step by step 3Lesson 94

Lesson 94 Part I

Lesson 94

Part Ⅰ Warming-up Exercises

Note-taking: Scholarship Examination Timetables 

Training Focus: 

Note-taking: important facts: 1. subjects 2. time 3. numbers  Directions: You are going to hear the examination timetables of a high school. Listen carefully. Note down  the courses offered, the time and the room numbers.

Key:

January 1983

Grade 12 Scholarship Examination Timetables

Lesson 94 Part Ⅱ Why Go To School ? ( Ⅰ )

Lesson  94 

Part Ⅱ Why Go To School ? (Ⅰ) 

Ex．

Directions: Listen to this part of the interview carefully.

Write down the questions raised by the interviewer and then  re-state the essential points of these questions with the fewest  words. Listen again. Write the answers given by the  interviewee in note form. The first two questions and  answers are given for your reference. 

Key: 3. Q: (An efficient way ?) 

A: fairly efficiently / great problem / very large  classes/reduce by half/more individual  attention 

4. Q: Do you think the subjects that children study  today are adapted to present-day society ?  (Adapted to society ?) 

A: would be good / more children / opportunity  of learning about society / gradual extension  of oneself 

Tapescript:

Why Go To School ? (Ⅰ) (2′55″)

Matthew: Lesley, you're a teacher. How does the English  school system work ?  

Lesley: Um, well, first of all most children start school  at the age of five and they can't leave school until  the age of sixteen, which is just, you know, the age  group has just been recently raised. Um…they  will go to a primary school from the age of five  until eleven…um, and previously they used to  take an “eleven----plus” examination which would then  determine whether they would go to um a grammar   school or alternatively a secondary modern school.  But now we have a…a new system where children  aren't divided off at the age of eleven and will go  into a comprehensive system of schooling, and  …will do the things that they're best able to do  at certain ages and if they want to take the exams  they are able to at…at the age of sixteen. 

Matthew: Do you think that's a…an improvement to the system ? 

Lesley: Well,…mm, theoretically…it's supposed to be  much better because it gives…it stops separating  children off at the age of eleven and gives them a  better chance, and in fact what usually happens  is that those children who wouldn't…er who would  have gone to a grammar school tend to he at the  top end of the comprehensive system, and those  that would have gone to secondary modern school  find themselves at the lower levels of the school.

Matthew: Do you think that the present school system is an  efficient way of educating children ? 

Lesley: Mm…well if you, if you accept that, you know,  there have to be schools, it seems to work fairly  efficiently. Of course one of our great problems  in England is that we have very large classes and  …um, it would be very nice if we could reduce  that by at least half instead of there being forty  children in a class, there are only twenty…mm  and so that each child gets more individual attention  so that their own particular needs just aren't passed  over. 

Matthew: Do you think the…the subjects that er…children  study today are adapted to present-day society ? 

Lesley: It would be very good if…er, more children at  school had the opportunity of learning about the society they live in…in economic terms and in  social terms so that they are much more aware of  the problems that we face today. But I also think   that education isn't only something that has to  be…has to be relevant…um, I think education  can be just a…a gradual extension of oneself,  and I don't think it's im…important for subjects  to he seen only in terms of how useful they are when  you leave school…but how much you enjoy them  and how much they mean to you.  

Lesson 94 Part Ⅲ Why Go To School ? ( Ⅱ )

Lesson 94 

Part Ⅲ Why Go To School ? (Ⅱ) 

Ex．

Directions: Listen to this part of the interview carefully. Write down the questions raised by the interviewer and then re-state the essential points of these questions with the fewest words. Listen again. Write the answers given by the interviewee in note form. Some questions and answres are given for your reference.

Key: 5. A: English, Maths, Art, History, Religious Studies, Physics/9 in all 

6. Q: You don't have to take every subject in the school ? (Take every  subject ?) A: no 

7. Q: What about games and drama and things like that ? (Games &  drama ?) A: hours games a week / 1 hour Social Studies /  Drama, Ecology, Sociology, etc. 

8. A: gain a certain amount of knowledge/wish broader/instead of  passing exams only, broaden outlook 

9. Q: Do you have any specific ways in which you think time at school  could be improved ? (Ways to improve ?) A: more encouragement / doing things for their own sake / getting satisfaction / not  rat race / get value out of it 

10. A: starts the moment born/going on all around / not just in a school  building / part of whole life 

Tapescript:

Why Go To School ? (Ⅱ) (3' 18 ")

Matthew: David, what would you do in an average day at school ?

David: Um … it mainly consists of English and Maths, which takes up a lot of the lesson time and then …um … like on Mondays, for example …er, we would do … er, I don't know, Maths, English, Art, History and then Tuesdays would be some more English, probably … um, History, Religious Studies, Physics, whatever I'm taking now which is ‘O’levels, which is … is nine subjects in all.

Matthew: I see, so you can choose … the subject you want to take for ‘O’ level …You don't have to take …every subject in the school ?

David: No,… no, no.

Matthew: What about games …er and drama and things like that ?

David: We have about an hour and a half of games a week, and for about an hour a week we …do a …a thing known as er … Social Studies, which is um … it's kind of a cross-section of… er what life will be after we…we leave school …Um …where we do Drama…a …we study Ecology, Sociology et cetera… Um, it's not an ‘O’ level, we don't take an ‘O’ level in it, it's just for er…experience.

Matthew: Janet, do you… think that your daughters gain a tremendous amount from their education ?

Janet: I think they… they gain a certain amount of um …necessary knowledge, yes, but I wish it was broader. I wish that instead of being driven towards passing exams that they had, certainly at this stage of adolescence, the chance to really broaden their outlook completely and not feel this necessity to read towards passing an exam, to collecting a piece of paper at the end of it.

Matthew: Er…do you have any specific ways in which you think… time at school could be improved ?

Janet: Yes, I think there could be a … a lot more encouragement in doing things for their own sake, for getting the satisfaction out of them…um, rather than this ‘rat race’ that everybody's forced into … um …for what is achieved at the end. I think it …a lot more should be done to encourage people to get the value out of it themselves.

Matthew: Do you think that er…education is just something that takes place inside a school building, or is it a… an activity which takes place not only outside but right the way through your life ?

Janet; I think it starts the moment you're born, and …er…that it's going on all around you. It's not just taking place in a school building …um it should be … part of your whole life.