VOA慢速英语2012 Education Report - A Community Helps Burmese Refugees Learn English

Education Report - A Community Helps Burmese Refugees Learn English

教育报道 - 帮助缅甸难民学习英语的一个群体

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。

About eighteen thousand refugees from Burma have come to the United States each year since two thousand seven. Some have settled in Howard County, Maryland, between Baltimore and Washington. A local school began teaching English to the children of the refugees.

自2007年以来，每年有大约1.8万名来自缅甸的难民来到美国，其中一些人定居在位于巴尔的摩和华盛顿之间的马里兰州霍华德县。当地一所学校开始为难民儿童教授英语。

But while the children learned the language, their parents did not. That makes communication with teachers difficult.

但当孩子们学了英语，他们的父母却没有学。这使得他们与教师沟通困难。

Currently almost fifty Burmese youngsters attend Bollman Bridge Elementary School. Laurel Conran is a teacher there.

目前有将近50名缅甸青少年就读于Bollman Bridge小学。劳雷尔·康仁（Laurel Conran）是该校一名教师。

LAUREL CONRAN: "The main idea is the global idea."

康仁：“主题就是全球理念。”

She teaches English to speakers of other languages.

她给说其它语言的人士教授英语。

LAUREL CONRAN: "Today we were doing text structures. I wanted them to know the vocabulary, the language of text structures, so when they go back into the classroom and work with their peers, they can do this successfully in the classroom."

康仁：“今天我们学习了文章结构。我想让他们知道文章结构的词汇和文体。这样当他们回到教室与同伴们学习时，他们在课堂上就可以做到这些。”

One of her students is Tha Neih Ciang. Another student is Tha Neih's mother, Tin Iang. Ms. Conran practices English with Tin Iang at the mother's workplace. Many Burmese refugees work at Coastal 1 Sunbelt Produce, a supplier of fruits and vegetables to restaurants and other businesses.

Tha Neih Ciang是她的学生之一，另一名学生是Tha Neih的母亲Tin Iang。康仁女士在妈妈们的工作场所和Tin Iang练习英语。许多缅甸难民在海洋阳光地带农产品公司（Coastal Sunbelt Produce）工作，这是一家面向餐馆和其它公司的水果蔬菜供应商。

 

Laurel Conran started classes at the company to help refugees from the country also known as Myanmar learn English.

康仁在该公司开设课程，帮助缅甸难民学习英语。

LAUREL CONRAN: "The program is a six-week session. It's once a week, on every Wednesday, from twelve to one o'clock. So every Wednesday I go to Coastal Sunbelt."

康仁：“该课程为期6周，每周三上一次课，时间从12点到1点。所以每周三我都会去海岸阳光地带公司上课。”

As the Burmese workers eat lunch, they also practice their new language skills. They sit in small groups with an English-speaking volunteer.

缅甸工人吃午餐时也会练习他们学到的新的语言技能。他们与一名讲英语的志愿者坐成一小圈。

Lisa Chertok has a child at Bollman Bridge. She is also a manager at Coastal Sunbelt. She helped Ms. Conran develop the lessons, which she says have really helped.

丽莎·切尔托克（Lisa Chertok）有个孩子在Bollman Bridge小学就读。她还是阳光海岸地带公司的经理。她帮助康仁女士开发了这一课程，并认为这一课程确实有帮助。

LISA CHERTOK: "Well, when the Burmese employees got here, they were very, very shy. Now I find that they are more responsive as employees. They're more communicative. They're also, as parents, they are more involved in their children's school."

切尔托克：“这些缅甸员工来公司时都非常非常害羞。现在我发现作为员工她们反应更快，更加健谈。而作为父母，她们也更多参与到孩子们的学业中。”

Jonathan Davis is the principal of Bollman Bridge Elementary School.

乔纳森·戴维斯（Jonathan Davis）是Bollman Bridge小学校长。

JONATHAN DAVIS: "I really see it as the beginning of a great partnership 2 between a business and a school, and we've just begun to scratch the surface with how that could benefit, really, the greater community."

戴维斯：“我把它视为企业和学校之间良好合作关系的开端。在如何让更大群体受益这点上，我们才刚接触到冰山一角。”

Mr. Davis hopes the lessons will help Burmese parents feel better about communicating with the school.

戴维斯先生希望这一课程能有助于缅甸父母对与学校沟通更加自信。

JONATHAN DAVIS: "Even as simply as making a phone call to say that their son or daughter is sick, even if that's the amount of English that they have gotten from the program, that truly will help us."

戴维斯：“甚至只是简单到拨打电话（告诉学校）说孩子生病了，哪怕这就是他们从这一课程中学到的全部内容，也将对我们很有帮助。”

SPEAKER: "Please welcome Laurel Conran and Lisa Chertok."

广播：“请欢迎劳雷尔·康仁和丽莎·切尔托克。”

For their work, the two women received a Community Builders Award from Howard County.

她们两人因为这一工作获得霍华德县社会建设者奖项。

LAUREL CONRAN: "I love this program. As a community we want to work together, collaboratively, because when everybody works together it is a win-win situation."

康仁：“我喜欢这个课程。作为社会中的一员，我们想要与他人共同努力。因为当大家共同合作就是一个双赢的局面。”

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You can read, listen and learn English and much more with our programs and activities at voanews.cn. You can watch a video about the Howard County program on our website. And you can find captioned 3 videos at the VOA Learning English channel on YouTube. I'm Steve Ember.

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Contributing: June Soh