Teacher of the Year

 

Broadcast: May 8, 2003
By Jerilyn Watson

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
A schoolteacher from the American state of Alabama will spend the next year as an international ambassador1 for education. Betsy Rogers was just chosen Teacher of the Year in the United¹ States. President Bush² honored⁴ her last week at the White House. As Teacher of the Year, Missus Rogers will travel around the country and elsewhere⁵ to urge⁶ better continuing training for teachers.
Betsy Rogers has taught for twenty-two years. She teaches first and second grade at a very small school near Birmingham, Alabama. The school is called Leeds Elementary. Her students, ages five through seven, are mostly poor.
To Betsy Rogers, the possibilities of education are endless. She urges⁷ other teachers never to decide that a student simply cannot learn something. Instead, she urges teachers to try new methods of explanation.
Missus Rogers says one of the main problems of schools that serve the poor is that they simply do not get enough money. She also wishes more teachers would work with poor children. She and her husband moved to a farm near Leeds Elementary in the early nineteen-eighties. They wanted their two sons to know poor children and those of other races. She has taught at the school ever since.
Betsy Rogers uses art, music and cooking as part of her daily teaching⁸. She got the school to start a program where teachers follow students through the first and second grade. That way, the teachers can measure the children's progress. This method is called "looping⁹." Other schools in Alabama now use this method.
Missus Rogers also takes an interest in her students' lives beyond the classroom. She attends their parties and sports events. To communicate with the whole family, she even sends e-mail to parents.
Betsy Rogers was chosen for the national honor³ from among Teachers of the Year named by the fifty states. The Council¹⁰ of Chief State School Officers organizes the competition.
Missus Rogers graduated in nineteen-seventy-four from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. In the past five years, she has completed three more educational programs. She has earned the title of Doctor of Education.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson.

1. ambassador [Am5bAs[d[] n. 大使

1 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

2 bush   

n.灌木，灌木丛，矮树

参考例句：

• This bush has grown up a lot in the last few months.这矮树丛几个月来已向上长高了很多。
• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.一鸟在手，胜于二鸟在林。

3 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

4 honored   

adj.光荣的：荣幸的v.尊敬，给以荣誉( honor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I hope to be honored with further orders. 如蒙惠顾，不胜荣幸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is a time-honored custom. 这是一个古老的习俗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 elsewhere   

adv.在别处，到别处

参考例句：

• Our favourite restaurant was full so we had to go elsewhere.我们最喜欢去的那家饭店客满了，因此不得不改去别处。
• I have half a mind to move elsewhere.我有点想搬到别处去。

6 urge   

n.冲动，推动力，迫切的要求；vt.驱策，力劝，力陈，推动；vi.强烈要求

参考例句：

• He has an urge to become a film star.他非常希望成为电影明星。
• We should constantly urge ourselves on to study hard.我们要经常鞭策自己努力学习。

7 urges   

n.强烈的愿望( urge的名词复数 )；强烈的欲望；冲动v.力劝( urge的第三人称单数 )；强烈要求；推进；驱策

参考例句：

• She urges me to take steps in the matter. 她催我处理此事。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He urges his sister's study. 他敦促妹妹学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

9 looping   

循环； 套口； 成圈； 缝袜头

参考例句：

• Lifting it down, looping it over her wrist, she went away with confidence. 她把它取了下来，绕在手腕上，这才放心走了。
• This prevents it from endlessly looping around in inter network. 这样可以防止数据包无休止地在网络之间往复循环。

10 council   

n.理事会，委员会，议事机构

参考例句：

• The town council passed a law forbidding the distribution of handbills.市议会通过法律，禁止散发传单。
• The city council has declared for improving the public bus system.市议会宣布同意改进公共汽车系统。