Unit1

Unit 1 Education Is a Key

Part I Warming up

Tapescript.

A.

1. What kind of student comes to Oxford? The answer to this is, there is no "Oxford Type. "Common qualities they look for are commitment, enthusiasm and motivation for your chosen area of study backed by a strong academic record.

2. The University of Cambridge is one of the oldest universities in the world, and one of the largest in the United Kingdom. It has a worldwide reputation for outstanding academic achievement and the high quality of research undertaken in a wide range of science and arts subjects.

3. The University of Sydney was the first to be established in Australia and, after almost 150 years of proud achievement, still leads in innovation and quality. The University excels in sport and social activities, debating, drama, music and much more.

4. Known for excellence in teaching, research, and service to the community, the University of Victoria serves approximately 17,000 students. It is favored by its location on Canada's spectacular west coast, in the capital of British Columbia.

5. New Zealand's largest university, the University of Auckland, was established in 1883, and has grown into an international center of learning and academic excellence. The University is situated in the heart of the cosmopolitan city of Auckland and provides an exciting and stimulating environment for 26,000 students.

6. Founded in 1636 Harvard has a 380-acre urban campus with easy access to Boston. It has a total enrollment of about 18,500 students. This university comprises many different schools such as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, School of Business Administration and School of Education.

7. Columbia University is an independent coeducational university, which awards master's, doctoral, professional, and other advanced degrees, with an enrollment of about 20,000 graduate and professional students.

8. Boston University is located along the banks of the Charles River. With more than 30,000 students from all over the United States and 135 countries, it is the third largest independent university in the United States.

B. Tapescript:

American universities have been offering classes online through computers for a number of years. Now, some newly created colleges are offering academic degrees online. One university offers both bachelor's degrees and master's degrees. Officials say they try to provide students with a social experience as well as an educational one. For example, in some programs, groups of the same six students progress through all their classes together. They communicate by computer. Another online school uses a problem-solving method of teaching. Students attempt to solve real problems in their classes online instead of reading information.

Students who have taken online classes say they like them because they do not have to travel to a building at a set time to listen to a professor. Professors say they have better communication with students through e-mail notes than they do in many traditional classes.

Part II Educational systems

A. You are going to hear some people talking the educational system in their country. Before listening, discuss the pre-listening questions below.

1. How old are children when they begin school in our country?

2. How are the levels of schooling divided?

3. What do school children have to take before they enter the university?

B. Listen to the material. While listening, focus on the points in the chart. Supply the missing information in the chart.

C Now listen again. Answer the following questions briefly.

1. What examinations do British children have to take before they leave secondary school?

GCSE examinations

2. Who should take "A levels" in Britain?

students/higher education

2. What does the word "sophomore" mean in the U. S. ?

student/second year/high school/college

4. What exam do Australian children have to take before they leave high school?

general exam/School Certificate

5. What is a must to Australian children who would like to go to various sorts of higher education?

sitting University Entrance Examination

6. How many years of study are required for university degrees in Canada?

bachelor's degree: 3/4 years master's degree: another year or two

doctorate: a further 3--7 years

Tapescript.

D -- David M- Michael N- Nicolette

D: (Well,) in Britain, from the ages of five to about eleven you start off at a primary school, and then from eleven to sixteen you go on to a secondary school or a comprehensive school and at sixteen you take GCSE examinations. After this, some children take ... er ... vocational courses or even start work. Others stay on at school for another two years to take A levels. And at the age of eighteen, after A levels, they might finish their education or go on to a course of higher education at a college or university, and that's usually for three years.

M: Well, it depends on what state you're in but.., er... most kids in the United States start school at about six.., er... when they go to elementary school and that goes from the first grade up to the sixth grade. Some kids go to a kindergarten the year before that. Then they go on to junior high school, that's about eleven, and that's the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. And then they go on to senior high school around age fourteen ... er ... starting in the tenth grade and finishing in the twelfth grade usually. Some students... er ... will leave school at sixteen and they'll start work, but ... er ... most of them stay on to graduate ... er ... from high school at age eighteen. In the first year at high school or college students are called "freshmen," in the second they're called "sophomores," in the third year.., er... we call them "juniors" and in the fourth year they're called "seniors. ' Now ... er ... a lot of high school graduates... er... then go to college or university and they do a four-year first degree course. Some of them might go to junior college ... er ... which is a two-year course.

