美国国家公共电台 NPR Movies, Worksheets, Computer Time: Inside LA Schools During The Teacher Strike

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Students in Los Angeles have a new routine. When they arrive at schools in the morning, they are greeted by their teachers picketing¹ outside.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: What do we want?

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHERS: Smaller classes.

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: When do we want it?

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHERS: Now.

INSKEEP: They're striking because the teachers union and the district failed to negotiate a new contract. So what is happening inside the schools? NPR's Elissa Nadworny is in LA with the story.

ELISSA NADWORNY, BYLINE²: At Vista³ Middle School, students aren't in the classrooms. They're grouped by grade in the gym and in the auditorium⁴.

SHARLENE MARTINEZ: I need all eyes up here, mouths closed.

NADWORNY: Sharlene Martinez, a vice⁵ principal, is teaching close to 150 seventh-graders.

MARTINEZ: OK. We're all transitioning to math.

NADWORNY: She passes out a worksheet. It's about shapes and spatial⁶ awareness⁷.

MARTINEZ: My credential's in English. But covering the math? My gosh - very challenging.

NADWORNY: She's eager to have this teachers strike over.

MARTINEZ: I mean, I'm hardly getting any time to sit, eat, breathe, go to the bathroom, so yeah. But it's been very smooth.

NADWORNY: Only about a half of the student body came to school on Tuesday. Principal Joe Nardulli leads us down what's usually the eighth-grade corridor. Today classrooms are empty, hallways quiet.

If there wasn't a strike right now, what would this hallway look like?

JOE NARDULLI: Oh, this would be a full place - you know, about 410 students roaming the hallways, passing. And this is the location that students would have instruction.

NADWORNY: On the first two days of the strike, about a third of the district's students showed up. And that's a problem because funding from the state is linked to attendance. With those numbers, each day of the strike means an estimated net loss of about $15 million according to district leaders. Across town at Kingsley Elementary, about half the school was absent.

KENYA TOMAS: A lot of parents are holding their kids back. That's their way of joining in the strike.

NADWORNY: That's Kenya Tomas (ph). She's a teacher's assistant at Kingsley. Many TAs, including Kenya, are in schools during the strike. She supports the teachers but isn't in their union, and she was told she could lose her job if she didn't come to work. In schools this week, she says students are doing lots of busy work.

TOMAS: We have them doing just worksheets and movies. That's literally⁸ it.

NADWORNY: They've watched "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" and "Boss Baby."

KIMBERLY ESCOBAR: We didn't really learn much.

NADWORNY: Kimberly Escobar is a fifth-grader at Alta Loma Elementary School. We've been checking in with her and her mom, Rosa, this week.

ROSA ESCOBAR: She's, like, bored. She was expecting something else.

NADWORNY: At school this week, she's learned about nouns on a school iPad and watched a bunch of videos, including one about oceans. She wants to stay home tomorrow. Mom has other plans.

ROSA: She has to go to school.

KIMBERLY: No.

ROSA: Yes.

KIMBERLY: I don't learn anything.

ROSA: Something.

KIMBERLY: But there's nothing to learn. We already know about the ocean. It's like we're doing this for no reason.

NADWORNY: Few kids were in school on Tuesday. And when Kimberly came home, she was feeling really lonely.

ROSA: No friends, no teachers - I know. It's kind of sad.

NADWORNY: Kimberly buries her face in her mom's arms.

KIMBERLY: I miss my friends.

ROSA: It's OK. Chica, it's OK. Hopefully, it ends up soon. It's all right.

NADWORNY: By the end of our visit, Kimberly's decided⁹, OK. She'll go to school.

KIMBERLY: Maybe one day we'll finally tell you everything's back to normal.

NADWORNY: With negotiations¹⁰ at an impasse¹¹, it's unclear when that will be.

Elissa Nadworny, NPR News, Los Angeles.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARCUS D'S "MELANCHOLY HOPEFUL")

1 picketing   

[经] 罢工工人劝阻工人上班，工人纠察线

参考例句：

• mass picketing of the factory 罢工工人集体对工厂的封锁
• "And my chaps were also there to prevent picketing! “我的人也是防着女工们要拦厂！ 来自子夜部分

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 vista   

n.远景，深景，展望，回想

参考例句：

• From my bedroom window I looked out on a crowded vista of hills and rooftops.我从卧室窗口望去，远处尽是连绵的山峦和屋顶。
• These uprisings come from desperation and a vista of a future without hope.发生这些暴动是因为人们被逼上了绝路，未来看不到一点儿希望。

4 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 spatial   

adj.空间的，占据空间的

参考例句：

• This part of brain judges the spatial relationship between objects.大脑的这部分判断物体间的空间关系。
• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。

7 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。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

11 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。