Co-educational / comprehensive / compulsory / courses / curriculum / exams / head teacher / higher / optional / primary / pupils / sixth form / staff / state / subjects / timetable / university

In Britain 95% of children attend 1) _____ schools, rather than private schools. Most schools in England and Wales are 2) _____ but some areas have single-sex schools. Children start 3) _____ school at the age of five, and move to a secondary school when they are 11. (Some areas have selective secondary schools, but most schools are 4) _____ schools.) The National 5) _____ defines what all 6) _____ have to learn, but the 7) _____ of each school organises the 8) _____ and decides which members of 9) _____ teach each class.

At the age of 16 all children take their GCSE 10) _____ in a number of different 11) _____. GCSE 12) _____ begin in Year 10 – the children choose which ones they will take two years before the exam. Some subjects, like English and maths are 13) _____ but others like art or history are 14) _____. Some students leave school at 16, but about 50% stay on in the 15) _____ or attend a college to do two or three A levels. About 25% go on to 16) _____ education at a 17) _____ or college when they are 18 or older.

Ex.5. Look at the statements about the educational system in the UK. Tick the statements which are also true for your country.

1. Education is compulsory until the age of 16.

2. Education in state schools is free until the age of 18.

3. Children start primary school at around the age of five.

4. Children in primary and secondary schools take national tests to monitor their progress.

5. At the age of 16, students usually take important exams in several different subjects.

6. Students who want to consider their studies take advanced level exams in two to four subjects at the age of 18.

7. About 40 per cent of young people go to college or university after school.

8. For most subjects, an undergraduate university course (leading to a bachelor’s degree) lasts three or four years.

9. Some ‘sandwich’ courses at college or university include a certain amount of work experience.

10. Nowadays many colleges and universities have a system of ‘continuous assessment’ rather than formal exams.

11. If a student does very well at university, he or she will be awarded a ‘first-class’ degree. Weaker students will receive a second-class, third-class or pass degree.

12. A postgraduate course leading to a master’s degree usually lasts one year. It may take longer if students have to carry out some research.

Ex.6. Read the text about a new teaching method and make notes under the following headings, then talk about cooperative learning.

• Students’ role

• Teacher’s role

• Benefits

• Classroom layout

What skills do the pupils gain from cooperative learning? Would you enjoy being taught this way?

The concept of cooperative learning is alien to all of us who were taught the traditional way, but it offers our children the adventure of finding their own answers.

If you took a doctor from the 19^th century and put her in a modern operating theatre, she would have no idea what to do, but if you put a teacher from the 19^th century into a modern classroom she would be able to carry on teaching without pause. Teaching methods have hardly changed in one hundred years. The idea remains that students are empty containers which the teacher fills with knowledge, and that all students have to do is listen and write.

Education consultant Alice Miller says: “This approach does not work in today’s changing world. We are not teaching creative problem-solving. We encourage competition, believing that this brings out the best in people.” But this is not so. Encouraging children to concentrate on getting the best marks destroys motivation and takes the fun out of learning. She goes on to say that the teacher’s role is no longer to feed students with information. “The facts are available in libraries, on CD ROMs and on the Internet. What students need are the skills to find this information, to use it and to think creatively in order to solve the problems of our world.”

Miller believes that cooperative learning is the future of education and thinks of it as the best way to encourage responsibility, tolerance and helpfulness towards others. She says that good relationships are the key to effective learning.

In cooperative learning classes, the traditional classroom layout is abandoned. Children do not sit in straight rows of desks facing the teacher, but rather face one another to make easier to share ideas. Pupils learn to work first in pairs, then in threes, and finally in teams of four. Students are required to participate actively in discussing and shaping their own knowledge. The teacher, who is still very important to the process, becomes the helper rather that the master.

Brett Melville, a 17-year-old pupil, says: “You learn the same material as you would using the normal method, but this way you learn how to work with others at the same time. In our class, we are given enough time to discuss issues and problems in detail.” He adds that it might take longer than simply listening to the teacher lecture, but the students remember much more afterwards.

One teacher, Lynne Gedye, has been using cooperative learning in her classes for two years. She says: “This year we have several pupils in the class who can hardly speak a word of English. I was tearing my hair out, wondering what to do, but I need not have worried. The children’s response was amazing. The strong ones coached the weak ones endlessly so that they could participate in the question time.”

All in all, it seems that cooperative learning turns the classroom from a competitive arena into a place where learning facts and life skills is both more fun and more effective for pupils and teachers alike.

Ex.7. Five people are speaking about their learning experiences. Complete each space with a suitable word.