Asking for Advice Giving Advice

Could you possibly...? Don't despair!

I'm afraid... The devil is not so black as

you paint him (as he is painted)!

I can't do it!

I think the situation is terrible! It can't be as bad as that. Don't lose heart!

I'm desperate (frustrated). You must stop worrying and fretting.

I've failed. Why not ...?

Should I ...? Have you tried ...?

Shall I ...? I think you might …

Do you think I might ...? You (it) will be getting better every day!

Yes, you can!

4) Make up your interview, learn it and act it out in class.

5) Class: Act as psychoanalysts listening to the interviews and exchanging opinions after each one:

a. With what problems did the client come to the psychologist?

b. What advice did the client get?

c. Evaluate the psychologist's advice and professional manner.

WRITING ACTIVITIES

1.6. Write a descriptive essay on the topic "The Teacher(s) I'll Never Forget".

Smile and Relax

Teacher - "Johny, can you tell me what a hypocrite is?"

Johny – "Yes'm, it's a boy who comes to school these days with a smile on his face."

* * *

An inspector was paying a hurried visit to a slightly overcrowded school.

"Any abnormal children in your class?" he inquired of one harassed-looking teacher.

"Yea", she replied, with knitted brow, "two of them have good manners".

* * *

A school teacher asked the pupils to write short essays and to choose their own subjects. A little girl sent in the following paper:

"My subject’s 'Ants'. Ants is of two kinds, insects and lady uncles. Sometimes they live in holes and sometimes they crawl into the sugar-bole, and sometimes they live with their married sisters. That is all I know about ants".

* * *

Part 2. INTENSIVE READING

Pre-reading Activities

Writers often turn to subjects and themes connected with teachers and teaching. John Updike (b. 1932) makes a teacher the protagonist of his novel "The Centaur" (1963) and a number of short stories including "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and So Forth". The name of the story is based on a line from Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth" (Act V, Scene V). As a discerning reader you will want some background knowledge to interpret and enjoy the story.

2.1. Read up on the following topics and share your information with your fellow-students during class: 1) J. Updike's literary work; 2) the plot and the theme of "Macbeth" and "The Tempest"; 3) the three periods of Shakespeare's creative work; 4) Dante; 5) Jehovah's Witnesses.

2.2.Here is Macbeth's monologue that Mr. Prosser has given his class for discussion and recitation.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time,

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets the hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more; it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound, and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Read the story and compare your understanding of the lines above with the interpretations of Mr. Prosser and his students. Are they close to your ideas? Why has Updike chosen such a name for his story?

Watch the stress in "Macbeth" [mqk'beT] and the meaning of 'high school' (Am.) - secondary school, 'student' (Am.) - pupil.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and so Forth

Whirling, talking, 11 D began to enter Room 109. From the quality of the class's excitement Mark Prosser guessed it would rain. He had been teaching high school for three years, yet his students still impressed him; they were such sensitive animals. They reacted so infallibly to mere barometric pressure.

In the doorway, Brute Young paused while little Barry Snyder giggled at his elbow. Barry's stagy laugh rose and fell, dipping down towards some vile secret that had to be tasted and retasted, then soaring like a rocket to proclaim that he, little Barry, shared such a secret with the school's fullback. Being Brute's stooge¹ was precious to Barry. (...)

Right under Prosser's eyes someone yanked out Geoffrey Langer's shirt-tail. Geoffrey, a bright student, was uncertain whether to laugh it off or defend himself with anger, and made a weak, half-turning gesture of compromise, wearing an expression of distant arrogance that Prosser instantly coordinated with baffled feelings he used to have. (...)

"Take your seats" Mr. Prosser said. "Come on. Let's go."

Most obeyed, but Peter Forrester, who had been at the center of the group around Gloria, still lingered in the doorway with her, finishing some story, apparently determined to make her laugh or gasp. When she did gasp, he tossed his head with satisfaction. His orange hair, preened into a kind of floating bang, bobbed. Mark had always disliked red-headed males, with their white eye-lashes and puffy faces and thyroid² eyes, and absurdly self-confident mouths. A race of bluffers. His own hair was brown.

When Gloria, moving in a considered, stately way, had taken her seat, and Peter had swerved into his, Mr. Prosser said, "Peter Forrester."

"Yes?" Peter rose, scrabbling through the book for the right place.

"Kindly tell the class the exact meaning of the words "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day."

Peter glanced down at the high-school edition of Macbeth lying open on his desk. One of the duller girls tittered expectantly from the back of the room. Peter was popular with the girls; girls that age had minds like moths.

"Peter. With your book shut. We have all memorized this passage for today. Remember?" The girl in the back of the room squealed in delight. Gloria laid her book face-open on her desk, where Peter could see it.

Peter shut his book with a bang and stared into Gloria's. "Why", he said at last, "I think it means pretty much what it says."

"Which is?"

"Why, that tomorrow is something that we often think about. It creeps into our conversation all the time. We couldn't make any plans without thinking about tomorrow."

"I see. Then you would say that Macbeth is here referring to the date-book aspect of life?"

Geoffrey Langer laughed, no doubt to please Mr. Prosser. For a moment, he was pleased. Then he realized he had been playing for laughs at a student's expense.

His paraphrase made Peter's reading of the lines seem more ridiculous than it was. He began to retract. "I admit..."

But Peter was going on; redheads never know when to quit. "Macbeth means that if we quit worrying about tomorrow, and just live for today, we could appreciate all the wonderful things that are going on under our noses."

Mark considered this a moment before he spoke. He would not be sarcastic. "Uh, without denying that there is truth in what you say, Peter, do you think it likely that Macbeth, in his situation, would be expressing such" - he couldn't help himself - "such sunny sentiments?"

Geoffrey laughed again. Peter's neck reddened; he studied the floor. Gloria glared at Mr. Prosser, the indignation in her face clearly meant for him to see.

Mark hurried to undo his mistake. "Don't misunderstand me, please," he told Peter. "I don't have all the answers myself. But it seems to me the whole speech down to "Signifying nothing" is saying that life is - well, a fraud. Nothing wonderful about it."

