Lesson 3

English and
Education

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 Education Woes
Warm up

What springs to mind when you

hear the word education?

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 Education Woes
Warm Up

Education means:
is the process of facilitating learning, or the
acquisition of knowledge, skills, values,
beliefs, and habits.

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 Education Woes
Picture Description
Education Woes: Describe and Discuss

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 Education Woes
Picture Description
Education Woes: Describe and Discuss

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 Education Woes
Picture Description
Education Woes: Describe and Discuss

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 Education Woes
Warm up

Do you agree or disagree?

Why?
1. School is important for success in
life.
2. I love(d) school!
3. Not everyone is suited for high school,
so it's okay to dropout.
4. Not everyone is suited for elementary
school, so it's okay to dropout.
5. We learn a lot of useless subjects at
school, which will have no use later
in life.

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 Education Woes
Speaking Activity

1. Why is it important to study hard ?

2. What do you remember about your teachers?
Who was your favorite teacher?
2. Were there any teachers that you didn’t like? Why?
3. What subjects were you good at?
4. What subjects were you not good at?
5. Do you think learning the English language is important?
Why?
6. What do you think of home schooling?
7. Do you think education should be free?

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 Education Woes
Speaking Activity

2. What are some important factors in determining which school to

attend?
3. What advice would you give a primary school student who is
about to go to high school?
4. Were having good grades important to you? Why?
5. What do you think will happen if you did not go to school?
6. What are the qualities of a good student?
7. What are the qualities of a good teacher?
8. What is your opinion about homework?
10. What kind of world do you think this would be if people never
went to school?
10. They said, education begins at home. Do you think so?

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 Education Woes
Comprehension
Do you feel that your education has prepared you well for
your current job? Why? Why not?
What was your first job? Did you enjoy it?
What would you say was the worst job you ever had? What
made it so bad?
If you could switch jobs with any of your friends or family,
who would you choose and why?
Why is English an in demand language to learn?
Are there any major benefits to learning English for people
from your country? Why do you think so?
Do you think English will remain the most studied language
for decades to come? Why? Why not?

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Some people get very embarrassed when they have to speak in a foreign
language. Does this happen to you? What suggestions would you give to
somebody who suffered from this problem?

Which do you find it easier to understand: native English speakers or other

foreigners? Why do you think this is?

How would your life be different without English?

How would your life change if you were fluent in English?

What is/was your high school like? Please explain.

How important is education for success? Why do you think so?

What can be done to improve education and graduation rates?
Will children receive a better or worse education in the future? Why?
 Education Woes
Speaking Activity

What's the best thing for today's students to study?

• environmentalism • Arts and Sports

• English • Science
• health and sports • maths
• Economics • Computer
1. What was your favorite subject at school?
2. What was your least favorite?
3. Do you think academic subjects are more important
than arts? Explain.

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 Education Woes
Comprehension

TRUE or FALSE

1. More than 10% of American high schools are "dropout factories.“

2. Most dropout factories are in large cities and poor areas.
3. According to the article, Japan has a similar problem as the US.
4. All Japanese students chat with friends, send emails, and sleep in
class.
5. Reading has improved in England.

Post Comprehension

1. What is/was your high school like? Please explain.

2. How important is education for success? Why do you think so?
3. What can be done to improve education and graduation rates?
4. Are there similar problems in your country? Are there different problems?
5. Will children receive a better or worse education in the future? Why?

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 Education Woes
Speaking Activity
What are the worst things about school?
Rate these and share your ratings with your partner:
0 = this is a huge worry; 1 = I’m not at all worried about this.

1. Noisy students in class

2. Homework
3. Boring teachers
4. School uniform
5. Canteen food
6. Rules
7. English lessons
8. Starting time
What do you think is the best way to discipline students?

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 Education Woes
Idioms and Collocations

Idioms we might use when discussing education

Matching Exercise
1. To have one's head or
nose in the books
2. To hit the books
3. Cut class or Skip class
4. Pass with flying colors
5. To learn something
off by heart
A. means to study hard.
B. to not go to class
C. To learn something in such a way that
you can say it from memory.
D. to be studying all the time.
E. to pass something easily and with a
high score.

1. Did you put your nose in the books when you were a student?
2. Have you ever cut class? Why?
3. Have you ever passed with flying colors?
4. What have you learned something by heart?
5. When do you usually hit the books?

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 Education Woes
Vocabulary related to education
Fill in the blanks with the correct word in the box.
Illiteracy Boardin Examiner Vocational Tertiary education Retake
Freshman g Doctorate Scholarshi Apprenticeship Revise
Recess p
1. ………. food and place to stay.
2. ………. the highest degree awarded by a graduate school or other approved
educational organization.
3. ………. a person who learns a job or skill by working for a fixed period of time for
someone who is very good at that job or skill
4. a student in the first year of high school or college
5. ……… to alter or edit
6. someone whose job is to decide how well someone has done in an examination
7. ……… a break from doing something, like work or school
8. ……… the inability to read or write.
9. ……… relating to the special skills, training, etc., that you need for a particular job
10. a grant or payment made to support a student's education, awarded on the basis of
academic or other achievement.
11. take again, in particular.
12. the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary
education.
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 Education Woes
Pronunciation
Common Mispronounced Words
1. mishap /ˈmɪshæp/ (mis-hæp); the word is mis-hap, meaning mis-happiness, i.e.
misfortune or bad luck.
2. recipe /ˈrssəpi/ (res-ə-pee); “cipe” in this case doesn’t rhyme with “ripe”; it consists
of two separate syllables.
3. lettuce /ˈlstɪs/ (let-iss); remember that lettuce doesn’t grow on a spruce; and it also
doesn’t rhyme with it.
4. womb /wuːm/ (woom), tomb /tuːm/ (toom); people tend to pronounce “o” as in
“lot”. Think about “tomb” as about “to”+”mb”. “Mb” may sound nice in Swahili,
but not so much in English, so the “b” is silent.The same applies to the other words
in which “mb” is a part of the same syllable, such as numb /nʌm/.
5. caveat /ˈkæviæt/ (kæ-vee-æt) (UK), /ˈkɑviˌɑt/ (kaa-vee-aat) (US); meaning “a
warning”, it is not so common in speech, but still appears in literature or official
documents. Just remember that you can’t eat a caveat.
6. colonel /ˈksːnəl/ (kə-ə-nl) (UK), /ˈksrnl/ (kər-nl) (US); is there a kernel inside a
colonel? Well, at least in pronunciation, there is.
7. comfortable /ˈkʌmfətəbl/ (kʌm-fə-tə-bl) (UK), in US also /ˈkʌmftəbəl/ (kʌmf-tə-
bl); if you “come for a table” to a furniture shop, it will hopefully be comfortable,
although it doesn’t rhyme with it.
8. lieutenant /lefˈtenənt/ (lef-ten-ənt) (UK), /luˈtsnənt/ (loo-ten-ənt) (US); the
American pronunciation poses no problem here; just notice the British one.
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The End

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