New Zealand Education

¨  Compulsory Education

Compulsory education starts at age 5 and ends at age 16. The day children turn 5, they are expected to start school. They can leave school as soon as they reach 16.

¨  Class Size

The maximum number of students in a class is 30 students.

¨  Classrooms

Students from year 0―8 stay in the same classroom for most subjects and move to other classrooms only for specific subjects. Even when they move from one classroom to another, they mostly stay together as a class. In year 9, students take some courses with their homeroom class and some optional classes with students from different classes. Starting from year 10, students no longer stay in the same classroom most of the time nor do they move around with their classes. They go to different classes based on their own choice and abilities.

¨  Term Dates

A school year starts in January and ends in December. There are four terms in a year. Each term is about 10 weeks.

¨  Class Schedule

School starts at around 8:30 and ends at 15:15. There are only five periods a day and a period is about an hour long. In the morning, around 10:30, there will be a 20―30 minute interval when students and staff have morning tea. Students usually have some snacks during this time, and staff gathers in the staff room to drink coffee and eat some snacks. There is a lunch period at around 12:40 for about an hour.

¨  Teachers

In New Zealand, teachers have to teach students of different year level at the same time. Most teachers teach students from at least three to four different year levels. In addition, quite a number of teachers teach more than one subject. This is mainly due to the fact that many courses are optional.

69. This passage is most probably taken from _____.

A. an educational booklet

B. a school website

C. a traveling guide

D.an academic report

70. When you are in your 10^th school year, you may _____.

A. stay with your classmates in the same classroom for all the subjects

B. choose and take some optional courses with your homeroom class

C. have both required and optional classes with the same classmates

D. choose different classes based on your own choice and abilities

71. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. You are obliged to leave school when you are 16 in New Zealand.

B. The total of school time per year is about 40 weeks in New Zealand.

C. Students have a 20―30 minute interval between each period in New Zealand.

D. Most teachers in New Zealand teach one subject for at least three to four years.

As I was thinking about language learning the other day, the image of baking bread came into my mind. I compared some of the exercises and drills that we put ourselves through in order to learn a language to the various ingredients(原料) that go into baking a loaf of fresh bread.

Real language learning takes place in human relationships. No one sits down and eats a cup of flour, even if he is hungry and in a hurry. You don’t become bilingual(双语的) by learning lists of vocabulary. You don’t become a speaker of a language by memorizing verb conjugations (动词的变化) and agreement rules. You become bilingual by entering a community that uses that other language as its primary means of communication.

I am not suggesting that we can make bread without ingredients. Flour is necessary, as are yeast（酵母）, salt, water and other ingredients. Vocabulary is part of any language and will have to be learned. Grammatical rules exist in every language and cannot be ignored. But merely combining the appropriate ingredients in the recommended proportions does not result in bread. At best, you only end up with a ball of dough(面团).

In order to get bread, you have to apply heat to the dough. And in language learning, that heat comes from the community. Anyone who has learned a second language has experienced that heat. It creeps up your neck when you ask the babysitter, “Have you already been eaten?” when you meant to say, “Have you already eaten?” When you try to say something quite innocent and the whole room bursts into laughter, you are experiencing the heat that turns raw dough into good bread.

Remember the old saying, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”? This is where language learning often breaks down because we find the heat uncomfortable and we stop the baking process. In order words, we can’t stand the heat, so we get out of the kitchen.

However, the language learner who stays in the kitchen―in the heat―until the combined ingredients are thoroughly transformed will enjoy the richness of a quality loaf of bread. He is lad that he did not “get out of the kitchen” at the critical moment when the oven seemed too hot. The dedicated language learner knows that becoming bilingual cannot be achieved without the heat!

76. The passage is mainly about _____.

A.    how we can make baking bread with various ingredients

B.     how to become bilingual by communicating with others

C.    what an important role “heat” plays in learning a language

D.    what a high quality of bread you may achieve in the kitchen

77. You can become a speaker of a language by _____.

A. bearing millions of words and expressions in your mind

B. using the language to communicate with those around you

C. knowing verb conjugations and grammatical rules

D. saying something innocent to be laughed at by others

78. What’s the purpose of illustration of the example―you ask the babysitter, “Have you already been eaten?” when you meant to say, “Have you already eaten?”?

A. To verify that you are sure to make some mistakes when you enter a community.

B. To show that you should combine the ingredients in the recommended proportions.

C. To prove that you may experience “heat” from the community in language learning.

D. To indicate that being bilingual calls for your courage, confidence and perseverance.

79. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT the necessity of baking bread and learning language?

