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Finland has world's best education system (29th November, 2012) |
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20 ONLINE QUIZZES & ACTIVITIES | DICTATION | ||||
* 26-page lesson
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* Text Jumble* Missing words* No letters* Grammar gap-fill* Articles gap-fill* Prepositions |
* Consonants
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* 10 sentences
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A new report into world education shows Finland has the best system. The global study is called "The Learning Curve" and is from the British magazine "The Economist". It aims to help governments provide a better education to students. The 52-page report looked at the education system in 50 countries. Researchers analysed millions of statistics on exam grades, literacy rates, attendance, and university graduation rates. Asia did well in the report, with South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore finishing second, third, fourth and fifth. The United States came 17th in the study, while Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia filled the bottom three positions in the top 50. The Learning Curve reported on five things that education leaders should remember. The first is that spending lots of money on schools and teachers does not always mean students will learn. Second is that "good teachers are essential to high-quality education". The report said teachers should be "treated as the valuable professionals they are, not as technicians in a huge, educational machine". Numbers three and four are that a country's culture must have a strong focus on the importance of education, and parents have a key part to play. Finally, countries need to "educate for the future, not just the present." The report said: "Many of today's job titles…simply did not exist 20 years ago." Sources: WARM-UPS
1. EDUCATION & SCHOOLS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about education & schools. Change partners often and share your findings. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. EDUCATION: How can we make it better? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.
4. BETTER: Students A strongly believe education will get better in the future; Students B strongly believe not. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
MY e-BOOK 5. SUBJECTS: What's the best thing for today's students to study? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.
6. LEARNING: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word 'learning'. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.
BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.
3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.
LISTENING - Guess the answers. Listen to check.
LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps(1) __________________ world education shows Finland has the best system. The global study is called "The Learning Curve" and is from the British magazine "The Economist". (2) __________________ governments provide a better education to students. The 52-page report looked at the education system in 50 countries. Researchers (3) __________________ statistics on exam grades, (4) __________________, and university graduation rates. Asia (5) __________________ report, with South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore finishing second, third, fourth and fifth. The United States came 17th in the study, while Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia (6) __________________ positions in the top 50. The Learning Curve reported on five things that education leaders should remember. (7) __________________ spending lots of money on schools and teachers does not always mean students will learn. Second is that "good teachers (8) __________________ high-quality education". The report said teachers should (9) __________________ valuable professionals they are, not as technicians in a huge, educational machine". Numbers three and four are that a country's culture must have (10) __________________ the importance of education, and parents have (11) __________________. Finally, countries need to "educate for the future, not just the present." The report said: "Many of today's job titles…(12) __________________ 20 years ago."
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ
ROLE PLAY
AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words 'exam' and 'grade'.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:
EDUCATION & SCHOOLS SURVEYWrite five GOOD questions about education & schools in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.
EDUCATION & SCHOOLS DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)
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MULTIPLE CHOICE - LANGUAGEA new report (1) ____ world education shows Finland has the best system. The global study is called "The Learning Curve" and is from the British magazine "The Economist". It (2) ____ to help governments provide a better education to students. The 52-page report looked at the education system in 50 countries. Researchers analysed millions of (3) ____ on exam grades, (4) ____ rates, attendance, and university graduation rates. Asia did well in the report, with South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore (5) ____ second, third, fourth and fifth. The United States came 17th in the study, while Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia (6) ____ the bottom three positions in the top 50. The Learning Curve reported (7) ____ five things that education leaders should remember. The first is that spending lots of money on schools and teachers does not always (8) ____ students will learn. Second is that "good teachers are (9) ____ to high-quality education". The report said teachers should be "treated as the valuable professionals they are, not as technicians in a (10) ____, educational machine". Numbers three and four are that a country's culture must have a strong focus (11) ____ the importance of education, and parents have a key part to play. Finally, countries need to "educate for the future, not just the present." The report said: "Many of today's job titles…simply did not (12) ____ 20 years ago." Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.
SPELLING
PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHERNumber these lines in the correct order.
