World Education

High Intermediate. Lesson 1

Lesson 2. World Education

“ Education is the most powerful weapon

which you can use to change the world”.
- Nelson Mandela

I. Warm Up: Agree or Disagree

1. School is important for success in life.
2. I love(d) school!
3. Not everyone is suited for high school, so
it's okay to dropout.

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Lesson 2. World Education

5. Not everyone is suited for elementary school, so

it's okay to dropout.
6. We learn a lot of useless subjects at school, which
will have no use later in life.
7. High school is the most memorable part of
school.
8. Going to prestigious school can increase your
chance of becoming successful in life.

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Lesson 2. World Education

 2. Pre-Listening Activity
Match the words and phrases in the table to their
definitions.
a. pupils b. Income c. cognitive
d. fidgety e. restless f. clingy
g. better-off h. counterpart i. the odds are
j. social and emotional k. a level playing field stacked against you

1. _________. it is very unlikely you will succeed because in your current

situation many things will work against you
2. _________. making small, quick movements in a nervous way
3. _________. not wanting to be separated from other people, often physically
holding on to them or seeking their attention
4. _________. moving about aimlessly, unable to relax or focus on tasks

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Lesson 2. World Education

5. ________. person who is at the same level (e.g. at school) or does the
same job as someone else
6. ________. here, richer or from a more privileged background
7. ________. the process of our brains learning, knowing and thinking
about information
8. ________. a situation allowing an equal chance for all participants to be
successful at something
9. ________. people living and interacting with each other (social); people
responding outwardly to their feelings (emotional)
10. ________. learners who are taught in a class
11. ________. money earned from working

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Lesson 2. World Education

3. Listening (2.1). Poverty and Education

http://http-
ws.bbc.co.uk.edgesuite.net/mp3/learningenglish/2011/06/110629_po
verty_and_education_for_web_110630_6min_english_poverty_au
dio_au_bb.mp3
After listening Exercise
Decide if each of the following statements about the text are true or false.

1. OECD – studies whether there is an inevitable link between wealth

and academic performance.
2. OECD report says children from poorer backgrounds aren’t likely to
achieve good grades.
3. Poorer children the UK are more likely to achieve good grades than
poor children in Canada and Japan.

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Lesson 2. World Education
Cont.
4. Professor Yvonne Kelly specialises in how political factors can influence
childhood development.
5. The research compared levels of family income – that's how much money
a family earns – with the likelihood of children having social and
emotional difficulties.
6. The income of a family couldn’t affect whether the children have social
and emotional difficulties.
7. Professor Kelly says that children from low-income families were more
likely to show symptoms of social and emotional difficulties.
8. So children from poorer backgrounds were ten times more likely to be
fidgety, restless and clingy than their better-off counterparts.
9. The report says that the education systems in some countries are more
likely to help students from poorer backgrounds develop self-confidence
and motivation to succeed.
10. South Korea leads the countries, and Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macao and
Singapore are also in the top five.

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Lesson 2. World Education

How can we make it better?

Improvements What’s wrong now?

Classrooms
Technology
Subjects
Teachers
Exams
Hours / Days
Tuition Fees

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Lesson 2. World Education

4. Reading
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 analyzed 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.

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Lesson 2. World Education

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."

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Lesson 2. World Education

Comprehension

1. What was the new report into?

2. What is the name of the report?
3.What two rates did the researchers look at?
4.In which position did South Korea finish on the list?
5.What was Mexico's position on the list?
6.How many things did the report want education leaders to
remember?
7.What are good teachers essential to?
8.How should teachers not be treated as?
9.What must a country's culture have a strong focus on?
10.What did the report say about many job titles today?

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Lesson 2. World Education

SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

A.Report 1. Reading / Writing

B. System 2. Necessary
C.Provide 3. Method
D.Analyzed 4. Important
E. Literacy 5. Examined
F. Essential 6. Study
G.Valuable 7. Giant
H.Huge 8. Give
I. Key 9. Names
J. Titles 10. Precious

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Lesson 2. World Education

5. Grammar Focus
The Past Perfect Tense
We use the past perfect tense fairly often in English.

1: A completed action before something else in the past.

• When we arrived, the film had started. (= first the film
started, then later we arrived)

2:To explain or give a reason for something in the past.

• I'd eaten dinner so I wasn't hungry.
• It had snowed in the night, so the bus didn't arrive.

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Lesson 2. World Education

5. Grammar Focus
The Past Perfect Tense
3: Stative verbs only: something that started in the past
and continued up to another action in the past.
When he graduated, he had been in London for six years.

(= he arrived in London six years before he graduated and lived

there continuously until he graduated, or even longer)

4: As part of the third conditional.

