Lesson 29 Text A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER
A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER
Mrs.Cox teaches English in a high school in San Francisco,
a big city on the West Coast of the United States.
She had wanted to become a teacher when she was young.
She has taught eight years now and always enjoyed her work.
A school day at Mrs.Cox's high school
is divided into six periods of one hour each.
Mrs.Cox teaches five of these six periods.
During her "free" period from 2 to 3 p.m.,
Mrs.Cox has to meet with parents,order supplies,make out examinations,
check assignments,and take care of many other things.
So Mrs.Cox works steadily
from the time she arrives at school in the morning
until she leaves for home late in the afternoon,
and her "free" period isn't really free at all.
An English teacher usually divides her time among three subjects:
language(grammar,punctuation,spelling,etc.),composition,and literature.
Mrs.Cox's favourite subject is literature,
and her most exciting classes are those on the literature of Black Americans.
For Mrs.Cox,like most of the students in her school,is Black.
In her sixth period today,
Mrs.Cox taught a poem by a well-known Black writer in the United States.
She wrote the poem on the blackboard and read it aloud.
No sooner had she finished reading the poem
than students' questions began pouring in.
One boy said the poem was heartbreakingly sad.
Another student,a girl,said she had read a book by the same writer,
but she wasn't able to enjoy it as much as her mother did,
and she didn't know why.
A third,a keen viewer of TV theatre recognized a phrase in the poem
which had been used as the title of a recent play.
As she answered the questions,
Mrs.Cox made sure that her students understood every line of the poem.
She asked them to discuss if the poem contained any message.
The discussion became so lively that no one wanted to stop when the bell rang.
Some said there was no message,some said there was,
some said it really didn't matter,and the class ended at that.
As she drove home,Mrs.Cox thought about the class she had just left.
Today she could feel good about what she had accomplished as a teacher.
Not one of her students looked bored.
Every one of them seemed interested in the poem.
Once they started to talk,they forgot about the time.
She did not have to make them learn;
she only had to answer their questions and to guide the discussion.
This,she thought to herself,is what teaching is all about!
Notes to the Text
high school
junior high school
a high school junior
senior high school
a high school senior
secondary school
middle school
A school day at Mrs.Cox's high school
is divided into six periods of one hour each.
one hour each
These ties are 50 Yuan each.
According to the text,Mrs.Cox teaches five of the six periods,
and she is free from 2 to 3 p.m..
So,what does she do during this free period? Let's see---
Mrs.Cox has to meet with parents,order supplies,make out examinations,
check assignments and take care of many other things.
has to
meet with
order
make out
make out examinations
order
I want to order some books by mail.
You can order a plane ticket by telephone.
A waitress came to take our order.
Have you placed an order with that company?
make out a cheque for 100 pounds
make out a receipt