EDUCATION REPORT - American Students Get Help With Schoolwor

EDUCATION REPORT - American Students Get Help With Schoolwork From Far Away
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Thursday, October 06, 2005

I'm Faith Lapidus with the VOA Special English Education Report.

Some American students get help with their schoolwork from online companies whose teachers may be in another country.

One example is Career Launcher India Limited. It provides mathematics help through online tutoring¹ companies. The student in the United States and teacher in India talk to each other as they work out math problems. The teachers can explain ideas by drawing on the screen so the student can see how the answer develops. Career Launcher also tutors² students in India and the Middle East. The service costs about twenty to thirty dollars an hour.

Another online tutoring company is Tutor-dot-com. Its tutors are in North America. They provide help in math, science, social studies and English to students from the fourth to the twelfth grades. Officials say the company helps about three thousand students each day.

 
 
Growing Stars is another company offering online tutoring. It works³ with children from grades three through twelve. It helps with math, English, science, physics, chemistry and biology. The company tutors are in India.

It charges American students about twenty dollars an hour. Growing Stars is expanding into Canada, Britain and Australia. It gives each student a test to find out what he or she knows and does not know. Then an academic director creates a personal learning⁴ program for each student. And the company e-mails progress reports to the children's parents.

SmarThinking in Washington, D.C., has tutors in the United States, South Africa, the Philippines, India and Chile. But it only permits those in the United States to provide help with English.

Some education experts are concerned about people in India helping⁵ American children with American English. They also have concerns about the quality of other instruction offered by such programs. The companies say their teachers are professionals who know the differences between British and American English. The companies say they could not operate if students and their parents were not satisfied with the service.

To learn more about tutoring online, use a search engine and type in "online tutoring programs."

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.  I'm Faith Lapidus.

1 tutoring   

v.当家庭教师( tutor的现在分词 )；任大学导师；任课

参考例句：

• The teachers give individual tutoring to students who are having difficulties. 对有困难的学生，教师逐个进行辅导。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The old man was tutoring her in the stringed instruments. 那个老人在教她弹弦乐器。 来自辞典例句

2 tutors   

n.家庭教师( tutor的名词复数 )；导师；（大专院校的）助教；课本v.当家庭教师( tutor的第三人称单数 )；任大学导师；任课

参考例句：

• The students have submitted their essays to their tutors. 学生把论文递交给导师。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• To all appearances this was done out of respect for the tutors. 看上来全是尊师。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

3 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。

4 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。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。