Why aren't you at school, sonny?

This is a question that many British schoolchildren may hear at some point in their school careers, when they are 'playing truant', 'bunking off', or absent without permission. The government thinks that absenteeism is getting out of control in England, but what can they do to make sure children go to school? Here are some of the reasons they are worried:

One million children a year bunk off school (go absent without a reason). In primary schools (5-11) the average time missed per absent pupil is five days in the year. For secondary schools (11-16), it is 10 days.

Why is it such a problem? The evidence shows that truancy is linked to crime and failure at school. When children are out of school they might be committing crime and they certainly aren't learning.

What is the answer then? Some people think it is electronic registration: this is a chip in a card that the children have to swipe at the beginning of the school. When the children put the card in a machine the headmaster can see immediately who is in the school and who is absent.

The best way of improving attendance is to make school and the gaps between the lessons more interesting. Some schools, which have had attendance problems in the past, have started lunchtime radio stations, sport, music and a breakfast club with morning TV and aerobics.

 Other schools have resorted to more extreme methods when pupils don't turn up. Last year 9000 children were expelled from schools in England, a big rise in figures. Many children were excluded for violence and criminal behaviour. Of course, throwing children out of school solves one problem but immediately creates many more. Some teachers want corporal punishment brought (beating children with sticks) back into the classroom (it was banned in the 1970s), but the government didn't dare.

One parent knows very well the cost of truancy, not only to her children's education, but to her own freedom. A mother of five, Patricia Amos, was the first person in Britain to be sent to jail for failing to send her children to school. She was sent to prison for 60 days after being found guilty in Oxford. She served 28 days in a very dangerous and violent women's prison in London. Mrs. Amos said, 'the whole horrible thing worked. It has brought me to my senses.'

                                                                                                                      Jeremy Morris

ü What are the reasons of bunking off school?

ü What are the ways of solving of this problem?

ü Do you think that there is the same problem in schools in Russia?

ü How is it solved in Russia?

ü Have you ever skipped class?

ü Did you get away with it or were you caught?

 

to commit crime – совершить преступление to swipe – вставлять (карточку) attendance – посещаемость gap – перерыв to resort to – прибегать к to turn up – являться, приходить

to expel – исключать to exclude – исключать violence – насилие corporal punishment – телесное наказание to ban – запрещать jail – тюрьма (syn. prison)

to be bullied – подвергаться травле to be found guilty – быть признанным виновным to bring to senses – привести в чувство to skip – пропускать, прогуливать to put pressure – оказывать давление

Bunking off.

Here's what British kids think about bunking off.

 

ü Most people bunk off because they face problems at school – either they are not doing well, they are being bullied or their parents are putting too much pressure on them.    

Pip, Birmingham

ü I used to bunk school last year when I was being bullied because of my colour. It's now OK but I think people who bunk off need help like I did, not punishment.

Emily, Cambridge

ü My mum lets me bunk off PE, but I wouldn't bunk off school for the risk of getting caught. That's what happened to some people in my school.

Rachel, Liverpool

ü As long as it isn't near an exam date I'm fine with bunking.

Ewan, Livingstone

ü I think bunking off school is stupid because you always get caught.

Laura, Wigan

ü My mum helps me skip PE, she probably shouldn't but I'm not complaining.

Tina, Basingstoke

 

 

VI. Topic 'Sports and Games'

The Olympic Games.

 

About the Games

The long journey of the Olympic games began more than 2,700 years ago. Records of Olympic history show that the ancient Olympic games were held in Greece as early as in 776 BC. It was then that the basis of the Olympic Movement began to evolve into a philosophy of life: exalting and combining the qualities of body, will, and mind in a balanced whole. Out of this philosophy the Olympic Ideals were born, placing noble competition, sport, peace, a culture, and education at the very core of Greek civilization.

