VOA标准英语2009年-American Grandmother Helps Educate Senegal

An American grandmother thought she was moving to Africa in order to homeschool her daughter's five children. As it turns out, Viola Vaughan is helping¹ thousands of Senegalese girls with their school work, in a place where girls can often be left behind.
　
Viola Vaughan, founder², Senegal Educational Program

Viola Vaughan's five grandchildren came to live with her when her daughter died 14 years ago.

She moved the new family to Sengalese city of Koalack to homeschool them in Africa instead of in [the central U.S. state of] Michigan.

That's when the real changes started.

"There was one little girl who was nine-years-old, who was the same age as my granddaughter, who played with my granddaughter and saw that she was being tutored in class at our home. She came and asked me if I could assist her with her education. I told her, 'Of course not.'" she said.

But the girl kept coming back. So Vaughan went to her parents who said their child was last in her class.

"And the reason she was last in her class was because she was not intelligent. And I told her mother that obviously she was intelligent enough to come and find me, so therefore allow her to have class with my granddaughter."

In two weeks, Vaughan had 20 girls. She figured her pension could support another 80. She learned so many girls needed help because their mothers often found them useful at home.

"And so the girls start missing days. She starts missing days in school. And when she starts missing these days, she starts losing her place in class, Vaughan said. "She starts missing her lessons, and she starts to fail."

Vaughan's program called 10,000 girls now helps thousands' with tutoring, study space and by monitoring the girls' progress. And she asks parents to sign a contract committing their daughters to attend everyday.

There is a bookmobile that serves surrounding villages and literacy³ programs for girls who have never been to school.

And some girls sew soft dolls, bags and clothes for sale through a California company as part of Vaughan's entrepreneurship⁴ program. Here young women who left school can get vocational⁵ training and a job.

Dassira Samba Ka started selling juice and cookies door-to-door. Now she is Vaughan's account manager. "In this program, we take the girls who are last in their class and we give her school supplies and everything," Ka explains. "We help her with studies, with her math and English. And we pay the teachers to come help them."

Vaughan says this work has changed her own life more than any other job. "I had to be 50 some years old before I found a job that I could stick to that I really, really like," she said. "I had to retire before I started to work again."

Vaughan has more than 2,500 students in her program, with 700 more on a waiting list and a ten-year goal of helping 10,000 girls do better in school.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 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。

4 entrepreneurship   

企业家身份

参考例句：

• Spawr indeed personified American ingenuity, self-reliance, initiative and entrepreneurship. 斯帕尔看不上机构重叠和清规戒律，表现出美国人的机敏，有着独立、首创精神和企业家的风度。
• He provides evidence that n-achievement is highly correlated with entrepreneurship. 他提供的材料表明“n--成就”与企业家精神高度相关。

5 vocational   

adj.职业的，业务的

参考例句：

• They have set a regular time for vocational study.他们把业务学习时间固定下来。
• She was given some quick training at the vocational school.她在职业学校受过速成训练。