英语单词大师：Creating an Online Community

 AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: On the eve of Tuesday's presidential primary in New Hampshire, we were on the phone to a teacher at a nearby school in Massachusetts, to discuss something other than the election.

RS: We were talking with Susan Schwartz about teaching teachers. She teaches English as a Second Language, but her work extends far beyond her own classroom. She was a Peace Corps¹ volunteer in Sierra Leone, taught English in China and Indonesia, and went to India last summer for a Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad program.

AA: Not only that, for ten years she published an annual, peer-reviewed online journal called Nexus²: A Journal for Teachers in Development. But now, Susan Schwartz is developing Nexus into what she hopes will be a continually updated Web site that will offer information about issues related to the training of teachers of English to speakers of other languages. And she is looking for material.

SUSAN SCHWARTZ: "The e-mail address is n-e-x-u-s-j-o-u-r-n-a-l, [email protected], and feel free to e-mail me and send in articles about teacher training, things that you have done that are practice oriented or research based or theoretically oriented. I would love to have articles from people all over the world. And I would love to have ideas about what people would like to see the Web site become."[email protected].

RS: "Well, what are you looking for?"SUSAN SCHWARTZ: "Just basically to create a place where people who are interested in teacher training can offer ideas and suggestions, resources for other people who are interested in the same topics, the same issues."AA: "Let's talk a little bit about current trends in teacher training, for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. From all your correspondence with your friends around the world, what sense do you get of the top issues that they are interested in?"SUSAN SCHWARTZ: "Maybe the one that comes first to my mind is having to do with distance learning. Nowadays people have the opportunity to take courses, university courses or just standalone courses, either completely or partially³ online. And I've seen a lot of programs for teacher training and in ESL in general that do have some kind of distance learning or virtual learning component⁴.

"I think another trend is using the Internet or using the Web in general for teacher training purposes. I think a lot of courses use sites like Blackboard and Nicenet, online bulletin boards, to communicate with learners.

"I think another trend is to use authentic⁵ materials to teach skills rather than textbooks that are specifically designed for teaching discrete⁶ skills. For example, I think it's much more common now to use novels to teach reading skills, and I think there's been more training of teachers for how to use authentic literature. Also maybe tied into that is a trend that has focused on the teaching of vocabulary and how to teach vocabulary effectively."AA: "You're talking about [emphasizing vocabulary] versus⁷ teaching emphasizing grammar over vocabulary."SUSAN SCHWARTZ: "Yes."RS: "What about teaching across the curriculum, not just learning the vocabulary words but learning them through their history class or in a geography lesson?"SUSAN SCHWARTZ: "Yes, I think for teaching English, definitely, teaching English through the content of another course, such as teaching English by teaching chemistry or as you say by teaching geography has definitely become a lot more common. Especially I think in the U.S. in public schools, where I work now, that's much more the case than to teach ESL in a separate, isolated⁸ instance."AA: Susan Schwartz, speaking to us from her classroom in Methuen (meh-THOO-en), Massachusetts. Again, her e-mail address isRS: The easiest way to find her Web site and the free archives of Nexus is to do a search for "Nexus: A Journal for Teachers in Development." We'll also put a link at our site, voanews.com/wordmaster.

AA: And that's all for this week. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

1 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 nexus   

n.联系；关系

参考例句：

• Shared ambition is the vital nexus between them.共同的志向是把他们联结在一起的重要纽带。
• Either way,the nexus between the consumer and consumer prices is important.无论那个方面，消费者与消费价格之间的关系是至关重要的。

3 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

4 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

5 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

6 discrete   

adj.个别的，分离的，不连续的

参考例句：

• The picture consists of a lot of discrete spots of colour.这幅画由许多不相连的色点组成。
• Most staple fibers are discrete,individual entities.大多数短纤维是不联系的单独实体。

7 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

8 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。