"Did Shakespeare really think that?" Geoffrey Langer asked, a nervous quickness pitching his voice high.

Mark read into³ Geoffrey's question his own adolescent premonitions of the terrible truth. The attempt he must make was plain. He told Peter he could sit down and looked through the window toward the steadying sky. The clouds were gaining intensity. "There is", Mr. Prosser slowly began, "much darkness in Shakespeare's work, and no play is darker than 'Macbeth'. The atmosphere is poisonous, oppressive. One critic has said that in this play, humanity suffocates". He felt himself in danger of suffocating and cleared his throat.

"In the middle of his career, Shakespeare wrote plays about men like Hamlet and Othello and Macbeth - men who aren't allowed by their society, or bad luck, or some minor flaw⁴ in themselves, to become the great men they might have been. Even Shakespeare's comedies of this period deal with a world gone sour⁵. It is as if he had seen through the bright bold surface of his earlier comedies and histories and had looked upon something terrible. It frightened him, just as some day it might frighten some of you". In his determination to find the right words, he had been staring at Gloria, without meaning to. Embarrassed, she nodded, and, realizing what had happened, he smiled at her.

He tried to make his remarks gentler, even diffident. "But then I think Shakespeare sensed a redeeming truth. His last plays are serene and symbolical, as if he had pierced through the ugly facts, and reached a realm where the facts are again beautiful. In this way, Shakespeare's total work is a more complete image of life than that of any other writer, except perhaps for Dante, an Italian poet who wrote several centuries earlier”. He had been taken far from the Macbeth soliloquy. Other teachers had been happy to tell him how the kids made a game of getting him talking. He looked toward Geoffrey. The boy was doodling on his tablet, indifferent. Mr. Prosser concluded, "The last play Shakespeare wrote is an extraordinary poem called. "The Tempest". Some of you may want to read it for your next book reports - the ones due May 10th. It's a short play".

The class had been taking a holiday. Barry Snyder was snicking BBs off the blackboard⁶ and glancing over at Brute Young to see if he noticed. "Once more, Barry", Mr. Prosser said, "and out you go". Barry blushed and grinned, to cover the blush, his eyeballs sliding towards Brute. The dull girl in the rear of the room was putting on lipstick. "Put that away, Alice," Prosser said. "This isn't a beauty parlour". Sejak, the Polish boy, who worked nights, was asleep at his desk, his cheek white with pressure against the varnished wood, his mouth sagging sidewise. Mr. Prosser had an impulse to let him sleep. But (...) one breach of discipline encouraged others. He strode down the aisle and squeezed Sejak's shoulder; the boy awoke. A mumble was growing at the front of the room.

Peter Forrester was whispering to Gloria, trying to make her laugh. The girl's face, though, was cool and solemn, as if a thought had been provoked in her head - as if there lingered something of what Mr. Prosser had been saying. With a bracing sense of chivalrous intercession, Mark said, "Peter, I gather from this noise that you have something to add to your theories".

Peter responded courteously. "No, sir. I honestly don't understand the speech. Please, sir, what does it mean?"

This candid admission and odd request stunned the class. Every white, round face, eager, for once, to learn, turned toward Mark. He said, "I don't know. I was hoping you would tell me."

In college, when a professor made such a remark, it was with grand effect. The professor's humility, the necessity for creative interplay between teacher and student were dramatically impressed upon the group. But to 11D ignorance in an instructor was as wrong as a hole in a roof. It was as if Mark had held forty strings pulling forty faces taut toward him and then had slashed the strings. Heads waggled, eyes dropped, voices buzzed. Some of the discipline problems, like Peter Forrester, smirked signals to one another.

"Quiet!" Mr. Prosser shouted. "All of you. Poetry isn't arithmetic. There's no single right answer. I don't want to force my impression on you; that's not why I'm here." The silent question, "Why are you here?", seemed to steady the air with suspense. "I'm here," he said, "to let you teach yourselves."

Whether or not they believed him, they subsided, somewhat. Mark judged he could safely reassume his human-among-humans pose. He perched on the edge of the desk, informal, friend1y and frankly beseeching. "Now, honestly. Don't any of you have some personal feelings about the lines that you would like to share with the class and me?"

One hand, with a flowered handkerchief balled in it, unsteadily rose. "Go ahead, Teresa," Mr. Prosser said. She was a timid, sniffy girl whose mother was a Jehovah's Witness.

"It makes me think of cloud shadows", Teresa said.

Geoffrey Langer laughed. "Don't be rude, Geoff," Mr. Prosser said sideways, softly, before throwing his voice forward: "Thank you, Teresa. I think that's an interesting and valid impression. Cloud movement has something in it of the slow, monotonous rhythm one feels in the line "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow." It's a very gray line, isn't it, class?" No one agreed or disagreed.

Beyond the windows actual clouds were bunching rapidly, and erratic sections of sunlight slid around the room. Gloria's arm, crooked gracefully above her head, turned, gold. "Gloria?" Mr. Prosser asked.

She looked up from something on her desk with a face of sullen radiance. "I think what Teresa said was very good," she said, glaring in the direction of Geoffrey Langer. Geoffrey snickered defiantly. "And I have a question. What does "petty pace" mean?"

"It means the trivial day-to-day sort of life that, say, a bookkeeper or a bank clerk leads. Or a schoolteacher," he said, smiling.

She did not smile back. Thought wrinkles irritated her perfect brow. "But Macbeth has been fighting wars, and killing kings, and being a king himself, and all, "she pointed out.

"Yes, but it's just these acts Macbeth is condemning as "nothing". Can you see that?"

Gloria shook her head. "Another thing I worry about - isn't it silly for Macbeth to be talking to himself right in the middle of this war, with his wife just dead, and all?"

"I don't think so, Gloria. No matter how fast events happen, thought is faster."

His answer was weak; everyone knew it, even if Gloria hadn't mused, supposedly to herself, but in a voice, the entire class could hear, "It seems so stupid."

