Good morning, Miss Dove

Miss Dove was a strict teacher. If a pupil wanted to leave the classroom to get a drink of water, Miss Dove just looked at him and said nothing. They were afraid of that look and they called her "the terrible Miss Dove" though she never shouted at them or scolded them.

On that day forty children were sitting in her class at the geography lesson. They heard the bell, but they did not move, they did not talk, they all waited in silence and looked at Miss Dove. Only after she had told them to close their books and go, they left the classroom quietly without shouting or running. A boy who had talked during the lesson was left in the room and had to write twenty times "I must not talk during the lessons".

The next lesson began. The pupils came into the classroom and took their places. Miss Dove gave them written work to do, because it was Tuesday, and on Tuesdays they always had some written work.

One of the boys pushed the girl who was sitting next to him. Miss Dove looked at him, and he stopped moving though she did not scold him. Miss Dove looked at the boy but she did not see him. Instead of him she saw his elder brother, Thomas Baker, who had sat in that place some six or seven years before. The war had brought the children she had taught to different parts of the world. One was in Germany, another in the jungle of New Guinea, a third one somewhere in Africa. She did not know where all of them were. Though all of them had finished school many years before, she now saw them as they had been at seven, at ten, at twelve.

The pupil she thought about most often was Thomas Baker. The German planes had bombed his ship, and for many days he had lain on a raft without anything to eat and very little to drink. When they found him, he was almost dying. The newspapers wrote much about him in those days. Randy Baker put his hand up.

"Yes, Baker?" Miss Dove asked. "I got a letter from Tom yesterday, the boy explained. "May I read it to the class?"

"Yes, certainly."

"But it's a long one."

"I'm sure it will be useful for everyone to hear the letter of such a brave man," explained the teacher.

Randy looked around and began to read. Tom told his younger brother, what he had seen from the plane in which he was brought back to England. He wrote that the land below looked like the map, they had used at the geography lessons at school. Then he wrote how he had suffered on the raft with almost no water to drink. "Do you know who I was thinking about then? It wasn't a boy or a girl," he explained was thinking about Miss Dove, and out there in the open ocean I played a game. No, I am not joking. And it helped me to stay alive. I imagined that I was back again in the geography class; I remembered the look Miss Dove gave us when we wanted to leave the classroom for a drink of water. So I imagined that I was at her lesson and kept thinking all the time: "The bell will go in a few minutes. You canwait a little longer. You must wait for the bell." And it made everything easier. It was almost as difficult there in the ocean as it had been at school. Tell that to the boys, will you? "Randy stopped suddenly.

"Is that all?" Miss Dove asked.

"No," said Randy. His face became very red. "It says here: "Please thank Miss Dove and give her a kiss for me.

"Miss Dove went up to the boy. "Well, Randy," she said. "I'm waiting."

In the silence that followed little Randy kissed "the terrible Miss Dove". Nobody in the class laughed or even joked about it; everybody was silent except one girl who suddenly spoke.

"It's like a medal," she said. "It's just like a medal he has given to Miss Dove."

7. Answer the questions:

1) How do we know that Miss Dove was a strict teacher?

2)How did the children call their teacher?

3)Describe the way the lessons end.

4)What methods did Miss Dove use as a penalty?

5)What did the teacher sometimes remember when she looked at her pupils?

6)Did she allow Randy Baker to read his brother's letter? Why?

7)What has happened to Thomas Baker once?

8)Tell the main content of the letter.

9)Why did Randy's face become very red?

10) What was that kiss compared with? Do you agree? Why?

8. Discuss the text:

1) Do you agree with the statement "Miss Dove was too strict and cruel with her pupils"?

2) What would you do in Thomas Baker's place at the time when he was alone on the raft in the open ocean?

3) Can men be born brave?

4) Is it important to be self-disciplined in order to be brave?

5) What had helped Thomas to stay alive?

6) Can you prove that Mrs Dove loved her pupils?

7) Did she think of the future of her pupils? What makes you think so?

