Intermediate I - Level 4 (Psychometric 77-84)
Article: The Price of Success
1. Like a soldier preparing for battle, Kensuke Suzuki leads a regimented
life. He's up at 6:30 every morning. Gymnastics practice begins at 7: 15.
From 9 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. there is intensive class work, then four more
hours of athletics. Dinner follows at 8 p.m. Three nights a week he attends
an extra 80 minute academic session. Then comes homework and TV.
Exhausted, by midnight Kensuke collapses into bed. It's a demanding
schedule - especially when you're only 13 years old. Yet Kensuke plunges
into his days with a chipper, can-do spirit. He knows the grinding
classroom work and the afterdinner sessions at the supplementary school,
or Juku, are part of the price of success in Japan's educational school
system. "Sometimes I'm tired and I don't feel like going to Juku or gym
practice," he concedes. But if I don't go, I'll fall behind."
2. Although his peers in most other countries would find Kensuke's schedule
appalling, his is a typical day for Japanese junior high school students.
Tokyo's ministry of education sets nation-wide standards for achievement,
measuring what pupils actually know, rather than their aptitude. High
marks assure admission to a top-ranked university and a good career; poor
grades and test scores can mean a second-rate college and a job with little
promise. The result is a near mania on the part of Japanese kids for
memorization of facts, figures and formulas, which can be parroted back
during exams.
3. To get an edge, more than half of Japan's urban junior-high students
attend Juku. Kensuke started going when he was eleven. "My grades
weren't so hot," he confides. His mother, Junko Suzuki, concedes that
special help is a good idea. "What high school he gets into depends
entirely on his grade average, so if he doesn't get the extra tutoring, his
future is at risk," she says. The classes, which cost about $100 a month,
concentrate on one subject per session, including Japanese, math and
English. Unlike the lockstep pace of the regular classroom, there's time at
Juku for explanations if a student has trouble with a concept. "It's more fun to
study there, I understand the material better."
4. Kensuke has already decided that he wants to attend Waseda University, a
prestigious private school in Tokyo, from which his father, a civil engineer and
construction company executive, graduated. He hopes to gain admission to the
high school affiliated with Waseda, which should make getting into the university
a bit easier. "If I can get into Waseda I think I'll be able to get a job with a good
company," he says. Despite all the rigors of his schedule, Kensuke remains a
happy, even cheerful child. He genuinely enjoys gymnastics - although sports
will do him no good when it comes to getting into university. He enjoys music
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and has even exchanged puppy-love notes with a girl in his class. They haven't
gone out on a date yet. After all, they see each other at school all the time.
Questions
1. Translate the following noun phrases.
I) an extra 80 minute academic session 2) a
demanding morning schedule
3) Japan's educational school system 4)
Japanese junior high-school students
5) poor language grades
6) test scores
7) Japan's urban junior-high students 8)
grade average
9) a prestigious private school
10)a construction company executive
2. Kensuke's rigid schedule
a) made him hate school and schoolwork.
b) caused him to be too tired to enjoy anything outside school.
c) did not destroy his positive approach to life.
d) forced him to do far more than he could.
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3. Kensuke was willing to follow this schedule because
(paragraph 2) . a) all Japanese children have the same program.
b) his aim was to get into a very good university.
c) the regular Japanese standards were too high.
d) he learned how to memorize facts.
4. Mark: TRUE or FALSE. (paragraph 2). Justify from the text.
Japanese standards of education do not take the mental ability of the
student into consideration. TRUE/FALSE
Justify:
5. The writer's attitude to "memorization of facts" is critical. TRUE/FALSE
Justify:
Complete the sentences
7. Good grades are important in Japan because
8. Kensuke liked the Juku classes, since in the regular classes
he
9. Translate the mother's statement in paragraph 3.
Article: Methods of Education: East Versus West
1. A teacher from a Western country recently visited an elementary school in
an Asian country. In one class, she watched sixty young children as they
learned to draw a cat. The class teacher drew a big circle on the
blackboard, and sixty children copied it on their papers. The teacher drew
a smaller circle on top of the first and then put two triangles on top of it.
The children drew in the same way. The lesson continued until there were
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sixty-one identical cats in the classroom. Each student's cat looked exactly
like the one on the board.
2. The visiting teacher watched the lesson and was surprised. The teaching
methods were very different from the way of teaching in her own country.
A children's art lesson in her own country produced a room full of unique
pictures, each one completely different from the others. Why? What causes
this difference in educational methods? In a classroom in any country, the
instructor teaches more than art or history or language. He or she also
teaches culture (the ideas and beliefs of that society). Each educational
system is a mirror that reflects the culture of the society
3. In a society such as the United States or Canada, which has many
national, religious, and cultural differences, people highly value
individualism - the differences among people. Teachers place a lot of
importance on the qualities that make each student special. The
educational systems in these countries show these values. Students do not
memorize information. Instead, they work individually and find answers
themselves. There is often discussion in the classroom. At an early age,
students learn to form their own ideas and opinions
Questions
1. From the title we understand that this text is about (5 points).
a) communism and capitalism.
b) studies in geography.
c) approaches to teaching.
d) problems between East and West.
2. Circle: TRUE or FALSE (5 points).
The visiting teacher came from an oriental country. TRUE/FALSE
(5 points)
Justify:
3. In paragraph 1, line 8, the word "one" refers to
(4 points)
4. Which of the three pictures below a, b or c shows the correct order
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in which the teacher drew the cat on the board? Circle the correct
option.
A
B
C
5. In paragraph 2 the visiting teacher was surprised because.
a) there were sixty children in the class.
b) the educational methods were so similar.
c) the cats were all absolutely identical.
d) the students were so well-disciplined.
(5 points)
6. How is the word "culture" defined in paragraph 27
(6 points)
7. Translate: "Each educational system is a mirror that reflects the culture of
the society. (Paragraph 2, lines.7-8).
(8 points)
8. Paragraph 3. Circle: TRUE or FALSE. Justify from the text.
"Individualism" is a problem in countries such as Canada and USA.
TRUE/FALSE
(6 points)
Jusitfy:
9. Paragraph 3. Classroom discussion encourages.
a) students to work individually.
b) learners to present their views to others.
c) the memorization of information.
d) teachers to find answers themselves.
(5 points)
14. Paragraph 5.
What is the negative aspect of the Asian system?
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(6 points)
15. Paragraph 6.
Translate: "When students graduate from high school, they haven’t memorized as
many basic rules and facts as students in other countries."
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