INTENSIVE LISTENING. Before Listening ActivitiesBefore Listening Activities Activity I: Orientation 1. What is homeschooling? Do you know any families where children are (or were) homeschooled? Activity II: Helpful Vocabulary 1. Make sure you understand the words in the glossary.
2. What are these American units of measurement equivalent to in the metric system? Linear measures: an inch, a foot, a yard, a mile Weight measures: an ounce, a pound Liquid measures: a fluid ounce, a gill, a pint, a quart, a gallon, a barrel Dry measures: a pint, a quart, a gallon, a peck, a barrel Listening Comprehension Activities 1. You are going to watch a video about Leslie Nathaniel who homeschools her children. Watch the video and answer the questions: 1. Where do the Nathaniels live? 2. How old is Kaila? 3. How does Leslie Nathaniel understand learning? 4. How many children are homeschooled in the USA? How many of them are homeschooled in Virginia? 5. Why do parents choose to teach their children at home? 6. Why did Leslie make the decision to homeschool her daughters? 2. Watch again and describe the way Kaila and Kalia learn at home. What methods and resources does their mother use? After Listening Activities Activity I: Discussing the Issues 1. Do you find the way Leslie teaches her daughters effective? Why/Why not? 2. Discuss pros and cons of homeschooling. You may find the following vocabulary useful:
3. Read the following extract about homeschooling and say if you agree or disagree with its author. Give your reasons. Have you ever wondered why so many public school authorities hate parents who homeschool their children? Well, it is because homeschooling is very successful. Homeschooling families pose a direct challenge to the monopoly that the public school has. This monopoly is what makes it nearly impossible to fire a tenured public school teacher or principal. This means that these tenured employees are almost guaranteed that they will have a job for life. They only get this incredible benefit because public schools are monopolizing our children’s education. If these teachers were to work for a private school they would not have this tenure and thus they would have to compete for their job. This is why public schools see homeschooling parents as a serious threat. A lot of school officials also cannot stand the thought of an average parent who never attended college, much less attended college to become a teacher, being able to better educate their child than the public school experts could. These parents are able to give their children an education that is far superior to that which they would have received in the public schools. This humiliates the public school teachers, who are licensed to teach children, as it shows that these public school teachers have failed in comparison. This is humiliating for the public schools to admit (abridged from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/62623/public_schools_hate_homeschooling_pg2.html?cat). 4. If you homeschooled your children, what would your curriculum include? How many hours a day would your children study and what kind of activities would they be involved in?
INTENSIVE READING: Reading an Article
By Rosanne Skirble Competitive pressures placed on young people in U.S. high schools are damaging many otherwise promising lives. Nearly a third of students responding to a 2010 national survey of first-year college students reported they were overwhelmed by the heavy workload in their last year of high school. Deborah Stipek, dean of the Stanford University School of Education, is an expert in what motivates students to learn and says they are stressed. And for good reason. “They are not enjoying what can be the incredible satisfaction of learning and developing understandings and skills. Learning can be an adventure, but instead of an adventure it’s really about the test. It’s about the college application.” In an editorial in the journal Science, Stipek says the trend in many high schools is to teach to the test, as her daughter recently reminded her. Relieved after completing her final Advanced Placement, or AP exam for a college-level French course, she told her mother she was happy never to speak French again. “I think that revealed the real basic problem,” Stipek says, “which is the AP courses that she was taking in French were not about learning French, not about being able to communicate with a different culture, or to travel, or to have a skill that could be useful in life. It was about getting a score on an AP test that would help her get into the college of her choice.” Stipek says educators must begin to rethink homework policies, match students with colleges better suited to their interests and listen to what students say. “One of the things that schools are doing that we’re working with is doing yearly surveys of students to find out what their sources of stress and anxiety are and get their ideas on what the schools can do, what kinds of policies can be supportive of them. And this has been amazing, because we’ve gone into schools where they say this isn’t a problem and then they do a survey of the students and they are blown away by what the students say when they are actually asked.” Perhaps that explains the grassroots success of the 2009 documentary film, “Race to Nowhere,” that gives young people, their parents and teachers a voice. The movie has screened before nearly 600,000 people in schools, colleges and churches across the United States and several other countries. One teenager profiled says she's consumed by homework. “I really can’t remember the last time I had a chance to go in the back yard and just run around”, she says. Stipek, who was also interviewed for the film, says, “These are students who feel under enormous pressure to perform as opposed to learn.” Stipek adds that educators – and parents – must respond by helping students to sharpen their interests, engagement and intellectual skills, and at the same time to reduce their stress. Otherwise, she says, we risk killing young people’s enthusiasm for learning (abridged from http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/-124644319.html). Activity I: Mastering Vocabulary 1. Complete the gaps with correct prepositions:
2. If possible, complete the table with derivatives.
3. Explain what the underlined phrases mean. 1. American high schoolers are overwhelmed by the heavy workload and focus on college prep. 2. Deborah Stipek, dean of the Stanford University School of Education, is an expert in what motivates students to learn and says they are stressed. 3. Relieved after completing her final AP exam for a college-level French course, she told her mother she was happy never to speak French again. 4. Stipek says educators must begin to rethink homework policies, match students with colleges better suited to their interests and listen to what students say. 5. And this has been amazing, because we’ve gone into schools where they say this isn’t a problem and then they do a survey of the students and they are blown away by what the students say when they are actually asked. 6. Perhaps that explains the grassroots success of the 2009 documentary film, “Race to Nowhere,” that gives young people, their parents and teachers a voice. 7. The movie has screened before nearly 600,000 people in schools, colleges and churches across the United States and several other countries.
Activity II: Analyzing the Structure and the Content. 1. Think of a headline for the article. Remember that a good headline should grab readers’ attention and communicate a message to the audience. It sets the tone of the article and compels you to continue reading. 2. Discuss all the headlines suggested and choose the best one/ones. Then compare them with the original headline provided by your teacher. 3. A newspaper article has all the important information in the opening paragraph often called the lead. This information usually includes who, what, when, where, why and how. It is written this way because most people do not read the whole article. So journalists put the most important information at the beginning. Read the lead of the article. Does it get you interested in reading the entire article? What information does it include? What is the main point of the article? 4. The body of the article, which follows the lead, contains details and facts that a reader might want to know. It can also include direct quotes which are used to add interest to the story. Look through the article and say how the main point of the article is supported in its body. 5. There are several ways to write a conclusion of the article. For example, you can: · end with a quotation or startling statement. · invite the reader to go in a different direction. · end your magazine article with a story. · summarize your article at the end. · circle back to your lead. (http://theadventurouswriter.com/blogwriting/writing-conclusions-how-to-end-your-articles-essays-book-chapters/). Which of the ways of writing a conclusion is used in the article? Activity III: Answering the Questions 1. Why do many American teenagers feel stressed in their last year of high school? 2. How do you think can this situation be improved? 3. Did you feel overwhelmed by heavy workload and focus on college preparation in your last school year? Why/Why not?
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