Mark winced, pierced by the awful clarity with which his students saw him. Through their eyes, how queer he looked, with his chalky hands, and his horn-rimmed glasses, and his hair never slicked down, all wrapped up in "literature", where, when things get rough, the king mumbles a poem nobody understands. He was suddenly conscious of a terrible tenderness in the young, a frightening patience and faith. It was so good of them not to laugh him out of the room. He looked down and rubbed his fingertips together, trying to erase the chalk dust. The class noise sifted into unnatural quiet. "It's getting late," he said finally. "Let's start the recitations of the memorized passage. Bernard Amilson, you begin."

* * *

Notes

1. stooge (coll.) - here: person acting a subordinate role to sb. (cf. the Russian "шестерка")

2. thyroid eyes - protruding eyes, as if caused by thyroid disease

3. to read into - to understand

4. flaw - here: drawback, failing, shortcoming

5. a world gone sour - a world that had become dark, hostile, sinister

6. snicking BBs off the blackboard - aiming shots at the blackboard.

Skimming

2.3. Choose the right answer and prove your point of view.

1) Why did Mark think it would rain?

a. ... because he had looked at the barometer in the morning.

b. ... because the sky was covered with clouds.

c. ... because the children were excited and unruly.

2) Why did he choose Peter Forrester as the first to speak?

a. ... because he expected Peter to make a clever observation.

b. ... because he expected Peter to give a stupid answer and make a fool of himself.

c. ... it was a random choice: anybody could have been in Peter's place.

3) How did the teacher characterize Shakespeare's plays?

a. He said that Shakespeare's later works presented the beautiful facts of life.

b. He said that all of his plays were dark and the atmosphere was poisonous, oppressive.

c. He said that Shakespeare saw only ugly facts of life.

4) How much were the children involved in the discussion of Macbeth?

a. They were all enthusiastic and showed adequate response.

b. Some of them were genuinely interested, asked intelligent questions and gave adequate interpretations, while others were indifferent.

c. They were all taking a holiday while Mr. Prosser was talking.

5) How did Mr. Prosser react to the atmosphere in the classroom?

a. He was flexible and understanding and did his best to create a mood.

b. He was annoyed by the lack of enthusiasm and especially by Gloria's words: "It seems so stupid."

c. He was cool and self-possessed and continued the lesson unemotionally.

2.4. Give the plot of the passage in a summary of 8-10 sentences.

2.5.Speak about your understanding of Macbeth's monologue and compare it with that of Mr. Prosser and his class. Comment on the title of the story.

2.6.Speak of your first impression of Mr. Prosser as a teacher.

Related Activities

Before scanning the text for interpretation and analysis go through the exercises suggested below whose aim is to draw your attention to the reading, spelling, lexical and grammatical difficulties, and points of interest.

Reading Technique and Spelling Activities

2.7. Choose a passage of 10-12 lines for good reading. Read it aloud in class.

2.8. Listen to any available recording of Shakespeare or any poetry and get ready with Macbeth's monologue for recitation contest.

Do the following:

1) Classify the words for practising the speech sounds; e.g.:

[o:] : recorded, walking, more

[k, p, t] : creeps, petty, pace, time, etc.

2) Mark the intonation.

3) Get ready to act as teacher practising the sounds and intonation, listening to and correcting your classmates' reading. Remember to use adequate classroom English.

4) Elect the Jury and explain to them their functions.

5) Hold the recitation contest and award the winners.

2.9. Look up in the dictionary and practise the pronunciation of the following international words:

Gesture, compromise, absurd (-ly, -ity), aspect, realise (-ation), paraphrase, intense (-ify, -ive, -ity), effect (-ive, -ively, -ivity), dramatic (-al, -ally), monotony (-ous, -ously), rhythm (-ic, -ical, -ically), grace (-fu1, -fully).

2.10. Watch the difference in the stress patterns of the following international related words; design similar exercises of your own:

Barometer - barometric process - procession

coordinate - coordination sarcasm - sarcastic

atmosphere - atmospheric period - periodical

symbol - symbolic(al) impulse - impulsive

discipline - disciplinary drama - dramatic

sentiment - sentimental arithmetic, n. - arithmetic, adj.

secret - secretive

2.11.Make your classmates transcribe and read the words from ex-s 2.9-2.10. Comment on their transcription and reading.

2.12.Formulate the rules governing the spelling of the following words:

1) arrogance, apparently, attention, appreciate;

2) dipping, bobbed, referring, redden, sagging, buzzed, hornrimmed;

3) giggle, baffle, scrabble, waggle, middle;

4) guess, toss, impress, embarrass, pressure, admission, class.

Supplement the lists with more items following the same rules.

2.13. Look up the pronunciation and watch the spelling of the words below. Explain the spelling and pronunciation difficulties.

Macbeth, Shakespeare, absurd, sarcasm, effect, suspense, aisle, solemn, chivalrous, adolescent, discipline, realm, infallibly, arithmetic, symbol, rhythm, soliloquy, condemn.

Word Study Activities

2.14. Consult an English-English dictionary for the meaning and use of the words and phrases listed below. Supplement the list with more phrases built with the suggested words. Use the words and phrases in the context of the story under study and in the context of your set book.

be determined (determine, determination)

be popular with sb. (popularity)

appreciate (appreciating, appreciation)

be (un)conscious of (consciousness, conscience, conscientious, conscientiousness)

sensitive; sense, sensible, sensibility, sensitivity, senseless

share a secret with sb.

laugh sth. off

arrogance; arrogant

self-confident; confidence; confide

play for laughs at sb.'s expense

ridiculous; ridicule

fraud; fraudulent

premonition

have an impulse to do sth.

baffled; baffle, baffling

adolescent; adolescence

encourage; discourage, -ment, -ing

creative; create, creativity

ignorance; ignore, ignorant

force one's impression on sb.

trivial; triviality

defiantly; defiant, defiance

2.15. Paraphrase or elaborate the following sentences in any possible way using words related to the underlined.

Model: A. From the quality of the class's excitement Mark Prosser guessed it would rain.

