Lola's Blog

Kings College. Andrew Dunn. CC BY-SA 2.0 Last week we talked about education and the  educational system in the UK. We covered a lot of vocabulary. If you are still confused by all the academic terms we saw in class click on this British Council glossary . If you would like to read more on education for students aged 16 and under (primary and secondary education) click here . After compulsory education students can opt for futher education or higher education . Do you remember the difference?  Further education is for students aged 16 and over while higher education is for students aged 18 and over. Follow this link to learn more. Oxbridge Can you guess what Oxbridge means?  That's right. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge, two of the most prestigious universities in the world. How much do you know about Oxford or Cambridge? Are they public or private universities? Click here to check what the entry requirements are. How about tuition fees? Clic...

Newcastle University. Public domain This post is about the British educational system. You are going to learn about schools. Vocabulary 1) Do you remember these words? nursery school, boarding school, state school,  private school 2) Do you know another word for private school ? Schools How much do you know about schools in Britain? Can you answer the following questions? Is education in the UK compulsory?  When do children start school?  Can children be educated at home?  When does the academic year start and finish?  How much holiday do pupils get? What is GCSE? and A-levels?  What do these letters mean: A*, A, B, C, D, E, F, G? Do parents send their children to state or private schools? What is the difference between "state" and "public school"? To check your answers to questions 1-7 click here . To check your answers to questions 8-7 click here . Public schools Now you know that "public school" is a false friend in Spa...

Richard Huish College. Public domain Last Monday we had a class on report writing. You were asked to write a report about your experience in an English language school. We also looked at some data and you had to draw your own conclusions based on the evidence. I thought you might be interested in reading this article published on the BBC. Before you read One of the roles of the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is to analyse and compare data to compare how countries around the world perform. They promote policies in order to improve the quality of people's lives. One of the areas they work on is education, of course. Well, the OECD has just released the biggest school rankings ever. There are 76 countries listed. Can you guess Who heads the league table?  Who heads the bottom table?  How did Spain score compared to other European countries? How about the UK? And the USA? Click here to check your predictions. What are t...

Image by Lola la Torre When was the last time you applied for a job? Did you send in your CV? Did you write a cover letter explaining why you were a suitable candidate? This post is about CVs and cover (or covering) letters. In your book Global you will find a sample of a cover letter at the end of Unit 1 . You will be expected to apply for a job and write a cover letter in class at the end of this week. This is going to be your first writing task. Some tips to plan what you are going to write: 1) Pay attention to formal letter conventions. 2) Make sure you are aware of false friends (e.g. qualifications , career ) 3) Use appropriate academic terms. 4) Edit your letter before you hand it in. This requires re-reading more than once. CVs What should you include in your CV? Do you know how many types of CV there are?  Click here to see good and bad examples of CV . Click here for a Europass Curriculum Vitae . Cover letters What is a cover letter? ...