VOA慢速英語:Using Art to Make Summer School More Interesting

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語教育報道。

June, July and August are vacation months for most American school children. But some young students pay a high price for that long summer break. They may forget much of what they learned over the past year by the time they start the next grade.

6-8月是是大多數(shù)美國學(xué)童的假期。但有些年輕學(xué)生為這個漫長暑假付出了高昂的代價。他們可能在下學(xué)年開始前，忘記上學(xué)年中學(xué)到的很多東西。

This problem is often called the summer learning gap. A growing effort across the country aims to deal with it by offering more interesting summer school programs. Some students already attend summer school, but often because they received poor grades during the regular school year.

這個問題通常被稱為暑期學(xué)習(xí)缺失。美國各地越來越多地通過有趣的暑期學(xué)校項(xiàng)目來改善這一問題。有些學(xué)生已經(jīng)上過暑期學(xué)校，但通常是因?yàn)樗麄冊诔Ｒ?guī)學(xué)年沒有取得好成績。

STUDENT: "People need food, clothes, and other goods ..."

學(xué)生：“人們需要食物、衣服和其它物品......”

On a recent day, students read out loud about communities in a third-grade social studies class at Bushman Elementary in Dallas, Texas. But the nine- and ten-year-olds were also studying art. Visual arts instructor Ron Oliver works to combine the two subjects.

最近某天，學(xué)生們在德克薩斯州達(dá)拉斯市布希曼小學(xué)三年級的社會課上大聲讀出有關(guān)社區(qū)的內(nèi)容。但這些9到10歲的孩子也在學(xué)習(xí)藝術(shù)。視覺藝術(shù)教師羅恩·奧利弗(Ron Oliver)試圖將這兩門學(xué)科結(jié)合起來。

RON OLIVER: "The kids that never get it -- like the thirty percent that always struggle on testing -- they thrive in this kind of atmosphere. Sometimes they just learn differently."

奧利弗：“那些從未弄懂學(xué)習(xí)的孩子--比如那30%總在和考試作斗爭的孩子，他們就在這樣的氛圍中成長。有時候只是他們學(xué)習(xí)方法不對。”

In addition to reading, the students expressed themselves in picture form by drawing community scenes.

除了閱讀，學(xué)生們還通過描繪社區(qū)場景，用圖片形式來表達(dá)自己的想法。

BOY: "When I was drawing, I was expressing my feelings and showing what was happening."

某男孩：“我是在用畫畫表達(dá)自己的感受，講述正發(fā)生的事情。”

GIRL: "You only use the pictures, and you use it to tell the people, the pictures telling the words for you. You don't need words."

某女孩：“我們用圖片講述自己想說的話，不需要任何語言。”

Their teacher Gloria Pegram has taught elementary school for fifteen years. She says art helps with memory.

他們的老師凱萊·皮格勒姆(Gloria Pegram)教了15年小學(xué)。她說藝術(shù)有助于記憶。

GLORIA PEGRAM: "Even with math, we try to be creative with it -- it helps their retention. They remember. They say, 'Oh, yes, I remember this because ... ' and they'll go into what we were doing, hands-on, whatever activity we were doing, to help them understand it better, and to retain it."

皮格勒姆：“甚至我們試圖讓數(shù)學(xué)有創(chuàng)造性，這有助于記憶，學(xué)生們會記住它。他們會說，‘哦，是的，我記得是因?yàn)?.....’他們會參與進(jìn)來親身實(shí)踐我們正在進(jìn)行的活動，從而幫助他們更好地理解和記憶。”

Ms. Pegram says students who do not take summer enrichment classes often need to relearn lessons when they return in the fall. This is especially true of low-income students. They are less likely, for example, to live near public libraries offering both books to read and special summer reading programs.

皮格勒姆女士表示，沒有參加暑期提高班的學(xué)生通常在秋季開學(xué)時需要重新復(fù)習(xí)功課。低收入家庭學(xué)生更是如此。例如，他們不太可能住在能同時提供書籍和暑期特別閱讀項(xiàng)目的公共圖書館附近。

Ed Pauly is director of research and evaluation at the Wallace Foundation. The nonprofit group has invested fifty million dollars to study which programs work best to prevent summer learning loss.

埃德·保利(Ed Pauly)是華萊士基金會研究評估主任。這家非營利性組織已經(jīng)投資5千萬美元來研究哪些項(xiàng)目在預(yù)防暑期學(xué)習(xí)流失上最為有效。

ED PAULY: "And for poor kids, the loss can be as much as three months of school learning that just disappears over the course of the summer. That's a very significant part of the achievement gap that separates kids from low-income communities from kids from more affluent communities."

保利：“對于窮孩子來說，缺席暑期課程相當(dāng)于損失了三個月的學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)。這樣一個顯著的成績差距將低收入社區(qū)學(xué)生與富裕社區(qū)學(xué)生區(qū)分開來。”

He says one promising approach has been to include art.

他表示，一種有潛力的探索包含了藝術(shù)。

ED PAULY: "We need kids to master reading and math. Arts gets them excited about being there every day. And the arts use reading and math. The arts are a great way to tie together learning experiences."

保利：“我們要讓孩子掌握閱讀和數(shù)學(xué)。藝術(shù)能讓他們天天都興奮。而這些藝術(shù)用到了閱讀和數(shù)學(xué)，藝術(shù)是將學(xué)習(xí)經(jīng)驗(yàn)聯(lián)系到一起的好辦法。”