Development Journal: Unit 10: Language

Write about changes in your school and education system

Ahmet is a teacher in a secondary school in Istanbul in Turkey. He has made some notes about changes
he has seen in his lifetime.
Population increased.
New hotels and shopping malls.

City/town

Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge opened 1988.

Metro tunnel under the Bosphorus soon.
Education reform ten years ago.
English taught to every student in primary and secondary school.

Education system

New curriculum document mapped to CEF learning objectives introduced

last year.
New course books based on topics introduced.
In the future maybe content language integrated learning (CLIL).

School

New classrooms built last year.

New whiteboards installed.

Read Ahmets essay about the changes he has seen. Pay attention to how he uses the Passive Voice .

Ive seen so many changes in the past ten years. Fortunately, most of them have been very positive.
I live in Istanbul in Turkey. Its always been a big city but recently the population has increased a lot
and the city has got much bigger. New hotels and shopping malls are being built all the time and in
1998 the Faith Sultan Mehmet Bridge was opened linking the European side to the Asian side. In the
next few years a tunnel for the metro will be built under the Bosphorous - it will make my journey
to work much shorter!
The education system in Turkey has changed a lot. Ten years ago there was a big reform and now
English is taught to every student in primary and secondary school. Recently, a new curriculum
document has been released. It is mapped to the Common European Framework and has learning
objectives for each grade. It is referred to by teachers when they plan their lessons. (continued
over...)

The British Council, 2012

The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

In the future Content Integrated Language Learning (CLIL) might be introduced. I hope it is because
I think it is very interesting.
My school has changed too. The number of students has increased and last year a new extension was
built to make four new classrooms. New whiteboards were installed in the classrooms so now all the
teachers want to have lessons in them!
Use this table to make notes about changes you have seen in your life-time.

City/town

population increased
new shopping malls and settlement opened
water park opened

Education system

changes in education syllabus

new textbook introduces
lots of paperwork involved
too many stressful observation by the administrative

School

new classrooms built few years ago

new whiteboards installed in all class
new colourful paints on the wall two years ago

Use your notes to write 150 words about the changes you have seen.
Since last ten years, there were lots of remarkable changes had happened in Sungai Petani town.
previously, it is a small calm town but nowadays the populations had increased a lot and the town had
grown into a huge city. There were lots of new shopping malls can be seen along the main street and
settlements opened to cope with the population need. There were even water park opened and it is one of
the famous water park in the northern region.
There were changes in education system as well, the most extreme changes can be seen was the changes
in the education syllabus. As a result of the changes, the new range of textbook had been introduced to
suits the new syllabus. Other than that, the teachers also faced nonsense of paperwork's for all sorts of
activities that need to be carry out at school. The teacher also need to faced stressful moments of being
observed by the administrative officer.
My school environment had also changed in these ten wonderful years. Even though it is not a huge
transformations but it still a positive way to switch my school looks. well, few years ago, new classrooms
had been built to accomodates the number of pupils that had increased. all the class room had been
installed with new whiteboard to replaced the old blackboard. The most attracting to the school view is the
wall had been painted with wonderful mesmerizing colour. Now, my school can be seen from far away
because of it bright colours.

The British Council, 2012

The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.