Владимир Аракин - Практический курс английского языка 3 курс [calibre 2.43.0]

of the town, district, village or street in which the school is situated). Sometimes schools are named after a well-known person, e. g. Cedar Grove

School, Mary Hampden Junior School.

The following questions can be helpful:

1. What kind of school is it? What system of educational provision is in use locally for children aged 5 — 18?

2. What is the size of the school? (number of children of either sex, number of staff of either sex, age range of children, social

background of the school's catchment area if this is clear-cut)

3. What buildings and amenities does the school possess? (How many classrooms are there? Is there a hall, a library, specialist

rooms or areas, a staff room, playing fields? Are the buildings modern? Are there accommodation problems?)

4. How is teaching organized? (Streaming? Mixed ability grouping? Are classes generally taught as a single unit or is group

work or individual work the norm? What about the physical organization of the classroom — do the children sit at desks, in groups at

tables, randomly? Is the timetable fixed or flexible?)

5. What subjects are included into the curriculum? What is taught at the various age levels within the school? (Are specific

subjects taught, or is teaching arranged in more general areas like, for example, Aesthetics, Physical skills, Communication?)

6. What forms of reward and punishment are normally used?

7. What testing is done in the school and what forms of records are kept? (Are staff meetings held to discuss children's progress or

is this done informally? How are children and parents informed of progress?)

8. What system of examinations is used in the school?

9. In what way are parents involved with the school? (parents' meetings, parent-teacher association, parental help in or out of

school)

10. What do the school's general aims appear to be?

8. Say how any of the schools described by your fellow-students (Ex. 7) compares with the school you yourself attended.

9. Team up with your fellow-student to discuss one of the following problems:

1. Pre-school and primary education in Russia and England.

2. Secondary education in Russia and England.

3. Examinations in Russia and England.

One of the students is supposed to play the role of an Englishman, who knows very little about schools in Russia. The other will

represent a future teacher of English displaying much interest about pre-school institutions, primary and secondary education in

England. Try and interrupt each other with questions to get some more information. Compare the two systems. Find their merits and

disadvantages. Agree or disagree with your partner's statements if you feel like it (see Appendix). Use the Topical Vocabulary.

10. Read the following dialogue. The expressions in bold type show the ways of INSTRUCTING PEOPLE HOW TO DO THINGS. Note them

down. Be ready to act out the dialogue in class.

Experienced Teacher: Jenny, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.

What was it you wanted to talk to me about? Beginner: Oh! I just don't know what to do. E. T.: What's the

matter?

B.: Well, you know, it's again the problem of discipline in my class. When the lunch bell rings everything becomes so awful, and the

pupils so noisy. E. T.: Oh, come on! First of allpull yourself together. Try and look on the brighter side. It can't be as bad as that. B.

Oh, honestly it is. The children slam their books shut, shuffle their feet, splash their paint-water and rush toward food and freedom,

I'm at my wits' end. What should I do? E. T.: The first and most important thing I have to tell youis that you should have fixed

rules for your pupils. And by the way, don't forget torehearse them at the beginning of each school year.

B.: To rehearse the rules at the beginning of the year? But how? E. T.: I really do recommendthat you state them calmly and dis-

passionately. When an electric buzzer shrills, your children should sit quietly in their places. While in the classroom they are not at

the beck or call of mechanical noises.

B.: Oh yes, yes certainly.

E. T.: After you've done thatyou should show them the way the books are closed not slammed in the respectful manner due to

books. B.: Yes, of course.

E. T.: The next thing you dois to get them used to the following commands: "Attention please. The class will rise. The class is

dismissed." Make sure you rememberto avoid familiarity. Be careful not tohave moods. You should always be a certainty, be

predictable.

B.: I think I understand what you mean. I should be today what

I was yesterday and will be tomorrow. E. T.: Right. And then within limits their behaviour will be also predictable.

11. Learn the clichés, instructing people how to do things:

First of all you ...

The first thing you have to do is ...

After you've done that you ...

The next thing you do is ...

Oh; and by the way, don't forget to ...

Make sure you remember to ...

Oh, and be careful not to ...

12. Use the clichés of Ex. 11 in the following situations:

1. The Home Economics teacher explains to the girls how to make a cup of tea.

The following expressions may be useful:

to fill the kettle, to boil the water, to warm the teapot, to put the tea in the teapot, to fill the pot with boiling water, to stir the tea,

to leave the tea to brew for five minutes.

