SIPEP FANNY RUBIO

Inglés I
UNIDAD 1. TAREA 1
Nombre del alumno/a:

READING. Read the text and do the exercises. (28 points)

Bilingual education in Spain

At the present time, there is a debate on the quality of the bilingual Spanish-English education
model used in some public schools in Spain. Language experts and teachers in primary and secondary
schools discuss the pros and cons of a system that many people feel has failed.

In recent years, nearly 90 centres have dropped out of the bilingual education system because they view
it as ineffective.

Spain’s first English-Spanish bilingual programme for public schools was introduced in 1996. The goal
was for students to become “fluent” in English because this could be decisive in their professional
ambitions.” Starting in the year 2000, regional governments began their bilingual programmes, and the
number of enrolled students has grown 498% in a decade.

According to David Marsh, a defender of the bilingual education, the bilingual programmes never stated
that students would end up speaking perfect English, but this idea continues to be the hope of many
families who take their children to bilingual schools. In the 1990s ( before the bilingual model was
introduced), David Marsh coordinated a team of psychologists, educators and scientists to analyse why,
after eight years of studies at schools, university students were unable to put together a single sentence
in English.

False expectations
Marsh and his team detected that the major problem was the methodology used at centres, based on
memorizing and repeating concepts. Their solution was a system called CLIL (Content and Language
Integrated Learning), which is the base of today’s bilingual model.

This system defended learning a new language through the study of other subjects such as maths,
geography and history. But there was a limit: the student would never speak the second language as
well as their native one. “The word bilingual is dangerous and it creates false expectations,” says Marsh.
“Families think that if they take their children to a bilingual school, they will learn another language in a
short space of time, but the real goal is for students to communicate at a basic level.”

However, there are many Spanish teachers who believe that under the current system, students
are neither learning English properly nor acquiring the content that they are teaching in that language –
in primary school, natural and social sciences as well as arts and PE; in secondary school, 40% of courses,
including geography, history, physics, chemistry and biology.

Finally, it is important to say that there are studies showing that thanks to the bilingual model, the stu-
dents’ level of English has improved, and their knowledge of other subjects taught in English has not de-
creased.

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1. Answer the questions in your own words. (8 points)

a.- Why do many families take their children to a bilingual school?

b.- According to Marsh and his team, why didn’t students learn English well?

2.- Write True of False for the following sentences. Find evidence to support your answers. (8
points)
a.- The bilingual education debate is over now because everybody accepts that this model is positive.

b.- Bilingual education defenders state that students will become excellent English speakers.

c.- In bilingual programmes, all subjects are taught in English.

d.- There is evidence that bilingual education helps students to learn a foreign language.

3. Choose the correct answer. (4 points)

A. Some centres have abandoned the bilingual education system because they think that … .
a. its students get better job opportunities
b. teaching only a few subjects in English is positive
c. it does not achieve the desired objectives
d. it is a costly system

B. The bilingual education model … .

a. defends a methodology called CLIL
b. has never been introduced in a private school
c. was first used in Spain one decade ago
d. has disappeared completely from Spanish public schools

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4.- Vocabulary. (8 points)

a.- Find in the text a synonym of “disadvantage” (noun – paragraphs 1-3):

b.- Find in the text a synonym of “aim, objective” (noun - paragraphs 1-3):
c.- Find a word in the text with the following definition (adjective – paragraphs 3-4):
“speaking easily and correctly in a foreign language”
d.- Find a word in the text with the following definition (noun – paragraphs 3-4):
“the desire to achieve something or to be successful, rich or powerful”
e.- Find in the text a synonym of “increase” (verb - paragraphs 3-4):
f.- Find a word in the text with the following definition (paragraphs 3-4):
“a group of people who work together”

g.- Find an expression in the text with the meaning of “to form” (paragraphs 3-4):
h.- Find a word in the text with the following definition (paragraphs 4-5):
“to learn something well to remember it exactly later”

VOCABULARY. (8 points)

1.- Complete the sentences with a word in the box and a noun suffix.

vary child leader violent research arrive achieve solve

a) I don’t eat meat, only fish, but there is a good ……………………….….…… of it in this market.
b) What is the greatest scientific ………………………..……………….. of the decade?
c) European …………………….……… say that olive oil can help to prevent cancer.
d) Our organization works with victims of gender …………….…………………………… .
e) You can find the ……………………..…………….. to this problem in the next page.
f) Nobody questions her …………………….………………; everybody accepts that she is the main
player.
g) Our estimated time of …………………..…………………….. is 7.15.
h) He spent his ……………………………………….. in India.

GRAMMAR. (40 points)

1.- Complete the sentences using these tenses: present simple, present continuous, present
perfect, past simple, past continuous & past perfect. Use the verbs in brackets. (Use all these
tenses twice) (24 points)

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a) Right now, the baby …………………………………………………………...………………………………... (sleep)

b) By the time Doris arrived at the station, ………………………………………….…………………... (leave)
c) The telephone rang when …………………………………………………………………………………………. (study)
d) I didn’t recognise him because ………………………………………………………………………………… (not meet)
e) At the moment the girls ……………………….……………….………………….……………………………. (do)
f) Be careful when you go out! A lion ……………………………………………………….………………… (escape)
g) When I am tired, …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. (not like)
h) Yesterday at 3 pm I ………………….……………………………………………………………………………...… (watch)
i) My father …………………………………………………………………………………….………. every Sunday. (visit)
j) The children …………………………………………………………………….…………………………. last night. (break)
k) Our neighbours …………………………………………………………………….……………... two weeks ago. (sell)
l) I ……………………………………………………………………………….……………………………….. recently. (see)

2.- Make questions for the following answers. (16 points)

Example: The concert started at 11 o’clock pm.
Answer: What time did the concert start?

a.- Tom goes to French lessons once a week.

b.- My mum is cooking pasta.

c.- The secretary arrived late because the traffic was terrible.

d.- The doctor was calming my father.

e.- She’s smoked for ten years.

f.- Carol found her wallet under the car.

g.- This book costs 20 euros.

h.- The player has scored two goals.

EVALUACIÓN

Inadecuado Correcto Destacado

Reading

Vocabulary

Grammar

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