B. The children were excited and Mark Prosser guessed it would rain.

1) Geoffrey was wearing an expression of distant arrogance.

2) Peter was apparently determined to make her gasp. When she did gasp he tossed his head with satisfaction.

3) The girl squealed in delight.

4) He did not want to be sarcastic.

5) Gloria glared at Mr. Prosser, the indignation in her face clearly meant for him to see.

6) Geoffrey Langer asked a question, a nervous quickness pitching his voice high.

7) The boy was doodling on his tablet, indifferently.

8) Peter responded courteously.

9) This candid admission stunned the class.

10) She looked up ... with a face of sullen radiance.

11) Geoffrey snickered defiantly.

12) He was suddenly conscious of a terrible tenderness in the young, a frightening patience and faith.

2.16. Consult Y.D. Apresyan's "Dictionary of Synonyms" for the meanings of 'odd', 'queer' and their synonyms. Comment on and illustrate the difference in meaning using them in sentences of your own, preferably in the context of the story or your set book. What is referred to as 'odd' in the story? What is described as 'queer'? What could be referred to as 'strange', 'quaint' 'peculiar', 'outlandish', 'curious'?

2.17. The way Gloria looked at Mr. Prosser and at Geoffrey is conveyed by the author with the verb 'glare'. What is the meaning of 'glare' judging by the context in which it is used? Consult the reference book "English Synonyms" by A. Gandelsman for the synonyms.

2.18.Draw faces of people who are staring, glaring, gaping, gazing. Explain which and why, using the definitions you have found for ex. 2.17.

2.19. Design your own exercises to make your fellow students practise the words and phrases of ex-s 2.14-2.18 in mechanical and meaningful drills.

Examples of Mechanical Drills:

1) Give adjectives related to the following nouns: impulse, sarcasm, fraud ...

2) Give nouns related to the following adjectives: adolescent, ignorant, absurd ...

3) Give verbs related to the nouns: confidence, ridicule, symbol ...

4) Give phrases with the following words: expense, popular, impulse ...

5) Give synonyms (supply one paired member).

6) Give antonyms (supply one paired member).

Examples of Meaningful Drills:

7) Finish the sentence using:

a) a suitable related word; b) a synonym; c) an antonym.

E.g.: Though he was determined to keep patience, it was hard to be ... (patient)

8) Paraphrase a sentence using

a) a related word; b) a synonym; c) an antonym.

9) Answer the questions.

2.20. Act as teacher during class organising learning activity with your exercises.

Remedial Activities

Patterns to Activise:

He had been teaching high school for three years.

... as if he had seen through the bright surface

… the great men they might have been … .

We couldn't make any plans without thinking about tomorrow.

... isn't it silly for Macbeth to be talking to himself ...

... how queer he looked ...

... with his hair never sleeked out ...

2.21. Pick out from the text sentences with perfect forms, define them end explain their use.

2.22. Finish the sentence or add another one with a suitable perfect verb form. Act as teacher making your classmates go over the exercise in class.

Model: T.: Mark Prosser was not a beginner. He ... (three years)

St.: Mark Prosser was not a beginner. He had been teaching high school for three years.

1) Mark Prosser chose Peter as the first to speak because he was annoyed. He ... (always)

2) Having made Peter look a fool he felt ashamed, because he ... (at a student's expense)

3) In the middle of his career Shakespeare wrote tragic and dark plays as if ... (something terrible)

4) His last plays were serene and symbolic as if (a beatiful realm)

5) Mark suddenly realized he ... (from the Macbeth soliloquy)

6) He knew children made a game of getting him talking. Other teachers ...

7) He suddenly saw ... (a holiday)

8) Gloria was indifferent to Peter's attempts to make her laugh. Her face was solemn as if ...

9) She was thinking of some thing the teacher ...

10) She could not understand why Macbeth thought life to be trivial because he ...

2.23. Revise the use of gerunds with the prepositions 'after', 'before', 'because of', 'in spite of', 'instead of', 'on', 'without'. Make up sentences of your own to use in the context of the story.

2.24. Revise the use of infinitive for-phrases and make up questions with them. Act as teacher asking the questions.

Model: Why was it easy for Mark to understand his pupils? Did he deliberately make fun of Peter for the class to laugh at him?

2.25. Paraphrase the sentences as in the model.

Model: T.: He looked queer with his chalky hands and rumpled hair.

St.: How queer he looked!

1) Being Brute's stooge was precious to Barry.

2) Geoffrey was baffled and uncertain.

3) Peter was satisfied he had made Gloria gasp.

4) Peter was popular with the girls.

5) The girl in the back row was delighted.

6) He made Peter's reading of the lines ridiculous.

7) Gloria was indignant at his making fun of Peter.

8) Peter's candid admission of ignorance was odd.

9) Gloria's face was cool and solemn.

10) Teresa's impression of the lines was valid and interesting.

2.26. Do exercise 2.25 with a different model.

Model: He looked queer ...

He realized how queer he looked with his chalky hands.

Begin your sentences with: Mark realized / saw / understood / noticed / remarked ...

2.27. Design an exercise to give your classmates some practice in the use of the Absolute Nominative Construction.

(The preposition "with" is optional in this construction. The difference is stylistic. The use of "with" is neutral, while the absence of "with" is formal.)

Model: T.: The class was so excited and noisy that Mark realized it was going to rain.

St.: With the class so excited and noisy, Mark realized it was going to rain.

Scanning

To interpret the story, read it again for the minutest details and implications.

2.28. Divide the story into as many equal parts as there are students in your class. Make up detailed questions about each part (one for a student). Here is a sample of the work you should do.

Paragraph 1. Who came into the classroom? What does '11D' stand for? Why does the author mention the number of the room? Isn't it irrelevant? What grade did Mark Prosser teach? How many years had he been teaching? In what manner did the children enter the classroom? Was it their first lesson? Why did Mark think it would rain? Why does he refer to them as "sensitive animals'? Isn't it humiliating? Why does the author use the verb "impress"? What was the children's reaction to the change of the barometric pressure?

