Unit 1 At School

A. Warming Up

1. Match the pictures with the following places: Secondary School, Primary School,
University, Kindergarten. Compare them with those in your country.

2. Look at the list of qualities below. Which, in your opinion, are the most important
ones needed to be a good teacher? Listen to the tape and tick ( √ ) the ones
which are mentioned.

A good teacher should:

1. Speak clearly ░░░░
2. Establish a friendly relationship with students. ░░░░
3. Have a lot of confidence in front of large groups ░░░░
4. Understand students’ individual needs. ░░░░
5. Encourage students to be creative. ░░░░
6. Keep tight control of group of students ░░░░
7. Give students a lot of praise an support. ░░░░
8. Attend refresher courses regularly ░░░░
9. Spend time preparing lessons thoroughly ░░░░
10. Punish students who don’t work hard enough ░░░░

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B. Remembering School Days

1. Listen to Brian and Molly. Which teacher did ...

a. Molly like best, Mrs. Gladwin or Ms. Marley? .......................
b. Brian like best, Mrs. Gladwin or Ms. Marley? .......................

2. Which teachers (or their classes) do these sentences describe? Write G

(Mrs. Gladwin) or M (Ms. Marley) in the boxes.
a. She used to say, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that!’ all the time. ░░░░
b. We sat in rows for hours. ░░░░
c. We were afraid to talk. ░░░░
d. Sometimes we played all day. ░░░░
e. I’m not sure i learned anything with her. ░░░░
f. We learned by ourselves. ░░░░
g. She was always so grumpy. ░░░░
h. She was lovely ░░░░

3. Listen again. Read the opinions a – f. Which teacher has each opinion? Write G or
M in the boxes.
a. Children need discipline ░░░░
b. Children can stop and start activities when they want. ░░░░
c. Children can discover things for themselves. ░░░░
d. Children of different ages can all work together. ░░░░
e. Children of different ages should be separate. ░░░░
f. Children need to be happy and comfortable. ░░░░

4. Choose a word from the box to complete each part of the conversation.
a. Remember how she was so ................................. with us? ‘Do this, don’t that’ all
the time.
b. We were all really quiet – afraid to talk. She was really one for ............................. ,
huh?
c. Ms. Marley? Oh yeah – she was great – young and ................................
d. I was always talking with my friends – the whole class went ................................
sometimes.
e. She never really told us anything. We learned by ................................
f. Mrs. Gladwin used to put us in separate groups so the big kids didn’t ...................
the little kids.
g. You know, I think the most important thing is personal ................................

frighten strict friendly ourselves

wild attention discipline

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C. Old School Friends

1. Adam and Jessica were at secondary school together five years ago. They are
remembering some of their old school friends. Listen and match the names with
their photos.

Anne Luke Pablo Elsa _

2. Listen again and answer the questions.

a. What was Anne like?
b. What did she use to do when teachers spoke to her?
c. What was Elsa’s talent?
d. Who did she use to go out with?
e. What did he look like?
f. What annoying thing did Luke use to do in class?
g. What did he look like?
h. Did Jessica like him? How do you know?

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D. Studying

1. You are going to hear three conversations between students and their teachers.
They are all talking about exams. Here are summaries of the three conversations
you will hear. Before you listen, discuss with a partner how you think these
sentences could be completed.

a. Sergei’s teacher thinks he will ....................................... the exam.

Sergei’s needs to pass the exam to ......................................
b. Blanca messed up the exam because ....................................................................
c. Antonio failed his exam even though he ............................

Antonio will now have to ...............................

2. You will hear a conversation which takes place in teacher’s office between a
teacher, Mr Brown an parent, James and Linda Eliot. Answer questions 1 – 6 by
putting T (for teacher), J (for James Eliot), or L (for Linda Eliot) in the boxes
provided.

1. Who is anxious at first? ░░░░

2. Who is offended? ░░░░
3. Who is worried about Sarah changing schools? ░░░░
4. Who thinks Sarah is sociable? ░░░░
5. Who doesn’t want Sarah to go to a girls-only school? ░░░░
6. Who thinks Sarah should change schools at the end of the year? ░░░░

E. Working with Computers

Look at the following notes and decide which can be done by computers.
Then, listen to some students expressing their opinions and tick (√ ) the boxes. How
correct were your guesses?

a. Teach a grammatical structure ░░░░

b. Print out information and or compositions ░░░░
c. Help students to revise for tests or exams ░░░░
d. Help the students with their personal problems ░░░░
e. Enable students to contact other people around the world ░░░░
f. Encourage students to work together ░░░░
g. Have information available when you need it ░░░░
h. Stop an argument in the classroom ░░░░
i. Help students with pronunciation ░░░░
j. Teach new vocabulary ░░░░

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F. New Teaching Method

1. Look at the pictures. What are the teachers doing? What are the students doing?
How have teaching styles changed over the years?

2. Read the following summary, then listen to the tape and fill in the gaps.
The idea remains that students are 1) ..................................... containers which a teacher
fills with knowledge. However, this approach no longer works. The teacher’s role is no
longer simply to feed information to students. Facts are available in 2)
..................................... , on CD ROMS and on the 3) ........................................ what
students need are the 4) ..................................... to find this information. Cooperative
learning encourages 5) ....................................., tolerance, and helpfulness towards
others. Students work in pairs, in threes, and in 6)...................................... of four. The
teacher is the 7) ....................................., not the master. Brett Melville, a pupil says: “in
our class, we have time to discuss issues and 8) ..................................... in detail. “Lynne
Gedye, a teacher, says: “The children response was 9) ........................” cooperative
learning turns the classroom from a competitive arena into a place where learning facts
and life skill is 10) ................................ and effective.

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G. Over to You

1. Interview another student about the topics below and report your findings to the
class:
• online education programs and graduate schools
• entrance requirements and exams
• classroom environment
• teacher-student relationship
• student housing
• part-time employment
• club activities

2. Whether you are trying to get a scholarship abroad or just going to a local
college, there are several things you have to consider including location,
cost, and the reputation of school. What factor is most important to you?

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