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  3. On the outside, Betsy Lueth’s school looks like any other in this arty neighborhood of Minneapolis: a sprawling, boxy red brick

On the outside, Betsy Lueth’s school looks like any other in this arty neighborhood of Minneapolis: a sprawling, boxy red brick

admin2013-03-27  51
问题     On the outside, Betsy Lueth’s school looks like any other in this arty neighborhood of Minneapolis: a sprawling, boxy red brick building with plain steel doors. Yet inside, the blond, friendly Minnesotan presides over an institution unique in the heartland: Yinghua Academy, a chartered public school where elementary students of every ethnicity study subjects ranging from math to American history in Mandarin.
    The idea behind Yinghua, as with many immersion programs, is to introduce kids to the language and culture as early as possible—ideally, before age 12, while they’re still absorbing information like sponges. Kindergartners and first-graders are taught exclusively in Mandarin, and a single period of English is introduced in the second grade. By the sixth grade, kids are learning half in English and half in Mandarin, with the expectation of proficiency in both.
    The challenges at Yinghua are numerous. Most teachers come from Taiwan or mainland of China, and cultural misunderstandings prevail. Lueth’s instructors are learning to be tolerant of local norms like nontraditional families and boys who cry—as well as a lot more parental input than they’re used to. "In China, teachers are revered. They are not questioned," says Luyi Lien, Yinghua’s Taiwan-born academic director. "In America, parents are more expressive of their opinions. "
    Yinghua’s student body, once 70% Asian, is now 50% white, black or Hispanic. The school has more than tripled its enrollment, to 300 kids, many of whom commute an hour each day. Research has shown that in the long run, immersion programs can provide cognitive benefits, including more flexible, creative thinking. Though students from the programs lag for a few years in English, by the fifth grade they perform as well as or better than their monolingual peers on standardized reading and math tests. For multicultural families, the psychological boost can also be important. Lueth’s adopted daughter, Lucy, used to squirm when cousins asked why her skin color was different from theirs. Now, Lucy proudly answers them, "Yeah, I was born in China. "
    Lueth recently won an $ 800,000 grant from the Department of Education to develop a teaching model for immersion middle schools, and she advises educators around the country who are starting their own programs. If Yinghua can make Mandarin a success in Minnesota, so can they. "This is a glorious culture and an increasingly important language that we are meaningfully teaching to our children. And we’re in the middle of nowhere. "
In comparison with their counterparts in other schools around, Yinghua’s twelve-year-old Asian children would most probably be _____ .
选项 A、better at Western culture
B、more proficient in English
C、better at acquiring knowledge
D、more bilingually competent
答案D
解析 根据文中第二段的内容可知，如同其他浸入型双语教学模式那样，英华学校也认为应尽早开始教授孩子们语言和文化。理想的年龄是在12岁之前，这时的孩子们仍像海绵那样吸收着知识。幼稚园和一年级只用汉语教学，从二年级开始引入一节英语课时。到了六年级，孩子们的学习一半采用英语，一半采用汉语，以期两种语言都达到非常熟练的程度。据此可知，与周围其他学校的学生相比，英华12岁的亚洲学生最可能具有更好的双语能力。D项正确。
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