Improving High School Reading and Writing

By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: October 9, 2003

This is Bob Doughty¹ with the VOA Special English Education Report.
An American expert has suggestions for helping² high school students read and write better. Paul Thomas is 1)assistant professor of education at Furman University in 2)Greenville, South Carolina. The Association for Supervision³ and 3)Curriculum Development published Mister Thomas's suggestions in its magazine, Classroom Leadership. The association is a nonprofit educational organization in Alexandria, Virginia.
Mister Thomas says students' reading and writing skills continue to develop. He says the major source for learning these skills is the traditional textbook. But he believes that textbooks are not enough. Mister Thomas suggests that other books be used in addition to textbooks.
Students, he says, should not read a description of a historical person's words written by someone else. Instead, they should read a book containing the true words of that person. He also says movies and drama can help increase students' interest in the subject they are reading.
Mister Thomas urges teachers to continue developing their knowledge of the best methods for teaching reading and writing. He says this leads to good experiments in the classroom.
He believes that high school teachers are required to teach too much material in reading and writing. He urges them to call for a 4)reduction in the material. At the same time, he suggests using plans for teaching by concept - the central idea. For example, he says some students he has known have reached a new level of learning. This is because they became deeply interested in the subject they were reading.
Mister Thomas urges teachers to make sure students know that reading and writing are not valued only by the English department. He says reading and writing must become an important part of learning activities. In addition, teachers themselves should be active readers and writers.
The magazine that published Mister Thomas's article is one of a number of publications of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. One-hundred-sixty-thousand educators belong to the organization. They come from more than one-hundred-thirty-five countries. The Association helps educators develop more effective ways of teaching and learning.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson. This is Bob Doughty.

注释：
1) assistant professor  n.助理教授(级别高于讲师而低于副教授)
2) Greenville [5gri:nvil] n.（地名）格陵维耳（美国南卡罗来纳州西北部一城市）
3) Curriculum Development  课程编制
4) reduction [ ri5dQkFEn ] n.减少, 缩减

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。