USA Education Reader. High School and college culture. Книга для чтения

ENHANCING COMPREHENSION

Scan the story and read out and translate the paragraph that

–illustrates how he abused his position as student body presi-

dent;

–describes what Eric did to win his peers’respect;

–shows Eric’s state of mind and emotions when he saw the poster “Zap the Sap”.

Answer the questions:

1.What kind of person was Eric?

2.How did he win the student body president elections?

3.Why did he turn into such an unpopular character on campus?

4.How did he deal with that?

5.What was his major achievement as student body president?

CULTURE PERSPECTIVE

1.What are the culturally marked words you were able to identify in the story? What do they represent?

2.What role does student body president play in USA universities and colleges? Is he/she elected or appointed? Is there a student body president in your school or college? Have you ever taken part in student body president elections?

3.Comment on the similarities and differences between summer camps in the USAand Russia.

4.Comment on the cultural peculiarities of the word combination governing board. Who are its members? What role does it play in the organizational set up of the university or college? Consult the Glossary and look for some additional information in the Internet. Is there a similar board in Russian universities? Comment on their similarities and differences.

5.Comment on the cultural lacuna community. What is its happiest Russian equivalent?

6.Comment on the cultural background of the word adviser (college). What are his/her duties? Consult the Glossary.

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7.Comment on the cultural background of the poster “Zap the Sap”. What is its origin?

8.Share the information you have found about the italicized culturally marked words with your group mates: the Associated students, the drama department, the music department, the speech department.

SUMMARIZING

Sum up the story as if you were the college president/ the female vice-president.

LEADS FOR DISCUSSION

1.Eric used to think that he had to pretend to know what he was doing, that he had everything under control and that he was in charge. But he discovered that “the easiest­ way to gain other people’s respect was to admit to them what I did not know”. Can you agree that it is really the easiest way to gain respect? Will this strategy work in every situation? Have you ever tried it?

2.Can you agree that “absolute power corrupts absolutely”?

3.Comment on the phrase “When a man looks into the abyss and nothing is staring back, that is when he finds his true character”. How do you understand it? Can you agree with it?

4.The idea of the story is quite well summed up in the words of the college president “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Have you ever been in a similar situation? Can you describe your experience?

CULTURALWEB

Having read and discussed the story, you can add some new cultural lacunas representing college organization and management, academics, social activities and relationships to the Web.

PROJECT WORK

LookfortheinformationaboutstudentorganizationsinUSAcollegesanduniversities.Gototheofficial siteofanyuniversityofyourchoice and comment on the student major organizations and their activities.

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STORY 16.

HOMECOMING OFADIFFERENT SORT

PRE-READING TALK

Most people in Russia and the USAgo to college immediately after they finish high school. When do you think is the best time to start your college education? What are the advantages of starting college right after you finish high school?Are there any advantages to starting college later in life? When would you prefer to go to college?

Read the title of the story. What kind of association does it bring to your mind? What do you think the story is about? Read the story to check your guesses.

INTERACTIVE READING

The following story is about a person who went to college at a much older age. Read the story to find out his motives. After reading the story, do a test and some other exercises to enhance your comprehension and build your vocabulary.

While reading, you will come across a number of culturally marked words. Most of them can be found in the Glossary at the end of the book.As for the culturally marked words in italics, they are not included into the Glossary, so be sure to consult the Internet sources, other dictionaries and encyclopedias to find out their cultural background.

AHOMECOMING OFADIFFERENT SORT

Jeff and I had many conversations during the year, but I will always remember the time he told me about his family. His mother, a loving, caring woman, was the one who held the family together. She died shortly before Jeff graduated from high school. His father, a successful physician, cold and stern in Jeff’s words, had firm beliefs that a person would never make a valuable contribution to the world unless they attended and graduated from college by the age of twenty-three. His father had even paved the way for Jeff to attend the same college

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from which he graduated, and had offered to pay Jeff’s entire tuition and living expenses.As an active Alumni Association member, he was excited that his son would someday follow in his footsteps.

