美国国家公共电台 NPR A High School's Lesson For Helping English Language Learners Get To College

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

In the United States, about 1 in every 10 students is an English-language learner, and many schools struggle to get these students comfortable with their new language. Getting them ahead and to college is another hurdle¹.

One school in Indiana gets that done because their English learners are graduating high school with a diploma and associate's degree. Claire McInerny of Indiana Public Broadcasting went to Fort Wayne to find out how.

CLAIRE MCINERNY, BYLINE²: Fort Wayne - it's the second largest city in Indiana, home to around 250,000 people. And it has one of the largest Burmese refugee populations in the country, including 16-year-old Na Da Laing and her family.

NA DA LAING: I struggled in my elementary school because I was different from other students. I couldn't speak English at all.

MCINERNY: Now, eight years later, she's reading George Orwell's "Animal Farm" in English.

LAING: I know conflict will arise because the leader, Napoleon, is going to break the rules of killing³ someone. So I think the animals going to go against him.

MCINERNY: For Laing, it's a huge accomplishment⁴ to be here. This is a college-level course. She's earning credit for high school and college-level English. And this is the norm for all of her classes. If Laing and her classmates stay on track, they can complete up to half of their Bachelors Degree credits when they leave high school.

At Laing's school, East Allen University - but it's a high school - 20 percent of the students are Burmese refugees.

DOUG HICKS: Don't forget our yearly semi-formal dance will be held on...

MCINERNY: This is a public school. Anyone can enroll⁵. But the focus is on college prep and college credit.

HICKS: Students, Mrs. Irvins (ph) will be at EAU all day on Wednesday...

MCINERNY: Principal Doug Hicks says the district started this program five years ago. They chose a building in one of the poorest parts of the city where a growing number of refugee families live. Hicks says they are some of his hardest working students.

HICKS: They don't speak English in their household. They didn't live in the country from day one. They have all the strikes against them that we would think as educators that would keep people from achieving, yet they continue to do it.

MCINERNY: Even when Burmese students here get comfortable with English, Shannon Eichenauer, who's Laing's English teacher, says there's more nuance⁶ to their learning. When reading "The Great Gatsby," for example, American students don't think twice about the characters drinking alcohol during prohibition⁷.

SHANNON EICHENAUER: And then you have some Burmese students who they don't understand - to them, like, why would you break the law? So we have those conversations, and it's really - it's really good. It's rich. It adds to the classroom for sure.

MCINERNY: Eichenauer was teaching at a local college when Principal Hick's recruited her to get licensed⁸ in high school English and come here. That's the story with a lot of other teachers, too, who feel like now they're more than just educators. They're ambassadors to college for these families who sometimes have no understanding of the system. The school also offers college-counseling tutors because even paperwork can be new and unfamiliar⁹. Principal Hicks.

HICKS: One thing we've run into here is social security numbers and how old they are and that type of thing.

MCINERNY: When she graduates high school next year, Na Da Laing will be the first in her family to have career options. Her parents started labor¹⁰ jobs back in Myanmar before reaching eighth grade. After graduation, her plan is to attend Indiana Purdue University at Fort Wayne and work part-time to support her parents. As for academics...

LAING: Yeah, I want to major in education and communication Bachelor's degree.

MCINERNY: Do you want to be a teacher?

LAING: English.

MCINERNY: For NPR News, I'm Claire McInerny.

(SOUNDBITE OF BABYSLEEPDREAMS SONG, "SOOTHING¹¹ RIDE")

SIMON: This is NPR News.

1 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

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 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

5 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

6 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。

7 prohibition   

n.禁止；禁令，禁律

参考例句：

• The prohibition against drunken driving will save many lives.禁止酒后开车将会减少许多死亡事故。
• They voted in favour of the prohibition of smoking in public areas.他们投票赞成禁止在公共场所吸烟。

8 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

9 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。