Discuss the following statements. Give your own argument for and against

1. A teaching career isn't suitable for men.

2. Teaching a foreign language in a school is pointless.

3. Education is the responsibility of teachers and parents shouldn't interfere.

4. Schoolchildren should be allowed to choose the subjects they want to study.

5. In the near, future schoolteachers will be replaced by computers.

Read an article written by one of the teachers and comment on the statements in bold.

WHAT'S YOUR LINE?

School! Lessons, games, clubs, homework. A bell rings. You go to a classroom. A bell rings. You have lunch. A bell rings. You go home.

But one day you go to school for the last time. What to do after that? You realize that the time to choose one job out of the hundreds has come. It's going to be a hard choice and nobody can make it for you.

Before you can choose, you ask yourself quite a lot of questions. What do you know you are good at? What do you enjoy doing? Perhaps you enjoy working with your hands. Or you may prefer using your head — your brains. Are you interested in machines? Or do you like meeting people? It's difficult to know all the answers to these questions until you have left school and actually begun work.

Many young people consider teaching as a career. It's not surprising: after your parents your teacher may be the most important person in your life.With all the teachers you meet, you think there isn't anything you don't know about the work. That's where you are wrong, since only those who are in it can appreciate it. Have you ever asked yourself why most teachers are so devoted to their work and privately think, though they may not like to admit it openly, that they serve humanity doing the most vital job of all? Those of us who spend our days in schools know how rewarding the job is. At the same time it is not easy and a real challenge to your character, abilities and talent, as teaching is a constant stream of decisions.

Children in your classroom aren't just boys and girls. Every one is a unique individual who has never been before and will never again exist. If you like people, you will love teaching. To be a good teacher you must be genuinely interested in what you are doing.

The most important things in the world are awareness and learning — wanting to know every day of your life more and more and more. Because every time you learn something new you become something new. An ignorant teacher teaches ignorance, a fearful teacher teaches fear, a bored teacher teaches boredom. But a good teacher catalyzes in his pupils the burning desire to know and love for the truth and beauty.

John Steinbeck, writing about his school days said, "I've come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and you know how few great artists there are in the world. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since its medium is the human mind and the human spirit." What an incredible responsibility to be the guardians of the human spirit and the human mind! I think, that is the reason why humanity has the deepest respect for teachers.

I would never stop teaching and I'm sure that you, having chosen it for your career, feel the same way. If you don't feel that way then, please, for all our sakes, get out! The human mind and the human spirit are too wondrous to destroy. But if you are prepared to accept the responsibility, I wish you all the luck in the world.

A Teacher

5. Translate the sentences below into English. Use Vocabulary from the text:

1. Любовь к детям заставила его стать учителем, и он никогда не жалел о своем выборе. 2. Похоже, придется выбирать между работой в детском саду и учебой в пединституте. 3. В моей работе нет большого разнообразия, но у нее есть свои достоинства. 4. Боюсь, что в этот раз школьникам нелегко будет справиться с заданием. 5. Успехи учеников в большой степени зависят от их учителя и его профессионального мастерства. 6. Работа в школе потребует от вас ума, такта и чувства ответственности. 7. Уважение людей можно заслужить только честным трудом. 8. Не каждый, кто получает профессию учителя в Великобритании, может найти себе работу. 9. Я работаю учителем уже много лет и могу сказать, что не смог бы найти более благородного труда. 10. Мой друг выбрал себе профессию врача, еще когда учился в школе. Он всегда был уверен, что эта работа самая важная на свете. 11. Любовь к музыке и интерес к педагогике (theory of education) заставили меня подумать о профессии учителя музыки. 12. Часто выпускникам школ бывает трудно решить, какую профессию выбрать. В этом случае учителя и родители могут помочь им сделать правильный выбор университета.

A TEACHER IN A CLASS

This song is for those

Who taught us right from wrong

Who taught us much more than their craft

To help our minds grow strong

This song is for those

Who guide us through and through

So that we can make a life

For that we say thank you

You have made a difference

You have shaped our minds

You have changed the world

One child at a time

You have always been there

In everything you do

I hope that you’re as proud of me

As I am proud of you

1. Read a quotation on a teacher’s role in our life. Suggest your own ideas what professions are connected to teaching. Prove your reasons.

