Our School, a Classroom

Many schools in our country look very similar, but our school is a little bit different. It consists of
three large buildings attached to one another and one more-our gymnasium, which is about ten minute´s
walk away. Our buildings differ in number of floors - building A has eight floors, B six and C - the oldest
one - three. In the basement there are cloakrooms, a boiler room, workshops and a kitchen, on the first
floor there is a school canteen, caretaker´s flat and a reception desk. Our school has also an assembly
hall, which is situated on the third floor of its oldest part - building C.
On the other floors there are long hallways with many doors leading to classrooms, teachers´
offices, laboratories, computer rooms, and toilets. A common room and school library - which we call
School Information Centre is on the third floor of the A building. On the sixth floor of the same building
there are a staff room, the head´s and deputy heads´ offices and the administrative offices. The hallways
and staircases are decorated with pictures, flowers, posters, notice-boards and there are also some glass
cases.
All classrooms are almost the same. There are large windows opposite the door, rows of school
desks and chairs with two aisles in between, a blackboard with a shelf for coloured and white chalk and a
sponge on the front wall, a teacher´s desk, a bookcase, a notice board, a few pictures and a portrait of the
president a wash-basin and a waste-paper basket.
Subjects which need special equipment or aids are taught in special classrooms such as a
chemistry, biology or physics laboratory, in most other schools also a music and an art room. For teaching
foreign languages language labs are especially equipped with various audio-visual aids, such as maps, a
cassette recorder, a CD player, an overhead projector, a screen, a video or an interactive white board.
What is a lesson in our school like? The same as in other Czech schools: After the bell, when the
teacher enters the room, the students stand up to greet him/her. The teacher makes and entry in the class
register, marks absent students and then starts the lesson with revision of the previous lesson. He/she
examines the pupils individually by asking them to come to the blackboard, they are asked to reckon, do
an exercise, explain a problem, respond to teacher´s questions or sometimes the whole class takes a
written test.
The performance of the students who excel is usually perfect, they are fluent and creative.
Sometimes the performance is rather disappointing both for the teacher and the student alike. The reason
are for example : not paying attention in class, not doing homework regularly and copying it in the break
before the lesson, relying on one´s pretty face, cutting classes and not working consistently and
systematically or the student can spoil his performance due to nervousness.
The results range from excellent, very good, good, satisfactory to failure.
After examination the teacher explains a new subject matter and practises it with exercises.
Before the end of the lesson he sums up the topic and sets assignments for the next lesson. The teachers
are supposed to follow the curriculum but they are free to choose textbooks for their students.
Some students stay at school after school hours and take part in after-school activities such as a
driving school, computer or language club, volleyball club and FCE course. In some other schools they
can sing in a choir, act in a drama club, and go to a reciting club or a game club.

Questions on the text:

1. What kind of room can you find in your school?
2. What does a normal classroom look like?
3. Describe a language laboratory.
4. What is a lesson in school like?
5. How is a student´s examination done?
6. What can influence a student´s performance and how?
7. How does the lesson go on after examination?
8. What kind of activities can students do after school?