Answer these questions

1. What is the aim of British education?

2. What education is compulsory in Great Britain?

3. When do children begin attending a primary school?

4. At what age do children go to a comprehensive school?

5. What kind of school-leaving exams do children take?

6. What types of higher educational establishments are there in the UK?

7. What is necessary to go on to higher education?

8. What courses of study are offered by higher education establishments?

9. What plans did the Government publish in 1991?

10. What are the three types of universities in Great Britain?

II. Do the following tasks:

1. Divide the text into logical parts.

2. Give a name to each part.

3. Give the contents of each part in 1-2 phrases.

4. Give the summary of the whole text.

Text 6

Students working for their first degree at university are called undergraduates. When they take their degree they are called graduate and then they are called graduates. If they continue studying at university after they have graduated, they are called post-graduates. Full-time students have three terms of about ten weeks in each year. University teaching combines lectures given by professors, readers or lecturers, practical classes and small group teaching in seminars or tutorials. In Britain great attention is paid to teacher training. Teacher training, according to one teacher, is preparation for «working with the most valuable resourse the country has». Teacher training is realized at universities and colleges of higher education. Non-graduates normally take a four-year Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree, while those who are already graduates undertake a one-year Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE). The course of study for intending teachers is based upon compulsory and optional subjects. The Programme usually consists of three core components: School-based experience. Subject studies and Education studies. One of the main subjects is Theory of Education. At the end of the second year students are to make their choice as to the age-range of children they wish to prepare to teach. Junior students go into schools for one day each week, watching experienced teachers at work. They take part in the life of the school, help with games. Senior students spend fifteen weeks on teaching practice. They learn the use of different educational aids, observe lessons and take part in discussing them.

Read the text without dictionary and answer the following questions:

1. What students are called undergraduates?

2. What students are called graduates?

3. What students are called post-graduates?

4. How many terms do full - time students have?

5. What does University teaching combine?

6. In Britain great attention is paid to teacher training, isn’t it? Why?

7. How long does the course of study for intending, teachers last? What degree do they usually receive?

8. What does the Programme usually include? What is the main subject?

9. In what way do students take part in the life of the school?

Quiz about Education in Britain:

1. In Britain you have to attend school between:

a) 5 and 16

b) 5 and 18

c) 7 and 16

2. A comprehensive school is …….

a) a school of languages

b) a school for 15-11 years olds

c) a school for 11-16 year olds

3. In 1989 a new National Curriculum was introduced into British schools.

Ten subjects had to be studied. Three of these subjects (called «core

subjects») were chosen for special attention.

Here are the ten subjects to be studied. Which do you think are the

«subjects»?

a) English

b) History

c) Geography

d) Art

e) Science

f) Mathematics

g) a foreign language

h) Design and Technology

i) Physical Education

j) Music

4. 16 year olds in Britain have to take General Certificate of Secondary

Education examinations. Girls have significantly better results than

boys in three of the following GCSE subjects. Which three?

a) Mathematics

b) Biology

8 9

c) French

d) History

e) English

f) Chemistry

Answer the following questions:

1. What ages do you attend school in Russia?

2. What subjects must you study?

3. Are there some subjects you can choose?

4. Did you take music lessons at school? For how long?

5. What exams must you take when you finish school?

6. Why did you decide to study at our Institute?

7. What are your future plans?

8. Are you fond of reading? Do you read much?

9. What is the difference between «to take an exam» and «to pass an

exam»?

Text 7

Examinations

Exams are a very important part of the British education process. Sometimes the work that students have done during the year (essays and projects) will be given a mark by the class teacher and this may count for up to 20% of the final mark. The actual written exams are set by Examination Boards and are marked by outside examiners. Papers are marked Annonymously - that means that the marker does not know the name or the school of the student. Student don’t know the questions beforehand so they must know their subject thoroughly so as to be able to answer the questions. Most exams last for about two hours and at «A» Level students will have 2-3 exams in each subject. If students are planning an academic career they will do «A» Levels but now more and more are studying for their GNVQs (General National Vocational Qualifications). These Qualifications focus on vocational skills such as business and finance, information technology. At the age of 14-15 in the third or fourth form of secondary school, pupils begin to choose their exam subjects. In 1988 a new public examination - the General certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) was introduced for 16 year - olds. This examination assesses pupils on the work they do in the 4 th and 5 th year at secondary school. Pupils who stay on into the sixth form or who go to a Sixth form College (17 year -olds in the Lower Sixth and 18 year - olds in the Upper Sixth) usually fall into two categories. Some pupils will be retaking GCSEs in order to get better grades. Others will study two or three subjects for an «A» Level (Advanced Level) GCE (General Certificate of Education).