2.29. Pair work: Discuss the questions in class.

2.30.Group work: Discuss the questions you are still uncertain about after pair work.

2.31.Paraphrase and comment on the following:

1) A race of bluffers.

2) One of the duller girls tittered expectantly.

3) … he couldn't help himself … .

4) Mark hurried to undo his mistake.

5) He felt himself in danger of suffocating.

6) ... they subsided, somewhat.

7) Geoffrey snickered defiantly.

8) His answer was weak ... .

9) It was good of them not to laugh him out of the room.

2.32. Let us now return to your first impression of Mark Prosser as a teacher. You have read the text several times by now. Has your first impression changed? Whether or not, can you give some evidence from the story off-hand to elaborate your point of view?

2.33. Text Interpretation

1) Into how many parts would you divide the excerpt? Write an outline, heading the parts.

2) You are hardly likely to have differences of opinion about the first part which is the setting of the story. What is the author's aim? To describe the children? To create an atmosphere? To characterize Mr. Prosser? What kind of atmosphere does he create? By what means does he characterize Mark?

Useful language: sensitive, intuitive, observant, to have a gift for psychological analysis, to give/have a penetrating insight into, to characterize indirectly.

3) Speak about the children the author makes mention of. How many children does the author introduce? What does the reader learn of them individually and as a class to deal with?

4) What is Mark's attitude to the children? Does he treat them as a mass? Does he like them all? Does he give himself away? What is the central conflict? Are there any others?

5) What is his philosophy of teaching? Find and read out the sentences proving your point of view.

6) What is the climax of the story?

7) How does the excerpt end? Do you think Mark's emotions and thoughts, as given in the end, to be something out of the ordinary or quite common for a teacher?

8) The author refers to the protagonist as Mr. Prosser, Prosser, Mark Prosser, Mark. Are these denominations used indiscriminately and are they easily replaceable? Prove your point of view.

9) Analyse the language of the story. Find the linguistic means the author resorts to (choice of words, metaphors, metonymies, similes, oxymora) to convey emotion, suspense, climax.

10) Speak on the theme of the story. How is it connected with Macbeth's monologue? Or is it?

2.34. Summarize the discussion suggested in ex-s 2.32-2.33 and get ready to interpret the text in a lengthy monologue. Look up the Topical Vocabulary: “Text Interpretation”.

Follow-up Activities

2.35. Prepare and act out a role play - discuss Mark Prosser's lesson as three observers: two strongly biased observers - an admirer and a critic of Mark's lesson, and an unbiased observer seeing the pros as well as the cons.

1) Form groups of three, choose or distribute the roles.

2) Find and write out useful vocabulary for your role (Topical Vocabulary: “Upbringing”).

3) Act out the role play in class.

2.36. Read the story to the end (in the book "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and So Forth", M., 1982) and discuss it in class. Does the general mood of the story change by the end? Has the end of the story enriched your impression of Mark Prosser? Is his character presented statically or dynamically?

2.37. Act out these scenes:

1) Mark and Gloria;

2) Mark and David Strunk;

3) Mark and his wife.

writing activities

2.38. Choose one of the suggestions for various types of essays:

1) What makes writers choose a teacher as their medium for seeing life and their mouthpiece?

2) Why do you (not) read Shakespeare.

3) Your memories of lessons at school. Can they be compared with Mr. Prosser's lesson?

2.39. Read and interpret on your own "A Bushel of Learning" after G. Durrel (School Stories, M., 1983)

Smile and Relax

The lecturer in English was taking his students through "The Merchant of Venice". At the speech beginning 'the quality of mercy is not strained' a question was asked about the word 'strained': was it used in the sense that a muscle was strained or in the sense that tea was strained through a strainer? The lecturer was baffled. He looked intently at his text. Then suddenly his face relaxed and he replied in triumph, "But it says it is NOT strained – so the question doesn't arise!"

* * *

Teacher - "Johnny, who was Anne Boleyn?"

Johnny - "Anne Boleyn was a flat-iron."

- What on earth do you mean?

- Well, it says here in the history book 'Henry, having disposed of Catherine, pressed his suit with Anne Boleyn."

* * *

First Student - "Great Scott! I've forgotten who wrote ‘Ivanhoe’ ."

Second Ditto - "I'll tell you if you tell me who the dickens wrote 'The Tale of Two Cities'."

* * *

"Our economics prof talks to himself. Does yours?"

"Yes, but he doesn't realize it - he thinks we're listening."

* * *

Part 3. EXTENSIVE READING

One of the difficulties of the teacher's profession mentioned in the discussion scripted in PART 1 is adjusting to one's colleagues. The text below highlights this very important issue in a young teacher's life.

3.1. Read the text as quickly as you can and time yourself. Try to keep in your memory:

1) as many words and phrases as you are able to describe the older teachers' attitude to new-comers and their ideas;

2) as many pieces of advice to student-teachers as you can.

· Staff Relationships

Wherever the probationer starts he is likely to live and work with much older colleagues. Staff relationships are not only tremendously important in their own right, as a source of happiness and help, but they are also important in that they indirectly influence staff-pupil relationships. Acceptance into a school is rather like acceptance into a new family. The relationship to older members of the staff may have a certain mother-in-law quality. There are family customs to be learnt and however warm the welcome, a grain of jealousy between the newcomer and the established family group has to be dealt with. There is also unacknowledged fear among the young of seeing themselves as they will be thirty years on. No one likes to grow old.

For these and other reasons older persons of the staff are often a great threat to probationers and cause a good deal of unhappiness. It is the profound distrust and cynicism towards their new ideas which many students find so disturbing.

