VOA慢速英语2011--Study-Abroad Programs Take Deeper Dive Into Local Culture

EDUCATION REPORT - Study-Abroad Programs Take Deeper Dive Into Local Culture

教育报道 - 美国出国留学项目深入融入当地文化

This is the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT.

这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。



Each year about two hundred fifty thousand Americans study in other countries. Some study-abroad programs are trying harder to get students to learn about the local culture. One student on his first morning in Beijing was brought to a distant part of the city. He received money and instructions how to get back. It took some time but he succeeded.

每年有大约2.5万名美国人出国留学。一些留学项目努力让学生们了解当地文化。一位初到北京的学生被带到这座城市一个遥远的角落，并给他提供了资金和返回原处的说明文字。这位学生花了点时间但还是成功回到原处。



William Finlay heads the sociology department at the University of Georgia in the United States. He says challenges like this help students experience another culture.

William Finlay主管美国佐治亚大学社会学系。他表示类似挑战可以帮助学生体验另一种文化。



WILLIAM FINLAY: "It’s absolutely crucial that they know something about how people in other parts of the world live and think and how they behave. Often those students go in large groups and they hang around with each other. We felt that they really weren’t getting to know the local inhabitants."

WILLIAM FINLAY：“学生们了解一些关于世界其它地区的人们如何生活、思考及行为的知识非常至关重要。这些学生通常一大批的出去留学并彼此混在一起，我们认为不曾逐步了解当地居民。”



In two thousand eight, Professor Finlay started a program with South Africa’s Stellenbosch University. The program combines traditional classroom learning with community involvement through a nongovernmental organization.

2008年，Finlay教授与南非斯泰伦博什大学（stellenbosch university ）合作开设了一个项目，该项目通过一个非政府性组织，将传统课堂学习与社区参与结合起来。

A study-abroad group in South Africa, with Professor William Finlay from the University of Georgia seated at right

WILLIAM FINLAY: “We’ve been working with a particular NGO in the township and they do two things: they run a number of these creches, which are basically day care centers for children whose parents are working, and the library in the community where there are some computers. Our students typically work either with the little kids in the day cares or they work in the library and teach very basic computer skills to mostly young adults.”

WILLIAM FINLAY：“我们与小城镇一个特定的非政府组织合作，该组织从事两个项目：开办若干托儿所，主要是为父母要上班的儿童开设的日托中心；以及开办拥有计算机的社区图书馆。我们的学生通常要么在日托中心照顾小孩，要么在图书馆向以青少年为主的人群传授计算机基本知识。”



Hillary Kinsey is studying international affairs. She spent three weeks in the Stellenbosch program.

Hillary Kinsey正学习国际事务。她花了三个星期参与到斯泰伦博什项目。



HILLARY KINSEY: “It was interesting to learn the history of the area and the recent development with democracy and that sort of thing, and then talk to these people and see what the social dynamics 1 were, what the ethnic 2 divisions were, how certain groups felt about other groups.”

Hillary Kinsey：“了解当地历史、近期民主发展之类的事情非常有趣。还可以与当地民众交流，看看社会动态，种族分歧，以及特定群体对其它群体的看法。”



When Ms. Kinsey returned from South Africa recently, she and other students in the program created a nonprofit organization.

当Kinsey女士近期从南非回来时，她和该项目中的其他学生创建了一个非赢利性组织。



HILLARY KINSEY: "We called it Ubunto, which is a South African concept coined by Desmond Tutu, and it means 'I am because we are.' The idea is kind of based around relationships within society and what generates prosperity for the whole. And so we kind of took that notion and translate into a larger international community.”

HILLARY KINSEY：“我们称之Ubunto，这是Desmond Tutu提出的一种南非的价值观。意思是“我的存在是因为大家的存在。”这一观点某种程度上是基于社会内部关系及共同繁荣。因此我们采纳了这一观点并转化到更大的国际社会层面。”



She says the goal is to help improve education and development in South Africa.

她表示其目标是帮助南非改善教育与发展。



Mark Lenhart is the executive director of CET Academic Programs. Each year, that company places more than one thousand students in semester and summer study programs. The programs are in China, Jordan, the Czech Republic and other countries.

Mark Lenhart是CET学术项目的执行主任。每年，该公司将1千多名学生安排到学期制和暑期制的学习项目中。中国、约旦、捷克共和国及其它国家都开设了该项目。

注：CET学术项目是美国华盛顿一家面向美国大学生的教育机构，最开始仅限于中国，CET原意指China Educational Tours，通过与中国大学合作，对美国大学生提供汉语教学。后扩展到包括日本、越南等在内的众多国家。



MARK LENHART: "In all of our locations, we place students with local roommates."

MARK LENHART：“我们在所有地方都将我们的学生与当地学生放到一块。”



Students gain from that, he says, but the experience is not always easy.

他表示，学生们能从此中获益，但这类经历并不总是那么容易。



MARK LENHART: "Not just in terms of language learning, but they also find the local culture can present challenges, and perhaps misunderstandings. They have to adjust to local life. It's no longer OK just to have a little Chinese, for instance. If a student is studying Chinese, they want to come home from a program like this fluent in Chinese. And so this will enable students to become more employable when they graduate.”

MARK LENHART：“不仅是在语言学习方面，他们还发现当地文化会引发挑战，甚至可能是误解。他们必须适应当地生活。光懂点中文不再吃香。如果一名学生正在学习中文，他们希通过类似这样一个项目，回国后能够流利地说中文。这也将有助于学生们毕业时更受雇主欢迎。”



And that’s the VOA Special English Education Report. Have you ever studied in another country? Tell us about it at voanews.cn or on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Christopher Cruise.

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Contributing: Faiza Elmasry