What makes a good language school?

Every year, thousands of young people come to Great Britain to learn English. They come from a range of backgrounds, and have varying expectations of what their stay in the country will be like. Two things they all have a right to expect, however, are that their stay in Great Britain will be reasonably enjoyable, and that they will return to their countries speaking English a lot better than when they left them. How can a language school ensure that these expectations are not disappointed?

Clearly, the first objective is that what students do in the classroom should improve their English. First of all, the teachers should be capable and qualified. That is to say, they should know what the students need to learn, and be able to help them learn it. On top of that, the school should provide students with efficient material to work with. Lastly, a school ought to try to keep up with technological developments in language learning, in order to be able to offer these facilities to students.

The second question is school facilities. Apart from good-sized classrooms, the school must offer a comfortable place for students to meet and talk between lessons. Furthermore, it is convenient for students if the school provides meals, coffee and so on. Some schools even contain a bar for socialising among students and staff.

The final way in which schools can help students is by making sure that they enjoy themselves outside schooltime. The most important question here is accommodation, and a responsible school will not only find students somewhere to stay, but also take care that accommodation continues to meet high standards. In addition, it is part of a school's responsibilities to inform students about places to go in the town, so that students don't sit at home all the time. Last but not least, in one or two very good schools there is a welfare officer, whose job is to look after the well-being of students, and to give advice when needed.

Few schools meet all these requirements, and one cannot expect the cheaper ones to do so. However, any school that meets most of them is doing a pretty good job.

The following ideas were left out of the text.

• The school should be well-heated in winter.

• Materials should be suitable for the level of the students.

• Examples of equipment are language laboratories, video, computers.

• The school should arrange parties, excursions, entertainments.

• Students should be graded into groups of similar language ability.

• Classrooms should be attractive and well-lit.

Expand the items as you like (thinking particularly of purpose). Say

where you would fit each into the text and the connecting expression

you would use.

Task 7.

Make up the story "My Institute", using the words below.

To enter an Institute (a University)/ to be admitted to-he university, to take an oral/ written examination (in), to pass (fail) an examination in English; to have classes in Grammar (Home-Reading, Phonetics, Written Practice, Conversation, Psychology, Sociology, Medicine, the Theory of Education, Educational Psychology, Socio-Political History, Literature, Mathematics, Physics, Geography, Chemistry, Biology, Linguistics); to have seminars/ lectures on; to take a course in psychology, 3 double-periods weekly, a wide range of subjects, an examination paper (a test paper) in Grammar, the course of study runs (lasts ) for 5 years, to receive (get) grants (Grants are paid once a month, the amount depends on the results of the previous set of examinations and the students' social work (activities); the winter (summer) term; attendance is compulsory (sport / physical education is compulsory during the first years of study);an optional subject (there are optional courses in English Philology); to have holidays twice a year, to house 9 faculties; the teaching staff consists of professors, lecturers, assistants; full-time students (part-time students); a well-equipped language laboratory; to borrow books from the library (to join the library, the library is well stocked with books from the reading list of recommended works for students; our students' clubs are extremely popular with the students of our faculty; to take part in the activities of our discussion and theatrical groups, to be interested in research work (to join a linguistic society, club); to attend special preparatory (preliminary) courses; to train teachers (I'm training to be a teacher).