Probationers themselves are, in turn, often unaware of the threat their youth and new ideas can be to older members of the staff. Their own inner feelings of uncertainty prevent them from appreciating that they can be seen as a threat to any one else. And, yet, of course, they are; new methods may serve to remind senior staff how long ago their training was and how their teaching skills are being brought into question. The youth of the probationer attracts the children towards him. Hence the defensive reaction of the older members of staff can be all too easily one of cynicism and withdrawal.

Cynicism is not a prerogative of older teachers. It can be found among the young: “Don't swamp yourself with work - play it cool”. The young may be condescending towards the old. Probationers often express disappointment with the level of staff-room conversation, and yet at the same time do little to make it sparkle.

One situation with which the probationer has to come to terms is the discovery that he and many of his colleagues with whom he has to be in very close contact, think on very different lines. In a college or university, it is possible to be less aware of the differences between people. A large choice of friends is available and, as university life proceeds, friends come nearer together in common attitudes and interests. After the completion of the course, this enclosing world of group ideas and feelings disintegrates as members take up different jobs. It takes time for the isolated individual to adjust to the loss of this support of understood and accepted opinion. It is a shock for a former student who is permissive in outlook and who has, without thinking, mostly been friendly with like-minded individuals, to find that his colleagues are “solidly authoritarian in sentiment.” He may be appalled to find there are people who “actually believe in flogging and fagging and that these people are one's colleagues.”

It is immature not to be prepared for differences of opinion and attitudes of this kind. This difference between the old and the young is endemic in our society; in schools it is brought sharply into focus for the probationers by the confines of the staff room, and the sudden change from the predominantly young group to one approaching middle age.

Here is some advice given by probationers to students.

“Be very polite to senior staff (speak when you are spoken to, not otherwise!).”

“Treat your senior colleagues with diffidence at first.”

“Say little about the ideas and education which you learnt in training and listen to what the older staff say. Gradually introduce your new ideas.”

“Take no notice of staff who crab everything one tries!”

“Develop a thick skin to old-fashioned criticism.”

“Take an active part in staff discussion!”

“Don't be afraid of older members of staff.”

“Don't be upset by the ignorance and boorishness of the older inhabitants.”

* * *

3.2. Check your achievement with the suggested criteria

1) How long has it taken you to read the text?

2 - 2,5 mins - Excellent!

2,5 - 3 - Very Good!

3 - 4 - Fair.

Longer - Try to do better next time.

2) How many nouns and noun phrases do you remember to denote older teachers' resentful attitudes?

6 - Excellent!

4 - 5 - Very Good!

3 - Fair.

Fewer - Try to do better next time.

3) How many pieces of advice do you remember, both positive and rebellious?

7 – 8 - Excellent!

5 - 6 - Good!

3 – 4 - Fair.

Fewer - You are sure to do better next time.

3.3. Write out guide words to answer these questions:

1) Why are staff relationships very important for a beginner?

2) Why is acceptance into a school compared with an acceptance into a new family?

3) Why is it common for older members of staff to feel on the defensive in the presence of probationers?

4) In what context is the word "cynicism" used?

5) Why does the difference of opinion come as a shock to probationers?

6) Which of the listed advice do you find positive and constructive?

7) Which advice do you find impossible to follow?

3.4. Check if you have written out these words:

probationer, cynicism, senior staff, withdrawal, prerogative, condescending, like-minded, authoritarian, endemic, predominantly, diffidence.

Look them up in the dictionary.

3.5. Role play: Induction into teaching practice

1) Distribute the roles:

a. people asking for advice (student-teachers);

b. people giving advice (Headteacher, psychologist, senior staff members, student-teachers just back from their teaching practice).

2) Prepare cue cards with useful language.

3) Act out the role play.

3.6. Tell your friends who were not present at the conference what advice you have got.

3.7. Observe staff relationships during your teaching practice and compare them with the ideas you have discussed in this class. Put down your observations and report them in the first English class after your teaching practice.

Smile and Relax

(Lessons in tact and diplomacy)

A customer sat down at a table in a smart restaurant and tied a napkin around his neck. The scandalized manager called a waiter and instructed him, "Try to make him understand as tactfully as possible that that's not done."

Said the thoughtful waiter to the customer, “Pardon me, sir, shave or haircut, sir?”

* * *

"I must say these are fine biscuits!" exclaimed the young husband.

"How could you say those are fine biscuits?" inquired the young wife's mother in a private interview.

"I didn't say they were fine. I merely said I must say so."

* * *

A lady who was a very uncertain driver stopped her car at traffic signals. As the green light flashed on, her engine stalled, and when she had restarted it the colour was again red. This flurried her so much that when green returned she again stalled her engine and the cars behind began to hoot. When she was waiting for the green the third time the constable on duty stepped across and said with a smile, "Those are the only colours showing today, ma'am."

Part 4. Listening Comprehension

The extract you are going to listen to is from the book "To Sir, With Love" by E.R. Braithwaite (b. 1922). A black man, educated in the USA and Great Britain, he was in the Royal Air-Force during the War, taught at school in the toughest area of East End in the '50-s, lectured for UNESCO. “To Sir, With Love” is an autobiographical novel about his teaching experience. The name of the novel is an inscription his class put on the present they gave him when they were leaving school.

Pre-listening Activities

4.1. Make note of the meaning and pronunciation of these words:

wreath [ri:T] - a garland of leaves and flowers in the

form of a circle placed on a coffin

to gloss sth. over - to cover up

the Infants - Infant school (5 to 7 years old)

the Students' council - a meeting at school

glib - ready and smooth, but not sincere

heritage - that which is inherited

inalienable [in'eiliqnqbl] - that cannot he given away

phoney - false

percussion [pq'kASn] - the sound and shook of sth.

to syncopate - here: to increase, to strengthen

Proper Names:

Braithwaite Mr. Florian

Larry Seales Jacqueline Bender

Barbara Pegg Pamela Dare

Moira Joseph

WHILE-LISTENING Activities

4.2. Listen to the tape one time and find answers to the questions below. Try to guess the meaning of the words suggested for each question.

