Text a. Life of a Student

24 September 34, Blue Lake st.,

Bradfield,

U.K.

Dear Ann,

I think it will be a surprise for you to receive a letter from a stranger but your friend Bill Johnson gave me your address. He said you were interested in corresponding with an English girl. As I am a student and I am training to be a teacher too, I think it will be interesting for both of us to compare our experiences in this sphere.

But first of all I’d better introduce myself. My name is Valerie Morton – my friends call me Val. I’m twenty-two and unmarried. I was born in Birmingham, but when I was two my parents moved to Coventry, where I grew up and attended primary and grammar schools. I have one brother, who is fifteen years old. He is at boarding school, because my parents are working in East Africa at present.

Three years ago I entered the University of Bradfield to study French.

The University term begins on October 1st, but we have already started our course by spending 2 weeks in a local primary school, observing lessons in various classes and giving lessons ourselves. To tell the truth, I found it awfully difficult to teach small children.

The first six weeks of the term are full of lectures and tutorials. There are lectures on the theory of education, educational psychology, the history and sociology of English education, and teaching methods for French and English.

Next term will also be divided between theoretical and practical work. In the summer term there will be a few weeks of lectures and tutorials, followed by examinations in May.

As for my practice, I am having it now. I’ll describe you a school. It’s a comprehensive school in Oak Ridge. It is very large and consists of a number of very modern buildings with facades of glass, steel and aluminum. They are grouped around a central area containing a car park, lawns, flowerbeds, benches and so on. There are also playing fields for soccer, rugby, hockey, cricket, tennis, basketball. The school is new, so it is well equipped. There is a huge gymnasium, changing-rooms with hot and cold showers, an assembly hall with a proper stage, a large staff-rooms, chemistry, physics, biology laboratories, workshops for woodwork, metalwork and engineering, a fully equipped kitchen for cookery lessons, a typing room, two art rooms, a music room with a grand piano. And, most important of all, from my point of view, are language laboratories. The range of subjects is very wide. In addition to the more usual subjects, it is possible to learn and take external examinations in Greek, Russian, Spanish, woodwork, gardening, domestic science (needle work and cookery), technical drawing, astronomy, geology, economics, ancient history. It is also possible for pupils in their final year at school to take additional subjects, such as shorthand and typing and prenursing courses. The latter subjects are, of course, optional, and not compulsory.

How is you practice? I hope to hear from you soon.

Best wishes to you.

Sincerely yours,

Valerie Morton.