Introduction

Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can. Lowell Thomas
DISCUSSION POINTS
1 Comment on the quotation of the lesson.
Why is it important to keep yourself busy?
2. Answer the following questions and compare your answers with those of your colleagues.
a. When do you get up in the morning? How do you start your day?
b. How many lessons per day do you have at school? When do they start/finish?
c. What other activities besides lessons do you have at school or outside it? When do you have them, how
often and for how long?
d. How much time do you spend on homework? When do you do it?
e. How much time per day do you spend...
— watching TV?
— playing computer games?
— reading books?
— practising sports?
f. How much time do you spend socializing with friends/relatives? What do you do together?
g. When do you go to bed? How many hours per day do you usually sleep?
h. Are you a busy person?
i. Do you value time and spend it reasonably? What makes you think so?

READING
1. Diana, a Moldovan student who went to the United States with the FLEX (Future Leaders for
Exchange) program, is willingly sharing her experience and her daily schedule with you. Read her
letter and tell how the daily schedule of American students is similar to or different from yours.
Hi,
I am Diana and I came to the United States as an exchange student. I am staying in Philadelphia with a
nice family and I am attending J.R. Masterman High School.
I feel comfortable at school now, but it was quite different at the beginning.
I remember my first day at school. It was Thursday, September the 6th. I went to my Advisory, which is
a fifteen-minute class each morning. There the teacher makes all the announcements. The teacher gave
out our schedules. I looked at mine and became frustrated. I didn’t know where the rooms I was supposed
to go to were, and how hard the classes were going to be. I tried to find somebody who had the same
schedule as I had, so I could follow the person around to every class. Vanessa helped me out when I most
needed somebody.
At school, I have seven classes a day including lunch. Lunch is different for everybody: high school
students (freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors) have lunch during the 3rd period. Lunch is as long
as a regular class is and it is a time when you get to talk to your friends or get to know them in my case.
Classes are about fifty-one minutes long and there are very short breaks between them, just enough time
to get from one class to another. They start at 8:15 in the morning and end at 3:28 PM. There is a different
bell schedule for Tuesday. On Tuesday classes are one hour long. It took me time to get used to a
different bell schedule, as I was used to having 45-minute classes in Moldova.
The school day is not over when classes end. There is no single student who leaves school after the 7th
period. Everybody is involved in at least one extra-curricular activity. Those who don’t go to any activity
attend the Option class, the 8th period in the schedule. The students read there, have tutoring, etc. But
most of the students prefer to join an activity instead of the Options. Though it takes more of their time,
they value the opportunity to learn something different that would help develop their personalities. The
thing that strikes me is how eager American students are to do different activities, even if it takes their
whole day. I am much busier now than I used to be back home.
 At first, when I came I got involved in an MG course as they call it, which is a course for gifted
students. It was in Digital Graphics and it was a lot of fun.
Later, as I was sitting next to Nija in my Gym class, she suddenly asked me if I would join gymnastics.
I was happy that they considered accepting me to their Varsity Gymnastic team. I had not done anything
similar before. As soon as I started practice I didn’t have time for anything else except homework, dinner,
and going on-line at night. Practices for any sport are about 2-3 hours long every day and it is pretty harsh
if you miss a practice, especially if you are a good athlete. When I started Gymnastics meets my life
became even busier.
After the Gymnastics season had ended I started to play soccer. It had always been my dream, but I
didn’t have the possibility to do it in Moldova. I tried out for the girls’ Varsity Soccer Team and I got in. I
love it although my daily schedule is full.
Besides sports, each day before classes I sing in the school choir. I’ve been singing in the choir for the
last couple of months. Participation in different concerts and contests gives me the possibility to travel.
Tomorrow morning I am meeting my friends before classes for a rehearsal. We are preparing for a
contest. After classes I am going to join the soccer team for practice.
I wake up at 6:30 every morning and come home at 6:30 - 7:00 PM. I have dinner with my host family
at 7:00 and I do my homework till 9:30 PM. I go on-line at 10:00 PM and I go to bed at 11:00 PM. This
has been a regular day for me since September. I have been busy a lot lately but I enjoy being busy a lot.