PUT THE WORDS IN THE RIGHT ORDER
CIRCLE THE CORRECT WORD (20 PAIRS)A new report into / onto world education shows Finland has the best system. The global studies / study is called "The Learning Curve" and is from the British magazine "The Economist". It aims / aiming to help governments provide a / the better education to students. The 52-page report looked / watched at the education system in 50 countries. Researchers analysed millions of statisticians / statistics on exam grades, literacy / litter rates, attendance, and university graduated / graduation rates. Asia did well in the report, with South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore finished / finishing second, third, fourth and fifth. The United States came 17th in the study, while Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia filled / full the bottom three positions in the top 50. The Learning Curve reported in / on five things that education leaders should remember. The first is that spend / spending lots of money on schools and teachers does not always matter / mean students will learn. Second is that "good teachers are essential of / to high-quality education". The report said teachers should be "treated as the value / valuable professionals they are, not as technicians / technical in a huge / hugging, educational machine". Numbers three and four are that a country's culture must have a strong focus in / on the importance of education, and parents have a lock / key part to play. Finally, countries need to "educate for the future, not just the present." The report said: "Many of today's job titles…simply / simple did not exist 20 years ago." Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct. INSERT THE VOWELS (a, e, i, o, u)_ n_w r_p_rt _nt_ w_rld _d_c_t__n sh_ws F_nl_nd h_s th_ b_st syst_m. Th_ gl_b_l st_dy _s c_ll_d "Th_ L__rn_ng C_rv_" _nd _s fr_m th_ Br_t_sh m_g_z_n_ "Th_ _c_n_m_st". _t __ms t_ h_lp g_v_rnm_nts pr_v_d_ _ b_tt_r _d_c_t__n t_ st_d_nts. Th_ 52-p_g_ r_p_rt l__k_d _t th_ _d_c_t__n syst_m _n 50 c__ntr__s. R_s__rch_rs _n_lys_d m_ll__ns _f st_t_st_cs _n _x_m gr_d_s, l_t_r_cy r_t_s, _tt_nd_nc_, _nd _n_v_rs_ty gr_d__t__n r_t_s. _s__ d_d w_ll _n th_ r_p_rt, w_th S__th K_r__, H_ng K_ng, J_p_n _nd S_ng_p_r_ f_n_sh_ng s_c_nd, th_rd, f__rth _nd f_fth. Th_ _n_t_d St_t_s c_m_ 17th _n th_ st_dy, wh_l_ M_x_c_, Br_z_l _nd _nd_n_s__ f_ll_d th_ b_tt_m thr__ p_s_t__ns _n th_ t_p 50. Th_ L__rn_ng C_rv_ r_p_rt_d _n f_v_ th_ngs th_t _d_c_t__n l__d_rs sh__ld r_m_mb_r. Th_ f_rst _s th_t sp_nd_ng l_ts _f m_n_y _n sch__ls _nd t__ch_rs d__s n_t _lw_ys m__n st_d_nts w_ll l__rn. S_c_nd _s th_t "g__d t__ch_rs _r_ _ss_nt__l t_ h_gh-q__l_ty _d_c_t__n". Th_ r_p_rt s__d t__ch_rs sh__ld b_ "tr__t_d _s th_ v_l__bl_ pr_f_ss__n_ls th_y _r_, n_t _s t_chn_c__ns _n _ h_g_, _d_c_t__n_l m_ch_n_". N_mb_rs thr__ _nd f__r _r_ th_t _ c__ntry's c_lt_r_ m_st h_v_ _ str_ng f_c_s _n th_ _mp_rt_nc_ _f _d_c_t__n, _nd p_r_nts h_v_ _ k_y p_rt t_ pl_y. F_n_lly, c__ntr__s n__d t_ "_d_c_t_ f_r th_ f_t_r_, n_t j_st th_ pr_s_nt." Th_ r_p_rt s__d: "M_ny _f t_d_y's j_b t_tl_s…s_mply d_d n_t _x_st 20 y__rs _g_." PUNCTUATE THE TEXT AND ADD CAPITALSa new report into world education shows finland has the best system the global study is called "the learning curve" and is from the british magazine "the economist" it aims to help governments provide a better education to students the 52-page report looked at the education system in 50 countries researchers analysed millions of statistics on exam grades literacy rates attendance and university graduation rates asia did well in the report with south korea hong kong japan and singapore finishing second third fourth and fifth the united states came 17th in the study while mexico brazil and indonesia filled the bottom three positions in the top 50 the learning curve reported on five things that education leaders should remember the first is that spending lots of money on schools and teachers does not always mean students will learn second is that "good teachers are essential to high-quality education" the report said teachers should be "treated as the valuable professionals they are not as technicians in a huge educational machine" numbers three and four are that a country's culture must have a strong focus on the importance of education and parents have a key part to play finally countries need to "educate for the future not just the present" the report said "many of today's job titles…simply did not exist 20 years ago" PUT A SLASH ( / ) WHERE THE SPACES ARE
FREE WRITINGWrite about education & schools for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner's paper. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ ACADEMIC WRITINGSchools are no longer necessary. Teachers should teach using iPads and computers with students sitting at home. Discuss. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ HOMEWORK1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google's search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word. 2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about the education system in your country. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. EDUCATION & SCHOOLS: Make a poster about education & schools around the world. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. MY EDUCATION: Write a magazine article about your education – the good things about it and the bad things. Include imaginary interviews with old teachers. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s). 5. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles. 6. LETTER: Write a letter to an education expert. Ask him/her three questions about education & schools. Give him/her three of your opinions on education in the future. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE (p.4)
SYNONYM MATCH (p.4)
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (p.8)
MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ (p.9)
ALL OTHER EXERCISES Please check for yourself by looking at the Article on page 2. Help Support This Web Site
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