EDUCATION

1. Question:
Why is there still so much debate about whether students should have
standardized exams at the end of each school year?

Answer:
This topic continues to spark discussion because educational reform is a contentious issue
with various trends coming and going over the last decades, and whether to implement
standardized exams or not is not an exception in this vicious circle. Some educators
believe that such exams help maintain academic standards and ensure all students are
assessed equally. Others argue that they put too much pressure on students and don’t reflect
their true abilities or potential. The cycle of introducing new methods and then returning to
older ones only adds to the complexity of finding a lasting solution.

2 Why do you think schools should encourage students to take part in activities outside regular
classes?
Answer:
I believe schools should strongly encourage students to get involved in extra-curricular
activities because they play a vital role in a young person’s development. These activities, such
as sports, music, drama, or volunteering, allow students to explore their interests and talents
beyond the academic curriculum. They also help develop important life skills like teamwork,
time management, and leadership. Personally, I joined the debate club at my school, and it not
only improved my public speaking but also boosted my confidence. Overall, extra-curricular
activities are essential for building a well-rounded personality and preparing students for future
challenges.

3 Question:
Why is it important for governments to invest more in the education system?

Answer:
It is important for governments to invest more in the education system because a lack of funding
can lead to a poor educational outcome for students. When schools do not have enough
resources, such as qualified teachers, up-to-date textbooks, and modern technology, students
often struggle to reach their full potential. This can result in lower academic performance, fewer
opportunities for higher education, and limited job prospects in the future. By investing in
education, governments can help ensure that every child has access to quality learning, which
benefits not only individuals but society as a whole.

4 Question:
What can you say about educational system in your country?

Answer:
Well, to be honest, Armenia can’t boast a world-class education system, like the one which
England has, I mean the UK National Curriculum being taught across the globe. Of course, we
do have many talented teachers and hardworking students, and some universities are improving,
but our system still faces several challenges, such as outdated materials and a lack of funding.
Still, we make the most of what we have, and there’s definitely potential for growth in the future.

2.
Cue Card

Talk about the high school you went to. Please say
- What was your school like?
- Describe your teachers.
- Did you like the schooling system?

Discussion

- Do you see any differences between schools now and in the past?
- Do you think students now are studying harder than before?

education
Describe a course you have done that you found useful:

You should say:

What you learnt

What you enjoyed about the course

What you didn't enjoy

And explain why it was useful to you.

Follow up questions:

1. Are you in touch with anyone from the course now?

2. Would you like to go on a course like this again?

1. Do you think it is important that children are given homework?

2. How much homework should they be given?
 3. Do you think parents should help their children with their homework or should it be done
alone?

Avetiq
Now we'll discuss the relationship between education and work.

1. How important is it to have a university education to get a job in your country?

2. Does having a degree from another country enhance employment opportunities in your
country?
3. What impacts do students who have studies abroad have on their country of origin when
they come home?

Now we'll move on to talk about education and the future.

1. Do you think it will be more or less important to have a good education in the future?
2. How do you think the nature of education will change in the future?
3. What impact will technology have on classrooms in the future?

 Did you prefer your life as a student or your life now?

 Did your education prepare you well for the work you are doing now?

Your education in general

 What subject are you studying?

 Why did you choose to study that?
 Do you like your subject? (Why)
 Is it a difficult subject to study?


 Elina
Your schooldays (the past)

 What kind of school did you go to?

 What was your favourite subject at school?
 Who was your favourite teacher?
Place of study

 Where do you study?

 Why did you choose that school/university?
 What do you think of your school/university?
 What is the best thing about your university/school?

Lus SEV
Your course and method of study

 When did you start this course and when will you finish it?
 Which part of the course do you enjoy most?
 What is the most difficult/easiest part of the course?
 How do you study this subject?
 What skills have you learned in your studies?/What skills are needed to study your subject?

Student life

 Do you like life at school/university?

 What part of university life do you like best?
 How have you benefited from being at school/university apart
from gaining knowledge?
 What facilities are there at your school/university to help you in
your studies?

Educational system

 What is the educational system like in your country?

 How do you think the system might change in the future?

The future

 What are your future study plans?

 How do you think your studies in school/university will prepare you for your job in the future?
 What is your career plan after you graduate?
 Do you think you will prefer having a job to being a student?
 Why are you taking the IELTS test?
  WHO WAS YOUR FAVOURITE TEACHER

My favourite teacher, um, his name is Kwan Sing Pak. He was my English teacher
when I was in High school in Korea. You know in Korea, all the English
teachers are basically Korean. Umm..he was my teacher um, for two years,
um Year eleven and Year twelve. You know the girls of that age um they
normally like teachers, you know good looking, with the looks, with good
sense of humour and- and all. But this specific teacher was not physically
attractive at all. He was rather, not terribly good looking. (I’m sorry to be
saying this). But I really adored this teacher because um, I guess to start
with I loved studying languages and he was teaching English and I really
loved learning English from him. And he was very passionate about his job,
teaching, and he was actually enjoying it, and I could tell he was enjoying it.
He had good teaching skills. He encouraged and nearly coerced, you
know, contribution from the students.
And you could actually be quite sure sitting in his class that when you give
answers, how silly they might sound, you would never be laughed at or
anything. So you were feeling quite free to have a conversational
discussion with the teacher or other students in the class. And what was
also quite special about him was that he had good sense of humour, much
so much so that you only remember his jokes when actually you have the
test paper in front of you and you look at all the questions and you couldn’t
remember the answers but his jokes only!