1) Why was Seales late for class? (before/after recess)

2) Why did the children decide to make a collection of money? (after assembly)

3) What made Braithwaite feel weak and useless? (camaraderie, were tainted with)

4) How did the Headmaster try to reassure him? (setting too much store by)

5) What further encouragement did he get during class? (averted, regal)

6) Why did the teacher cry when he came to the funeral? (disinclined, withdrawn, crucify, ostracize, disarming)

4.3. If you have not guessed the meaning of the suggested words, look them up in the dictionary.

4.4. Listen to the text a second time and put down guide words to elaborate your answers to the questions of 4.2.

4.5. Agree or disagree with the following statements and comment on them.

1) Neither Seales nor the children showed any emotion when the boy came with the tragic news.

2) The children said they all wanted to take the wreath to Seales' home.

3) The teacher suddenly felt himself an alien.

4) Braithwaite left the classroom because it was time for the break.

5) The Headmaster was an understanding and sympathetic man.

6) Racial and religious prejudices are very hard to overcome.

7) The Headmaster advised Braithwaite to punish the children by assuming a cold and remote attitude.

8) Jacqueline Bender explained that they liked Seales as a person but could not go to his home place.

9) It was Pamela Dare who really encouraged the teacher by what she said.

10) Braithwaite felt calm and reassured when going to the funeral.

AFTER-LISTENING ACTIVITIES

4.6. Analyse the dynamism of Braithwaite's emotions throughout the passage.

1) How does he react to Seales' news? In what terms does he think of the children in this episode? Does he feel confident and quite at ease with his class?

2) When does the change occur? What is the meaning of the simile "It was as if I had pulled a thick transparent screen between them and myself"?

3) How does the choice of words reveal the conflict and help to convey the drastic change in his attitude?

pleasantly ugly, excluded, hated

united weak, useless

camaraderie vs strangers

delightful disease

association tainted, hateful, virus

distorting

4) What other simile describes Braithwaite's attitude to racism?

5) Does the encouragement he gets from Pamela last long?

6) How does the author convey the change in his emotion from depression to hatred on his way to the funeral? Prove with the choice of words that this is the climax of the story.

7) The end of the passage and the denouement comes as the anticlimax. What emotions overwhelm the teacher? How are they rendered? What is the stylistic function of the vulgarism "bastards"? Why is it used in conjunction with "disarming"?

4.7. Speak of Braithwaite as a teacher. Find and write out the vocabulary to be used as props (See Topical Vocabulary: “Upbringing”).

4.8. Characterize the children individually and as a class. Write props as in ex. 4.7.

4.9. Characterize Mr. Florian, the Headmaster.

4.10. Speak on the theme of the passage. How does it relate to the proverbs "It is easier said than done", "Deeds, not words," "Never say 'Die'?"

If you find yourself unable to do what is required in ex-s 4.5-4.10, listen to the story a third time and try it again.

Follow-up Activities

4.11. Read the article below and discuss how the problems raised in "To Sir, With Love" relate to present-day life in Great Britain (Part 5, Text 1).

4.12. Press conference: Reporters speaking on ethnic problems existing (in their relation to education) in different parts of your country.

1) Distribute the roles: reporters (speakers at the conference) and the audience (teachers, teacher-trainees, politicians, etc.).

2) Read up on ethnic problems at school in American and British newspapers.

3) Prepare role cards and cue cards to be used as props.

4) Reporters: get ready with three-minute talks in the form of a monologue; audience: get ready with questions on particular areas.

5) Hold the press conference during class.

WRITING ACTIVITIES

4.13. Choose one of the roles for writing an essay - parent, politician, teacher, teenager - on the topic "The Teacher's Role in Overcoming Ethnic Prejudices."

4.14. Use Part 4 as a model to design similar exercises and activities for a lesson in active listening. Act as teacher. Things to do:

1) Listen to the story "Miss Enderby Takes up Arms".

2) Write a list of suggestions for listening cues, pre-listening and aural comprehension activities, discussion points, follow-ups.

3) Discuss all the suggestions in class and choose the best.

4) Distribute among the group the tasks to design the exercises and prepare the teaching materials.

5) Take turns in conducting the lesson in listening comprehension and text interpretation.

6) Make use of the following suggestion for the summarizing discussion.

Inevitably there must often be, under the very real mutual interest and cooperation, latent antagonism between school and parents, especially at the primary school level, a certain jealousy of the influence exerted over children when in the other's care, a certain tendency to blame each other when things go wrong, a partial knowledge of conditions in the home or the school which makes false conclusions easy ... . Understanding the parents makes mutual understanding between teacher and pupil more likely.

(After M. Collins: "Students into Teachers")

4.15. Elaborate the theme of teacher-parent relationship in a test discussion (See Part 6, ex. 6.14).

Part 5. PRESS REVIEW

The article below brings into focus the problem you discussed after reading the extract "To Sir, With Love". Ethnic prejudices and resentments are as old as the hills. Can teachers do something to oppose them? What are British teachers trying to do about it?

5.1. Read the article as quickly as you can and give the gist in three-four sentences.

Text 1. "Bar Abusive Children from School"

Teachers Must Resist Racism Says Union

Schoolchildren who make racist attacks on ethnic minority pupils or teachers should be suspended or excluded from school, the National Union of Teachers says today. The Union, Britain's biggest in the teaching profession, has published a policy statement on combating racism in schools, which will be sent to every school in England and Wales.

Headteachers are asked to exercise discipline and sanctions against racist behaviour in classrooms, corridors, playgrounds or elsewhere, and show it is totally unacceptable.

The statement says: "Persistent racist name-calling or abuse should be reported to the headteacher who may wish to involve the pupil's parents. If those responsible for racist graffiti and slogans can be identified, they should be dealt with in the same way.

"Pupils who refuse to guarantee that they will desist from racist behaviour, including the wearing of racist or neo-nazi uniforms and insignia, should be sent home until they comply with the school's request."

The best way for teachers to influence their pupils' attitudes is to lead by example. "Only by examining their own attitudes will teachers be properly equipped to combat racialism in schools," says the NUT. "No teacher should express racia1ist views, either through their remarks or conduct. Such behaviour would be regarded as unprofessional."

