Learning and education

Warm-up to Listening comprehension

1 . In your country

1. at what age do you go to different types of school – nursery , primary and secondary? At what age
do you go to college or university?

2. what is the school-leaving age?

3. how have schools changed over the years? Think about numbers of hours, number of teachers,
discipline, bullying …

2. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right

1. higher a. a tough set of rules that controls an activity or situation.

education b. a place where children between the ages of two and four go to play and
2. playgroup learn. The usual American word is pre-school.
3. undergraduate c. work that a teacher gives a student to do out of class.
4. tutorial d. in England and Wales) the curriculum of subjects taught in state schools
5. nursery progressively from 1989. There are ten foundation subjects: English,
6. lecturer maths, and science (the core subjects); art, design and technology,
7. national geography, history, music, physical education, and a foreign language.
curriculum Pupils are assessed according to specified attainment targets throughout
8. head teacher each of four key stages. Schools must also provide religious education and
9. homework , since 1999, lessons in citizenship Abbreviation: NC
10. continuous e. a class in which a student or a small group of students discusses a subject
assessment with a tutor, especially at a university or college
11. degree f. a course of study at a university, or the qualification that you get after co
12. strict discipline mpleting the course
g. education and training at colleges, universities, polytechnics, etc.
h. a student who is studying for a first degree at a college or university.
i. the educator who has executive authority for a school.
j. a teacher at a university or college
k. the system in which the quality of a student's work is judged by various
pieces of work during a course and not by one final exam.
l. a place where young children and babies are taken care of while their
parents are at work.
3. Tell them to EVU files in, or work on them as homework.

4. Use one of these verbs to fill in the gaps

re-sit, attend, revise, skip, apply, do , get, study, fail, pass, pay

I really hated geography at school. I didn’t do any of the homework, never ……………………..attention to the
teacher and ……………………………..classes whenever I could. Of course, the first time round I ………………my
exams and had to …………………..them the following year. The second time round, I …………………… , which I
was really pleased about. It really improved my confidence and I decided to ………………………to one of the
better !. To my surprise, I got in and I’m there now – studying geography!
Danielle is very clever. She always …………………….very well when she was at school. I’m confident she’ll
…………………………a good degree, even though she doesn’t ……………………very hard. Of course, she hardly
ever ………………….lectures or ………………………..the things we’ve done. Despite this, she always sails through
exams. I envy her intelligence!

4. Listening comprehension and discussion (FCExpert page 31)

4.1 Listening 1
Listen to two people discussing the list below about important factors in a child’s education and say what
they think are the most important and least important factors and why.

 highly-qualified teachers …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 beautiful buildings……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
 individual attention………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
 lots of equipment…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
 small classes…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
 (not) having a uniform……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
 being near home………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
 good sports facilities ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
 good exam results…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
 clubs after school………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4.2 Listen again and complete the expressions they use in the table below
Giving opinions
………………….. , ………………… me, one of the most important ………………….. is . . .
I just ……………………….. ………………………it matters . . . .
The ………………………important factor for me is . . . .

Strong agreement
That’s ……………………… .
So do I.
I agree ……………………. .
Neither do I.
I think …………… .
I couldn’t ……………. ……………… .

Tentative agreement
I ………………….so.

Disagreement
I agree …………..to a …………………., although …. .
Yes, but what about ….?
Do you ……………….. ……………….?
But don’t you agree that ….?
Actually, I think it’s …………………….. …………………… . . ..

4.3 Over to you

In your opinion, which of the factors above are the least and most important in a child’s education?
4.4 Listening 2

You will hear a radio discussion in which two students are talking about their first few weeks in higher
education. Look at the task below. Read the questions but not the options A-C. What do you think the
answers might be? Also, underline the key words in the questions (one has been done for you)

4.5 Listen to Leanne and Harry. Did they say what you predicted in 4.4?
4.6 Listen again and choose the best answer a, b, c for each question.

1) What advice does Leanne give about getting to know people in the first weeks at university?
a. Join lots of sports clubs.
b. Try not to judge people on first impressions.
c. Make friends with people studying the same subject as you.