A.    Excellent Skills.

B.     Various ingredients.

C.    Appropriate proportions.

D.    Uncomfortable heat.

   To learn English well you must learn about yourself. You must discover what your own special needs are in English. You should pick out what makes English different from your own language and concentrate on those parts. And above all, you should pick out your own personal weaknesses in English, pick out your own special problems, find out what mistakes you most often make and make a list of them.    

   It will be best if, in your preparation, you can practise doing the various sorts of work you will be asked to do in examination. You should then make a careful note of any mistakes you make more than once. Count up how many times you make each mistake, and the mistake you make most often should be at the top of your list, the next most common in second place, and so on.

   For example, if your own language is Japanese, you may find the problem of articles comes at the top of your list. If you speak German, you may find using some of the conjunctions is your biggest problem. If your mother tongue is French, you find you are always having trouble with some of prepositions. And if Italian is your language, you may constantly forget to use a suitable pronoun when you should.

    But these are only examples of mistakes typical of certain languages. They may or may not be your particular personal mistakes. As I say, these personal ones are the most important of all to discover.

65. To learn English well the most important thing is to _____.

 A. learn about yourself as much as possible

 B. discover your own special needs in the language

 C. find out the difference between your own language and English

 D. pick out your own personal weaknesses in English

66. The writer advises the readers to _____.　

 A. spend as much time on English as possible

 B. take examinations of various sorts

 C. find out their own problems in doing selected exercises

 D. keep a notebook with the important languages points in it

67. The first item on the list should be the mistake you make _____.

 A. more than once                     B. many times        C. most often  D. very often

There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, vastly different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority (优先，重点) it must be given over general language development and writing without holding him back with the complexities of spelling.

If spelling becomes the only key point of his teacher’s interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to “play safe”. He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing not to use adventurous language. That’s why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than spelling ability only.

I was once shocked to read a teacher’s comment on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing: “This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling mistakes!” It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil’s spelling ability in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had failed to read the composition which contained some beautiful expressions of the child’s deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the mistakes, but if his priorities had centered on the child’s ideas, an expression of his appreciation would have given the pupil more encouragement to seek improvement.

72. The underlined expression “play safe” in paragraph two probably means _______.

  A. to write carefully                                             B. to do as teachers say

  C. to use dictionaries frequently                             D. not to write words one is not sure of

73. Teachers encourage the use of dictionaries so that _______.

  A. they may spend more time teaching writing techniques

  B. they may have less trouble in correcting mistakes

  C. students will have more confidence in writing

  D. students will learn to be independent of teachers

74. The writer seems to think that the teacher’s judgment on that sensitive piece of writing is _______.

  A. reasonable                    B. unfair                       C. foolish                            D. careless

75. Teachers are different in their opinions about _______.

  A. the necessity of teaching spelling

  B. the role of spelling in general language development

  C. the way of teaching spelling

  D. the importance of the basic grammar

We believe that there is more to education than preparation for a job．Children must be prepared for all aspects (方面) of their adult life work，leisure，personal relationships，creative activities，dealing with money matters，independence，and parenthood．

However，it would be unrealistic to provide an education which gave no consideration to the needs of employers．

What type of training does the business world regard as important?

Many young people applying for jobs were , in the employers’ opinions，very weak in the basic skills of handwriting，grammar and spelling．Though further education at university level improved the student’s general ability，a report states, “In basic skills the standards remained very low．”   

It is doubtful whether standards have lowered in recent years．What is certain is that employers do not believe the standard is now high enough．Do technological changes make greater demands upon the students’abilities?

We should also remember that the job expectations of young people have increased．The girls who would have once become shop assistants or hairdressers now want to be secretaries．Boys who sought an apprenticeship (学徒) 20 years ago now desire to an engineering degree．But it is still the same girls and boys with the same degree of ability．NO wonder there are problems in reaching the “necessary standards” of the business world．   

Many employers believed that it was important for teachers to have experience outside the world of college and school．They should work for a while at some other kind of job to see how the world of business and commerce is different from their own．The teaching profession and society in general needed a greater understanding of manpower needs and therefore of “the desired” direction of the education system．

53．The article mainly talks about  __________．

A．no education among young people

B．the weaker standards of education

C．the problem of unemployment

D．meeting the educational requirements of employment

54．In the writer’s opinion , education should __________ ．

A．be suitable to all aspects of being an adult，including employment

B．only meet the needs of employment

C．centre on student’ working ability

D．pay more attention to grammar

55．The underlined part “the same girls and boys” refers to __________．

A．those who are likely to be unemployed

B．those who have just left middle school

C．those who are looking for jobs far beyond their abilities

D．those who might have become shop assistants，hairdressers and apprentices in the past

56.  It’s suggested that teachers should __________．

A．never change their jobs

B．improve their teaching methods

C．get some working experience outside school

D．spend more time on their school work