時差N小時:雙語教育 Bilingual Education

Bilingual Education, a work in progress—Today onCongressional Moment. By the time the 13 Britishcolonies declared their independence, over twomillion people had immigrated across the ocean fromEurope. Many were British, but many more werefrom other countries, and spoke other languages. Itwas not long before bilingual education became anissue. By the mid 1800s, various states wereconducting classes in languages such as French,German, Dutch and Greek.

今日國會時刻——雙語教育，仍在發(fā)展的事業(yè)。到英國13個殖民地宣布獨立時，已有超過200萬人穿越海洋從歐洲移民。很多人來自英國，但更多人來自其他國家，他們講其他語言。不久之后雙語教育便應(yīng)運而生。到19世紀中期，各州均開設(shè)了用法語，德語，荷蘭語以及希臘語講授的課程。

Non English-speaking students received some protection under the 14th Amendment's EqualProtection Clause, ratified in 1868, and over a hundred years later, in 1968, the BilingualEducation Act was created. It was the first official federal legislation recognizing the specificneeds of students with limited English-speaking ability.

第十四條修正案的平等保護條款于1868年批準生效，這為母語為非英語的學(xué)生提供了更多保護，且在100后的1968年，國會通過了《雙語教育法》。這條法案以聯(lián)邦法律形式成立，它的重要意義在于認識到英語能力差的學(xué)生的特殊需求。

It gave assistance to many local districts to establish bilingual education programs. Duringthe 1980s and 90s, Congress amended the Act several times, reflecting new challenges,changing priorities and new teaching techniques.

這條法律協(xié)助了各地機構(gòu)建立雙語教育項目。在20世紀80年代至90年代，國會屢次修改這條法案，修改內(nèi)容反應(yīng)了新的挑戰(zhàn)，不斷變化的優(yōu)先事項以及新式教學(xué)技巧。

The issue was, and still is, hotly debated at the grass roots level, with children coming to ourschools speaking more than 200 languages. Congress continues to wrestle with the importantissue of how best to help students from non-English speaking families move into themainstream of American life. The Bilingual Education Act is clearly a work-in-progress, andrelated issues are likely to be found in the media and on the ballots for many years to come.

進入美國學(xué)校讀書的學(xué)生所說的語言超過200種，這個問題曾是并仍然是民間熱議的話題。如何幫助來自非英語家庭的學(xué)生融入進美國主流生活，國會將繼續(xù)設(shè)法解決這一問題。顯然，雙語教育仍是有待發(fā)展事業(yè)。未來許多年內(nèi)媒體，競選宣傳仍會持續(xù)報道、提及相關(guān)問題。