2) What does Harry regret about his first two weeks at college?
a. not going out enough
b. not doing more work
c. not saving his money

3) Leanne was able to manage financially at university by

a. living at home
b. getting a part-time job
c. finding ways of economising

4) What is Harry’s view on attending lectures?

a. Don’t bother going.
b. You should make detailed notes.
c. They are useful as an introduction to the subject.

5) What do they both find difficult about working without supervision?

a. motivating yourself
b. not getting distracted
c. understanding the task

5. Vocabulary – collocations
Definition of Collocation: the combination of words formed when two or more words are often
used together in a way that sounds correct i.e. hard frost/heavy snow/highly impossible/a waste of
time
5.1 Collocate the verbs 1 – 7 with words and expressions a – I (sometimes more than one collocation is
possible per verb)

1. join a. costs
2. make b. advantage of something
3. read c. time (on something)
4. go d. to lecture
5. waste e. around (a subject)
6. take f. a club
7. cut g. wrong
h. friends
i. the most of something

6. Grammar focus
Articles
Use the definite article the
 When the noun has been previously mentioned. (A truck loaded with manure cut in front of our
van. When the truck skidded a few seconds later, we almost ploughed in).
When a word group following the noun restricts its identity. (Bob warned me that the printer in the
shipping department was broken)
The context or the situation makes the noun’s identity clear (Please don’t slam the door when you
leave.)
Before most seas, oceans, rivers, groups of islands/mountains, deserts, and nationalities.(the Pacific
Ocean, The British can be very reserved, The river Nile, The Alps)

Do not use the definite article the

With plural nouns or (Fountains are an expensive element of landscape design)

With uncountable nouns meaning ‘all’ or ‘in general’(In some parts of the world, rice is preferred to
all other grains)
With most singular proper nouns: names of people (Pamela, Ian), names of streets, squares, parks,
cities and states (Prospect Street, Union Square, Miami, Wales);names of continents and most
countries (Europe, Italy); and names of bays and single lakes, mountains, and islands (Colwyn Bay,
Lake Geneva, Mount Everest, Crete).
Before subjects of study (I study physics).
With words like university, school, church, prison , home, bed
Example: She’s home for the holidays/They went to church
With abstract nouns like love, beauty, life, nature
with foods, drinks and materials (wine, coal, glue, sugar, flour...)when considered in a general sense
Example: We’re having wine with our meal BUT The wine you brought from California is too dry for
my taste (that wine)

Exceptions

Use the definite article with

names of large regions, deserts, and peninsulas (the East Coast, the Sahara, the Iberian Peninsula) and
names of oceans, seas, gulfs, canals, and rivers (the Pacific, the Dead Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Panama
Canal, the Amazon).

Note: The is used to mark plural proper nouns: The United States, the Finger Lakes, the Andes, the
Bahamas.

The indefinite article a/an is used before singular countable nouns

The first time we refer to something (A lady went into a telephone booth to make a call)
With jobs (She is a civil engineer)
To indicate cost, speed or frequency (Twenty pence a kilo, 200 miles an hour, four times a day

Note: uncountable nouns are not preceded by a/an but can be preceded by indefinite pronouns or phrases
(an some information, an a word of advice, a bar of soap, a piece of furniture ...) – get a list from Collins

Words using a, the or no article

Some words are used with a, the or no article depending on the meaning of the word and whether it is
thought of as definite (the), indefinite (a/an), or uncountable
Examples: I put the glass on the table (a particular glass); I picked up a glass (any glass); It’s made of glass
(different meaning , glass here refers to the material – uncountable)

The article

6.1 Practice – Correct the mistakes in each of the following sentences

1) As student I used to like the mathematics. Teacher was very good and I made a good progress.
2) I didn’t use to like studying the languages, but I was very interested in the grammar.
3) My brother is 20. He’s at the university in Africa and wants to become English teacher because it would
give him good opportunity to travel.
4) my neighbour is a lecturer at Oxford, let’s ask him for an advice about the best courses there.
5) Last year I went on a study holiday in USA. It was an interesting experience and I would recommend it to
anyone who wanted to learn language properly.

