2004-4-28
This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
A teacher of English as a second language is the
two-thousand-four Teacher of the Year in the United States. Kathy
Mellor of Rhode Island will spend the next year as an international
spokeswoman for education. President Bush and his wife, Laura,
honored her during a ceremony at the White House last week.
For the past nineteen years, Kathy
Mellor has taught English as a second language at Davisville Middle
School. Davisville Middle School is in North Kingstown, Rhode
Island, in the northeastern United States.
Mizz Mellor redesigned the program for E.S.L. students at her
school. She designed a program to provide each student with one to
three periods per day in classes for English learners. How much
instruction the students get depends on their level of skill in
listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The amount of time they spend in these classes is reduced as
their level of English increases. They spend more and more time in
classes with native speakers until they no longer need E.S.L.
instruction.
Another teacher describes this as the most successful E.S.L.
program in North Kingstown. She also praises Kathy Mellor for
providing help to students and their families. Kathy Mellor formed a
local parents group for speakers of other languages. This improved
their ability to help their children.
One parent of a former student praised Kathy Mellor for her
understanding of the difficulties in learning a new language. She
says Mizz Mellor was always there to answer any questions the family
had. And she says Mizz Mellor urges her students and their families
to speak their first language at home and not forget their culture.
Kathy Mellor was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She earned a
master's degree in education from Rhode Island College. Later she
earned a master's from Brown University. She studied teaching
English as a second language.
She was chosen for the national honor of Teacher of the Year from
among top teachers in each of the fifty states. The Council of Chief
State School Officers and the children's book publisher Scholastic
organize the program.
As Teacher of the Year, Kathy Mellor will travel around the
United States and to other countries. She will talk about the
importance of education and the work of teachers.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy
Steinbach.