group "english practice"

[bigotna]

HERE is my summary too :

We have to talk about a text published in December 2004 in BBC News.

This text, named “Teacher crisis could hit Scotland”, informs us about a difficulty to cover teachers whose age makes them ill.

It tells us two points of views  :

On the one hand the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association ,  on the other hand the Scottish Executive, by a spokesman.

Indeed , age-related illness increases demand of supply teachers. But in the same time, more and more teacher retire and the Scottish Executive doesn’t have enough available supply teachers. They say that they monitor this problem and the number of teachers,  but some problem can arrive sometimes.

The SSTA , “de son coté”,(how do you say? urge its member to refuse additional work to cover these needs. They argue a teacher must keep his time to work as well as possible with his students.

We can conclude in saying that,  out of this article, needs of new teachers are growing in the world to cover the retiring teachers, especially in France too.--> DO WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO TELL THAT ?

nb

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is it better now?

[Hanae]

Bigotna and others,

As I did not send my answers concerning a text which was proposed in the previous group two weeks ago, I have decided not to take part in your new group.

[bigotna]

hanae, i don't understand what you mean, you can answer when you have time.

i you have time this week, you can talk about the text of this week, don't you ?

or don't you have time?

nb

[teacher]

[Aspidistra]

Hi,

It is really quiet this week! Where are you all of you? Any other summaries??

Bigotna did you find another text for next week or do you want me to go and have a look through BBC web site?

[Oblivion]

Here is my summary of the article I tried to write something a bit longer than my previous summary but I found it a bit difficult not to "re-phrase" the text instead of underlining its main arguments

Anyway, here it is

This article from BBC News was issued at the end of 2004.

It centers on education in Scotland, and more precisely on the possible shortage of teachers in Scottish schools.

This article provides us with two different viewpoints on the subject, namely a Scottish executive spokesman's and David Eaglesham's, who is the general secretary of a union in Scotland.

According to the Scottish executive spokesperson, the situation is under control insofar as they are constantly checking that the balance between the teachers who leave and those who join the profession is respected. In a word, they do all they can not to run out of teachers.

We can notice that stylistically speaking, there is a clash between the title of the article which sounds threatening and dramatic and the reassuring tone of his words.

Unlike the spokesman, David Eaglesham is rather pessimistic. According to him, the retirement of the old teachers, their leaving due to health reasons, as well as the unsatisfactory number of supply teachers could lead to a shortage. Moreover, as this shortage could occur faster than expected, solutions must be found rapidly. He totally disagrees with the spokesman regarding the balance between the teachers leaving the profession and those joining it : he explains that the effects of this shortage can already be felt inasmuch as it is now difficult to find people to replace the teachers who are absent. He also adds that the teachers with tenure should not replace those absent so as not to give them too much extra work at the expense of the pupils' interests. In order to convince and to justify his viewpoint, he draws a parallel between the teachers and the airline pilots whose workload is limited for security reasons.

To sum up, we can say that two sides of the story are given in this article, as well as contradictory information. People should keep in mind that if a crisis erupted, the pupils' interests and good working conditions could be at stake.

[bigotna]

Hi,

Bigotna did you find another text for next week or do you want me to go and have a look through BBC web site?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

YOU Can propose a new text, if you want, i already looked in the bbc web site, and there are many others articles.

you can choose one, as you want, or another from another site.

but FOR ALL OF YOU :

what do you think about our work?

Do you like it?

Do you want to continue like that?

good evening

nb

[Oblivion]

but FOR ALL OF YOU :

what do you think about our work?

Do you like it?

Do you want to continue like that?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, as far as I'm concerned, I think that making summaries of articles is the best way for us to get prepared for the exam.

What would be great would be "to chat live" somewhere on the web together (maybe in the chatroom here?) to get used to answering in English as we'll have to for the oral exam.

Let's not forget that it is also really important to read our summaries or texts out loud at home to work on the rhythm etc... and improve our accent and the fluency

[bigotna]

Well, as far as I'm concerned, I think that making summaries of articles is the best way for us to get prepared for the exam.

What would be great would be to chat somewhere on the web together (maybe here?) to get used to answering in English as we'll have to for the oral exam.

Let's not forget that  it is also really important to read our summaries or texts out loud at home to work on the rhythm etc... and improve our accent and the fluency

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

maybe we could have a chat sometimes about the text we studied, but i am not very free, twice a month woud be my best, and you?

NB

[Oblivion]

maybe we could have a chat sometimes about the text we studied, but i am not very free, twice a month woud be my best, and you?

NB

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's ok, twice a month is better than nothing at all

Personally, I'm free anytime in the evenings

If the others are ok, we could schedule a "meeting" in the chatroom

[Aspidistra]

maybe we could have a chat sometimes about the text we studied, but i am not very free, twice a month woud be my best, and you?

NB

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's ok, twice a month is better than nothing at all

Personally, I'm free anytime in the evenings

If the others are ok, we could schedule a "meeting" in the chatroom

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree,

we can meet on a chat room wehenever you wnat. Is monday evening suitable for all of you?

[Oblivion]

I agree,

we can meet on a chat room wehenever you wnat.  Is monday evening suitable for all of you?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Monday evening is ok for me, but it depends at what time since I already have a chat with people from l'académie de Lille here at 6 p.m