6.2 Fill the gaps with the best form for each space – a, an, the or nothing (-)

When 1) ......................students in the UK were asked by 2)...............national newspaper what kind of

3)....................college they would like to go to, they agreed that one of 4)...................most important things
was 5)..................location of 6).................college and 7)................other was 8).................state of
9)...............buildings. 10)......................majority said they wanted 11)..............light, well-decorated college
with 12) ................comfortable seats in the lecture rooms. They also wanted 13)..............college with
14).................flexible timetable where they could spend 15).....................time on what they enjoy and
where learning 16)...................new skills was fun and exciting. Interestingly, no one said they didn’t want to
go to 17).........................college at all.

6.3 EXTRA PRACTICE – the article. PAGE 11 OF T and M. EXERCISES 1

1) …. youngest boy has just started going to …. school; ….. eldest boy is at college.
2) She lives on … top floor of an old house. When …. wind blows, all …. windows rattle.
3) … darkness doesn’t worry … cats; …. cats can see in … dark
4) My little boys say that they want to be …. spacemen, but most of them will probably end up in …
less dramatic jobs.
5) He first went to …. sea in a Swedish ship, so as well as learning … navigation he had to learn …
Swedish, too.
6) … family hotels are … hotels which welcome … parents and … children.
7) People think that … lead is … heaviest metal, but … gold is heavier.
8) … interference with … nature often brings … disaster … tree-felling sometimes turns … fertile land
into a dustbowl.
9) Peter’s at ….. office, but you could get him on …… phone. There’s a phone box just around ….
corner.
10) He got bronchitis and was taken to ….. hospital. I expect they’ll send him home by …. end of ….
week .
11) Liam Neeson was born in ………… Ireland, but now he lives in ………. United States.
12) ……… film reviewers spend much of their time mixing with ……. rich and famous.
13) When they’re very young ………. babies only drink ……. milk.
14) In ……. evening, I met my girlfriend, we went for a walk, looked at ……. moon and talked about …..
love.
15) Just before ……… plane landed, ….. pilot told us that one of …… engines was on …… fire.
16) ….. Queen spent three days in Wales.
17) …. British channel separates …… North Sea from …… Atlantic.
18) …….. Russia is ……. biggest country in Europe.
 19) I visited ……. West Indies last summer.
20) …… tiger is in danger of extinction
21) ……. whales are amongst the biggest mammals in the world.
22) I used to drink …….. beer, but now I drink only …… water.
23) She’s at ….. home all day and then she complains she’s tired!

6.4 – write a, the or no article to complete these sentences

Tin
1. Could I have ten eggs and ..............tin of soup, please?
2. Put some money in .................tin as you leave.
3. Cigarette lighters are made of ............... .
Wood
1. We knew that ..........wood was a very expensive material at the time.
2. There’s................wood at the end of the road.
3. There are some rabbits living at the edge of ..............wood.
Paper
1. The boy who delivers ...........paper is late today.
2. It was very strange, a shirt made of ...........paper.
3. I generally read ............paper of some sort on the train.
Chocolate
1. Have .................chocolate, I have just bought them in a very expensive shop, they must be
delicious!
2. It is said that ..................is good for your mood.
3. ...............chocolates which I ate last night tasted very strange.
Dress
1. She has a good sense of .......... dress.
2. ...........dress that I likes didn’t fit me.
3. I saw ............gorgeous dress here yesterday, but it’s gone!
Experience
1. I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy .............experience at all!
2. For this job you need to have ........experience with computers.
3. My first trip abroad was ...............dreadful experience!
Noise
1. I can’t hear a thing because of .............noise the band is making, they’re doing their sound check.
2. I heard ..........noise and thought it might be some wild animal following me.
3. What kind of .........noise did you hear?
Conversation
1. It was .............very instructive conversation, I learned a lot about how the system works.
2. I was trying to listen to .............conversation at the table next to me, I’m such a nosy parker!
3. Everybody finds ...............conversation difficult in a foreign language.
 7. Grammar focus 2 – Indefinite determiners

