Decide for which of the four young people (Hannah, Paul, Amy, Ryan) the following statements are true.

1. They mention teachers.

2. They mention tests or exams.

3. They mention some form of bad behaviour by pupils.

4. They mention food

Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F), or if the text doesn’t say (D).

1. Paul thinks foreign language classes should be compulsory.

2. Amy thinks there should be fewer tests in schools.

3. Hannah thinks teachers should be able to exclude some pupils from classes.

4. Ryan thinks teachers should be serious all the time.

5. Paul has to do lots of exams at his school.

6. Amy thinks pupils should be able to study a greater number of different subjects after the age of 16.

7. Hannah doesn’t think pupils should have to memorise facts all the time.

8. Ryan does not believe single-sex schools get better exam results.

Answer the questions below.

1. What does Ryan think it is very important for schools to try to prevent?

2. What does Amy think can make pupils less interested in a subject?

3. Paul mentions three subjects, or kinds of subjects, that pupils would study in his idea of a good school – what are they?

4. What does Hannah seem to mean by teaching ‘in an enjoyable way’?

5. What does Amy say she doesn’t know?

Complete the crossword below. If all the words are correct, the full name of one of the subjects that is compulsory in schools in Britain (and many other countries) will read from top to bottom.

1. Hannah says pupils who ___________ around all the time stop others from learning.

2. Paul thinks it is important for schools to have good ___________ for sport.

3. Amy thinks students study too few ___________ after the age of 16.

4. Paul thinks that playing sport and eating proper meals will make school pupils

___________.

5. Hannah thinks teachers should ____________ troublemakers from classes.

6. Ryan says most schools are ___________ rather than single sex.

7. Paul doesn’t seem very interested in foreign ___________.

8. Amy says there are problems with the education ___________ in England.

9. Both Hannah and Ryan think ___________ is important, but also that teachers should know how to make classes enjoyable.

10. Ryan believes that sometimes it is necessary for teachers to be ___________.

11. Amy thinks there is too much ___________ on pupils to pass tests.

GRADING

Out each of the following words into its correct place in the text.

achievements	adjustment	admit	attitude
average	colleges	common	failure
grade	letter	marking	method
minimum	occasionally	pass	percentage
perfect	progress	record	reports
school	teacher

Grading

Grading is a … used in schools to … student achievements. Almost every …keeps a record of each student’s … in order to have some basis for measuring his …. The record supplies information for … to parents. Universities and … often use this information to help determine whether they should … a student.

For a long time, the most … method of recording achievements was by …, with a mark, or …, of 100 per cent representing … achievement. The … mark for a … was usually 70 per cent, and for … work, about 80 per cent. Today, the letters A, B, C, D, E, and … F, are much more commonly used. The mark A stands for exceptional achievement, and E or F means ….

A few schools use no … system at all. Instead, each … writes a detailed … to the parents. Such letters report the student’s progress, …, activities, and social ….

Lesson 37.

Stages in a person’s education

Here are some names that are used to describe the different types of education in Britain.

play-school nursery school	pre-school (2-5 years old)	mostly play with some early learning
infant school junior school	primary (5-11)	basic reading, writing, arithmetic, art, etc.
comprehensive school or grammar school	secondary (11-18)	wide range of subjects in arts and sciences and technical areas
college or polytechnic or university	further/higher (18+)	degrees/diplomas in specialized academic areas

Note: Comprehensive schools in the UK are for all abilities, but grammar schools are usually by competitive entry. Public schools in the UK are very famous private schools. Polytechnics are similar to universities, but the courses tend to be more practically-oriented. Colleges include t eacher-training colleges, technical colleges and general colleges of further education.

EXAMS AND QUALIFICATIONS

take/do/sit/resit an exam	pass/do well in an exam	fail/do badly in an exam

Some schools give pupils tests every week or month to see if they are making progress. The school-leaving exams are held in May/June. In some schools, colleges and universities, instead of tests and exams there is continuous assessments, with marks, e.g. 65%, or grades, e.g. A, B+, for essays and projects during the term. If you pass your university exams, you graduate (get a degree), then you’re graduate.

TALKING ABOUT EDUCATION

Asking somebody about their country’s education system.

What age do children start school at?

What’s the school-leaving age?

Are there evening classes for adults?

Do you have state and private universities?

Do students get grant s for further education?

Note: A professor is a senior university academic, not an ordinary teacher. University and college teachers are usually called lecturers or tutors.

VOCABULARY EXERCISES