Easy Reading in English. Методическое пособие по домашнему чтению для студентов II курса неязыковых специальностей педагогических вузов

9)Francie liked school;

10)All the teachers at school were good.

5.Find the right answer to the following statements and questions among the given variants:

1)Francie waited for her school days impatiently because …

a)… she was seven and it was high time for her to go to school;

b)… she wanted to drink from the school water fountains in the yard;

c)… she lived in Brooklyn.

2)What was the class system of a great Democracy at that school? a) All the children in Francie’ class were treated equally;

b) Teacher’s attitude was good towards all the pupils in the class; c)MissBriggs’voicewaskindwhenshespoketothefortune-favoured few and angry when she spoke to the great crowd of unwashed.

3)Mr. Morton and Miss Pernstone were like from another world because …

a) … they loved the unwashed and unwanted children more than the cared-for ones;

b) … they punished the pupils like the other teachers;

c) … they were doing a certain part of a community gathered under a leader for one purpose.

6.Divide the text into meaningful parts and say what each part is about. Entitle each of them in the form of an expression or a sentence from the text.

7.Search for the words and expressions describing:

a)the main characters;

b)the group of the cared-for girls;

c)the unwashed and unwanted children;

d)the lady principal.

8.Retell the text using the plan and the key-words and expressions.

9.What is the main idea of the text?

10.Say whether you remember your own first day at school and what you and your parents felt then.

11.You are choosing an ideal school for your child. How to make the right choice?

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THE FIRST LESSON

(After “The Heart of London” by Monica Dickens)

After she had written the letter everything had seemed very simple. She had had an interview in the summer holidays with the headmaster, who luckily hadn’t turned her down, although she was inexperienced.

The building had looked rather old, but it had been quiet with none of its pupils in the school.

She had found a small flat near the school, although her mother said that Grace was too young and the district was too dangerous, Grace felt she had done the right thing.

So this was Form IIIB. The morning had been bad enough, while the pupils were still wary and getting used to Grace’s ways. Yet when she climbed back to IIIB after her lunch, she was, for one moment after she opened the door, on the point of running away from Green Lane forever.

There were two fights going on, one in each corner of the room. There were pieces of paper all over the floor. One of the tables was on its side, with one leg broken.

She laid her books on the desk.

–Be quiet! – shouted Grace, wondering what she was doing there and why she had decided to become a teacher. She had told Geoffrey she could shout as loudly as he, and perhaps it was true. The two fights stopped and those who were watching them or talking and laughing in the middle of the room turned round and looked at her in surprise.

–Be quiet, – Grace repeated. – And pick up that table. We’ll write a dictation.

–Can’t, – said the red-haired girl in the white sweater. – The boys’ve broken it.

–What do we do then?

They sat quietly now looking at her.

–Well, pick up the table anyway. Put it at the back of the room. One of you boys at the back. – That was a mistake. That gave each of them an excuse to think she meant someone else.

Suddenly she felt tears coming to her eyes. She couldn’t cry in front of everybody.

–I’m asking you for the last time-pick-up-that-table.

Immediately, a large boy with a red face was on his feet. He went to the broken table and picked it up.

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It was all right now. Grace could look up at her class. She sat down and started checking the register of Form IIIB.

Notes

interview – зд. собеседование с поступающими на работу headmaster – директор школы

Green Lane – название школы

Assignments

1.Read and translate the text into Russian.

2.Replace the underlined words or word combinations with the corresponding synonyms:

1)Gracehadhadaconversationinthesummerholidayswiththeprincipal,

who luckily hadn’t turned her down, although she was unpractised;

2)She was going to run away from Green Lane forever;

3)Grace got interested why she had made up her mind to become a schoolmistress;

4)The pupils gazed at her in wonder;

5)Grace could glance at her class and began checking the list of Form IIIB.

3. Match the words into expressions from 2 columns:

4.Ask all types of questions about the text. Be ready to answer them (Work in pairs).

5.Divide the text into some logical parts and find a proper expression to entitle each of them.

6.Pick out the key-words and expressions from the text to characterize the first class and Grace’s feelings.

7.Render the text using the plan and the key-words and expressions.

8.Think of the author’s message.

9.Share your own suggestions as to what a teacher should do on the first day. Try to give some practical advice to a beginning teacher.

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INCENTIVE WORKS MIRACLES

Dr. Jenson, Principal of an institution for deprived and dependent children, was walking from the village to his school, four miles down the road. There was a beautiful red and gold sunset that evening but he hardly looked at it.

He had chosen to walk to the post-office and back because he was depressed by the hopelessness of his task. The children in his school were lovable but hard to teach, the thought of their prospects in life depressed him. Perhaps he should give up teaching and try some other work. That thought hurt him even more than the other, but what was the use of going on. He had been fifteen years in his present position and as far as he could see had done no one any good. Suddenly a car stopped near him and the driver called “Dr. Jenson. Let me drive you back to the school”.

He was about to say “no” but the fact that this young man knew his name caused him to change his mind. Jenson took his seat and looked at the man’s face trying to find the answer. But he couldn’t.

As they drove along the young man asked, “Do you remember me?” Jenson studied the face again. “I’m afraid I don’t”.