7.1 Rules on partitives on the Aulaweb

7.2 Practice - Insert the correct indefinite determiners in the gaps

1) ‘Lucy, are there …………….. messages for me today?’ ‘No, there aren’t …………….. .’
2) I don’t know if there are ……………. biscuits in the cupboard, why don’t you have a look?
3) ‘Have we got ……………...potatoes?’ ‘No, we’ve got ……………… .’
4) I wonder if he knows …………… of the guests at the party.
5) I want to buy ……………… English papers, but there are ……………… .
6) If ……………. is interested, there are some cakes in the kitchen.
7) ‘What would you like to drink?’ ‘I don’t mind, I’m so thirsty I could drink ………………. .’
8) …………….who wants to take part in the project can come and see me at the English department.
9) …………… …… my friends called me while I was away, it’s so sad!
10) There was ………….. time to waste, it was really late.
11) The meeting was extremely boring, ………………stayed till the end.
12) ‘Keep the money, come on!’ ‘No, it’s not mine, I don’t want ………. ….. it.’
13) Why don’t we go ……………… nice for our holiday?
14) I have never seen …………….more beautiful.
15) Have you seen my wallet? I can’t find it …………….. .
16) There is great uncertainty about the future. ……………. could happen.
17) There’s ………….. at the door, you are imagining things.
18) I have tried to talk to her but she refuses to speak to ……………… .
19) She decided to complete the task without …………… help.
20) If ……………. wants to stay longer, ………. can.
21) Hardly …………… came to the meeting yesterday.
22) ‘Did you manage to contact Jane?’ ‘I tried to call him but there was ……….. answer.’
23) …………….is happy when ……. are on holiday.
24) I’m sure there isn’t ……………at home, the lights are off.
25) The children aren’t alone. There’s ………….with them now.
26) ……………….really strange happened to me the other day.
27) I’m sorry but there’s …………….I can do about your problem.
28) We called lots of people but …………. of them bought ………….. . How disappointing!
29) ‘Where shall we go for our honeymoon?’ ‘I don’t mind, as long as it’s …………….hot.’
30) …………… has ever worn this blouse, it’s brand new!

7.3 Read this extract from a student’s email and choose the correct option

It’s been quite 1) some/any time since I was in touch. Apologies! There’s 2)hardly any/any time to do
3)anything/something these days, let alone keep in touch! All the same, I have decided to have 4)some/any
time off next month. I’m not promising 5) anything/something definite but I think I’ll manage to spend
6)some/any time home for a couple of days. There’s 7)nothing/anything I’d like more than see you all and
have a proper family dinner with Annie, grandma and 8)everybody/somebody else. The only problem is that
I have 9) no/any money left , except for food an basic necessities , and I’ll need 10) some/any to pay for the
bus fare home. But don’t worry, I’ll pay you back as soon as my next pay-check comes through. I would also
like to do 11)something/anything special with you when I’m there. Shall we go on a day trip 12)
somewhere/anywhere? I’ve been under so much pressure with exams lately that I would do
13)anything/something to unwind, I don’t mind where we go as long as it is 14) somewhere/everywhere
fun.
 8. School Idioms

8.1 School and education – match the idioms 1-11 with the definitions a - k

1. skip school
2. be in a class of one’s own a)to excel in particular field or subject
3. teach someone a lesson b) strict training
4. draw/learn a lesson from c)a different body of opinion
5. a man/woman of the old school d) to punish or make someone feel sorry
6. be top of the class (in) e)to withstand the trials of age and time
7. a hard school f)examine or verify something
8. put to the test g)expressing the wish that someone will understand
9. a different school of thought from their mistake
10. stand the test of time h)play truant, absent oneself
11. let that be a lesson to someone i)someone whose education and point of view are
based on traditional principles and loyalties
j)to heed a warning, to learn from a mistake
k)be incomparably better than one’s companions in
a particular subject or skill

