VOA慢速英语--美大学生临危受命做起代课老师

Samantha Wood is studying to be a teacher at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. This year, the third-year student and other teacher candidates¹ learn by working as substitute² teachers themselves.

"I'm learning³ by experience, which is really awesome⁴ for me," she told the Aberdeen American News.

Wood said she was nervous about her first time being placed in the classroom. But she could not wait to see what the teacher had planned for the day. Wood added it was easy for her to keep the class activities moving using her imagination.

After two weeks in different classrooms, Wood has nearly met her required hours of field experience in teaching⁵. However, she planned to continue working as a substitute teacher.

Andria Moon is a dean⁶ at the university's School of Education. She said teacher candidates from the university have worked as substitute teachers in the past. Yet they did not get credit⁷ for field experience in the classrooms.

This year, as older substitute teachers do not want to fill in during the COVID-19 health crisis⁸, the university received approval⁹ to give teacher candidates credit for field experience.

"We're calling it an alternative field experience," Moon said. She added that public schools do so much for the community. And the university is pleased to have a chance to help as partner. More than a third of Northern's teacher candidates have joined the program.

Wood said her experience in the classroom got other students interested in the program. "After I shared my experience, they were asking me questions and more willing to try," she said.

Becky Guffin, head of the Aberdeen's public schools, agreed the need for substitute teachers is high this year. She said because of COVID-19, teachers could be out of work for more than one day.

The South Dakota Department of Health suggests a two-week quarantine for someone who comes in contact with an infected person. It also takes several days to get results of a COVID-19 test.

Guffin said the school system has been able to fill the need for substitute teachers so far, but sometimes it takes more than one substitute. In some cases, one substitute comes in the morning and another works¹⁰ in the afternoon.

Sometimes, Guffin said, teachers used their open planning period to cover another classroom. During planning periods, she said, teachers do not usually have students in their classroom because they are planning future classes or finishing other work.

Guffin said the Aberdeen public school system is now seeing some COVID-19 cases. Since the high school has the largest group of students, she expected that there will be more cases there. And teachers are ready to meet the needs of students who miss 10 to 14 days of school and have tests and work to make up.

Guffin said the goal is to keep the buildings open and filled with students and teachers. "We're holding our own," she said. "It's a very different year."

Words in This Story

substitute – n. a person or thing that takes the place of someone or something else

awesome – adj. extremely good

dean – n. a person who is in charge of one of the parts of a university

alternative – adj. offering or expressing a choice

quarantine – n. the period of time during which a person or animal that has a disease or that might have a disease is kept away from others to prevent the disease from spreading

1 candidates   

n.报考者( candidate的名词复数 )；申请求职者；攻读学位者；最后命运或结局如何已显然可见者

参考例句：

• Employers must consider all candidates impartially and without bias. 雇主必须公平而毫无成见地考虑所有求职者。
• one of the leading candidates for the presidency 总统职位的主要候选人之一

2 substitute   

n.代理，代理人，代用品，代替物；vt.代替；vi.替代，取代

参考例句：

• Can you substitute for the singer who is ill?你能替一下那位得了病的歌手吗？
• Yogurt is a perfectly acceptable substitute for cream in cooking.酸奶是烹饪用的特别受欢迎的奶油替代品。

3 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

4 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

5 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

6 Dean   

n.(大学)院长，系主任，教务长

参考例句：

• The students much like the new dean.学生们很喜欢这位新系主任。
• Who is the dean of the Foreign Languages Department?外语系主任是谁？

7 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

8 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

9 approval   

n.赞成，同意；批准，认可

参考例句：

• The audience has expressed its approval.观众已经认可。
• The teacher signed his approval.老师做了手势表示同意。

10 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。