1. __________________ 2. _________________ 3. _________________

4. __________________ 5. _________________ 6._________________

2. T/F A teacher is a …

1) Discuss the following statements. Give your own argument for and against - student2.ru phychologist to a problem-filled child.

2) police-officer that controls a child not to break the law.

3) travel agent that schedules all the childrens’ excursions.

4) banker that collects money for different things.

5) custodian who has to clean certain little messes.

6) photographer who keeps all the pictures showing the child’s growth.

7) doctor who detects if the child is feeling sick.

8) politician who knows the laws and recognizes a trick.

9) decorator of a room, filling every wall.

10) news-reporter updating on the nation’s current event.

11) detective solving small mysteries and ending all suspencies.

12) clown that makes the children laugh.

Any teacher comletes various functions in his or her life. But to be a teacher is mostly troublesome in the first days of your teaching career. Read a story, find out the problems Anne had with her class, suggest the end of the story.

ANNE MEETS HER CLASS

The children fixed their eyes upon Anne. Anne gazed back, feeling helpless.

"Now, children," began Miss Enderby firmly, "you are very, very lucky this term to have Miss Lacey for your new teacher."

Anne gave a watery smile. The children's faces were unmoved.

"Miss Lacey," repeated Miss Enderby with emphasis. "Can you say that?"

"Miss Lacey," chorused the class obediently.

"Perhaps you could say 'Good morning' to your new teacher?" suggested Miss Enderby in an imperative tone.

"Good morning. Miss Lacey," came the polite chorus.

"Good morning, children," responded Anne in a voice which bore no resemblance to her own.

Miss Enderby motioned to the children to take their seats. "I should give out paper and coloured pencils," said Miss Enderby, "as soon as you've called the register. Keep them busywhile you're finding your way about the cupboards and so on."

She gave a swift look round the class. "I expect you to help Miss Lacey in every way," said the headmistress. "D'you hear me, Arnold?"

The little boy addressed, who had been crossing and uncrossing his eyes in an ugly manner for the enjoyment of his neighbours, looked suitably crest-fallen.

"If I were you, I should keep an eye on that boy," murmured Miss Enderby. "Broken home — brother in Borstal — and some rather dreadful habits!"

Anne looked with fresh interest at Arnold and thought he looked quite different from what Miss Enderby said about him. Far too innocent and apple-cheeked to have such a record. But even as she looked, she saw his pink face express his scorn of Miss Enderby who was giving her final messages to the new teacher.

"Break at ten forty-five, dear," said the headmistress. "Come straight to the staff room. I will wait there till you join us. I will introduce you to those you didn't meet on your first visit How do you like the idea of having a cup of tea then? We need rest after all. If there's anything that puzzles you, I shall be in my room. You can depend on me. Just send a message by one of the children."

She made her way to the door and waited before it, eyebrows raised as she turned her gaze upon the children. They gazed back in some bewilderment

"Is no one going to remember his manners?" asked Miss Enderby.

With a nervous start Anne hastened forward to the door, but was waved back by a movement of her headmistress's hand. A dozen or more children made a rush to open the door. A freckled girl with two skinny red plaits was the first to drag open the door. She was rewarded by a smile.

"Thank you, dear, thank you," said Miss Enderby and sailed majestically into the corridor. There came a faint sigh of relief as the door closed behind her, and the forty-six tongues which had so far kept unnaturally silent began to wag cheerfully. Anne watched this change with some dismay. She remembered with sudden relief some advice given her at college in just such a situation. …………………………………………………………………………..

4. Answer these questions:

1. How was Anne introduced to her class? 2. What did she feel at that moment? What words does the author choose to describe her feelings? 3. What instructions did the headmistress give to the young teacher? What do you think of them? 4. Why did Anne "look with fresh interest at Arnold?" Describe Arnold's appearance and behaviour. 5. How did the other children behave in Miss Enderby's presence? (Find words describing their behaviour.) 6. Why do you think "there came a faint sigh of relief" after Miss Enderby left the classroom? Describe the children's behaviour after she left.

4. Read a joke below. Retell it in indirect speech:

A high-school girl seated next to a famous astronomer at a dinner party struck up a conversation asking, "What do you do in life?"

He replied, "I study astronomy." "Dear me," said the young miss, "I finished astronomy last year."

DEALING WITH THE CHILDREN

As I look back on my life

Into the path within my reach

I hope I can change a life

Of those that I teach

I can make a difference

All I do is try

Try to see a different world

Through the children’s eyes