Talking of the cost of education

Ivanov: Is the cost of education very high?

Barbara: It has actually tripled within last twenty years or so. A student’s expenses usually include housing, because many students live away from home, food, books, and personal expenses and of course the tuition fees, which is what one pays to enroll in courses. That’s why a lot of students, for the most part unskilled, are in need of jobs to be able to continue their education. So they’re a good supply of cheep labor. And when you can get a job, the wages are usually not high, both on and off campus.

Ivanov: It must be very hard for the family budget.

Briggs: It sure is. Education is very expensive in the USA. However, we believe it to be a good investment for a lifetime.

Ivanov: Do students usually live on campus?

Barbara: Yes, most of them live in dormitories, “dorms” for short. For those who do not, the housing situation is hard because the rent is constantly on the rise.

Ivanov: What kind of financial assistance can be offered to students?

Donald: A student can be offered a loan. This must be repaid with interest after the student leaves the school. Then there’re grants that are awarded to needy students and they don’t have to be repaid. Many students get financial aid.

Ivanov: Is academic performance taken into consideration in awarding grants?

Donald: Not usually. But there’re also scholarships, which are awarded for academic excellence as a rule. Barbara’s got a scholarship. In Graduate School, the graduate students involved in research projects usually get fellowships.

Memorize and reproduce Dialogue 3.

Make up and act dialogues considering the following assignments.

1. You talk to your American counterpart about the cost of education in the USA and Russia.

2. You are at the English lesson. Your teacher asks you about different types of sums of money paid to support American students during their study at colleges or universities (a grant, a scholarship, a fellowship).

LISTENING

Listen to the Text “Instruction Conducted at Colleges and Universities”.

a) Answer the following questions.

1. Who provides instruction in American colleges and Universities?

2. What is the aim of instruction?

3. How are computers used for instruction?

4. What is a specific feature of recent decades at American colleges and universities?

5. Do levels of teaching differ in colleges and universities?

6. What universities have the largest campuses?

7. What are the leading universities?

8. What schools can be referred to as research universities?

9. What are minor universities like?

10. What stages does the American system of higher education include?

b) Read Tapescript 12A of the Text. Look up the words you do not know in your dictionary.

c) Retell the Text about instruction conducted at colleges and universities of the United States of America.

d) Compare the ways of instruction provided at American higher educational institutions with those of Russia.

Listen to the Text “Harvard University”.

a) You will hear some numbers in the Text. Write them down and say what these numbers refer to.

b) Check your answers with your groupmates and Tapescript 12B of the Text.

c) Retell the Text.

TAPESCRIPTS

UNIT 1

TAPESCRIPT 1A

Student life

After passing the entrance examinations your student life begins.

Oleg Petrov was accepted to the Belgorod State Technological University two and a half years ago. Now he is a third-year student at the mechanical engineering faculty. He stays at the hostel in Kostyukov Street.

Oleg is a full-time student, that is he attends classes and lectures in the daytime, whereas the University accepts a lot of young people for the correspondence course.

Petrov is a diligent student; he tries hard not to miss his classes or lectures. While in the third year he is doing quite a number of subjects. Oleg is good at Strength of Materials and Mathematics. He has passed quite successfully the winter end-of-term tests and examinations.

Petrov is in the habit of doing his homework in the University library reading room. He is a great book-lover and usually borrows magazines and fiction literature from the library. As the librarians always insist on books being returned in time, Oleg never breaks the rule.

Recently Petrov has become very interested in computers. As soon as a chance came about, he went to see some new types of computers that had been installed at the University computer center. He is also very keen on experimenting in the field of modern mechanical engineering facilities in big industrial cities in Russia.

There are a lot of serious problems to tackle here and a lot of technical books to read. Oleg is eager to get down to business, that’s why he has of late joined the scientific club at his faculty. He will surely make a very good researcher in the near future.

TAPESCRIPT 1B

The student Rob Fellows

Hello! My name’s Rob Fellows. I come from Dundee, a town on the east coast of Scotland, but I’m a student at Durham University, in the north of England. I’m studying French and German, and I can speak the languages quite well. I also know a little Spanish, so I can speak four languages. I’m enjoying the course a lot, but it’s very hard work!

I live in Durham Castle, because the Castle is part of the University, with about thirty other students. The course started two years ago, and I’m in my third year. After the course, I’m going to work in France, but I don’t know where yet.

UNIT 2

TAPESCRIPT 2A