Thank you. And did other students also like this teacher?
Oh yes. Yep. Most of the students just loved this teacher. He was very
popular.

So we’ve been talking about teaching. I’d like to ask you some
questions about teaching and education. What are the qualities of a
good teacher?
I should say a good teacher is one who always is well prepared for the
class. And I guess if the person has a good sense of humour that would
help because, you know, boring, ah, session, nobody would sit in the class,
you know, hours after hours.

 anna
And what differences in teaching styles have you experienced with
different teachers?
Some teachers can be very knowledgeable. I could tell that the person had
a lot of knowledge and experience and everything. But the person just
didn’t have the skills to convey all that to the students. And so the rendering
was really boring and everybody was just falling asleep, whereas some
teachers they knew how to pass that down to the teachers somehow and
the session was completely enjoyable.

Should teachers use discipline in the classroom?

Coming from where I, um, am, I think yes, teachers should discipline
students. In Korea, students would respect the teachers. My mum’s
generation was more so, and my mum had to say one day, she thought
teachers don’t eat, don’t go to the toilet, they are demi-Gods and wouldn’t
even step on the shadow of the teacher, because you respect the teacher
so much. But I don’t think same kind of respect is here and students
sometimes misbehave during class hours and I just find it hard to
understand. There is not enough respect for the teachers and also for the
learning itself.

And can students learn from computers?

I guess yes and no. I see my children, they’re sitting in front of the
computer sometimes writing their essays and getting information through
the net. In that case, I guess comps can be educational and helpful. But
sometimes I see my son sitting in front of the computer hours after hours
doing you know, video games. I don’t think in that case computers are
educational or healthy.

Describe a subject that you think should be removed from school education programmes. You
should say

- what the subject is

- why you think it is unnecessary for children to study it
- and explain what you would replace it with.

Here's my sample answer with band 7-9 vocabulary underlined:

 I’m going to suggest that art could be taken out of the school curriculum. In my
experience, art lessons at school tend to include drawing, painting, and the making of
collages using paper, fabric and other household materials.
 There are a few reasons why I think that school art lessons are unnecessary. Firstly, I
don’t believe that drawing and painting are essential skills that children will need when
they leave school. Children might find these activities enjoyable, but it’s unlikely that
they will need them in the working world. Secondly, children can draw, paint and make
collages in their own time at home; parents can encourage this, and they can even join in.
Finally, remembering my own art lessons at school, I don’t think we learnt any real art
skills; the teachers left us to draw or create things, but they didn’t provide much technical
instruction.
 Instead of art lessons, children could do more work on core subjects like maths, science
or language. These subjects are more likely to help children in later life when they enter
the job market, and I think both children and their teachers would benefit if more time
were devoted to them.
Can you describe the education system in your home country?

early childhood education provided for

children from 3 to 6 years, then comes
secondary education consisting of primary,
secondary (or base) and high schools , or
higher vocational education and then post-
graduate education.
In some ways it is quite similar to the Australian education system. The
only difference I can tell straightaway is that Kindergarten is not part of the
primary school education in Korea whereas here, we start from
kindergarten. And three years we call it junior high. And then three years
high school, and then four years, normally four years, we call it university
education, tertiary education. So I don’t think there is big difference
between two systems.

When should children start formal schooling?

Formal schooling, I guess it starts in Australia from the age of five whereas
in Korea, from six? I don’t know, sometimes when I see little K students
looking a little bit tired, makes me wonder whether they’re a bit too young to
be starting schooling at that age. But, I really have no idea.

Has education changed since your parents’ day? You know, in the
last twenty-five years?
I think it’s changed a lot, although I can’t say that I understand what
education was like when my mum and dad, when they were in school. But
definitely, well I’m talking about the Korean situation, in Korea, you have to
study many many more subjects than your father or your mother would
have, you know, in the past. And you use like different equipment, like
computer and things, all these audio-visual teaching material. I guess in
that way education has changed a lot.

Some people think that education should be about memorizing the important
ideas of the past. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Personally I think it’s important to understand the ideas of the past. History can show us what has been
successful and what has failed previously. There are many lessons to be learned, and history has a habit
of repeating itself throughout life. If we understand what has been good and bad for us based on past
experience then I think we can better shape our future. Simply memorizing facts about things that
happened in the past isn’t enough to plan for the future. We need more understanding of past events
and why they happened, the consequences and how we can learn from it. It’s all about thinking skills –
not memorizing.

Should education encourage students to develop and share their own ideas?

I think that’s the general consensus nowadays. There’s a certain body of knowledge that students need
to acquire, but the education system should be focused on developing their creative thinking skills and
then developing the practical competences to allow them to implement their ideas in the real world. I
think it’s clear that the young generation is all about sharing knowledge and ideas. You can see that
through social media and many other examples. It’s going to become even more so in the future.
Knowledge sharing and working together to solve problems is more common now than in previous
years.

How do you think teachers could help students to develop and share their own
ideas?

I suppose they could design more creative based tasks and project work for students to do and make
sure that students are positively encouraged to come up with new ideas and try them out. It probably
requires more time and effort, but at the end of the day, there’s little point in all the students working
on the same thing. Diversity and the ability to think differently are premium skills in the employment
market nowadays so it’s also important that students learn how to be more independent in their
thinking while at school or college. By trying out many different ideas students can soon find out what
works and what doesn’t and then hopefully their natural curiosity can help them try other things, other
methods and techniques until they produce something they are happy with. When it comes to sharing, I
think there could be more use made of communication through the internet to share student generated
ideas with other students in different parts of the country, or even world.