8.2 Fill the gaps with the correct idiom

1) The losses you made on the stock exchange last year should have _______________________, but
he seems to be always making the same mistakes.
2) If you __________________one more time, Ben, I’ll accompany you all the way to your classroom.
3) He is a strict believer in hard work and commitment, but he never asks his employees to do more
than he does himself; he is __________________________________.
4) You have done things your way without heeding anybody’s advice and you have failed;
_____________________________!
5) UK parents should ______________________the fact that babies in the US become obese because
their parents feed them ready-made meals.
6) I think we should take on Georgina. She’s good at management and she_____________________in
administration; she graduated from Harvard with honours.
7) Some Italian-made furniture can really ____________________; it’s money well spent.
8) He’s always said he would move back to Italy with her; now that she’s ready to move back home,
let’s ______________his promise_______________ .
9) If you want a specialist in tax law, I would suggest we brief Mr Williams; he’s __________________.
10) They will never agree on anything regarding religion and philosophy; they belong to
____________________________.
11) He was brought in a ____________________which stood him in good stead later, when he
explored the Antarctic.
 9. Morphology – word-building
9.1 Refer to the file on word-building on the aulaweb

Example
Root – able
1. I’m sorry that I will be unable to come to class tomorrow.
2. We are lucky to have so many women of great teaching ability on our school staff.

9.1 Fill in the gaps with the correct word derived from the root at the top.

Root – act
1. ……………………..speak louder than words.
2. Apart from teaching English the school organizes a number of outside ………………….for students.
3. He gets really unbearable when he’s ill, he can’t stand being …………………………… .
Root – agree
1. The ministry of education and local authorities have reached an important ………………………….on
funding for disables students.
2. I’m sorry to ……………………….with you, but I really think you’re wrong.
Root – appear
1. You shouldn’t judge people by ……………………………………… .
2. I was going to offer him a lift but when I turned round he had ……………………………… .
3. The police have been looking for him ever since his ……………………………………. .
Root – apply
1. Please fill in this …………………………………..form and then hand it back in.
2. The law is not ……………………..to this case.
3. She was the only ……………………………..for the position of head teacher.

10. Phrasal verbs

10.1 Refer to the introductory file on phrasal verbs on the aulaweb
10.2 Match the phrasal verbs a-j with their meanings 1-11

a. turn up 1. remain
b. keep up with 2. start applying oneself to something
c. go over (notes, exercises, homework, 3. distribute
lines …) 4. give to a person in charge
d. work out (the meaning of something, 5. examine/check
the result of a maths problem …) 6. perform/conduct
e. hand in (official documents, papers, 7. stay level with/go at the same speed of
essays …) 8. learn spontaneously (esp. a language)
f. stay on (at an institution, higher 9. arrive
education) 10. manage to understand
g. carry out (research/a study/a survey) 11. communicate/convey
h. get (o) across (a message, an idea)
i. get down to (+ -ing verb or noun)
j. pick up
k. hand out

11.3 Insert the correct phrasal verbs from 10.2 in the gaps

1. A: When is the deadline for the History of Art essay? B: We are expected to …………………..it
…………….by 13th February.
2. Today Professor Dudley ………………………………….an endless reading list! I don’t think I’ll be able
to ……………………………………..the rest of the class, I’m a very slow reader.
 3. Shall we …………………………..our notes and compare them to see if we’ve missed anything?
4. As much as I try to understand his lectures I only find it difficult to ……………………..………what he
means.
5. It’s time to ……………………………….writing our proposal for next year’s teaching project. Come on
let’s get a move on!
6. At the moment, we are ……………………………………a study on language acquisition processes in
children with deaf and dumb parents.
7. No matter how hard I try I just can’t …………………my message ……………….to my students, I just
don’t seem to be able to make them understand what I mean. I need to take a course on
effective communication techniques.
8. We waited and waited by our tutor didn’t ……………………………………..and then we found out she
had cancelled the tutorial at the last minute.
9. Because I needed money I wanted to drop out of the course but then I decided to
……………………………. and find part-time work.
10. When I was living in Russia, I didn’t take a course but I ………………………..the language all the
same and was able to speak Russian quite well.

12. Video watching and reading

TED talk (see file)