If I had known you were ill,
I would have visited you.
Signal Words
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Lesson 2. World Education

5. Grammar Focus
Simple Past versus Past Perfect Tense
We use Simple Past if we give past events in the order in which they occurred. However,
when we look back from a certain time in the past to tell what had happened before, we
use Past Perfect.
Normal order in the past or looking back to an event before a certain time in
the past?
Do you just want to tell what happened some time in the past or do you want to tell
what had happened before/up to a certain time in the past?

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Lesson 2. World Education

Grammar Exercise

When do we use which tense?

1. 'Already' is a signal word for ...

2. 'before that day' is a signal word for ...
3. 'first' is a signal word for ...
4. 'up to then' is a signal word for ...
5. 'then' is a signal word for ...
Choose the correct tense (simple past or past perfect simple).

1. We (gave/had given) away the flowers that we (picked/had picked).

2. Wendy (sent /had sent) the letter that she (wrote/had written) .
3. The gardener (watered/had watered) the trees that he (planted/had planted).
4. I (got/had gotten) into the taxi that my friend (called/had called) for me.
5. She (wanted/had wanted) to wear the jumper that her mum (washed/had washed) .

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Lesson 2. World Education

Grammar Exercise
Complete the questions in Past Perfect Simple.

1. (what / Bob / do) that he was kept in after school?

2. (you / eat) anything before you went to the theatre?
3. (he / live) in London before he moved to Glasgow?
4. (she / find) a new job by that time?
5. (they / book) a room before they went to Dublin?
6. (how often / you / ring) the bell before he answered the door?
7. (why / they / have) dinner before they came to the party?
8. (Carly / wash) the dishes when her mum came home?
9. (you / read) the contract before you signed it?
10. (who / live) in the house before we moved in?

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Lesson 2. World Education

Grammar Exercise
Choose the past simple or the past perfect tense

1. We had already eaten when John ………. (come) home.

2. Last year Juan ……… (pass) all his exams.
3. When I ……… (get) to the airport I discovered I had forgotten my passport.
4. I went to the library, then I ………. (buy) some milk and went home.
5. I opened my handbag to find that I………. (forget) my credit card.
6. When we ……….. (arrive) at the station, the train had already left.
7. We got home to find that someone ……….. (break) into the house.
8. I opened the fridge to find that someone ………... (eat) all my chocolate.
9. I had known my husband for three years when we ……….. (get)married.
10. Julie was very pleased to see that John ………... (clean) the kitchen.
11. It ………. (rain) all summer, so the grass was completely dead.
12. When he ………. (arrive) at the party, Julie had just left.
13. After arriving home, I realised I ……….. (buy) any milk.
14. The laundry was wet - it ………. (rain) while I was out.
15. William felt ill last night because he ……….. (eat) too many cakes.

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Lesson 2. World Education

6. Vocabulary Building
University
Types of educational Professor
School
establishment Lecturer
Term Researcher
Nursery school Undergraduate
Class
Primary school Graduate
Head teacher
Secondary school Post graduate
Head master
State school Masters student
Headmistress
Private school PhD student
Pupil
Boarding school Master’s degree
Prefect
Technical school Bachelor’s Degree
School Governor
Vocational College Thesis
Register
Art College Dissertation
Assembly
University Semester
Tuition Fees

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Lesson 2. World Education

Vocabulary Building
Read the following sentences and see if you can think of the meaning of the
following phrasal verbs.

1. Sally was kicked out of school.

2. Haven’t you heard, John dropped out of University?
3. We shouldn’t put off studying any longer, should we?
4. You do want to go over your notes, don’t you?
5. If you don’t study, you’ll probably fall behind.
6. I once studied under Jean-Luc Marion(!).
7. Since Susan was absent, she had to make up the test the next week.
8. I shouldn’t probably admit this, but I really need to catch up on (with) the reading
for class! (I’m nearly 200 pages behind!)
9. Before you start your paper on the categorical imperative, you’d better read up on
Kant’s influence in modern ethics.\
10. Always read over your work to ensure there are no grammatikal or spelllling
mesteakes.

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Lesson 2. World Education

7. School Problems!

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Lesson 2. World Education

Express Yourself
1. What is good education?
2. Is the level of education in your country good?
3. Do you think the quality of education is slipping?
4. Does your government really care about education?
5. In which country do you think you can receive the best education?
6. What are the qualities of a good teacher?
7. What are some of the things that poor teachers tend to do? What makes a poor teacher?
8. What is one of the biggest problems with the current education system in your country?
9. If you could, what’s one thing you’d change about the education system?
10. How can you make sure your children are getting the best education?
11. Can children teach themselves? What are some things children cannot learn on their
own?
12. With internet access, can people teach themselves? What have you taught
yourself recently?
13. If it’s on Google, do students need to memorize it?
14. Should teachers make a personal connection with their students?
15. Should college teachers hang out with their students outside of the classroom?

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