Нижний Новгород, 2005 Печатается по решению редакционно-издательского совета гоу нижегородского государственного лингвистического университета им. Н. А. Добролюбова

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).

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