Jeff was twenty-seven and a successful business planner­ at a Fortune 500 company—without a degree. His passion­ was skiing. When he graduated from high school he decided to decline his father’s offer and instead move to Colorado to work with a ski patrol. With pain in his eyes Jeff told me that he still remembered the day he told his father he was going to forego college and take a job at a ski resort. He remembered every word of the short conversation. He told his father of his passion for skiing and for the mountains and then of his plans. His father looked off into the distance, his face became red, and his eyes squinted and bore into Jeff.Then came the words that still echoed in Jeff’s mind: “You lazy kid. No son of mine is going to work on a ski patrol and not attend college. I should have known you’d never amount to anything. Don’t come back in this house until you have enough self-respect to use the brains God gave you and go to school!” The two had not spoken since that conversation.

Jeff was not even sure that his father knew he was back in the area near where he grew up and he certainly did not want his father to know he was attending college. He was doing this for himself, he said over and over, not for his father.

Janice, Jeff’s sister, had always remained supportive of Jeff’s decisions. She stayed in contact with their father, but Jeff had made her promise that she would not share any information about his life with him.

Jeff’s graduation ceremony that year was on a hot, sunny day in June.As I walked around talking to people before the ceremony, I noticed a man with a confused expression on his face.

“Excuse me,” he said as he politely approached me. “What is happening here today?”

“It’s graduation day,” I replied, smiling.

“Well that’s odd,” he said. “My daughter asked me to meet her at this address.” His eyes sparkled and he smiled. “Maybe she completed her associate’s degree and wanted to surprise me!”

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I helped him find a seat and as he left me he said, “Thank you for helping me. By the way, my name’s Dr. Holstrom.”

I froze for a second. Jeff Holstrom. Dr. Holstrom. Could this be the same person I had heard about over the last year? The cold, stern man who demanded his son attend college or never enter his home again?

Soon the familiar strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” could be heard. I turned around in my chair to get a glimpse of Dr. Holstrom. He seemed to be looking for his daughter amongst the graduates on stage. Speeches were given, the graduates were congratulated, and the dean began to read the names of the graduates.

Jeff was the last person to cross the stage. I heard his name being announced: “Jeff Holstrom, magna cum laude.” He crossed the stage, received his diploma from the college president, and, just as he started down the stairs from the stage, he turned toward the audience looking­ for his sister.

Alonefigurestoodupinthebackoftheaudience—Dr.Holstrom. I’m not sure how Jeff even saw him in the crowd, but I could tell that their eyes met. Dr. Holstrom opened his arms, as if to embrace the air around him. He bowed his head, almost as if to apologize. For a moment it seemed as if time stood still, and as if they were the only two in the auditorium. Jeff came down the stairs with tears in his eyes.

“My father is here,” he whispered to me. I smiled. “What are you going to do?” I asked him. “Well,” he said. “I think I’m going home.”

Vicki Niebrugge

[From Chicken soup for the college soul: inspiring and humorous stories about college [compiled by] Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Kimberly Kirberger, Dan Clark. Health Communications, Inc. Deerfield Beach, Florida (1999). – p. 298–300].

WHILE-READINGACTIVITIES

Decide if the statements are true (T) or false (F).

1. Jeff’s family approved of his idea going to a ski resort and take a job of a ski patrol _____

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2.Jeff’s father wanted him to become a doctor like himself. _____

3.Jeff was not intelligent enough to go to college. ______

4.Jeff and his father had not talked to each other for several years.

5.Jeff made a successful career without a college degree. _____

6.Jeff never went to college. _____

7.Jeff’s sister told Dr. Holstrom about Jeff’s new degree and graduation ceremony. _____

Choose the correct variant.

1.Jeff’s father wanted Jeff to go to college because …

a.he was a very cold and stern man.

b.he wanted Jeff to become a doctor, like himself.

c.he did not respect people without a degree.

d.he did not think a job at a ski-resort was prestigious enough. 2.Jeff went to college …

a.to prove to his father that he was intelligent enough to study at

college.

b.because his sister asked him to do it.

c.because he did not like the job on ski-patrol and needed a degree to find a better job.

d.none of the above.

3.Dr. Holstrom came to his son’s graduation ceremony because …

a.his son had done what he wanted him to do at last

b.his daughter asked him to come there.

c.his daughter persuaded him to make peace with his son.

d.he was an activeAlumniAssociation member.

4.When Jeff saw his father at the ceremony …

a.he was happy.

b.he did not recognize him.

c.he was angry.

d.he remained unmoved.

