Reading Recovery

By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: September 25, 2003

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education Report.
More than one-million school children in the United States have gone through a program called Reading Recovery. The program is for six-year-olds who are struggling to learn to read.
The Reading Recovery Council of North America says more than one-fifth of United States public schools with first grades use the program.
The Reading Recovery method calls for a specially¹ trained reading teacher to work with children one at a time. The lessons take a half-hour each school day. They employ reading, writing and the study of the letters of the 1)alphabet.
Reading Recovery came to the United States in nineteen-eighty-four. Education expert Marie (pronounced MAHR-ee) Clay of New Zealand developed the program. A number of other countries also use this method. Programs can differ from school to school.
Reading Recovery lessons take place for twelve to twenty weeks. During the lessons, the teacher looks for ways that the child seems to learn best. Then the teacher works to help the student develop these strategies to solve problems in reading. The idea is for the student to continue to use and extend these strategies each time he or she reads.
Reading Recovery students read many short books. Some of the books are written in a way similar to spoken language. Children also read and write stories or messages in their own words. The material gets harder with time.
The lessons end when the student's reading ability is within the average level of the class. The Reading Recovery Council of North America says eighty percent of students who finish the lessons can read and write within their class average.
The council is a group with eleven-thousand members. The group named a new president this month. Mary Jackson is director of special programs for the Fort² Bend public school system in Sugar Land, Texas. Mizz Jackson says more than ninety-nine percent of the Reading Recovery students in the schools passed the state reading examination.
Some administrators³ may not like the higher cost of the Reading Recovery method compared to other 2)interventions. Teachers, after all, work with only small numbers of first 3)graders. But supporters say it saves money in the end. They say it helps prevent the sad results and expense of letting children fail in school.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson. This is Steve Ember.
注释：
1) alphabet [5A:lfEbit] n.字母表
2) intervention⁴ [7intE(:)5venFEn] n.干涉
3) grader [5^reidE] n.分类机，分级机

1 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

2 fort   

n.要塞，堡垒，碉堡

参考例句：

• The fort can not be defended against an air attack.这座要塞遭到空袭时无法防御。
• No one can get into the fort without a pass.没有通行证，任何人不得进入要塞。

3 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

4 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。