This is a highly specialised exam and is necessary for University entrance. Since 1988 there has been a new level of exam: the «AS» (Advanced Supplementary), which is worth half an «A» Level. This means that if pupils wish to study more than two or three subjects in the sixth form they can take a combination of «A» and «AS» Levels. In Scotland the exam system is slightly different.

Text 8

The Universities

Oxford and Cambridge Universities were founded in the 12 th and13 th centuries, four Scottish universities were established in the 14 th and15 th centuries and the rest of Britain’s 47 universities were set up in the last 200 years. These bodies are diverse in their origin and traditions, status and methods, but three groups can be distinguished at once. In order of their origin they consist of, first, Oxford and Cambridge; secondly the Scottish universities; and thirdly the English civic universities. The oldest and most famous universities in Great Britain are Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford and Cambridge are almost identical, more like two branches of the same university than like separate unconnected institutions - which they in fact are. In the first place they both trace their long history back to the same period. By the end of the 13 th century both universities had already colleges in being - for example Balliol at Oxford and Peterhouse at Cambridge. Their history from that time has been very similar. Both retained the system of residential colleges when other medieval universities abandoned it. Each college was, and still is, run by a Master and a body of Fellows. They maintain its buildings repair, and add to or demolish them; they arrange about the food and the college servants. They have always been universities for gentlemen; progressively during the 18 th and 19 th centuries they tended to become universities exclusively for gentlemen. Until 1854 at Oxford and 1856 at Cambridge only members of the Church of England could enter the University. The Scottish universities were all founded in the 14 th or 15 th century. Their characteristic student was a minister’s or a small farmer’s son. Students were provided, by means of lectures and libraries, with the opportunity to acquire a knowledge of the classics, mathematics, law, medicine or theology or whatever it might be, and apart from that they were left alone. There was not the elaborate system of tutoring, and supervision moral and mental, which there was at Oxford and Cambridge. The English civic universities are all comparatively new formations. University College (London University) was founded in 1827 in order to provide a university education for Non-conformists who until the eighteen- fifties were not admitted to Oxford or Cambridge. The other provincial university were started for people who were debarred from Oxford or Cambridge, not by religion, but money or lack of it. Oxford and Cambridge colleges cultivate connections with public schools in many cases. In all these conditions, even if the attempt to be «fair» is made, the selection procedure is subject to the dictatorship of the middle class, who prefer mirror images of themselves and their families. The class aspect of higher education shows itself in many other ways. Before many reach the stage of applying to a university, their future is predetermined by the economic need to get out and earn and so on. Many thousands will then turn to getting qualifications from Colleges of Advanced Technology, Technical Colleges, Training Colleges and other institutions.

Vocabulary:

diverse - разный

to trace - прослеживать

to abandon - отказываться; оставлять

to retain - сохранять

to debar - исключать

non-conformist - так называют тех, кто не принадлежит к Церкви Англии

Answer the questions:

1. What three groups can be distinguished among the universities in Great Britain?

2. What common features characterise the Oxford and Cambridge Universities?

3. What is characteristic of the system of residential colleges?

4. In what do the Scottish universities differ from Oxford and Cambridge?

5. What can you say of the English civic universities?

6. What are the class aspects of the University admissions procedure?

Text 9

Oxford and Cambridge

Oxford, the seat of an ancient university, is one of the most must interesting and famous towns in Europe. The beautiful architecture of its spires and towers as seen from a distance is renowned not less the noble

architecture of its colleges. Many of the colleges present a lovely picture of ancient pearlgrey walls, noble towers, picturesque gothic archways. All have grass lawns of velvet smoothness and many have most magnificent displays of flowers. The first mention of Oxford (the «ford for oxen» over the Thames)

occurs in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle of 912. The University is first mentioned in the 12 th century.

