Useful Vocabulary

Education Vocabulary for the Blog

Public/Private

• /Pr-eye-vit/; private school (Catholic school)
• Public school; state school
• I only know about state schools
• I don’t know much about private schools.
• I prefer private school
• Discipline (corporal punishment)
• More on you – more involved in your education; you get more individual attention; the student/teacher ratio
• There are good and bad teachers in both public and private schools.
• Atmosphere; environment (condusive to learning)
• The quality of the teachers/curriculum/program…
• If you have A problem (NOT any…)
• And tell him what the problem is
• Xfathers – PARENTS (are involved in the PTA – Parent Teacher Association)
• Protest; complain
• (you have to take) an entrance exam

Uniforms

• Why does/did your (child’s) school require uniforms?
• Not wearing a uniform allows children to express themselves/their individuality
• Wearing uniforms keep students from judging each other based on what they wear
• Parts of a uniform: shirt, trousers, tie, loafers ; blouse, skirt, knee high socks, loafers
• I had to wear / I wore  a uniform
• I didn’t have to think about what to wear for school (each day).
• You can buy them secondhand because uniforms are expensive.
• How much do uniforms cost?
• How much did your mother pay each year for your uniforms?
• I never WORE a uniform when I was a child
• I don’t really understand the point of uniforms / I don’t understand why it’s an issue
• If you wear a uniform, everyone is wearing the same thing.  It keeps children from focusing on their (social or economic) differences
• If everyone were a little more mature (about the situation)…
• To put (something) on

Home Economics (“Home Ec”)

• Cooking, baking, sewing, mending (domestic chores/tasks)
• Housework (dusting, vacuuming, sweeping the floor (broom), doing the laundry/washing the clothes, hanging the clothes out to dry – or drying them in the dryer, washing the dishes, polishing the furniture)
• I disagree (not I’m!!)
• With cooking and housework, use “skill” not “subject”…

Physical Education

• Physical education (class); PE; Phys Ed; Gym (class)
• Basketball, tennis, baseball, soccer/football, tag football, relays, mile run, ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, track and field (sprint, long distance, hurdles)
• Driver’s Ed(ucation), Health Class (Sex ed, CPR/First Aid training, nutrition)
• Do you think PE should be optional?
• DoING sport
• There are a lot of obese people / people who are obese (overweight, morbidly obese)
• To be an athletic person
• It’s impossible TO do all the things that he wants…
• We can do track. / We can run track.
• At school (NOT at THE school)
• To be good at (sports)

Shorter Summer Holidays

• Holiday = Vacation (Amer. English)
• The holidays are too long.
• Pupils need more time to rest after the stress of the school year.
• Students should spend more time studying and have less free time.
• Pupils /p-you-pils/ - students
• Year-round school
• Semesters (Fall and spring) – long summer break
• Trimesters (split into three parts with a break in between)
• Quarters (typically, 4)

Single-Sex/Co-Ed Class

• Better concentration; less distracting; fewer distractions
• Putting children in co-ed classes prepares them for the real world.
• Students get a better education and are able to focus more in single sex classes.
• All girls school, all boys school, co-ed schools, catholic schools
• I don’t agree with the/that statement.
• It doesn’t matter if there are boys or not, it’s still a class and you’re there to learn.
• Some people think that if you mix boys and girls in class, they will pay less attention.
• I don’t agree with this view/perspective/opinion.
• I think boys and girls would study better in different rooms.
• Girls don’t need the boys to be in the room for them to be distracting.  Girls will talk about boys even more when they’re not there.
• I think girls are better students than boys.  Having them in the same class might hurt their progress.
• I (prefer) think it’s better when students study in a mixed class.