VOA慢速英语2014 塞内加尔使用先进技术教授阅读

 

AS IT IS 2014-10-14 Senegal Uses Technology to Teach Reading 塞内加尔使用先进技术教授阅读

More and more Africans are using text messages, e-mail and social media to communicate. In Senegal, educators are using new technologies to teach women to read. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, launched the program in Senegal two years ago. But UNESCO officials are now expanding it to as many as six other African countries.            

Mariama Daffe sits in front of a television at her home in a community near Senegal’s capital Dakar. She is learning to write and work with numbers. Ms. Daffe started this home-study program a year ago. She was 39 years old at the time.

The Ministry¹ of Education joined with UNESCO to create these training modules³ for literacy⁴ -- reading and writing. The program appears daily on state television. Women taking part say these lessons have made them more independent.              

Mariama Daffe says, “These days I have my mobile telephone, and I can read messages and I can send messages, too.”

Ms. Daffe finishes her lesson and starts preparing dinner for her husband and three children. She says the TV programs are convenient. She studies three modules a week, yet she has a full-time⁵ job and travels two hours by bus every day. 

At-home study programs are easy to operate and not costly⁶. That makes them especially useful for a place like Senegal, which has limited money to teach literacy.

But some women prefer the classroom experience.

Ten minutes down the road from Mariama Daffe’s home, women write on a chalkboard at the local elementary school.  Thirty-nine-year-old Astou Keita says it is never too late to learn. 

She says, “My kids laugh at me.  They think it is funny that I started learning at this age.” 

Mamadou Diallo is a teacher. He uses a laptop computer and a projector⁷ to prepare an interactive⁸ display wall. The students use the wall while a class in mathematics is taught. 

Mr. Diallo says the first time the women saw the interactive display wall, they became very interested. They could not wait to try it. He told them, “First, we need to work on the chalkboard before we can start the math.”

He asks a student to read a word problem and do the work with numbers.

She then answers the mathematical problem on the wall.

Words in this Story

module² – n., a part of a computer or a computer program that can be combined or completed to build something

convenient – adj., allowing you to do something easily and without trouble

prefer - v., to like (someone or something) better than someone or something else

interactive -  adj.,  involving the actions or input⁹ of a user; especially: of, relating to, or being a two-way electronic communication system (as in a telephone, cable television, or a computer) that involves a user's orders

mathematics - n.,  the science of numbers, quantities and spaces and the relationship among them

practice - v., to do something again and again in order to become better at it

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 module   

n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱

参考例句：

• The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
• Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。

3 modules   

n.模块( module的名词复数 )；单元；（宇宙飞船上各个独立的）舱；组件

参考例句：

• The course consists of ten core modules and five optional modules. 这门课程包括十个必修单元和五个选修单元。
• Our English course is divided into modules on poetry, drama, and novels. 我们的英语课分为诗歌、戏剧和小说等单元。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 literacy   

n.识字，有文化，读写能力

参考例句：

• I can't believe that he failed the literacy test.我无法相信他识字测试不及格。
• The literacy rate there is the highest in Central America.那里的识字率居中美洲之首。

5 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 projector   

n.投影机，放映机，幻灯机

参考例句：

• There is a new projector in my office.我的办公室里有一架新的幻灯机。
• How long will it take to set up the projector?把这个放映机安放好需要多长时间？

8 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

9 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。