Queen’s College, University College, Magdalen College and quite a number of others make up the University of Oxford. The central University arranges lectures for the whole body of students in a particular subject and holds examinations and grants degrees. An individual college provides for residence and tutorials. Great emphasis is laid on what are called «tutorials», in which a Don gives personal instruction in his study at least once a week to students numbering not more than four at a sitting. Cambridge, on the Cam or Granta, is famous as the seat of one of the great English universities. The River Granta flows behind the College buildings, curls about the town and a little farther on it changes its name to the Cam. To the left, across the stream, there are no buildings, merely meadows, College gardens and lines of tall tress. Everything is very green and peaceful. On the river-bank are willow with their branches bending into the water, and at intervals along the river, stone bridges cross the stream and lead into the Colleges which line right bank. The deep-coloured brick or stone of the College walls, sometimes red and sometimes grey, is 500 years old. The Colleges join one another the curve of the river. The Colleges are built on a plan common to all. There is a chapel, a library, and a large dining-hall. One court leads into another and each is made beautiful with lawns or a fountain or charming old stone path. The students get a good impression of all the English architectural styles of the past 600 years.

There are nineteen Colleges, excluding two for women students, which were built near the end of the last century. King’s College Chapel is the largest and most beautiful building in Cambridge and the most perfect example left of English fifteenth-century architecture. In 1440 King Henry VI founded King’s College. Many great men studied at Cambridge, amongst them Bacon, Milton, Cromwell, Newton, Byron and Tennyson. Erasmus, the great Duch scholar, was at Queens’ College, from 1511 to 1513.

Vocabulary:

Don = tutor - преподаватель, который руководит и

направляет работу студентов

willow tree - ива. Обычно это дерево, которое растет над водой, и чьи ветви свисают прямо в воду

II. Speak according to the following plan:

1. Oxford is one of the most famous towns in Europe.

2. Colleges present a lovely picture.

3. The role of the central University.

4. Great emphasis is laid on «tutorials».

5. In Cambridge everything is very green and peaceful.

6. What is the «common plan» on which the Colleges are built?

7. The most perfect example of the 15 th century architecture.

8. Which is the older University, Oxford or Cambridge?

Text 10

Oxford University

The University consists of 32 colleges: 27 colleges for men and 5 colleges for women. There are 16 faculties there. Oxford (like Cambridge) is a collection of colleges, each self-governing and independent. The colleges are the real living Oxford and each has its own character and individuality. For example, most of the men at Queen’s College come from the North of England, those at Jesus College from Wales, Brasenose has a high reputation for its rugger, Magdalen for its rowing men. But there are students of all kinds in each college. Every college has its arts men and its science men, its medical students and its engineers. Every student follows his own course of study, but he gains a lot from living among those who represent all other branches. The term of studies lasts for 10 weeks. There are three terms in the Oxford academic year. Within the first week the freshman meets his tutor who tells the student about his plans, the lectures which he must take, about the requirements for the examination which he will take, about the course of reading for him. Attendance at lectures in not compulsory. Once every week each

undergraduate goes to his tutor’s room to read out an essay which he has written and discuss this essay with the tutor. At the end of each term the progress of the students is tested by the college examinations. They pay great attention to athletics at the University. The students are engaged in different kinds of sports, take part in competitions between Oxford and Cambridge Universities. This is how a student spends his day. His working hours are from 9 to 1. At 9 o’clock he sees his tutor or goes to the library, or attends lectures. From 2 to 5 he is engaged in sports and all kinds of exercise. From 5 to 7 he works in the library or laboratory. At 7 o’clock they have dinnertime. After dinner the students have club activities, debating societies. By 10 o’clock the student must be in the college, as most of students live in the colleges, only some of them live in lodgings in the town.

Vocabulary:

to gain - получать; выиграть

freshman - первокурсник

tutor - преподаватель, который ведет практические занятия

в группе, а также следит за учебой и дисциплиной студентов

within the first week - в течение (не позднее) первой недели

attendance - посещение, присутствие

to live in lodgings - снимать комнату

debating society - дискуссионный клуб

to take club activities - участвовать в работе клуба

Answer the questions:

1. How many colleges are there at Oxford?