PART I

School years

 Speaking

At School

• When did you go to school?

• When and what school did you finish?

• What schools did you go through?

• How many pupils were there in your class?

• Did you wear a uniform? What was it like?

• Was your school far from the house? How did you

get there?

• What was your school like? Describe it.

• How did students know which class to go?

• Was your class ever divided into groups? When?

• When did the school year begin? How long did it last? How long was the school day?

Exercise 1

Recollect your school days. Work in pairs. Tell a partner about a hard-working student in your class and one who couldn’t care less about his/her exams. What do they do now?

Exercise 2

Work in pairs. Discuss your work at school. Use the following phrases:

be a genius; a mark for an answer; a mark in a subject; be a top/bottom student; be at odds with; be bored with; be good/bad at; be obliged; do a lot of swotting; do well/badly; enjoy studying; give/get a mark; have ability/a gift; lead the class in; put in a lot of reading; slave at one’s books; spend a lot of time practising; spend one’s time on books; to swot; to loathe; win all the prizes in the exams; work with relish and application; to be at the top/bottom of the class.

 Listening

Part A

Listen to three people talking about the schools they used to go. Tick the topic each one talks

about. Were the speakers happy at school?

	teachers	homework	punishment	friends	uniform
Louise
Debbie
Jim

Part b

Listen to the cassette again. Decide whether these statements are true or false.

• Louise lived at her school

• Louise liked her uniform

• Jim used to have lunch at school

• Most of Jim’s teachers were old

• Debbie didn’t like her school

• Debbie used to go to a pub with one of her friends

What does Louise remember about her teachers? What does Jim like about his uniform? What does Debbie remember about homework and punishments? Did you have much homework to do? What subjects took most of the time? Did you have favourite subjects? What were they?

 Speaking

How do you feel about the subjects in the box? Use one of these expressions in each answer

(but write more if you want to).

I really enjoy... I’m extremely interested in... I’m fascinated by... I’m quite interested in... I’d like to know more about... I don’t know anything about... I’m not very interested in... I’ve always wanted to learn... I’m not in the least interested in... I don’t like... at all. I’m bored by... I used to think... was boring, but now I’m getting interested in it. I think... is a complete waste of time. I hate... Which subjects were your favourite ones? What did it depend on?

archaeology algebra art biology computer studies dancing geometry history the humanities languages literature maths music philosophy

Exercise 3

Read these sentences spoken by college students. What subject is each person studying?

1. “I’m concentrating on the modernist style and the work of Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright.”

2. “The way we use fertilizers is much more precise than it was 20 years ago.”

3. “Travel and tourism are an important part of this industry.”

4. “We are going to concentrate on Freud and Jung this term.”

5. “I’ve been reading some books on time management.”

6. “Expressionism was really a reaction to the work of the Impressionists.”

7. “We’ve spent a lot of time on foreign policy and how it is affected by domestic issues.”

8. “We are looking at ways that solar energy can be utilized.”

Exercise 4

Here are some school subjects, but the letters are mixed up. What are the subjects?

Example: TREPCUMOS ……………computers

1.	TAHM	………………	4.	NISGEHL	………………
2.	IRTHOSY	………………	5.	RAT	………………
3.	CNECSEI	………………	6.	SIMCU	………………