2. In the course of professional studies a lecturer helps a student teacher to arouse the class' interest in the subject.

The word combinations to be used: "To have informal classes, to express one's willingness to help, to apply oneself

enthusiastically to some subject, to encourage smb. to express his views against the general background of textbook information, to

stimulate smb.'s interest in school work, to use every device, one can think of.

1. An experienced teacher gives a piece of advice to a probation teacher who finds some difficulty in teaching East London

children the English language.

The word combinations to be used:

to feel at ease with smb., to blend informality with a correctness of expression, never to speak down to smb., to make the

meaning sufficiently clear in context, to encourage smb., to ask for an explanation any time one feels unsure.

2. The primary school principal who also trains teachers gives advice, a "bag of tools" which will enable the students to have

control over unfortunate classes (difficult, badly-behaved classes).

The word combinations to be used:

to enter into the class as you wish, to start on time, to know in full the alibis of any late arrival, to allow no movement of

furniture, to forbid squabbling over who sits where, to learn who is who, to use individual names as much as possible, not to talk for

long periods, to require pupils to do a piece of work within their capability, to keep a note of those who are consistently without what

they should have, to be strict but consistent, to finish in an orderly fashion.

13: Read the following text. Consider the penalties which are described in the extract. Do you think they will have a positive effect? Which of

them would you use in class if any at all? Do you know any others? Do you think punishment in general should be used in teaching?

Penalties Against the Fixed Rules

There was no need to waste time in preliminary admonitions. Miss Dove's rules were as fixed as the signs of the zodiac. And they

were known. The penalties for infractions of the rules were also known. If a child introduced a foreign object — a pencil, let us say,

or a wad of paper, or a lock of hair — into his mouth, he was required to wash out his mouth with yellow laundry soap. If his posture

was incorrect he had to go and sit for a while upon a stool without a back-rest. If a page in his notebook was untidy, he had to rewrite

it. If he emitted an uncovered cough, he was expected to rise immediately and fling open a window, no matter how cold the weather,

so that a blast of fresh air could protect his fellows from the contamination of his germs. Again if he felt obliged to disturb the class

routine by leaving the room for a drink of water (Miss Dove loftily ignored any other necessity) he did so to an accompaniment of

dead silence. Miss Dove would look at him — that was all — following his departure and greeting his return with her per fectly

expressionless gaze and the whole class would sit idle and motionless, until he was back in the fold again. It was easier — even if

one had eaten salt fish for breakfast — to remain and suffer.

13. Discuss the text of Ex. 13 and the problem of punishment in pairs. One of the pair will insist that punishment should be abolished and

never used in class, the other will defend the opposite point of view. Be sure to provide sound arguments for whatever you say. Consider the

following and expand on the items where possible.

For:

A g a i n s t :

1. Punishment helps to do away with animal instincts such as

1..It is no good to discipline children through fear.

greed, anger, idleness and discourtesy which lie in the depth of

2.Any punishment (corporal punishment in particular)

human nature.

humiliates a human being.

2.It is impossible to bring up self-confident,strong-willed

3.Teachers who punish their pupils do not care for children,

citizens without any punishment, as it keeps them under

they care only that children conform to the rules.

control.

4.When one uses any kind of punishment he brings up

3.The thing that distinguishes a man from a brute is not

(produces) cruel and heartless people.

instinct but performance, and certain kinds of punishment help

5.Punishment leads to lies, as children would tell any lie to

here a lot.

prevent the unpleasant act.

4.Not all kinds of punishment are acceptable, but it is

6. Punishment destroys a child's personality.

inevitable as a phenomenon to control discipline.

5.The means of punishment is important, it should never be

humiliating, never contemptuous. Children are not monsters,

some of them simply go a little further than they intend.

6.It is not punishment itself that is important, but the threat

that it represents (it keeps children from breaking the rutes).

15. The extracts given below present controversial subjects. Team up with another student, work out arguments "for" and "against" and

discuss the extracts in pairs. Use conversational formulas of agreement, disagreement, giving opinion (see Appendix).

A. Should a teacher take home his pupils' work to check it?

"Don't fall into the habit of bringing work home, Rick. It indicates a lack of planning, and you would eventually find yourself

stuck indoors every night. Teaching is like having a bank account. You can happily draw on it while it is well supplied with new

funds; otherwise you're in difficulties. Every teacher should have a fund of ready information on which to draw; he should keep that