The University of Cambridge was founded by scholars from Oxford.
Many Nobel Prize winners were students at the University of Cambridge.
Many scientists, writers and politicians were students at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.
The University of Oxford is the oldest university in England.
Oxbridge is the old name of Oxford.
There has always been a competition between Cambridge and Oxford.
The University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge are members of the Coimbra Group.
T
F
UNIT 3
TOPIC “ HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE USA ”
TOPICAL VOCABULARY
Read the expressions and translate them into Russian:
Apply — to ask for;
applicant — a person who applies for a position;
record — facts known about the past of sb; high school record;
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) — a test which discovers the knowledge and skills of the student; community — the people living in one place, district or country; a community college;
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BS) — a man or woman who has taken the first university degree in arts or science;
Master of Arts (MA), Master of Science (MS) — the holder of the second university degree in arts or science;
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D) — a person who has received the highest university degree;
tuition — teaching;
tuition fee — a payment for teaching;
income — money received during a given period;
install — to place, fix (an apparatus) in position for use.
VOCABULARY EXTENSION
I. professor — teacher
A professor (BrE) has the highest position in a university department, or (AmE), teaches at a university. We address a man as Mr + surname or as Sir, and a woman as Miss/Mrs + surname; we address a professor, male or female, as Professor + surname. A teacher teaches in a school.
E.g. He was Professor of Physics and head of his university department at the age of 26.
Mr Jones was a teacher of History before he became a headmaster.
II. director — manager — headmaster (principal)
A headmaster/headmistress — a man/woman in charge of a school.
Syn.: the head, the headteacher, the principal
E.g. When I was at school, the headmaster always took charge of morning assembly.
A manager is a person who runs part of a business.
A director is someone in charge of a business. We can speak of the director of a language school because it’s a business.
E.g. Jack is very young to be a bank manager/a manager of a supermarket.
It has never been my ambition to be a company director.
III. programme — syllabus — curriculum — program.
A syllabus is set in one subject either by a school or by an examination board.
A curriculum is the general programme in all subjects.
E.g. There is a new syllabus for next year’s Certificate in Advanced English.
Art isn’t on our school curriculum.
A programme is a sequence of planned activities, or an information booklet.
E.g. What’s your programme for today?
This concert programme (BrE)/program (AmE) is very expensive.
A program is a computer program (BrE/AmE)
E.g. Have you seen Microsoft’s new program?
GETTING STARTED
What do you know about the system of education in the USA?
Do you know the difference between the US colleges and universities?
ACTIVITY A
VOCABULARY STUDY
PART I
DIRECTIONS:
Teacher and its alternatives.
Match the word on the left with their definitions on the right.
1. coach a. person who trains athletes or animals
2. educationalist b. person who teachers in a college or university
3. governess c. person who trains sportsmen and athletes or a student for an exam
4. guru d. female teacher who lives with a family and educates their children at home
5. instructor e. private teacher; directing the studies of undergraduates
6. lecturer f. an expert in educational methods
7. schoolmaster g. female teacher in a school
8. tutor h. one who gives information or knowledge or teaches particular skills
9. trainer i. trusted adviser
10. schoolmistress j. influential or revered teacher
11. mentor k. male teacher in a school
PART II
DIRECTIONS:
Fill in the blanks with the words from Vocabulary Extension.
Mr. Brown is a _________ of history at Oxford University.
That was a terrible meal; I’m going to complain to the ___________.
My husband is a physics ________ at the local school.
He is on board of ___________s.
I decided to include Mathematics into my college ___________.
PART III
DIRECTIONS:
Translate the sentences into Russian. Be ready to give their back translation.
1. Has Microeconomics been introduced into the institute curriculum?
2. I see that «Hamlet» is on this year’s syllabus for the English literature.
3. Where is the first-year timetable?
4. According to the timetable we have no history class on Monday.
5. The teaching staff of the college is/are excellent.
6. The department of physics is in the Faculty of Science.
7. The History Department is/are using this room.
8. He has a BA/BSc. He has an MA in linguistics. He has an MSc in astrophysics.
ACTIVITY B
SCAN THE TEXT 1 HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE USA
DIRECTIONS:
Read the headline of the text. What do you want to find out when you read it? Write some questions.
Read the text quickly and answer the questions you have written.
ACTIVITY C
READING
DIRECTIONS:
Now read.
HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE USA
Out of more than three million students who graduate from high school each year, about one million go on for "higher education". It is not easy to enter a college at a leading university in the United States. Such a college may accept only one out of every ten who apply. At present there are over 3,300 different institutions of higher education in the USA with more than 12 million students.
Successful applicants at colleges of higher education are usually chosen on the basis of (a) their high school records which include their class rank, the list of all the courses taken and all the grades received in high school, test results; (b) recommendations from their high school teachers; (c) the impression they make during interviews at the university, which is in fact a serious examination; and (d) their scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs). The SAT is a test in mathematics and English language which was introduced in 1947. The SAT is taken in the 11th grade 'of high school (over 1,5 million high school students take it yearly). If a student gets 1600 scores it is considered as a good result, if he or she gets 400 scores such a result is considered to be poor. A SAT can be taken two or three times, so that the student can improve the results if he or she wishes to do so.