“My name is Bert B…You must remember that”. “Yes”, said Jenson, “I do”.

Bert B…had been sent to his school at the age of nine because he had not a relative or a friend in the world to take care of him… The psychologist said he had average intelligence but the difficulty he had in learning made to think that he was wrong. Bert didn’t like to study. His hobby was to work in the garden. But any job that took him away from books was welcome. That was ten years ago. Bert was a big boy of fourteen when he left but he couldn’t even read or write well.

“You are satisfied with your life, aren’t you?”

“You Sir, I am, thanks to you. Do you remember how you taught me to grow things? Every chance I got I cleared away from lessons and I suppose you thought I was a loafer, but it wasn’t that. It was just that I couldn’t sit at a desk in a room. I’m still that way, not too good with books, except books about vegetables. You remember how I hated reading. Well, when I found out there were books on vegetable-growing and things like that I read all I could find”.

“Are you married, Bert?”

“Too right! Married a farmer’s daughter two years and we’ve got one and a half kids already. How is that?”

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“That’s wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!”

Jenson suddenly noticed the beauty of the western sky. He felt the touch of the evening breeze and heard the laughter of children. And now when he feels unhappy he recalls Bert… and knows there is hope.

Assignments

1.Read and translate the text into Russian.

2.Comment on the title of the story. Give as many variants of its

translation as you can.

3.Give the English equivalents for:

1)безнадежность его цели в жизни;

2)перспективы в жизни;

3)изменить свою точку зрения;

4)замечать;

5)средний уровень интеллекта;

6)бездельник, лентяй;

7)сбегать с уроков;

8)обнаружить (выяснить);

9)слышать смех детей;

10)надежда.

4.Arrange A and B in pairs of antonyms:

а) dependent, beautiful, lovable, unhappy, wonderful, hardly, to give up, to take care of, to work, to hate;

b) to neglect, unwanted, to like, surely, to take up, unattractive, awful, independent, happy, to have a rest.

5.Make up 5 English sentences using these words and word combinations:

1)an institution for deprived and dependent children;

2)to be depressed by;

3)to give up teaching;

4)in his present position;

5)to take care of smb;

6)to hate reading;

7)not to be too good with smth;

8)to have the difficulty in learning;

9)to feel unhappy;

10)to take smb. away from smth.

6.Give facts to prove:

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1)Every man has his hobby horse;

2)There is always hope in our life;

3)Any man can be a good teacher;

4)Good teachers are born, not made;

5)Experience is the best teacher.

7.Find the words reflecting Dr. Jenson’ mood at the beginning of the text and after the meeting of his former pupil Bert.

8.Divide the text into meaningful parts, make a plan and entitle each of the part in the form of an expression or a sentence.

9.Retell the text using the plan and the key-words and expressions.

10.Give the main idea of the text.

11.Speak on your attitude to a teacher’s profession touching upon the following problems:

a) school-leavers’ reasons for choosing a teacher’s profession; b) advantages and disadvantages of this profession;

c) the problem of a low salary of teachers in Russia and possible ways out.

ONCE THERE WAS A TEACHER

(From “What Every English Teacher Should Know” by J. K. Hook, Paul H. Jacobs, Raymond D. Crisp)

He started reading early and read much. Not always “literature” that his own teacher recommended. Often westerns and science fiction and detective stories. He read much “literature”, too. He had his favorites – may be Shakespeare, O’Neill, Hemingway.

As a very young child he liked to write and wrote with pleasure. Often “poetry” at first – he loved the play of words. He started a novel or two before he was twelve but never completed it.

Curiosity was his mark when he was young, and curiosity remained his mark as the years passed.

As a child he quarreled or fought sometimes with his classmates; in fact he did almost everything that the others did (though he had his hours alone, too).

He fell in love early and often; he had his childhood failures and then went through the period when he ignored the other sex, and in college he was in love and out.

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Once he saw how hooligans attacked a helpless woman. Often he heard remarks about “niggers”, “wops”, “slant-eyes”, and sometimes instead of words there were deeds of discrimination and cruelty.

All these experiences helped to make him a good teacher. They helped him to understand literature. More important, they helped him to understand children. Whatever came up in the classroom, he could say to himself, “I have been there. Something like this has happened to me. I have felt this way myself. I have seen the like. I have struggled, too, through a dark night”. And when, as occasionally happened, a book or a child offered something new, he could say to himself, “Wonderful! That’s something I didn’t know, haven’t seen, haven’t felt. I’m richer for it”.

He read different theories and found in each something good or bad or both.

Helookedmorecriticallyathisprofessors,triedtoguesstheirmotivations, analyzed their successes and failures. No two professors were alike. The best of them were not afraid to say “I do not know” or “I’m not sure. Let’s try and find out.” Those professors he trusted.

Hestartedmakingalistofwhathewouldstillliketolearnandashelearned more, the list grew, because he knew more things to ask questions about.

On graduation day, he thought to himself, “I’m just beginning. There’s so much I don’t know that I must know. I’ve not read enough, not thought enough, not learned enough about young people. I must keep on learning. I must never stop”.

