在語言能力測試中的表現(xiàn)較低。專家表示，這可能是因為很多學(xué)生沒有上好網(wǎng)課。學(xué)校可能很難通過視頻鏈接教授英語。
 
But test scores at Russellville schools have improved. Across the district, the percentage of students who met language requirements increased from 46 percent in 2019 to 61 percent in 2022. At the two elementary schools, proficiency increased by nearly 30 percentage points.
但拉塞爾維爾學(xué)校的考試成績有所提高。在整個學(xué)區(qū)，達到語言要求的學(xué)生比例從 2019 年的 46% 增加到 2022 年的 61%。在兩所小學(xué)，語言能力提高了近 30 個百分點。
 
Grimes said the increase was likely because of new EL teachers and aides.
Grimes 說，增加可能是因為新的 EL 教師和助手。
 
The non-profit group Education Trust found that some of the nation's largest districts used pandemic aid money to give jobs to bilingual employees. Bilingual describes a person who can speak two languages.
非營利組織教育信托基金發(fā)現(xiàn)，美國一些最大的地區(qū)使用大流行援助資金為雙語員工提供工作。雙語描述了一個會說兩種語言的人。
 
Federal aid is ending
聯(lián)邦援助即將結(jié)束
 
However, federal aid money is starting to be used up and schools are preparing for budget cuts. Some experts warn against reducing support for EL programs.
然而，聯(lián)邦援助資金開始用完，學(xué)校正在為削減預(yù)算做準備。一些專家警告不要減少對 EL 項目的支持。
 
Carlos Alemán is the director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama. He said that as federal money is no longer available, the state should "review what it can do to make sure that these programs can remain in place."
Carlos Alemán 是阿拉巴馬州西班牙裔利益聯(lián)盟的主任。他說，由于聯(lián)邦資金不再可用，該州應(yīng)該“審查它可以做些什么，以確保這些計劃能夠繼續(xù)實施。”
 
Russellville school officials are working on ways to keep the new positions. They are also hoping the state will increase long-term funding for EL education.
拉塞爾維爾學(xué)校官員正在研究如何保留新職位。他們還希望該州增加對 EL 教育的長期資助。
State support for English language programs is limited, but growing. The state legislature approved $2.9 million for schools with large numbers of students learning English as a second language in 2018. That amount grew to $16 million last year. Leaders at the Alabama State Department of Education are asking for more money in this year's budget for EL specialists.
國家對英語語言課程的支持有限，但正在增長。州立法機構(gòu)在 2018 年批準了 290 萬美元用于有大量學(xué)生將英語作為第二語言學(xué)習(xí)的學(xué)校。這一數(shù)額在去年增長到 1600 萬美元。阿拉巴馬州教育部的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人要求在今年的 EL 專家預(yù)算中增加資金。
 
Supporters say money for EL students often falls short, especially in rural districts.
支持者說，EL 學(xué)生的錢經(jīng)常短缺，尤其是在農(nóng)村地區(qū)。
 
"It takes a lot more money to educate a child that does not speak your language," said state Representative Jamie Kiel, a Russellville lawmaker of the Republican Party. He has called for spending more money on EL students in the state budget.
“教育一個不會說你的語言的孩子需要更多的錢，”共和黨拉塞爾維爾議員、州眾議員杰米·基爾(Jamie Kiel)說。他呼吁在州預(yù)算中為 EL 學(xué)生花更多的錢。
 
At West Elementary in Russellville, Elizabeth Alonzo is in her second year as an EL assistant. She said there were few bilingual teachers in her school when she was growing up.
在拉塞爾維爾的 West Elementary，伊麗莎白·阿朗佐 (Elizabeth Alonzo) 正在擔(dān)任 EL 助理的第二年。她說她小時候?qū)W校里很少有雙語老師。
 
"Whenever I started kindergarten, I didn't know a word of English, so I struggled a lot," Alonzo said. "That was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this, because I want to help those students."
“每當(dāng)我開始上幼兒園時，我一個英語單詞都不會，所以我很掙扎，”阿朗佐說。“這就是我想這樣做的原因之一，因為我想幫助那些學(xué)生。”