词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Meet Two Young English Teachers

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: meet two young English teachers. One is from the United States, the other from Uzbekistan.

RS: The American is a native English speaker who also speaks Arabic. He teaches a conversational¹ English class. But right now he's focused on finishing a graduate degree.
RS: Only it has nothing to do with English teaching².

SAM AHMAD: "My name is Sam Ahmad. I'm a law student at Louisiana State University, graduating hopefully in a month or so and will starting a new career in teaching English as a foreign language."

AA: "Then why did you go to law school?"

SAM AHMAD: "You know, my parents ask me that question quite often. But I figured it's better to get that advanced degree now than later, when I might not get a chance to. Teaching is always something that I knew I would end up doing, and teaching English as a foreign language is great because it gives me the opportunity to travel as well as learn other languages."

AA: "Has your interest in English teaching helped you in legal writing?"

SAM AHMAD: "I think that my legal background has helped me to teach better, because I'm better able to organize and prepare for my class in the same way I would organize and prepare an argument before a judge, as well as the structure of my class is tailored in a conversation debate format³, where I bring up issues that have two sides and get the students to engage in a structured debate using their English language skills in a conversational, debate-style format."

AA: "What's a typical lesson in your class, what do you do?"

SAM AHMAD: "Well, the structure, for the most part, it starts off by having three or four New York Times articles assigned⁴ to the students, that they will read on their own. And then, the following class, we will discuss those articles, relatively⁵ about 15 minutes per article I'll set aside and I'll organize the class into two sides, one for and one against a particular issue, and have them each take turns arguing their position. And I think that using current events is the best way to learn conversational English, because that's what conversations are all about."

AA: Sam Ahmad plans to visit Spain and Argentina later this year for training to become certified⁶ as an English teacher.

RS: Now meet Niso Mamatkulova from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She's been teaching English for the past seven years. For the past four years, she's been training other teachers.

AA: I asked her what she thinks are some of the best ways to teach English.

NISO MAMATKULOVA: "The best strategy⁷ I found, it's to interact⁸ with students using communicative teaching methods, and to give them more freedom."

RS: And the worst strategies⁹?

NISO MAMATKULOVA: "To correct them always. To threaten them, or to reward them maybe very often. Not to give them time to improve. And ... the least effective? Students think it's to give them much homework to do!"

AA: Finally, I asked if there was an anecdote¹⁰ she would like to tell about her teaching experience.

NISO MAMATKULOVA : "It happened twice, maybe three times. A student was giving advice to me on different topics, and I liked that. And I said, 'OK, I'm going to follow your advice.' See? Students like when we are friendly to them, when we are open to them, and I like that."

RS: Niso Mamatkulova from Uzbekistan and Sam Ahmad from the United States, both interviewed earlier this month in San Antonio, Texas.

AA: I met them at the annual convention¹¹ of the international group known as TESOL: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

RS: And that's Wordmaster for this week. Our e-mail address is。。。。。。。。。。And our segments¹² are all online at voanews.com/wordmaster. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

MUSIC: "An English Teacher"/Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera (1960 Broadway production of "Bye Bye Birdie")

 

1 conversational   

adj.对话的，会话的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
• She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。

2 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

3 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

4 assigned   

adj.选定的；被布置的

参考例句：

• But read-only values are different,in that they are assigned at runtime.但是只读的值是不同的，因为它们是在运行时被赋值的。

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

7 strategy   

n.方法，策略，战略

参考例句：

• The only way to take the enemy position is by strategy,not by forceful attack.只可智取，不可强攻。
• Tactics differs from strategy.战术有别于战略。

8 interact   

vi.相互作用，相互影响，互通信息

参考例句：

• All things are interrelated and interact on each other.一切事物互相联系并相互作用。
• The policeman advised the criminal to interact with the police.警察劝罪犯与警方合作。

9 strategies   

n.策略( strategy的名词复数 )；战略；战略学；对策

参考例句：

• Several steps and strategies have been developed to minimize these risks. 有关人士发展了若干措施和方法以减少这些风险。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Different threats require different strategies. 对付不同的威胁需要不同的策略。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

10 anecdote   

n.轶事，趣闻，短故事

参考例句：

• He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
• It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。

11 convention   

n.惯例，习俗，常规，会议，大会

参考例句：

• How many delegates have checked in at the convention?大会已有多少代表报到？
• He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。

12 segments   

部分( segment的名词复数 )； 瓣； [计算机]（字符等的）分段； [动物学]节片

参考例句：

• He is eating oranges in segments. 他正在一瓣瓣地吃橘子。
• Gene cloning provides a means of purifying and propagating specific DNA segments. 基因克隆化提供了一种纯化和扩增特定DNA片段的方法。