VOA慢速英语--新冠危机促使拉丁美洲回归教育广播

COVID Crisis¹ Drives Return to Education Broadcasts in Latin² America

At a small farmhouse³ not far from Colombia's capital, Bogota, Marlene Beltran sits at a small table and turns on the radio to help her little brother with school work.

The five-year-old is learning⁴ how to draw on paper cubes⁶ to tell a story. There is no internet at the farm. The hour-long radio program keeps them busy while schools remain closed under COVID-19 measures.

At one time, radio was widely used in Latin America to teach basic math and reading skills. Now, such programs are expanding again to serve the public during lockdown.

The radio and television programs are especially popular in rural⁷ areas.

"We don't want children to lose their studying habits," said Diana Lopez, a teacher in the town of Funza. She helps produce a daily radio show for elementary school students. The area on the edge of Bogota has 10,000 public school students. About a third of them have no computers or internet at home.

"The radio lessons give children a space to develop their reading and writing skills and also show them that their teachers are still with them," Lopez said.

In the United States and Europe, students mostly watch lessons on computers and use video conferencing. But in Latin America, officials were forced to find other solutions for stay-at-home students. Most education ministries⁸ have developed online learning for students with internet access. But many are also using traditional broadcast to reach poorer communities.

In Haiti, only a third of the population has internet access. So the government broadcasts educational programs on a state-run radio station.

Students from poor communities in Ecuador's cities are watching television shows that provide them with school work. They can then drop completed work at schools for teachers to examine, correct, score and more.

Home internet connections are almost nonexistent in Cuba. State television broadcasts hours of educational content on different subjects and levels every day.

In Chile, educational organization Teach for All has developed a 30-minute daily podcast that is carried on more than 200 radio stations. To make the programs, teachers record themselves on their phones presenting the learning material. Producers mix in music and other effects. The programs cover science, math, history and writing.

Tomas Recart is the director of Enseña Chile, the Teach for All partner backing the radio programs. He said, "We have children in difficult situations and we want to motivate them and light up their hearts."

A study this year by the Interamerican Development Bank says less than 35 percent of students in Colombia, Mexico and Peru have internet access. In rural Brazil, state governments provide internet service credit⁹ so that children can reach online learning sites over wireless¹⁰ phones.

Sabine Rieble-Aubourg is an education specialist at the Bank. She said, "Some countries have been looking for whatever content is available and for free" to broadcast. "As things get back to normal, they will have to organize content better, " she said, to make sure the content is separated by educational level and meets with national education plans.

Until that happens, the energetic teachers are coming up with solutions to reach their students.

Deep in the Brazilian Amazon, elementary school teacher Andreza Nascimento records videos for her young students. "Some days they might not have internet," said Nascimento, who sends her videos via WhatsApp. "But kids like technology, and I try to make the videos fun."

Amparo Ramos is a preschool teacher in Funza, Colombia. Ramos says she has used her own money to print her lessons on paper for families without internet. She also uses WhatsApp to send lessons and educational games, similar to those she would use at school.

Ramos said the new process is very tiring, but she added, "We are behind in technology, so we need to come up with [new] ways to reach parents and their kids."

I'm Caty Weaver¹¹.

Words in This Story

cube⁵ -n. an object that has six square sides

habit -n. a usual way of behaving: something that a person does often in a regular and repeated way

motivate -v. to give (someone) a reason for doing something

content -n. to give (someone) a reason for doing something

elementary -adj. a school including usually the first four to the first eight grades and often a kindergarten

kid -n. a child

1 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

2 Latin   

adj.拉丁的，拉丁语的，拉丁人的；n.拉丁语

参考例句：

• She learned Latin without a master.她无师自通学会了拉丁语。
• Please use only Latin characters.请仅使用拉丁文字符。

3 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

4 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

5 cube   

n.立方体，立方形；立方；vt.使自乘两次

参考例句：

• The cube of 3 is 27.3的立方是27。
• A cube has six sides.立方体有6个面。

6 cubes   

立方形的东西，立方体( cube的名词复数 )； 立方

参考例句：

• Cut the meat into cubes. 把肉切成丁儿。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes. 我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

7 rural   

adj.乡下的，田园的，乡村风味的

参考例句：

• He lived a rural life.他过着田园生活。
• We left the city for a rural home.我们离开城市，去农村安家。

8 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

9 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

10 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

11 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。