Education in Great Britain

The system of education in Great Britain is determined by the National Education Acts. Schools in England are supported from public funds paid to the local education authorities. These local education authorities are responsible for organizing the schools in their areas. If we outline the basic features of public education in Britain, firstly we’ll see that in spite of most educational purposes England & Wales are treated as one unit, though the system in Wales is a different from that of England. Scotland & Northern Ireland have their own education systems. The majority of schools in Britain are supported by public funds & the education provided is free. They are maintained schools, but there are also a considerable number of public schools. Most pupils go to schools which offer free education, although fee-paying independent schools also have an important role to play. Another important feature of schooling in Britain is the variety of opportunities offered to schoolchildren. The English school syllabus is divided into Arts/or Humanities/ and Sciences which determine the division of the secondary school pupils into study groups: a science pupil will study Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Economics, Technical Drawing , Biology, Geography; an Art pupil will do English Language and Literature, History, foreign languages, Music, Art, Drama. Besides these subjects they must do some general education subjects like PE, Home Economics for girls, and Technical subjects for boys, General Science. Computers play an important part in education. The system of options exists in all kinds of secondary schools. The national Education Act in 1944 provided 3 stages of education: primary, secondary and further education. Everybody has a right to school place for a child from age 5 to 16, and a school of college place for him or her from 16 to 18. These places are provided free of charge. The education is a compulsory from age 5 to 16 /11 years in whole/. In England about 47% of three- & four-year-olds receive education in nursery schools or classes. In addition many children attend informal pre-school play groups organized by parents and voluntary bodies. In 1944 The National Curriculum was introduced. It sets out in detail the subjects that children should study and the levels of achievement they should reach by the ages of 7, 11, 14 & 16, when they are tested. The tests are designed to be easier for teachers to manage than they were in the past. Most pupils will also be entered for GCSEs/General Certificate of the Secondary Education/ or other public examinations, including vocational qualifications if they are 16. Until that year headmasters and headmistresses of schools were given a great deal of freedom in deciding what subjects to teach and how to do it in their schools so that there was really no central control at all over individual schools. The National Curriculum does not apply in Scotland, where each school decides what subject it will teach. The child is taught the subjects he or she must study under the National Curriculum. These are English, Maths, Science/the core subjects/, Technology, a foreign language in secondary school, as it was mentioned, PE, History, Geography, Art, Music/ foundation subjects/. Each subject has a set program of study and attaining levels for each subject covering the years from 5 to 16. There’re 10 levels. The National Curriculum itself was introduced in 1989 (until that time the schools had a curriculum supervised by the local LEA). According to The National Curriculum schools are allowed to introduce a fast stream for bright children. Actually after young people reach 16 they have 4 main ‘roads’ of their next life: they can leave the school, stay at school, move to a college as a full time student, combine part-time study with a job.

Answer the questions

1. What is a system of education aimed to?

2.Are there any opportunities offered to schoolchildren?

3. How many parts is the English school syllabus divided into?

4. What subjects do science pupils study?

4. When do pupils go through GCSE?

5. How many stages of education are there in Great Britain?

6. Is a secondary education compulsory in Great Britain?

7. What does not apply in Scotland?

8. What subjects do children learn?

9. When the National Curriculum was introduced?

10. What can you say about young people reach 16?

Glossary

Education in the USA

The USA doesn’t have a national system of education. All educational matters are left to states. 50 percent of funds of education come from state sources, about 40 from local funds, and only 5 percent from the federal government. There are two major types of schools in the USA –public which are free, and private, or fee-paying. Four of five private schools are run by churches and other religious groups.

Elementary education starts at the age of 6 and continues till 10-11 years. Secondary education is provided from the age 11-12. Intermediate school includes grades 6 through 9 for ages 11-12 up to 14-15. A senior high school may include grades 9-10 through 12. A senior high school may be comprehensive, general or vocational. A comprehensive school offers a broad program of academic and vocational education; a general school offers a more limited program. A vocational school focuses on vocational training with some general education subjects. All such programs-academic, technical, or practical are generally taught under one roof. Nevertheless, many students of high school don’t finish it. 1 percent of American citizens at the age of 14 can neither read, nor write. High school students who wish attend a college or university goes through one of the two standard tests-SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and ACT (American College Test). They are given by non-profit, non-governmental organizations.

There are several ways to continue in education: universities, colleges, community colleges, and technical and vocational schools. A university in USA usually consists of several colleges; each college specializes in a subject area. There are colleges of liberal arts, colleges of education and business colleges. A program for undergraduates usually takes four years and leads to the Bachelor of Arts or Science degree. After that, students may leave the university or go on for a graduate or professional degree. The university may be funded from several different sources. A publicly funded university gets some money from the state government but a privately funded university gets money from private sources only. A university may be funded by a religious group.

College students usually spend four years at the college, too, and get the Bachelor’s degree. In contrast to universities, colleges don’t have graduate or professional programs. Colleges in the USA differ greatly in size-they may include from 100 students to 5000 and more. The largest universities of the USA are University of California, State University of New York, New York University, Columbia University and others.

