英语单词大师：Learners in U.S.

 AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: new standards for English learners in American public schools.

RS: One in nine public school students is a non-native English speaker; in twenty years, it could be one in four. The largest percentage speak Spanish. The next largest, at just four percent, speak Vietnamese. Students bring a long list of languages to America's classrooms. But there is no national policy about how to teach English.

AA: We learned all this from our guest. Kathleen Leos is an assistant deputy secretary of Education, in the Office of English Language Acquisition. She says the states face new requirements under the Bush administration's federal education law, passed by Congress in two thousand one. Not only do they have to develop English language proficiency¹ standards, they have to link them to academic content standards in reading, math, science and social studies.

KATHLEEN LEOS: "Non-English speaking students are held to the same targets in academic achievement and expectation as native speakers. However, there's different approaches and different ways to get there.

"I think it's important to remember that you don't take a content test until the third grade. Most of the non-English speaking students in this country come into classrooms kindergarten and first grade. So they're learning the language with new academic language, not just social and communicative skills."AA: "What about for students who come in later? Are they given more time to learn?"KATHLEEN LEOS: "A student that's considered a recent arrival or newly arrived to the U.S. public schools, doesn't take a content test until after the second year of being in a classroom to learn language. And so even though after the first year they may take a math test, none of the scores are included in the new accountability system until after the second year. So there's a lot more flexibility² that's given than what was originally intended in the law."AA: "That was because there was some pushback from the states, wasn't there?"KATHLEEN LEOS: "No, it was because the research -- we've been working with researchers, oh, since I first got here. And what we've been trying to do is figure out together what is it that is reasonable assessment³ aligned⁴ to your new content standards. What I think a lot of people heard for a while is a lot of either misinformation, misunderstanding and what I call complaining based on information that was not out there fast enough."RS: "In the meantime, what's happening around the country, how do -- "KATHLEEN LEOS: "Well, what's happening is what has been happening for thirty years -- not a lot. There are 'pockets of brilliance⁵' that go on around the country. There are lot of schools that are doing really, really good things with non-English speaking students. But what I've described is a new comprehensive system that's systemic and systematic⁶. And it takes time to develop and get that all the way down into the classroom. We're probably about halfway⁷ there.

"The next focus, the next big push and drive out of the door is this aligned instruction -- I mean curriculum, with aligned instructional strategies. Along with that will be money for professional development and retraining of teachers."RS: "How would you see this developing in a classroom?"KATHLEEN LEOS: "Over the next five years, what will happen is with the new aligned curriculum and the new research-based strategies that are now being published right now -- they just went to the publishers November twenty-first -- is that teachers will have the tools that they need to approach multiple languages in classrooms.

"And some of the approaches that are important for teachers to be able to use -- and this is what the science, you're going to hear this in about a month as the books are being published. The approach for not only in the language development but especially for pre-literacy and literacy skills are the same that are being used from the National Reading Panel for monolingual English-speaking students, which is development of sound.

"The discrete⁸ articulation⁹ of sound is extremely important for non-English speakers. And what does that mean? Well, that's phonics and phonemic awareness¹⁰, embedded¹¹ with vocabulary. Lots of literature in the classroom, so that students are familiar in content -- vocabulary out of context isn't going to make a lot of sense. And structured in what we call explicit¹² instruction. Our children are not used to being taught explicitly¹³ in classrooms. That's a different kind of teaching philosophy that kids will pick it up because they're interested, and that's just absolutely not true."RS: Kathleen Leos is assistant deputy secretary of Education, in the Office of English Language Acquisition.

AA: She tells us there's no interest in threatening to withhold¹⁴ federal education money if states do not follow the new standards -- at least not yet, she says.

RS: And that's Wordmaster for this week. Our e-mail address is [email protected], and we're online at voanews.com/wordmaster. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

1 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

2 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

3 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

4 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

5 brilliance   

n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智

参考例句：

• I was totally amazed by the brilliance of her paintings.她的绘画才能令我惊歎不已。
• The gorgeous costume added to the brilliance of the dance.华丽的服装使舞蹈更加光彩夺目。

6 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

7 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

8 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。

9 articulation   

n.（清楚的）发音；清晰度，咬合

参考例句：

• His articulation is poor.他发音不清楚。
• She spoke with a lazy articulation.她说话慢吞吞的。

10 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

11 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

12 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

13 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

14 withhold   

v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡

参考例句：

• It was unscrupulous of their lawyer to withhold evidence.他们的律师隐瞒证据是不道德的。
• I couldn't withhold giving some loose to my indignation.我忍不住要发泄一点我的愤怒。