Barbara is asking Sophie about her visit to Great Britain. Complete this

Dialogue and practise it in pairs.

Barbara: Hi! I haven’t seen you for ages! Where have you been?

Sophie: I have been to England. I was on a business trip.

Barbara: How was the weather?

Sophie: It was raining cats and dogs. I can’s stand such weather.

Barbara: What places of interest did you visit?

Sophie: ........................................................

Barbara: ................................................

You are to make a report on Great Britain at a conference. What would

you tell about the country? The following plan would help you:

1. Geographical situation 4. State structure

2. Population 5. Industry

3. Language 6. Capital (sightseeing)

So many men, so many minds.....

Would you like to live in England? What are the advantages or the drawbacks

of living there?

EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN

A schooling

Knowledge is power.

Francis Bacom (1561-1662)

Warm up

A Have you got an idea of what a primary school is like? Try to make a table of it like this:

2 Designing vocabulary trees can help you build up your own mental “maps”
of vocabulary areas. Look at the list of words in the box and put each one

In an appropriate place on the vocabulary tree below.

3 What is your opinion of what kids should learn in preschool?

Below is the survey based on responses 300 Japanese, 240 Chinese, and

American preschool teachers, administrators, parents, and child-

Development specialists.

Japan China U.S.

1 Perseverance 2% 13% 3%

2 Cooperation 30% 37% 32%

3 Concern for other 31% 4% 5%

4 Creativity 9% 17% 6%

5 Reading and math skills 0% 6% 1%

6 Self- confidence 11% 6% 34%

7 Art, music and dance 0,3% 1% 1%

8 Communication skills 1% 4% 8%

9 Physical skills 0,3% 1% 1%

10 Health and hygiene 14% 11% 1%

3.2 Do you agree with the rank? What do you think children should learn in

preschool? Rank five things from the list above. What else should children

learn in preschool?

Read the text, remember the information on school education in Great

Britain

1 In Britain children start going to school when they are five and continue

studying until they are sixteen or older. Many children in Britain attend in Britain attend nursery school from the age of about three, but these schools are not compulsory.

2 Compulsory education begins at the age of five when children go to primary school. Primary education lasts for six years. They attend the infant school from five to seven and then junior school until they are eleven. In infant school children don’t have real classes. They get acquainted with the classroom, desks, they mostly play and learn through playing. They know some numbers and also how to add them.

3 When children are seven real studying begins. They have classes, sit at desks, read and write and don’t play as much as they did in infant school. Then pupils go to secondary school. Children study English, mathematics, science, geography, history, art, music, a foreign language, and physical education. The first three are called “core” subjects. Pupils take examinations in the core subjects at the age of 7, 11 and 14. Most secondary schools teach French and some other schools – Spanish, German, Italian and Russian.

4 After five years of secondary education, pupils take the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examonation. Most pupils take examinations in all subjects. Ordinary levels are normally called “O”- levels. Pupils take “O”- levels in as many subjects as want to; some take just one or two, others take as many as nine or ten.

5 If you get good “O”- level results, you can stay at school until you are 18. Here you prepare for Advanced Level Exams ( “A”- levels). Again, you take as many of these as you want to. Most people take two or three. Three good “A”- level exams are the entrance exams for Universities. But Oxford and Cambridge have special ones.

6 Higher education begins at eighteen and usually lasts for three or four years. Students go to Universities, polytechnics, or colleges. There are about 80 universities in Britain now.

Speaking

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1020