3. My future profession.

Anna Simonova is a second-year student of Moscow Linguistic University. She is studying English and German and training to be a teacher. When she arrives home after her summer vacation she finds the following letter waiting for her.

34 Beech Crescent

Bradfield 6

17 August 1987

Dear Anna,

I expect you will be somewhat surprised to receive a letter from a complete stranger, but Mr. Morris, whom you met when he was visiting Moscow last summer, gave me your address and told me something about you. He said you were interested in corresponding with an English girl, preferably a student, and as I am training to be a teacher, too, it would no doubt be of mutual interest if we could compare our experiences in this sphere.

But first of all I'd better introduce myself, at least briefly. My name is Valerie Morton — my friends call me Val. I'm twenty-two years of age and unmarried. I was born in Birmingham, but when I was two my parents moved to Coventry, where I grew up and attended primary and grammar school. I took and passed G.C.S.E. O level in eight subjects and A level in Latin, French and English. In 1983 I was admitted to the University of Bradfield on a local authority grant¹ to study French, with English as a subsidiary subject. I graduated last summer, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA.), and in October began a one-year training course leading to the Diploma of Education,² which will qualify me to teach in any kind of school.

From what I've said, you will gather that an English university student who wishes to take up schoolteaching — unlike a student at a College of Education — doesn't study education parallel to his special subject courses. He first of all studies his subject and having obtained a first degree — usually the BA. or B.Sc (Bachelor of Science) — takes a postgraduate diploma course at a university Department of Education. This course is exclusively concerned with training him as a teacher, usually as a secondary-school teacher.

At present I'm nearing the end of my first teaching practice.³ The university term⁴ began on October 1st, but we'd already started our course by spending a fortnight in a local primary school, observing lessons in various classes and giving occasional lessons ourselves. I must admit I found it awfully difficult to teach small children, and I feel nothing but admiration for the patience and skill of primary-school teachers.

You can't imagine how strange it was at first to be back at the university studying a completely new subject in a different department. The first six weeks of term were chiefly taken up with lectures and tutorials on the theory of education, educational psychology, the history and sociology of English education, and teaching methods for French and English. In addition to this we were given a special three-day course on the use of teaching aids and were also able to watch demonstration lessons, in various schools. Then, four weeks ago, our first full-time teaching practice began. It finishes in just over a week's time, when the schools break up for Christmas. Next term will also be divided between theoretical and practical work with greater emphasis on the latter, for next term's teaching practice will be somewhat longer. In the summer term there will be a few weeks of lectures and tutorials, followed by examinations in May.

At the moment I'm fortunate enough to be teaching at Oak Ridge, an exceptionally good comprehensive school. Incidentally, the range of subjects taught is very wide because the school is large and caters for pupils who will leave school at 16, 17 and 18. In addition to the more usual subjects, it is possible to learn, and take external examinations in, Greek, Russian, Spanish. Woodwork, metalwork, engineering, gardening, domestic science (needlework and cookery), technical drawing, astronomy, geology, economics, civics, and ancient history. It is also possible for pupils in their final year at school to take vocational subjects, such as shorthand and typing and pre-nursing courses. The latter subjects are, of course, an optional, and not a compulsory⁵ part of the curriculum.

The staff of the school are mainly young and, consequently, energetic, enthusiastic and willing to experiment.

At the moment I give eight periods⁶ of French and four periods of English a week and observe a further ten periods, not only French and English, but also other subjects in order to become better acquainted with the forms I teach. On the whole, discipline is quite satisfactory in my lessons, even when there is no other teacher in the classroom with me. I've found that the pupils are inattentive and badly behaved only when they are bored or when they sense that the teacher is not strict enough with them. Of course, some forms are noisier and less co-operative than others and there are always a few troublemakers who try to take advantage of my inexperience.

As I already mentioned, I have to teach eight periods of French a week. The standard of pronunciation and intonation is excellent in the forms which I teach or observe; the result, no doubt, of the systematic use of the Language laboratory right from the beginning. On the other hand, the standard of written work is inferior to that of oral work. I gave one of the best forms a dictation last week and was disagreeably surprised by the numerous spelling mistakes they made.

Over the last few weeks I've had very little time to think of anything but school. Although I have only twelve teaching periods a week I spend each evening preparing lessons⁷ and drop into bed absolutely exhausted. I try to mark homework⁸, written exercises and tests in my free periods at school so that I don't have to carry a briefcase full of exercise-books home every night — quite apart from preparing and giving lessons and marking a teacher has a thousand and one other time-consuming duties attending staff meetings and meetings of the Parent-Teacher Association; sitting on committees; coaching school teams; supervising other out-of-school activities; writing school reports;⁹ answering parents' questions; organizing educational visits and holidays at home and abroad; and so on and so forth.

To be quite frank, the first two weeks at school were something of a nightmare. I felt absolutely lost in what seemed an enormous, impersonal machine and was overwhelmed by the whole business of teaching. I felt depressed because I was firmly convinced that I should be an utter failure as a teacher. Most of all I dreaded the visits of my French methods tutor from the Education Department¹⁰ of the university, who is very competent but also extremely sarcastic. However, the other members of staff have been so sympathetic and considerate, so willing to give me advice, that I have overcome my initial doubts and regained my self-confidence. Nevertheless, it still seems incredible that less than a year from now I shall be a fully-qualified teacher with 30 periods a week and a form of my own. Do you feel the same?

Well, I hope I've given you a fairly clear idea of the way in which graduate teachers are trained in England. You must bear in mind, however, that each university Department of education organizes its course in a slightly different way. I look forward to hearing about your course and your experiences at college and during teaching practice.

Best wishes,

Valerie Morton.

 VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Read the following vocabulary notes. Then do the exercises that follow.

1. A scholarship is nowadays a grant awarded for a special purpose, or in special circumstances. It is given by an individual, or in memory of him, it may be called 'a memorial scholarship'. It is given to enable, somone to study.

The Hawkins Scholarship is awarded each year for research in music.

Стипендия Хокинса присваивается ежегодно за исследования в музыке.

2. a one-year training course leading to the Diploma of Education.

School teachers in England are trained in one of the following ways:

1. at a university, where they first take a degree in some subject(s) and then a Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate in Education in the faculty/department of Education;

2. at a college of education, where they take either a four or three-year degree course leading to the Bachelor of Education, or a shorter, less academic course leading to the Teacher's Certificate. Both courses combine the study of subject(s) to be taught with teacher training;

3. at a college of higher education, where they take the Diploma in Higher Education, and then a teacher training course leading either to the Bachelor of Education or the Teacher's Certificate. Teachers with a degree are called graduate teachers (or simply graduates) and those with a Teacher's Certificate -certified teachers or non-graduate teachers (or non-graduates).

Teacher training, whether at a college of education, college of higher education or in the education faculty/department of a university, includes: lectures on educational history, theory, psychology, classes and seminars of teaching methods; teaching r practice.

3. term

The academic year is divided into three terms in all types of educational institutions.

School terms are arranged in the following way, the exact dates varying to some extent:

the first term — the autumn term — Sep 5 — Dec 20

the second term — the winter term — Jan 5 — Mar 25 (or later, depending on the date of Easter)

the third term — the summer term — Apr 15 (or later) — Jul20

3. "A period" is the unit of time allotted to one lesson. In England this is usually 35-40 minutes.

In England the school day begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 3.30 or 4 p.m. So it is divided into seven or eight periods, broken up by the lunch/dinner hour and one or more breaks.

A double period is two periods combined.

We have a double period of physics on Monday.

По понедельникам у нас сдвоенные уроки по физике.