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ENHANCING COMPREHENSION

Provide English equivalents from the text for the following key words you will need to discuss the story:

Суровый, расходы,

cпециалист по бизнес-проектированию, аудитория, обнимать,

продолжить дело (отца, семьи); впиваться (о взгляде); мельком увидеть.

Translate the underlined phrases in the following sentences from the story:

1.His mother … was the one who held the family together.

2.…his face became red, and his eyes squinted and bore into Jeff.

3.Janice, Jeff’s sister had always remained supportive of Jeff’s decision.

4.…a man with a confused expression on his face.

5.He bowed his head, almost as if to apologize.

Paraphrase the underlined phrases in the following sentences using the words from the story:

1.His father had prepared everything for Jeff to attend the same college…

2.… he told his father he was going not to start college…

3.I should have known you’d never be worth anything.

4.He said it again and again.

Match the columns to define the cultural lacunas on the left after you have done some search in the Internet and in the Glossary.

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ENHANCING COMPREHENSION

Look through the story and find and translate the paragraphs which describe:

–Jeff’s father’s character,

–the conversation between father and son,

–Jeff’s father’s emotions when he heard his son’s name announced by the dean at the graduation ceremony.

Answer the questions:

1.Why do you think Jeff’s father wanted Jeff to go to college so

much?

2.Why did Jeff not go to college?

3.Why do you think Jeff went to college after all?

4.Why did Jeff’s father come to his graduation ceremony?

5.What do you think Jeff’s reaction was? What did he feel? What did he think?

CULTURE PERSPECTIVE

1.What are the culturally marked words you were able to identify in the story? Which of them are absolutely new for you?

2.You already know a lot about USA four-year college degrees, don’t you? What is associate degree? Where can one earn it? Explain toanon-speakingEnglishpersoninRussiawhatdegreeitisandwhere you get it. Consult the Glossary and the Internet.

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3.What does magna cum laude stand for? Consult the glossary to learn about different marks of excellence following the academic degree in the USA. Is there a similar culture specific phenomenon in universities in Russia? What is the difference?

4.Comment on the cultural implication of the sentence from the story: His father had even paved the way for Jeff to attend the same college from which he graduated, and had offered to pay Jeff’s entire tuition and living expenses.

5.HomecomingisaveryimportanttraditioninUSAhighschools and colleges. Consult the Glossary about this cultural phenomenon. Are there any similarities? How does it differ from its Russian counterpart? Why is the story entitled “Homecoming of a Different Sort”?

5.Translate the sentences containing culturally marked words from the story:

a) Homecoming of a Different Sort (the title).

b) As an active Alumni Association member, he was excited that his son would someday follow in his footsteps.

c) He crossed the stage, received his diploma from the college president...

d) “Jeff Holstrom, magna cum laude.”

e) Maybe she completed her associate’s degree and wanted to surprise me!

6.Share the information you have found about the italicized culturally marked words with your group mates:

Fortune 500, Colorado, “Pomp and Circumstance”, Alumni Association member.

SUMMARIZING

A.Sum up the story as if you were Janice.

B.Sum up the story as if you were Dr. Holstrom.

LEADS TO DISCUSSION

1. Why do you think Jeff went to college and completed a degree after all? What is the role of education in human life? Is it possible to

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achieve success in life without a college degree? What can education change in a person’s life?

2.Who do you think was right, Jeff or his father? What do you think is the best time to go to college? Why? What do you think would be best for you: to go to college immediately after high school or to try something else before college?

3.Do parents and children always see eye to eye on the children’s future and happiness? Who do you think is usually right?

4.How is a graduation ceremony in Russian universities different from that described in the story?

CULTURALWEB

Having read and discussed the story, you can add some new culturally marked words representing college organization and management, academics, social activities and relationships to the Web.

PROJECT WORK

Now that you have finished reading the book we are sure you have learnt a lot about the system of secondary and higher education in the USA.

As your final course requirement you are to do a project on one of the USAcolleges or universities. Discuss the structure of your final assay in your study group, make use of any resources available and make a slide presentation of the university trying to persuade your classmates that it’s one of the best USAuniversities.

When structuring the assay don’t leave out some important information about its history, administration and organization, the campus, the academics, the students and their organizations, athletics, notable people (alumni).

Start your essay giving some important data: the motto, the type (private/public), endowment, number of academic staff, number of students (undergraduates / graduates), colors of the university, nickname and its website.

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