He knew that he would have many experiences in the classroom and out of it.

“I too am a part of all that I have met, and all that I have met is part of me, and all that I’ll ever meet will become part. It will all have some relationship to the job that I’ll be doing, if I can only see the relationship. Let me look back often. Let me look back often, but never to regret; let me look back only to learn”.

Notes

was in love and out – влюблялся и охладевал nigger – (амер. пренебр.) черномазый, ниггер wop – (амер. жарг.) итальяшка

slant-eyes – косоглазый

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Assignments

1.Read and translate the text into Russian.

2.Form the derivatives from:

occasion, wonder, curious, cruel, critical, to help, to succeed, to fail, to experience, to graduate.

3.Give the Russian renderings for:

1)Often westerns and science fiction and detective stories;

2)Curiosity was his mark;

3)…as the years passed;

4)…though he had his hours alone;

5)He had his childhood failures;

6)Let me look back again;

7)I have struggled, too, through a dark night;

8)No two professors were like;

9)As he learned more….

10.…he would have many experiences in the classroom and out of it;

11.…he knew more things to ask questions about.

4.Define if the following statements are true or false. Prove it.

1) A teacher often read westerns, science fiction and detective stories;

2) Imagination was his mark when he was young;

3) His favorites were Shakespeare, O’Neill, Hemingway;

4) In college he was in love and out;

5) He read different theories and found in each only bad points; 6) No two professors were alike for a teacher;

7) He considered that he should keep on learning further.

5.Complete the sentences:

6.Answer the questions:

1)Do books help a person to become a good teacher?

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2)What kind of books must a teacher read?

3)Is curiosity an important feature of a good teacher? Why do you think so?

4)Must a teacher of children and youth differ greatly from other people?

5)Why are personal experiences so important for a teacher?

6)Is critical thinking necessary for a teacher? Why?

7)Why does a list of what a person would like to learn grow as he (or she) learns more and more?

8)Can a person be a good teacher if he doesn’t keep on learning after graduation from the Institute?

7.Copy out the key-words and expressions concerning a teacher (the main character). Arrange a list of the important qualities a good teacher should possess. Try to explain why you have done so. Agree or disagree with your groupmates.

8.Read the following quotations and comment on them:

1)Every teacher continues to be a student.

2)The teacher is a model and example to his students.

9.Sum up the life story of a teacher. Use the plan to make your retelling full.

10.Do you agree with the author’s idea of being a real teacher? Why?

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE

(By Muriel Spark)

The boys, as they talked to the girls from Marcia Blaine School, stood on the far side of their bicycles holding the handlebars, which established a protective fence of bicycle between the sexes, and the impression that at any moment the boys were likely to be away.

The girls could not take off there panama hats because this was not far from the school gates and hatlessness was an offence. These girls formed the Brodie set. That was what they had been called even before the headmistress had given them the name, when they had moved from the Junior to the Senior school at the age of twelve. At that time they had been immediately recognizable as Miss Brodie’s pupils, being vastly informed on a lot of subjects irrelevant to the authorized curriculum, as the headmistress said,

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and useless to the school as a school. These girls were discovered to have heard of Mussolini, the Italian Renaissance painters; the interior decoration of the London house of the author of “Winnie-the-Pooh” had been described to them, as had the love lives of Charlotte Bronte and of Miss Brodie herself. TheywereawareoftheexistenceofEinsteinandtheargumentsorthosewho considered the Bible to be untrue. They knew the rudiments of astrology but not the capital of Finland. All of the Brodie set, save one, counted on its fingers, as had Miss Brodie, with accurate results more or less.

By the time they were sixteen, and had reached the fourth form, they remained unmistakably Brodie, and were all famous in the school, which is to say they were held in suspicion and not much liking. They had no team spirit and very little in common with each other outside their continuing friendship with Jean Brodie. She still taught in the Junior department.

Miss Brodie never discussed her affairs with the other members of the stuff, but only with those former pupils whom she had trained up to her confidence. There had been previous plots to remove her from Blaine, which had been foiled.

“It has been suggested again that I should apply for a post at one of the progressive schools, where my methods would be more suited to the system than they are at Blaine. But I shall not apply for a post at a crank school. I shall remain at this education factory. Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life.”

Often, that sunny autumn, when the weather permitted, the small girls took their lessons seated on three benches arranged about the elm.

“Hold up your books,” said Miss Brodie quite often that autumn, “prop them up in your hands, in case of intruders. If there are any intruders, we are doing our history lesson… our poetry…English.”

The small girls held up their books with their eyes not on them, but on Miss Brodie.

“Meantime I will tell you about my last summer holiday in Egypt…I will tell you about care of the skin, and of the hands…about the Frenchman I met in the train to Biarritz… and I must tell you about the Italian paintings I saw. Who is the greatest Italian painter?”

“Leonardo da Vinci, Miss Brodie.”

“That is incorrect. The answer is Giotto, he is my favourite.”

“Ifanyonecomesalong,”saidMissBrodie,“inthecourseofthefollowing lesson, remember that it is the hour for English grammar. Meantime I will tell you a little of my life when I was younger than I am now, though six years older than the man himself.”

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