I. Choose the right answer or continue the statements given below.

1. According to the text, what is the standard image of a teacher? This is …

1. a person who thinks clearly and knows everything.

2. a pedant concentrated on the work.

3. a strange creature fond of generalizations.

4. a shy person who sticks to his working milieu.

2. What makes teachers lifestyle and views different?

1) Shyness 2) Isolation

3) Stresses 4) Working environment

3. Why do teachers feel uneasy Sunday night?

1. They want to have more free time.

2. They don’t feel well prepared for Monday.

3. They think about meeting noisy children.

4. They hate the idea of coming early on Monday.

4. Who are the best teachers from the author’s point of view? Those who …

1. think much about undisciplined children.

2. understand that they should do more for school.

3. refuse to deal with undisciplined children.

4. do not let work occupy all their thoughts.

5. What does the author find extraordinary about teaching?

1. Teachers can seldom switch off and forget their work.

2. Teachers come to work even when they are ill.

3. Teachers get very special rewards for their work.

4. Teachers can reveal emotions they never suspected of.

6. Many people try …

1. not to think why teachers are different.

2. not to bother teachers with questions about work.

3. to understand what influences teachers’ behavior.

4. to find out what are the rewards of teachers’ work

2. Discuss the peculiarities of the teaching profession. Why is it so different from the other jobs?

3. A friend of yours is going to become a teacher. Using the active vocabulary inform him/her about advantages and disadvantages of his/her future profession. Text 6.

John Carr, a teacher who works in a London secondary school, was asked about his worst teaching experience.

I think that the worst experience I have ever had was my first year of teaching, and the kids knew that I didn’t have a clue how to control them. I was giving the students a French test, a subject most of them hate. I had this class of third years – they are the worst, children who do anything they can to give you a hard time, spotty adolescents. It’s the age-range I hate most.

There was a girl whose mother had just died and she used to just sit there and stare at me as if it was my fault. And there was another who used to sit next to her who was probably the biggest trouble-makes in the school.

Anyway, one day the students were doing this test – it was about the subjunctive, which we had just done in class – when this girl started crying. She put up her hand and asked if she could go to the toilet. I knew that she was probably thinking about her mother so I said yes. I mean, what else could I do? She left the room and ten minutes later she still hadn’t come back. I was wondering what to do next when the other girl put her hand up and asked if she could go and look for her friend. I couldn’t go myself because the students would all cheat, so I said yes, and she left the room too.

Ten minutes later there was still no sign of her. I thought there was nothing for it but to go and find them both myself. I was just coming out of the girl’ loo – they were not there – when the headmaster called me from the other end of the corridor. “Mr. Carr!” he shouted. “Is there any particular reason why your class are all talking to each other in the middle of an exam? I suggest you get back there and supervise them immediately!”

I ran back to my classroom and there were the two girls sitting quietly, as good as gold. The rest of the class were also quiet, busily getting on with their test. It was only when I marked the test that I realized I had been tricked. The whole class scored more than 80 % - the first and the last time that ever happened!