8) Can you name the main thing Mrs Dove taught her children?

9) Was Miss Dove a good teacher?

10) Do you like her as a person? Why (why not)?

11) What do you think the real 'medal' for Mrs Dove is?

12) Do you want to be a teacher? Why (why not)?"

13) What is your idea of a good teacher?

9. Answer the questions of this questionnaire honestly and find out how ready you are for taking your exams:

Are you Ready to Take your Exams!

1) When you study, do you:

a) try and find a quiet well-lit room?

b) read while lying on your bed or taking a bath?

c) play the latest rock record?

2) Do you study:

a) if possible, during the morning with regular breaks every two or three hours?

b) for twenty minutes, then get up and make some coffee, phone a friend, another twenty minutes, more coffee?

e) mostly at night?

3) When you learn something, how long do you remember it?

a) I don't know, about a month, I suppose.

b) Once I've learnt something, I can remember it.

c) Probably less than twenty-four hours, so I must make an effort to revise.

4) If you come across a word you don't understand, do you:

a) ignore it?

b) look it up in the dictionary immediately?

c) read on and try to work out the meaning from the context?

5) How often do you go over your notes?

a) Every day.

b) Every month.

c) The night before the exam.

6. When you're in class, do you:

a) entertain yourself by playing games with your neighbours, doing crosswords, etc?

b) talk with your neighbour as much as possible?

c) join in as much as possible and ask questions when you don't understand?

7. When you're given homework, do you:

a) hand it in on time?

b) hand it in late?

c) think of an excuse (e.g. the dog ate it) and not hand it in at all?

8. If you get bad marks, do you:

a) check how the others did, to see if they got bad marks as well?

b) ask the teacher to give you better marks?

c) leave the room in a temper?

9. When the teacher corrects your work/paper do you:

a) try and understand the mistake you made?

b) put it in your bag and forget about it?

c) put it in your bag and promise to look at it later?

10. Can you reproduce what was taught in class by looking at your notes?

a) Yes.

b) Yes, if I can read my own handwriting.
c) No, because I don't take any.

11. Do you ever take notes in a diagram form?

a) No, I just write down what the teacher says.

b) Yes, I think it's clearer when I revise.

c) What's a diagram?

12. At the end of your class, do you:

a) ask your friend for his/her notes?

b) clutch your bag and dash out of the classroom?

c) think over what you've just learnt?

13. How much do you know about the exams you're taking?

a) Well, I know the general structure of the exam.

b) I'm still waiting for the teacher to tell me.

c) I've already studied all the preparatory materials.

14. When you start revising for exam do you:

a) panic a few weeks before and all day and night?

b) not worry at all and put it off until the night before?

c) work out a timetable which allows you plenty of time?

15. What material do you use for revision?

a) The course book, because the exam is based on it.

b) Notes, course book, further reference books, e.g. dictionaries, grammar books.

c) I prepare cribs.

16. The evening before an exam, do you

a) work all night?

b) do something other than revision and go to bed early?

c) take your mind off the exam by staying out late?

17. In the written exam, do you

a) read the whole paper carefully and answer those questions you can do quickly?

b) work steadily through the paper without reading it through.

c) read the whole paper and then move closer to your neighbour so that you can copy his/her answers.

How to score:

1. a) 5	b) 2	с) 0	10. a) 5	b) 2	с) 0
2. a) 5	b) 0	c) 1	11. a) 2	b) 5	с) 0
3. a) 2	b) 0	c) 5	12. a) 2	b) 0	c) 5
4. a) 0	b) 2	c) 5	13. a) 1	b) 0	c) 5
5. a) 5	b) 3	с) 0	14. a) 2	b) 0	c) 5
6. a) 0	b) 0	c) 5	15. a) 1	b) 5	c) 1
7. a) 5	b) 2	с) 0	16. a) 1	b) 5	с) 0
8. a) 5	b) 0	с) 0	17. a) 5	b) 2	с) 0
9. a) 5	b) 0	c) 1

Дата добавления: 2015-10-21