20.05.2020 

7 група -  англійська мова - тема уроку № 68  "Школи у Великобританії та США"

1. Now you will listen to a text about the system of education in England. Please, be attentive,because after listening you will answer my questions. Make notes if you need them.

England has a very interesting system of education. Education is class divided in England. There are state and public (private) schools. About 90% of children go to the state schools and other go to the public (private) schools. All state schools in Britain are free. Some parents choose private schools for their children. They are very expensive, considered to provide a better education and good job opportunities. Parents pay for these schools.  An example of a private school is Eton. It is the most famous public school. A year at Eton costs &17000. it is very old and a lot of important people used to be students there.  There are 3 stages of education:

-primary;

-secondary;

-further.

Primary education consists of infant schools and junior schools.  Primary education lasts for 6 years. At first they attend the infant school from 5 to 7, and then junior school until they are 11. In infant school children don’t have real classes. They study to write and read; they mostly play. They know some numbers. When children are 7, real studying begins. They have classes and don’t play as much as it was in infant school.

Then begins the secondary education. Parents can choose one of the type of secondary education schools. There are modern schools, comprehensive schools and grammar schools, which accept a wide range of children from all backgrounds. Children study a lot of compulsory subjects. English, Maths and Science are called ‘core’ subjects. If pupils go to grammar schools they will have a good theoretical secondary education. Primary and secondary education are compulsory for all children. After 5 years of secondary education pupils take exams in different subjects, and they get General Certificate of Secondary Education- GCSE. After that students can leave and start working or continue their studies in the same school as before. If they continue, they have to take further examinations, which are necessary for getting into university or college.

The school year in English school has three terms: autumn term (September-Christmas), spring term (January-Easter) and summer term (Easter – June). There are holidays after each term. Autumn and spring holidays are about 6 weeks. In addition all schools have a half-term, which lasts a week in the middle of each term.

Each school has its colour of uniform. One of the most important elements of the uniform is a school tie.

     English children go to school 5 days a week. They don’t go to school on      

     Saturdays and on Sundays. The school day starts at 9 o’clock and finishes 

     between    3 and 4 p.m. The lunch break usually lasts an hour and a quarter.

     Besides classes there are a lot of extracurricular activities after school. English

     schools offer a wide range of activities (school orchestra, music ensembles,  

     sport competitions).

2. And now, answer my questions please:

-        Education in Great Britain is class divided, isn’t it?

-        Are there any state schools in Great Britain?

-        How many % of children attend state schools?

-        Are there any private schools? How are they called? Which school is the most famous?

-        When do British children begin to go to school?

-        Who attends the public schools?

-        What is an important element of a school uniform?

3. Write it down!

Semester                  a student in the last year of High School or University

Senior                      someone who is studying at a university to get a Master degree

Major                        one of the two periods of time that a year at High Schools and

                                  Universities is divided into

Curriculum                an amount of money that is given to someone by an

                                  educational organization to help pay for their education

Postgraduate              the main subject that a student studies at college or university

Education                  the subjects that are taught by a school

Scholarship                the process of teaching and learning, usually at school,

                                   college, university

4. The education system in the United States (опрацюйте текст)

Compulsory education of American children begins in kindergarten. They get there at about 5 years old, and at 6-7 go to primary school (also called "elementary"). Education lasts for 5 classes, so children who have finished primary school are 10-11 years old.

Then for 3 years they attend high school - from 6th to 8th grade, and from 9th to 11th they study in high school (or high school). A student who has received a full school education is 17-18 years old.

School education is mostly public, with 15% of students studying in private schools. Educational institutions are controlled and funded by local authorities. Primary, secondary and high school are not just different buildings, but completely different schools, in different districts, with different principals and teachers. Their level can also be fundamentally different. For example, in a district with a good primary school, the secondary school may be much worse. Therefore, parents have to combine - or take the child to another district for lessons, or change the place of residence. This is not surprising for mobile Americans, but often another county needs more housing - and there is a problem with that. Such a story was in the family of Steve Jobs. The talented boy got to a class with the strengthened program, and in the 4th class passed examination at the level of the 10th grader. The principal suggested that he go from the 4th grade to the 7th grade, and his parents decided to jump over only one and sent him to the 6th grade - which is already a high school. It was located 8 blocks from the previous one and belonged to a completely different world. There they fought hard, came to school with cold steel and mocked the smaller ones. Before Steve moved to the new school, some students were convicted of gang rape and others burned a school bus. Classmates did not give Jobs a pass, and in 7th grade he gave his parents an ultimatum: either go to another school or stop studying. Parents barely made ends meet, but had to limit spending even more and raise money for a house in a better neighborhood with a decent school.

There are also religious schools (mostly Catholic) and specialized in the United States. The latter are called Magnet Schools - because they are like a magnet attracting children gifted in a particular field.

Older children can study in boarding schools. They are quite expensive, and the main task is to adjust the child to a future independent life on the student campus. In general, schools are very focused on preparation for higher education, and one of the indicators of prestige is the number of students who enter prestigious universities after graduation.

The school usually does not teach factual knowledge, but practices writing, drafting and discussing. This is done so that the student learns to obtain information and think independently. As a result, a freshman at the university has a much more modest knowledge than students from post-Soviet countries. Mykola Zlobin in his book "America: People Live" comments: "I have long noticed that when American and Russian students fall into the same group in the first year of university, US school leavers look very pale against the Russian background. Silent Americans enviously watch Russian students, who easily quote Dostoevsky and Sartre, show New Caledonia on a map, name the capitals of Botswana and Gabon, and easily divide without a calculator. This usually lasts until the third year, then the situation begins to change. As the student is required not to memorize and repeat, but to give a critical analysis, to draw a conclusion, to find a way out, to offer an alternative, and so on, the Americans begin to overtake the Russians. This is especially noticeable in senior years and in graduate school. I was convinced that a 25-30-year-old American on average - with a much smaller amount of knowledge - outperforms his Russian peers in the ability to think outside the box, to think not only creatively and critically, but also independently and practically.

Unlike schools, there are more private universities in the United States than public ones. Their cost can vary dramatically. Depending on the grades, students may receive grants from the state or the university itself. If a student has serious sports achievements, it also facilitates the conditions for admission. Americans usually do not take entrance exams. Decisions on admission of a student to the university are made on the basis of his school grades, documents, interviews.

Very often parents open an "educational account" for the child and save money for future education. The choice of university is very important for further employment. There are universities, after which the graduate will be offered 100 thousand dollars a year, and there are those after which a person will never be able to earn such a salary. In the United States, networks of educational institutions are very common - after entering one university, a student can continue their studies in another, and then in another, if they are part of one network.