Setting sail
English course for adult learners
Lesson 2
The following texts are taken from Speak your mind, Pearson Longman
James remembers …
I started secondary school in 1977 so I was a
teenager in the 1980s. I remember that time
very clearly. We all listened to new romantic
music, we wore colourful clothes and used
make-up. Technology was new and we were
all interested in it. In 1984 we had our first IT
lesson. We had one lesson a week and we
shared computers between three or four
students. One student used the computer,
the others watched! My cousin lived in
London. She told me about fast-food
restaurants so I was very excited when one
opened in my town. I went there for the first
time in June 1982 – my best friend, Peter and
I ate there once a month. I always ordered a
cheeseburger and he always ordered a
hamburger. We thought it was delicious but
now I never eat fast food and he’s a
vegetarian.
Pina Mastroeni
Setting sail
English course for adult learners
Emma remembers …
I was at school in the 1990s. Boy bands like Take That
were popular. My brother sang in a band wih his friends
– they were terrible and they never sold a ticket! I loved
the Spice Girls and listened to them on my personal CD
player.
Some people had PCs in their homes, but not many.
My parents bought one in 1994. It was expensive and
very slow. In IT lessons, we used floppy disks – they had
very little information.
Our teacher talked about the Internet and emails – I
found it difficult to understand what the ‘worlwide web’
was!
I left school in 1996 and got my first job. I saved money
and bought my first mobile phone. It made phone calls
and I coul text – but there was no music, no photographs
and no Internet access. I thought it was great.
Pina Mastroeni
Setting sail
English course for adult learners






Who was a teenager in the 1990s?
Who wore make-up?
Who loved the Spice Girls?
Who used computers at school?
Who tried fast food in the 1980s?
Who used a mobile phone for the first time in the 1990s?
Personal questions
What do you remember about your years at secondary school?
What did you/your friends and family did?
What made you happy or unhappy in those years?
Pina Mastroeni
Setting sail
English course for adult learners
Pina Mastroeni
Most British children start school at the age of five and finish when they are
eighteen. About 60% go to university and finish when they are twenty-one or
twenty-two. But Ruth Lawrence – one of Britain’s to professor of Mathematics
– had a very different childhood. What was so unusual about Ruth’s school
years?
1
Ruth didn’t start primary school at five like other children. Her parents didn’t go to work – they were
computer programmers and they taught Ruth and her sister at home every day.
2
Ruth was very talented and very intelligent. She passed her A-level Maths exam when she was nine years
old! That’s nine years before normal children do the exams.
3
Ruth went to Oxford University when she was eleven and she finished when she was only thirteen – and
she was the top student in her year. Ruth was famous and she was often on TV and in the newspapers.
4
Ruth had an unusual childhood. She didn’t play with toys and watch TV like
othe children her age. She didn’t have any friends the same age as her.
When she was a student her father went to classes with her – they didn’t
meet other students and Ruth didn’t go to parties or have fun. She was
different; she spent her time reading and studying.
5
Ruth became a professor of Mathematics at Harvard University when she
was just nineteen. She got married in 1998 and now she has got 6 children
and id very happy. He children have a lot of friends and Ruth doesn’t want
to teach them at home. ‘I want them to have a normal childhood’ se says.
Write questions for paragraphs 1-5 using the following cues:
a) When / start / school
b) Do exams / like other children
c) Where / go / university
d) have / happy childhood
e) Do / after university
Setting sail
English course for adult learners
Pina Mastroeni
Answer the questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How old are British students when they start school?
How old are British students when they finish university?
How old was Ruth when she finished university?
Why was Ruth famous?
Who did she spend time with at university?
Did she decide to teach her children at home? Why? Why not?
Watch the following youtube videos. They have subtitles to help you understand the meaning. Use
the dictionary any time you need to check up on a word (www.wordreference.com)
This is Britain - School
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMUJKH1fFF0
Schools in Britain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJgMtRlh3wA
After or while watching video no. 2, complete the following statements.
1. Children start school at the age of _______________________
2. They stay at secondary school from the age of ________________ to the age of
_________________
3. The GCSE is _______________________
4. About _________% of students leave school after _________________________
5. At the age of 18 students take _________________________ in __________ subjects.
6. About 20% of eighteen year olds go to university to _____________________________.
7. Children go to school from ________to_____________ at _______________.
8. They wear ______________.
9. There are about ___________ students in an average secondary school class and
____________ in a school primary class.
10. In a food technology class students learn about ____________ and ______________.
11. They can choose from a wide range of subjects: ___________________,
_____________________, _____________, ________________________ (French, Spanish
and Italian), _______________________, ______________________,
______________________, _________________ and _________________.
Setting sail
English course for adult learners
Now answer the following questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
How long is their lunch break?
Do all sudents have lunch at the school canteen?
What time does school finish?
When do they play sports and what sports are the most popular?
Who pays for indipendent schools?
Are state schools boarding schools?
Which famous indipendent school is near Windsor?
Pina Mastroeni
Setting sail
English course for adult learners
Pina Mastroeni
Describing
Who?
What?
Quality
A
answer sts’ questions
clarify doubts
explain
give tips
….. cues
work on the computer
wear
……… short-sleeved t-shirts
………… sport shirts
Work in a ….. room
Out of date/ outdated
up to date = completely modern
bright / dark
Buy sth to eat/drink
……… in a fast food restaurants
queu up / order / pay /
take
…….
their tray
serve
stand
……… behind the counter
at the till / cash register
orderly line
crowded place
Wear
………. heavy make up /lipstick
Have
………. eccentric hairstyle/haircut
………. accessories: necklace,
earrings - trinkets
extravagant
gaudy / ostentatious
bizarre
Young teacher
Students
B
Customers
Shop
assistant
C
girls
Setting sail
English course for adult learners
Pina Mastroeni
Key words
Match words/phrases in column A with their correct definition in column B
A
B
a.
b.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Save (v)
Text messages
Floppy disk
Share (v)
Make-up
Worldwide
web
7. IT
8. Teenager
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
FIND THE OPPOSITE
1. clearly
2. new
3. colourful
4. interested
5. excited
6. delicious
7. vegetarian
8. popular
9. terrible
10. expensive
11. slow
12. difficult
information technology
a young person between 13 and 19
substances used esp. by women to make their faces look
more
attractive
use/have sth. at the same time as sb. else
a disk used to store data a computer can read, and that
can be
removed from the computer
a system for finding information on the Internet
keep things safe
a written message that you send using a mobile/cell phone
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
bored
cheap
dubiously
tasteless
uncommon / old-fashioned
terrific
fast
old / outdated
easy
dull / not bright
omnivorous
indifferent / disinterested