N. Well, in Australia, well in most states anyway, children start their primary education at five after perhaps a brief time in kindergarten. They will stay at primary school until they're about eleven, then they'll either stay there or go to an intermediate school for a couple of years. Then they start high school usually twelve or thirteen, which you start in the third form. Now, after three years at high school ... um ... you sit a general exam, some states call it School Certificate ... er ... and that is a sort of general qualification. After that you can leave school at sixteen or you can go on and sit your University Entrance Examination, which then gives you entree into a university or it's another useful qualification, and from then on you go to various sorts of higher education.

Education in Canada is a provincial responsibility, but schools are administered by local school boards.

Kindergarten is for children who are four or five years old. Children begin formal full-day schooling in Grade 1, when they are about six years old. They must stay in school at least until they are sixteen. However, most students continue to finish high school. Some go on to college or university.

Each year of schooling represents one grade. (The school year extends from the beginning of September to the end of June. ) Elementary school includes kindergarten to about Grade 8. Secondary school (or high school) may start in Grade 8, 9, or 10 and it usually continues until Grade 12.

In Canada, students may go to university or to a community college. If they want to learn skills for a specific job, they attend college for one to four years to get a diploma or certificate. For example, lab technicians, child-care workers, and hotel managers go to college. Universities offer degree programs as well as training in certain professions, such as law, medicine, and teaching.

Universities offer three main levels of degrees. Students earn a bachelor's degree after three or four years of study. A master's degree can take another year or two. A doctorate may take a further three to seven years to complete.

Part III Remarks on modern education

A.

1. Education has acquired a kind of snob value in modern times.

2. Nowadays if we want to get a decent job, we have to have a piece of paper.

3. If we want to get promotion in even a humblest job, we have to obtain a certificate or a diploma first.

4. Experience and practical skills are regarded as relatively unimportant.

5. "Johnson would've been a manager by now if he'd taken the trouble to get a degree."

6. "He's a clever man, he could've done anything if he'd had a proper education. '

7. Would it not be better to allow people to become expert in a way most suited to them rather than oblige them to follow a set course of instruction, which may offer no opportunity for them to develop skills in which they would've become expert if left to themselves?

B.

Major viewpoints Supporting ideas and facts

Statement Numbers: 1,4,7 Statement Numbers: 2,3,5,6

Tapescript.

Education has acquired a kind of snob value in modern times. We are no longer content to be honest craftsmen skilled at our work through years of patient practice. Nowadays if we want to get a decent job, we have to have a piece of paper. If we want to get promotion in even a humblest job, we have to obtain a certificate or a diploma first. We may know that we will be better at the job than the man with the paper qualifications, but our experience and practical skills are regarded as relatively unimportant. "Johnson would've been a manager by now if he'd taken the trouble to get a degree," his colleagues say. "He's a clever man, he could've done anything if he'd had a proper education." I wonder if, as time goes on, we should discover that many people whose practical experience and ability would have been enormously useful to their employers have been rejected on the ground that they are insufficiently qualified. Would it not be better to allow people to become expert in a way most suited to them rather than oblige them to follow a set course of instruction, which may offer no opportunity for them to develop skills in which they would've become expert if left to themselves?

Part IV Short talks on listening skills

Listen to the short talk entitled "Thinking Ahead of the Speaker -- Anticipation Helps." 5orne important words are taken away from the written passage. Supply the missing words.

Thinking Ahead of the Speaker

--Anticipation Helps

Listening is an extremely complex communicative activity. In his book Principles and Implications of Cognitive Psychology, Neisser defines listening as a "temporally extended activity" in which the listener "continuously develops more or less specific readiness for what will come next." In other words, an effective listener is constantly setting up hypothesis in his mind, and also, he is constantly testing his hypothesis by matching it with what he has heard in reality. If he hears what he has expected, he receives the information. But if what he hears is totally out of his expectation, he fails to get the message.

The skill to anticipate what is coming in listening comprehension depends largely on the listener's familiarity with the theme of the message. It also depends on the listener's knowledge of the speaker as well as the setting.

Obviously, when we listen to something that we already have some information about, it is generally a lot easier for us to take in the new information. Therefore, pre-listening preparation seems to have a big role to play in enhancing listening comprehension. Before actual listening, we could perhaps first give some thought to the topic, discuss it with others, read some related materials and do some vocabulary work. If we could make ourselves fully orientated for the forthcoming talks or lectures, we are more likely to become effective listeners.

Of course, readiness beforehand is not at all enough. Active thinking must take place all the way through. In fact, we should always try to think ahead of the speaker. The ability to anticipate helps us in logical and intelligent guesswork. It does not only enable us to know generally what a person is going to talk about in a certain situation, but also, interestingly enough, sometimes even exactly what a person's next utterance is going to be in a discussion!

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