In New York City public schools, 176 different languages are spoken among the more than 1 million students.
纽约市公立学校的一百多万名学生讲176种不同的语言。
For 160,000 children, English is not their first language. New York's Department of Education makes learning better for these students by providing dual-language programs.
对16万儿童来说，英语并非他们的第一语言。纽约市教育局通过提供双语课程让这些学生们学习更轻松。
Students are taught in two languages, English and another one, like Russian or Chinese. Math, social studies, science and all other regular courses are taught in both languages. And they learn about the culture of the other country.
学生们被使用两门语言教学，英语和另一种语言，像俄语或汉语。数学、社会学、科学和其它常规课程都用两种语言教学。而且他们要了解其它国家的文化。
Milady Baez is Deputy Chancellor of English Language Learners and Student Support. She says these dual-language programs will help children succeed in the future.
米拉迪·贝兹（Milady Baez）是负责英语学习者和学生支持方面的副局长。她说，这些双语课程将有助于孩子们在未来取得成功。
"The jobs of the future require that our students know more than one language. They are going to be traveling abroad, they are going to be communicating with people from all over the world. This will open doors for them."
她说，“未来的工作需要我们的学生懂得一门以上的语言。他们将要出国旅行，要同世界各地的人们交流。而这将为他们打开大门。”
David A. Booty Middle School in Brooklyn offers dual language education in four languages: Russian, Mandarin, Spanish and Hebrew.
位于布鲁克林的大卫布蒂中学提供俄语、汉语、西班牙语和希伯来语这四种语言的双语教学。
Shuya Zhang teaches a dual language class. She says the program helps children get ready to work with people in other countries.
张舒雅（译音）教授一门双语课程。她说，该课程有助于孩子们做好同他国人们一起工作的准备。
"Look at now-a-days, America started economic relationships with China. Lots of factories have been built, companies moved to China. They need people with the skills with both language skills so the kids when they are grown up, they already have this skill."
她说，“看看现在，美国同中国开始建立了经济关系。很多工厂已经建成，公司都搬迁到了中国。他们需要具备双语技能的员工。所以当这些孩子长大时，他们已经具备这项技能了。”
Middle-schoolers might not have jobs on their minds yet. For Kequing Jaing, she likes keeping up her first language, Mandarin.
初中生可能尚未考虑到就业。对江可青（译音）来说，她喜欢学习她的母语，也就是普通话。
"It makes me, like, feel that I am home because I can speak in Chinese, learn in Chinese, while learning in English. So it makes me feel better and makes me understand more about the task I'm learning."
她说，“这让我感觉到像是在家里，因为我能说汉语，在用英语学习的同时也用汉语学习。这样让我感觉更好了，也让我对自己正在学习的课业懂得更多了。”
Anastasia Hudikova came to the United States when she was 2 years old. She says the Russian-English program keeps her connected to her heritage and her parents happy.
阿纳斯塔西·胡迪科娃（Anastasia Hudikova）两岁时来到美国。她说英俄双语课程让她与她的文化遗产联系了起来，她的父母非常高兴。
"They're really happy about the program that it exists. They are really happy that I can preserve my culture and my language, that I can speak it fluently in school."
她说，“他们对这个课程的存在感到非常高兴。他们对我能够保留我的文化和语言，能够在学校里流利地说俄语真的感觉非常高兴。”
The New York schools also offer dual-language programs in seven other languages: Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Korean, Polish and Spanish. There are plans to add even more languages in the future.
纽约的学校还提供其它七种语言的双语课程，其中包括阿拉伯语、法语、海地克里奥尔语、希伯来语、韩语、波兰语和西班牙语。他们还计划未来增加更多的语种。
While these dual-language programs are popular, some groups in the U.S. say teaching English comes first. U.S. English wants to make English the official language of the United States.
虽然这些双语课程非常受欢迎，美国的一些团体表示，教英语是第一位的。美国英语这一团体想让英语成为美国的官方语言。
"We have no problem with folks speaking multiple languages ... if people want to speak a different language at home," says Todd DuBois with U.S. English. "What we do think is schools should prioritize English."
美国英语这一团体的托德·杜波依斯（Todd DuBois）表示，“我们对人们说多种语言没意见，如果人们在家里想说其它语言的话。我们确实认为学校应该优先考虑英语。”
He says studies show that children who learn English early will be more successful later. And, he says, focusing on English in the classroom will help the students learn the language faster.
他说，研究表明，早期学习英语的儿童以后会更加成功。他还表示，在教室中专注英语将有助于学生们更快地学习这门语言。
I'm Anne Ball.
我是安妮·波尔。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利，未经授权请勿转载，违者必究！)