The NUT also stresses the importance of a curriculum which celebrates multi-cultural awareness. Concepts of culturally diverse school curricula and mutual respect among ethnic groups "will be undermined and rendered worthless if teachers do not take a firm stand against racially prejudiced attitudes and behaviour," says the union.

* * *

5.2. Write out the new words, look them up in the dictionary.

5.3. List the manifestations of racist behaviour mentioned in the article.

5.4. List the suggestions of the NUT to combat racism and comment on them.

Coming from another country (Pakistan) and a different culture, Professor Syed Muhammad Abdur Rauf's point of view, though unconnected with specific ethnic problems highlighted in the article above, also propagates nurturing multi-cultural awareness as a teacher's concern.

5.5. Read Text 2 once, writing an outline of the points the Professor makes and writing out the words to comment on them.

Text 2

It was not until the mid-60s that linguists recognized the importance of culture in language pedagogy. (…)

A language does not exist in a vacuum. It is embedded in the culture of a people and reflects the totality of beliefs and sentiments of the speech community.

Since most students live in a monolingual and mono-cultural environment, they are "culture-bound". This places a heavy pedagogic responsibility on the foreign language teacher to reduce their cultural biases towards the language he is teaching, and to develop tolerance of other social behaviours. He should impress upon them that there are many ways of looking at things, and that cultural differences do not necessarily involve moral issues of right and wrong.

As a foreign language teacher, he must have thorough insight into the culture of his students as well as the culture of the language he is teaching. This bicultural understanding is essential to identify those areas of cultural background that will be unintelligible to his students presented without explanation. This will also help him remove the misunderstandings resulting from the outward manifestations of cultural identity.

Since many language teachers are not exposed directly to the foreign culture, they should make up for this lack by disciplined reading (...). They should read critically (...) analysing the differences of interpretation, possible biases and propagandistic intentions (...).

Last, but most essential, while introducing cultural content in the classroom, the foreign language teacher must maintain complete neutrality. He must not give his students the impression that he is selling a foreign culture to them. His approach should be informative, analytical and objective ...

(From "Forum")

* * *

5.6. What are the meanings of the word "culture"? In which meaning is it used in the two articles you have read? Do you think you know enough of British and American culture to teach English?

5.7. Read up on and be ready to speak about some of the cultural peculiarities of British and American everyday life.

5.8. Look through the jokes in Parts 1-5 and discuss the cultural component essential for understanding the humour.

5.9. Press-conference (See Part 4, ex. 4.12).

5.10. The teacher seems to be the key... . The key to improving education and improving society.

Read the following article from "The Washington Post" and formulate the issue under discussion. Comment on the headline.

Text 3. School Will Be Tougher for Va. Teachers

Spurred by orders from the Virginia Department of education, George Mason University and the 36 other Virginia colleges that certify teachers are embarked on a complete - and much debated -overhaul of teacher education ...

Faced with disappointing student achievement and dismal comparisons of American students with their European and Asian counterparts in subjects such as maths and science, would-be school reformers have targeted the teacher as the key to improvement.

The best way to improve teachers, they reason, is to improve how they are educated. When the process is complete, the next year class prospective teachers, especially those, who plan to teach in the lower grades, will receive a very different kind of college education than they do now: most will have to meet stricter academic standards before being accepted into teacher training programs. They will be required to earn degrees in the arts and sciences, rather than in education. The elementary education degree, long a staple of the teaching profession, will disappear. Universities will require students to spend a fifth year earning certification after they have their degrees, adding a year onto what has been a four-year process.

"We thought about the question 'What is going to be required of students and teachers in the 21st century?" said state Board of education member James N. Dyke.

Teachers without degrees in the arts and sciences and teachers who have taken education courses but are not "well-versed in general studies" will lack the background needed in the next century, Dyke said. (...) Under the old system, an elementary education major could spend 57 to 60 semester hours on methods and how-to (education) courses that went on endlessly. If you spend half your time on those, when do you learn something of substance?"

(...) Students will spend fewer hours in education courses - a maximum of 18 semester hours -and far more hours taking mathematics, science, history and other core subjects.

Abolishing the elementary education degree and limiting education courses have drawn criticism.

"I think we'll be more well-rounded," said Nancy White, a part-time student majoring in elementary education. "But I think it's a big mistake for the younger grades. We spend so much time in methods classes observing and dealing with children. What we are learning today we are going to be able to use in the classroom."

"The content knowledge of elementary school teachers is not the issue," said Edward Carr, assistant school superintendent for personnel in Fairfax County. "Commitment to the profession, caring about children and knowing how to teach them are much more important."

With strict limits on the number of education courses teachers can take, some wonder if tomorrow's teachers will be prepared to cope with the diversity of students in their classroom. (...)

Isenberg, who is involved in the painstaking process of making the transition from the four-year elementary education degree to the five-year program at George Mason, said she hopes the change would be worth the effort.

"If we can attract the best and the brightest into education, then it will be a good thing, she said. "If it's going to upgrade the status of teachers, then I think it's a great idea. But I just don't know."

(From “The Washington Post”)

* * *

Note: The educational changes discussed in the article have been actually made by George Mason University. The new system of teacher education is practised only by the state of Virginia and has not spread over the other states.

5.11. Read the article a second time and answer these questions.

1) What does "Va." stand for? Do you know any other abbreviations for the names of American states?

2) What is the highest authority in education in the USA, judging by the article? Substantiate your answer.

3) How can you paraphrase the first paragraph by breaking the sentence into two or more shorter ones and substituting synonyms for "spurred", "certify", "embarked on", "overhaul"?

4) Why has the Va. Department of Education decided to introduce changes into the teacher education?

5) What is the English for выпуск, курс as used in the third paragraph?

6) What degree do elementary school teachers usually graduate with?

7) What degree will they be required to obtain in the future before being accepted into teacher training?

8) What other serio