Unit I teaching as a career I

TEXT TITLE: School Teacher

Read the text and discuss the questions below. Suggest some reasons for your choice.

School teacher

Teaching is a very specific and responsible job. Not everyone has enough courage to accept this responsibility. Most young people prefer to choose a more rewarding and better-paid job. However there are many young people who consider teaching as a career. For them the main attraction is not money, but job satisfaction and the belief that education is of vital impor­tance for the success and progress of any society.

The success of educating and upbringing of children depends to a great degree on the personality of the teacher, his professional skills, moral principles, erudition and cultural back­ground. This noble and challenging profession demands from a teacher constant creativity, enthusiasm, understanding of children and love for them, complete dedication to his cause.

The teacher must be a model of competence, so he is a person who is learning as well as teaching all his life. Most jobs can be done within the usual office hours, but teacher's work is never done and evenings are mostly spent marking exercise-books and preparing for the next lesson. It is also a stressful job because you have to encourage your pupils and keep them interested.

A good teacher treats his pupils with respect and values them as individuals. He understands that each child is unique and has special talents and capabilities. That's why he educates each pupil with special attention to his or her interests and encourages each one to be the best he or she can be. He helps children to develop their critical and creative thinking, to form their views and characters, their attitudes to life and to other people. He teaches them to work independently and cooperatively, to be helpful and useful.

A good teacher will do his best to bring up honest and considerate, patient and tactful, self-confident, objectively-minded and self-disciplined people, able to meet many challenges of adult life in a rapidly changing world.

Answer the following questions:

1 Teaching is considered to be a very demanding and challenging profession, isn't it?

2 What does this profession demand from a teacher?

3 What are the main advantages and disadvantages of this profession?

4 What makes many young people take up a teaching career? Does teaching attract you? Are there excellent career opportunities in teaching?

5 Do you think it's a great responsibility to be a teacher? What makes you think so?

6 What personal qualities and moral principles should a teacher have?

Reconstruct the text into the dialogue between two students of the Linguistic University. One of them has already decided exactly to take up a teaching career. The other finds teaching absolutely boring and badly paid. He wants to use his language in business or in banking, where jobs are much better paid and there are good chances in promotion.

I was a fairly typical language student and I didn't know what I wanted to do after the University. I didn't even think what sorts of professions involve the use of language. The most common one was teaching. My parents and grand­parents, most of my relatives were teachers and I was born to be a teacher too.

At the final year of my studies a friend of mine said she would probably take translating, interpreting or some other career in areas such as business, industry or the mass media. But she realized that being able to speak a language fluently is not enough alone to get a job. Generally our language Universities do not train us for such professions and we have to take a vocational post-graduate course if we want to specialize. And often in areas, such as business and industry, experience in that particular area is needed. Jobs in business and industry are usually well paid and the same can be said about interpreting as it is a very demanding and competitive profession.

For me, the most important criteria regarding choosing a profession or career is job-satisfaction, and that's why I have chosen the teaching profession. I believe teaching to be a very valuable and challenging profession that demands from a teacher complete dedication, love of the subject and lots of enthusiasm. However, there are also disadvantages that apply to the teaching profession not only in our country but in other countries as well. Although teaching is a very important profession that involves immense responsibility, it is regarded in many societies as fairly low-status work and so is badly paid. Luckily my main interest is not money but the belief that education is very important in our society.

Ex.1 Speak on your future profession in as many details as possible.

Ex.2 Comment on the following:

A

A woman was being interviewed for a job. "You understand that before we can offer you a position, you must take a short test".

"Of course", she answered.

"Well, how much is two plus two?"

"Four".

A second applicant entered the room. After a short interview, the recruited asked, "Are you ready for the test?"

"Yes".

"Well, how much is two plus two?"

The applicant answered, "Whatever the boss says it is". The second applicant got the job.

В

1 All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. / Work done, have your fun.

2 Jack of all trades and master of none.

3 Business before pleasure. / Business is business.

4 If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.

5 New lords, new laws. / A new broom sweeps clean.

Ex.3 Choosing the right profession for your child is one of the most important decisions for parents. Act out a scene where two young mothers discuss the problem. Give some reasons to support your ideas.

Ex.4 Read the dialogue in pairs and discuss the problem of careers advice in schools.