The course of study in a community college lasts two years and doesn’t lead to any degree. Community colleges may give courses in the regular academic subjects or subject like dental technology, sewing and other non-academic subjects. Not all students of community colleges have high school diplomas.

Technical, or vocational schools have no academic programs and provide only job training. Programs may take from six months to two years and more.

Answer the questions

1. What kind of system of education is in the USA?

2. How many major types of schools are in the USA?

3. When do children in USA enter an elementary school?

4. How long do they study at the intermediate school?

5. What grades does a senior high school include?

6. What tests have young people pass to attend a college or university?

7. What can you say about colleges?

8. How long does the course of study last?

9. Do colleges have graduate or professional programs?

10. What are the largest universities of USA?

Glossary

III level – Intermediate

LISTENING

1. Skills of understanding the text (volume 700 – 900 p. s.) and filling in test – 8 % (4 min.) (1.6 % for right answer).

Task: Listen to the text “Sumie” and fill in test.

Sumie

Му nаmе is Sumie. I соmе from Nagano, Japan. In mу country, we usually invite guests hоmе at the weekend for dinner, at about 7 o’clock in the evening. Before they соmе, we must tidy the front garden and clean the entrance hаll. Тhеn we must spray it аll with water to show that we welcome our guests with cleanliness. Тhе guests usually bring а gift, and when they give уоu the gift they say: "I’m sorry this is such, а small gift" but in fact they hаvе chosen it very carefully. When the mеаl is ready the hostess says, ‘We have nothing special for уоu today, but уоu are welcome to соmе this way’. Yоu can see that in Japan уоu should try to bе modest and уоu should not show off too much. If you don’t understand our culture, уоu mау think this is very strange. When we have foreign guests, we try to serve traditional Japanese meals like sushi, tempura, or sukiyaki, but when we have Japanese guests, we serve аll kinds of food such as spaghetti, Chinese food, or steaks. When guests leave, the host and hostess see them out of the house and wait until their car turns the corner of the street; they wait until they can’t see them аnу more.

1. In my country we usually invite guests home at the weekend for dinner, at about _____ o’clock in the evening.

a) 7 o’clock

b) 8 o’clock

c) 6 o’clock

d) 5 o’clock

2. Before they come, we must tidy the front garden and _____ the entrance hall.

a) clean

b) make

c) do

d) sweep

3. Then we must spray it all with ____ to show that we welcome our guests with cleanliness.

a) water

b) cream

c) powder

d) milk

4. The guests usually bring a gift, and then they give you the gift they say, “I’m sorry this is such a small ____”.

a) gift

b) book

c) flower

d) cat

5. We try to serve traditional Japanese meals like ____.

а) sushi, tempura

b) borsch

c) fish and chips

d) Stilton cheese

2. Skills of answering the questions according to the listened text – 8 % (2 min.) (1.6 % for right answer).

Task: Answer the questions.

1. What time do the guests come in Japan?

2. What kind of preparations must the Japanese do?

3. What presents do they bring?

4. What is the popular Japanese drink and food?

5. What do Japanese do when the guests leave their house?

3. Skills of retelling the listened text – 8 % (3 min.) (8 sentences).

Task: Retell the text.

SPEAKING

1. Skills of making up the story according to the picture – 6 % (2 min.) (6 sentences).

Task: Describe the picture.

2. Skills of making up the report on given theme – 6 % (2 min.) (6 sentences).

Task: Make up the report on given theme(tell about ecology, education, future of your city).

3. Skills of having dialogue on given theme – 6 % (2 min.) (6 sentences).

Task: Make up the dialogue on theme “My future plans”.

READING

1. Skills of reading the original text, observing the rules of reading (volume 700 – 900 p. s.) – 4 % (2 min.) and doing some tasks.

Task: Read the text 0.2 % and do the task to the text 0.2 %.

Are you a mobile phone bore?

Mobile phones save lives and increase business opportunities. They also destroy the magic of the movies, irritate people in restaurants and interrupt meetings. Some people even take their mobile phones to funerals! Being wireless is no excuse for being tactless.

The mobile phone bore leaves the phone on all the time and uses loud and annoying ring-tones. He gets angry and emotional when other people are nearby. Does he respect other people’s personal space? No, he doesn’t, he stands next to other people and talks about confidential matters in public. In fact, he doesn’t talk, he shouts, and he even answers the phone in restaurants and theatres.

It’s better to be a smart mobile user. This person has a ‘hands-free’ phone in the car. She stops the car when a conversation is important. In public she speaks quietly and sets the ring tone at ‘low’. She waits for a suitable moment and place before making calls and in public she asks people to call her back.

Fill in test (0.04 % for right answer).

2. Skills of answering the questions according to the text– 4 % (3 min.) (1 % for right answer).

Task: Answer the questions.

1. Is it necessary to have a mobile phone?

2. How do some people use their mobile phone in public?

3. How must people behave to be a smart user?

4. How will you behave to be a smart user?

3. Skills of translating the text with dictionary - 4 % (10 min.).

Task: Translate the text with dictionary.

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