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Paul Sparks, Sino-Canadian International College, Guangxi University, Nanning.
Lesson
Plans for "Watch, Listen & Speak", Semester 2
Listening & Speaking, News Reports:
VOA (Voice of America) News Report: "Homework"
Part I – Listen to the news report and complete the spot dictation
Students often say their
teachers give them too much ________________. Now, ____________ by two
research organizations show that in the United States this ________________
is _______________ not true.
The Brookings
Institution in _________________ _____ wrote one of the reports. It
shows that the ______________ student does less than _____ __________ of
schoolwork at __________ a night. The Rand Corporation in California
did the other study. The _____________ shows that only one in _______
high school students __________ more than two hours a ___________ on
homework.
The findings are based on information
from the United States Department of Education and ___________________
___________. They are also based on research by the University of
Michigan, the _______________ _____ _______________________ at Los Angeles
and ______________.
Part II –Complete the
short answers
1.
During what part of the 20th century did the Rand report examine American
homework levels?
2.
Why were the Americans unhappy with the Soviet Union during the early
nineteen-sixties?
3.
What two subjects did politicians, educators and parents call for more
intensive study of?
4.
How many minutes of homework per Grade Level does Professor Cooper suggest?
Part III – Listen to
the passage again and answer True (T) or False (F)
1.
____ Students give their teachers too much homework.
2.
____ The Brookings Institution in California wrote one of the reports.
3.
____ The average student does less than one hour of homework a night.
4.
____ One in ten high school students spends more than two hours on homework
a night.
5.
____ Students in France, Italy, Russia and South Africa spend twice as long
on homework as Americans.
6.
____ Homework sharply increased in the 1960s.
7.
____ In the 1960s about 75% of students completed more than two hours of
homework daily.
8.
____ Parents and educators also protest about homework.
9.
____ Parents have a lot of time to help their children with their homework.
10.
____ Brian Gill is an expert on homework.
Part IV – Listen to
the passage again and answer the following questions
1.
_____ reports show that teachers do not give their students too much
homework.
a)
1 b) 2 c) 3 d) 4
2.
How many minutes/hours a night does the average high school student spend on
their homework?
a)
10 mins b) less than 1hr c) more than 1 hr
d) 2 hrs
3.
Why did homework levels increase in the 1960s?
a)
America wanted to land on the moon before the Soviet Union
b)
Schools gave more meaningful homework
c)
Politicians, educators and parents called for more intensive study
d)
America wanted to beat France, Italy, Russia and South Africa
4.
Some parents protest about homework because …
a)
The homework is too hard
b)
They want their children to have time for sports, music lessons and
other activities after school
c)
The homework is not meaningful
d)
It takes too long
Part V – Listen to the
tape again and complete the summary
Two reports by research
________________ show that in the United States teachers do not give their
students too much homework.
One report written by the _____________
______________ in _______________ _____ shows that the average student does
_____ than one hour of schoolwork at home a night. The other report,
written by the ______ _____________________ in _____________ showed that
only ______ in _________ high school students spent more than ____ hours a
night on homework.
One report notes an international
_______ and _________ study from 1995 which showed the United States was
nearly _______ among __________ ________ in homework.
The other report examined homework
levels during the __________ _________ of the 20th century and found there
was only one time when homework _____________ and that happened in the
_________ _________________. However, even then only about _______
percent of high school students completed more than two hours of homework
daily.
___________ also protest about homework
as their _____ leave them little time to help. Others want their
children to have time for other ____________ after school.
Harris _________ is an __________ on
homework and suggests ____ minutes per grade level. This adds up to
__________ a night by the end of high school.
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