Boarding Schools

Correction

1. Describe the picture of a boarding school in the 1950s.

 This picture was taken in the dining hall/refectory of an
all-girls boarding school…
The girls are sitting on either side of tables covered with
white tablecloths, and one girl is sitting at the end. They
are all wearing the school uniform, a grey pinafore dress
with a white blouse.
In the background, the teachers are sitting at a long table
(also called “high table”) which is perpendicular to the
girls’ tables and facing them.
Behind them, a few school shields are hanging on a grey
wall.

2. Do you think this photograph still corresponds to life in a

boarding school today?

On the one hand, this photograph might well correspond

to a few boarding schools today, particularly as far as
uniforms are concerned.
On the other hand, however a majority of boarding
schools nowadays have evolved/are less traditional and
are no longer a cold, distant place where parents threaten
to send their children if they don’t behave correctly.
Even if curfews and rules are still part of life at any
boarding school, the environment is far livelier and the
atmosphere far warmer than what we can see in the
picture.

3. What other aspects of everyday life may be different

today?
Boarding schools today are very different from what
they used to be, and poles apart from stereotypical
Hollywood images.
 Some boarding schools are not single-sex any more
and others may not even have uniforms, although
this is still very much a tradition, especially in the
United Kingdom/the UK.
 Modern boarding schools no longer offer mass
dormitories with no privacy and 40 or more beds in
one room. Today’s boarders sleep in pleasant
bedrooms or small dormitories.
 Each child has his or her own private area with a
locker and wardrobe space, and sometimes even a
desk built into the base of a bunk bed which allows
the student to enjoy favourable working conditions.
 In many boarding schools, there are plenty of
extra-curricular activities such as sports, music,
painting, information technology/IT in up-to-date
computer rooms.