By 393 AD, when Emperor Theodosius abolished the event for being too 'pagan', over 290 Olympic Games had been held. But despite the abolishment of the Games, the Olympic Ideals survived the centuries and were eventually revived by the French Baron Pierre de Coubertin. In 1896 the first Modern Olympic Games were held in Athens and since that time have been on a journey around the world for more than a century.

Now, at the dawn of the 3rd millennium, the Games are returning to the country of their birth and the city of their revival. In 2004, Greece will be called upon to empower the Olympic Movement once again, placing sport at the service of peace.

The city of Athens will offer a unique Olympic experience in a safe and secure environment. An environment greatly improved through infrastructure projects as varied as the construction of modern competition venues and the development of a state-of-the-art transportation network. And it is through this kind of projects that the 2004 Games aspire to leave a lasting legacy to the people of Greece and the world.

History

"As in the daytime there is no star in the sky warmer and brighter than the sun, likewise there is no competition greater than the Olympic Games."                            Pindar, Greek lyric poet, 5 ^th century B.C.

 

This view of the Olympic Games has its roots in ancient Greece. Early historic records date the first Ancient Olympic Games to 776 BC, when the core values of Olympism first began to develop into benchmarks of human creativity and excellence. Over the centuries, the Games would illuminate examples of extraordinary achievement. They would become the stage for the celebration of noble competition and the educational value of sport until 393 AD, when Emperor Theodosius abolished them for being 'too pagan'.

In 1896, thanks to the great efforts of Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, Dimitrios Vikelas, and other contributors, the first Modern Olympic Games were held in the country of their birth. The Greek nation and the whole world embraced their revival and once again turned them into the greatest celebration on earth. In the century to follow, the Games traveled to countries around the world, encountering a wide range of cultures and civilization s, facing new challenges, growing, and evolving.

I. Antiquity

Ancient Olympic Games

According to historic records, the first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC. They were dedicated to the Olympian Gods and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia, famous for its magnificent temples of the gods Zeus and Hera. They initially had a religious character and combined a number of ancient sporting events, many of which were based on ancient Greek myths.

The ancient Games actually occupied an important position in the life of our ancestors. An Olympiad was a time unit, measuring the four-year interval between two Games. Participants came to compete from every corner of the Greek world aiming at the ultimate prize: an olive wreath and a "heroic" return to their city-states. But apart from the glorious victory, it was the Olympic values themselves which accorded special meaning to the Games: noble competition and the effort to combine body, will, and mind in a balanced whole.

As the Games developed, so did a set of procedures such as a standardized schedule of events and the practice of the Olympic Truce. They continued for nearly 12 centuries, until Emperor Theodosius decreed, in 393 AD, that all such 'pagan cults' be banned. He asserted that the Games placed an excessive public focus on athletic and spiritual affairs and abolished them

II. Revival

Modern Olympic Games

In the 19th century, intellectuals such as Evangelos Zappas and Demetrios Vikelas who believed in the spirit of noble contests and the Olympic ideals lent their voices and efforts to the revival of the Olympic Games. However, it was French Baron Pierre de Coubertin who orchestrated the re-establishment of the Games, by advocating the marriage of sports and Greek classicism and leading the way to the first Modern Olympic Games in 1896.

From the very beginning, the Greek public embraced the revival, and joined the efforts to organize the Games. Any financial difficulties faced by the Greek State at the time were met through the mobilization of people and benefactors alike. The marble renovation of the ancient Panathinaikon Stadium that hosted the first modern Games was financed by George Averoff, a Greek benefactor from Northern Greece.

       With the revival of the Olympic Games, a number of symbolic Olympic Traditions were also developed and established (i.e. the Olympic Anthem, the Olympic Creed, the Olympic Flag, the Olympic Oath, the Olympic Flame and Torch, the Olympic Truce).

Over the years, the Olympic Games travelled to different countries and continents, and in 2004, they will return to the country of their birth and the city of their revival for the hosting of the XXVIII Modern Olympic Games.