Part 1 - A Young Genius

Yinan Wang is a 14-year-old Chinese boy. Next month, he will be a student at

Oxford University, in England. Many people are asking, “Isn’t he too young to
attend a university?”

In 2011, Yinan Wang was a student in a secondary school in Beijing, in China.

Then his father got a job at a computer company near London, in England. Yinan
moved from Beijing to London with all his family. He continued his studies at a
secondary school in London.

When he arrived in England, Yinan Wang could only speak a little English. “At
first, I was very lonely ”, he says. “ I didn’t speak to anyone and I didn’t make any
friends.” But, his teachers could see he was very intelligent. In fact, he was a
genius. He was very good at mathematics and science.

Now, in 2013, Yinan Wang is going to Oxford University to study science. At the
age of 14, he is one of the youngest students to study at this famous university.
But, his teachers think he will have no problems. One teacher says, “He had special
classes in English and he can now speak extremely good English. He also got 98%
in a university maths exam last month.”

Yinan Wang is not the first child to go to Oxford University. Ruth Lawrence was
only 13 when she went to Oxford University to study mathematics. But, are
children happy at university? Many universities only take students when they are 17
or 18 years old. People say children cannot enjoy university life. Other people
disagree and say that clever children should go to university.

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Adapted from New Headway Academic Skills - Level 1 – Richard Harrison

Chapter 5: Education Page 29 “Too Young for Oxford” OUP
Part 2 - Natalya and Marcelo

Natalya

I live in St Petersburg in Russia. I’m 15 and I live with my parents and brother in a
small flat. On weekdays, I get up at 7:30 in the morning. I don’t eat anything for
breakfast. I just have a cup of strong black coffee. I walk to my school. School
starts at 8:30 a.m. and finishes at 2:00 p.m. We have six 45-minute classes a day
with a 20-minute break. There are three terms. The academic year begins in
August and ends in June. I study maths, science, history, art and three languages -
Russian, English and French. My favourite subjects are English and French.
Russian is my first language, so I find it quite easy. English and French are more
difficult, but I enjoy the hard work.

After school, I go home for dinner. We usually have soup and blinis. These are
pancakes with fish and sour cream. They’re my favourite food. I do my homework
in the evening and I usually go to bed at 11:00 p.m. Before that, I like listening to
some relaxing music on my iPhone.

In my free time, I go to the movies, visit friends and go rollerblading. I play tennis
in the summer and go skating in the winter. Our summer vacation is in July and
August. My family stays in a 5-star hotel near the beach.

Marcelo

I’m 14 and I live in Sao Paulo in Brazil. We have a big apartment because we’re a
large family. I have two brothers and four sisters.

I get up at 5:30 a.m. and catch the bus to school at 6:30 a.m. School starts at 7:00
a.m. and ends at 12:00 p.m. We have six classes every day and we study maths,
science, Portuguese, English, Spanish, geography, history, computer studies and
gymnastics. Our classes are 40 minutes long. After the third class, we have a 30-
minute break and I buy a snack. I don’t like school because I think it’s boring.
I have lunch at home at 1:00 p.m. We usually have meat with rice, and then fruit.
But, my favourite food is Pizza. After lunch, I do two hours’ homework. In the
evening I usually watch TV. I go to bed early at 9:30 p.m.

I listen to music in my free time. My favourite music is Hip Hop. At the weekend,
I love playing football. Everyone in Brazil loves football! It’s the most popular
sport in Brazil. Our summer holiday is from December to January. We usually
spend the holiday in our house in Florianopolis near Sao Paulo.

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Adapted from Inspiration – Unit 3 – Culture – Page 44 and 45 – “Take two

teenagers….. north and south” Macmillan
Part 3 - Food around the World

The kind of food we eat depends on where we live in the world. For example, in
the south of China people eat rice, but in the north they eat noodles. In Japan,
people eat a lot of fish everywhere because most people live near the sea. But, in
Central Europe, far away from the sea, people don’t eat so much fish. They enjoy
eating different kinds of meat such as beef and lamb. In Germany and Poland,
sausages are very popular, and there are over a hundred different types of sausage
in these countries.

Every culture celebrates important occasions by preparing special traditional

dishes. For example, turkey is the most important meat for the “ Thanksgiving ”
celebration in the United States in November . A turkey is a bird like a chicken but
much bigger. The turkey is cooked with green vegetables, carrots and potatoes.
There is also a delicious sauce made with fruit. Canada also celebrates
“Thanksgiving” with a turkey but it is in October.

In France, there is a tradition where people put a bean inside a cake. The cake is
called a “King Cake” and the person who finds the bean is called the “King”. This
celebration is usually in early January. In the UK, during February, people make
pancakes. These are made with flour and water and cooked for a few minutes in
butter. People like to put dried fruit in the pancake and they serve it with lemon
juice. Sometimes there are pancake races when people run with pancakes. They try
to throw the pancakes up in the air and catch them. The winner finishes first and
doesn’t drop any pancakes.

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