3. Talking about education

Asking somebody about their country’s education system.

What age do children start school at?

What’s the school-leaving age?

Are there evening classes for adults?

Do you have state and private universities?

Do students get grants for further education?

Note: A professor is a senior university academic, not an ordinary teacher. University and college teachers are usually called lecturers or tutors.

4. Vocabulary exercises

1. True or false. Tick () the correct box.

   	True	False
   1. In Britain, if you say, “She went to a public school”, you mean a private school.
   2. Degrees can be obtained from schools, colleges or universities.
   3. If you are a postgraduate student. You have normally already done your first degree.
   4. To enter a “grammar school” in Britain, you normally have you pass an exam.
   5. In Britain, A-levels are normally taken at 16 years old.
   6. Teachers at schools and universities are called “professors”
   7. In a university, a tutorial usually has fewer students than a seminar.
   8. In Britain, “junior school” means school for children under five.

2. The words in the box refer to types of education in Great Britain. Group them according to the age at which people go through them, starting when they are little children.

junior school	college	comprehensive	play school	grammar school
secondary	university	primary nursery	sixth form	further

2-5 years old	5/1 years old	11 – 18 years old	18+ years old

3. Give a word or phrase that means the following. The first letter of each word is given.

1. The age at which children normally leave school for good. s………- l……….. a………

2. Money given by the government which enables a person to study. g………

3. A school run and funded by the government. s……….. s……………

4. 4. A university teacher who is not a professor. Give two names. l……… or t………..

5. Classes that people can go to after work. e…………… c…………….

5. Education: university

A. SUBJECTS

You can normally do/study these subjects at university but not always at school:

medicine	law	philosophy	engineering
psychology	sociology	architecture	politics
business studies	agriculture	history of art