2.Answer the following questions based on the text. Analyze the daily schedule and the bell schedule
of J.R. Masterman school for additional information.
a. How many classes do American students have each day? How long does each class last?
b. What time is lunch? How much time do students have for lunch?
c. How many subjects does Diana study? What levels are they?
d. How many classes per week of each subject does Diana have?
e. What extra-curricular activities besides classes is Diana involved in?
f. How much time do American students spend at school each day?
g. What is the purpose of the Advisory?
h. What do students do for Options?

3. Match the words with the definitions. Give the plural of the words.
Junior a ninth-grade student in a U.S.A. high school, a first-year student in a U.S.A. college
Senior a tenth-grade student in a U.S.A. high school, a second-year student in a U.S.A. college
Freshman an eleventh-grade student in a U.S.A. high school, a third-year student in a U.S.A. college
Sophomore a twelfth-grade student in a U.S. A. high school, a fourth-year student in a U.S.A. college

4.Match the words with their synonyms.

value, v. teaching, learning, instructing
eager, adj. to prize, treasure, appreciate
gifted, adj. anxious, impatient
tutoring, n. talented, intelligent, brilliant

5.In the text, find the words that express the following:
— an institution which provides all or part of secondary education, in US the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th
grades (1)
— empowered to advise; of or containing advice (2)
— something available as a choice; a choice (5)
— helping someone to achieve better results; helping with the homework (5)
— a team representing a university, college or school, esp. in sports competitions (used mostly in the
USA) (6)
— rough or sharp in a way that is unpleasant; unpleasant or difficult to endure; severe (6)
— a sporting contest at which many competitors gather (especially in the USA) (6)
— an organized company of singers (8)

6. Add a particle to the following verbs to form phrasal verbs from the text and match them with
the definitions given.

Out out out in up around/about

(7) get ______ distribute

(2) follow _______ to help someone do something; to help someone with a problem
(2) help ________ enter, be accepted, start
(7) try _______ to follow someone wherever they go
(2) give _______ US and Canadian (of an athlete, actor, etc.) to undergo a test or to submit (an
athlete, actor, etc.) to a test to determine suitability for a place in a team, an acting role, etc.

7. Use the definitions given to explain the use of tenses in the following sentences from the text. Find
in the text other similar cases of the use of tenses.

1. I am staying in Philadelphia with a nice family
and I am attending J.R. Masterman High School
2. I feel comfortable at school now …
3. It was Thursday, September the 6th. I went to
my advisory, which is a 15-minute class each
morning. There the teacher makes all the
announcements. The teacher gave out the schedule.
4. Classes start at 8:15 in the morning and end at
3:28 PM.
5. It took me time to get used to the bell schedule
as I was used to having 45-minute classes.
6. Later, I was sitting next to Nija in my Gym
class when she suddenly asked me if I would join
gymnastics.
7. I had never done anything similar before.
8. Tomorrow morning I am meeting my friends
before classes for a rehearsal; this week we are
preparing for a contest. After classes I am going
to join the soccer team for practice.
9. It had always been my dream, but I didn’t have
the possibility to do it in Moldova.
10. I’ve been singing in the school choir for the
last couple of months.
a. non-progressive verb to describe a current state
or feeling
b. action in progress at the time of speaking
c. to set the scene or to describe an action in
progress at a specific time in the past
d. to express a future arrangement
e. to talk or ask about a specific moment in the past
f. to describe things that happen regularly
according to a schedule or timetable
g. to talk about a new situation which is becoming
familiar or less strange
h. action verbs with for or since to say that
something started in the past and is still true now
i. to talk about a new situation which was at some
point in the past familiar or less strange
j. to report a future in relation to a past action k. to
express a future intention
l. to describe things that are generally true or
habitually happen
m. to talk about a past action that happened before
another action in the past
n. non-action verbs to say that something started in
the past and is still true now

Work in pairs. Debate the following statements using ought to and should to say that it is/it isn’t a
good/right thing to do something. Explain your point of view.
a. The school day should be shorter.
b. Students should have the right to choose the subjects they study.
c. More extra-curricular activities ought to be organized for students.
d. Homework shouldn’t be compulsory.
e. People should value relationships with their friends and close relatives and spend as much time as they
can together.