Inside Out

e-lesson Week starting: 28th July 2008

1. Education issues
This week’s lesson touches on a few of the issues commonly discussed with regard to
the education systems of many countries.

Level
Pre-intermediate and above (equivalent to CEF level A2-B1 and above)

How to use the lesson

1. Depending on the age of your students, ask them if they enjoy/enjoyed school, and
why. In what ways, if any, do they think schools should be different? Do they have any
advice for teachers? Are there any specific ways in which they think the education
system in their country is failing/succeeding?

2. Give your students five to ten minutes to read through Worksheet A, encouraging
them to look up new vocabulary. Tell them they are going to answer questions on the
text, but that they shouldn’t write anything down at this stage.

3. Ask the students if they particularly agree or disagree with any of the opinions
expressed in the text, and why.

4. Divide the students into pairs, hand out Worksheet B, and ask them to work together
to complete the crossword.

5. Check answers in open class.

Answers: 1. mistakes 2. language 3. creative 4. behave 5. tests 6. compulsory

7. important 8. activity 9. discipline 10. punctuation 11. system

If the sentences have been completed correctly, mathematics will read from top to
bottom.

6. Ask the students to put away Worksheets A and B or to temporarily hand them back
to you. Then, keeping the students in pairs, hand out Worksheet C and give them
another ten minutes for the gap-fill exercise in which they have to fill in individual
words that are now missing from the text. If the students cannot remember what the
words are, encourage them to try to work them out from the context of the sentence.
You might also want to point out that some of the words feature in the glossary.

7. Check answers in open class.

Answers: 1. areas 2. speaking 3. fun 4. verbs 5. enjoyable 6. left 7. exams

8. worried 9. pass 10. fewer 11. subjects 12. waste 13. classroom 14. colleagues
15. messing 16. respect 17. put 18. spelling 19. concentrate 20. parent

This page has been downloaded from www.insideout.net.

It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2008.
 Inside Out
2. Related websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7370000/newsid_7378300/7378312.stm
From BBC Newsround, an article about young people who feel under pressure to do
well academically at school. Intermediate level and above.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6430000/newsid_6437300/6437387.stm
A Newsround forum, aimed primarily at children and younger teenagers, asking ‘What
new lessons would you like?’ at school. Accessible to pre-intermediate level.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/default.stm
The section of the BBC News website covering education-related issues, with a
particular focus on Britain. Intermediate level and above.

This page has been downloaded from www.insideout.net.

It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2008.