II. Make up a vocabulary of new words.

III. Ask questions to the content of the text and give short answers.

IV. Be ready to speak on the topic.

V. Make up word-combinations:

1. to leave a) degree

2. to take b) facilities

3. Bachelor’s c) test

4. assessment d) school

5. sports e) an exam

TEXT 2

I. Read the text and determine the subtitles of it.

Pre-primary and Primary Education

In some areas of England there are nursery schools for children under 5 years of age. Some children between two and five receive edu­cation in nursery classes or in infants’ classes in primary schools. Many children attend informal pre-school play-groups organised by parents in private homes. Nursery schools are staffed with teachers and stu­dents in training. There are all kinds of toys to keep the children busy from 9 o'clock in the morning till 4 o'clock in the afternoon while their parents are at work. Here the babies play, lunch and sleep. They can run about and play in safety with someone keeping an eye on them.

For day nurseries which remain open all the year round the parents pay according to their income. The local education authority's nurse­ries are free. But only about three children in 100 can go to them: there aren't enough places and the waiting lists are rather long.

Most children start school at 5 in a primary school. A primary school may be divided into two parts – infants and juniors. At infant school reading, writing and arithmetic are taught for about 20 minutes a day during the first year, gradually increasing to about 2 hours in their last year. There is usually no written timetable. Much time is spent in modelling from clay or drawing, reading or singing.

By the time children are ready for the junior school they will be able to read and write, do simple addition and subtraction of numbers.

At 7 children go on from the infants school to the junior school. This marks the transition from play to ‘real work’. The children have set periods of arithmetic, reading and composition which are all eleven-plus subjects. History, Geography, Nature Study, Art and Music, Physical Education, Swimming are also on the timetable.

Pupils are streamed according to their abilities to learn into A, B, С and D streams. The least gifted are in the D stream. Formally to­wards the end of their fourth year the pupils wrote their eleven-plus examination. The hated eleven-plus examination was a selective procedure on which not only the pupils' future schooling but their future careers depended. The abolition of selection at eleven-plus examination brought to life comprehensive schools where pupils can get secondary education.

II. Write down new words into your vocabulary.

III. Make up a plan of the text in the form of questions.

IV. Translate the following words and word-combinations into Ukrainian and memorize them:

nursery school, infant, primary school, to attend, training, to keep an eye on, local education authority, free, timetable, junior school, eleven-plus subjects, to be streamed, eleven-plus examination, comprehensive school, secondary education.

TEXT 3

I. Read the text. What is it about? What information of the text is the most interesting (in your opinion)?

School Life in Britain

There is no countrywide system of nursery (i.e. pre-primary) schools. In some areas primary schools have nursery schools attached to them, but in others there is no provision of this kind. The average child does not begin full-time attendance at school until he or she is about five and starts primary school. Almost all schools are either primary or secondary only, the latter being generally larger.

Nearly all schools work a five-day week, with no half-day, and are closed on Saturdays. The day starts at or just before nine o'clock and finishes between three and four or a bit later for older children. The lunch break usually lasts about an hour-and-a-quarter. Nearly two-thirds of pupils have lunch provided by the school. Parents pay for this, except for the 15% who are rated poor enough for it to be free. Other children either go home for lunch or take sandwiches.

Methods of teaching vary, but there is most commonly a balance between formal lessons with the teacher at the front of the classroom and activities in which children work in small groups round a table with the teacher supervising. In primary schools, the children are mostly taught by a class teacher who teaches all subjects. At the ages of seven and eleven, children have to (or soon will have to) take national tests in English, mathematics and science. In secondary schools, pupils have different teachers for different subjects and are given regular homework.

The older children get, more likely they are to be separated into groups according to their perceived abilities, sometimes for particular subjects only, sometimes across all subjects. But some schools teach all subjects to 'mixed ability' classes. The rights and wrongs of this practice have generated heated debate for several decades and there is great variety from school to school and area to area.