CHOOSING A CAREER
TEXT A. WHAT'S YOUR LINE?
School! Lessons, games, clubs, homework. A bell rings. You go to a classroom. A bell rings. You have lunch. A bell rings. You go home.
But one day you go to school for the last time. What to do after that? You realize that the time to choose one job out of the hundreds has come. It's going to be a hard choice and nobody can make it for you.
Before you can choose, you ask yourself quite a lot of questions. What do you know you are good at? What do you enjoy doing? Perhaps you enjoy working with your hands. Or you may prefer using your head — your brains. Are you interested in machines? Or do you like meeting people? It's difficult to know all the answers to these questions until you have left school and actually begun work.
Many young people consider teaching as a career. It's not surprising: after your parents your teacher may be the most important person in your life. With all the teachers you meet, you think there isn't anything you don't know about the work. That's where you are wrong, since only those who are in it can appreciate it. Have you ever asked yourself why most teachers are so devoted to their work and privately think, though they may not like to admit it openly, that they serve humanity doing the most vital job of all? Those of us who spend our days in schools know how rewarding the job is. At the same time it is not easy and a real challenge to your character, abilities and talent, as teaching is a constant stream of decisions.
Children in your classroom aren't just boys and girls. Every one is a unique individual who has never been before and will never again exist. If you like people, you will love teaching. To be a good teacher you must be genuinely interested in what you are doing.
The most important things in the world are awareness and learning — wanting to know every day of your life more and more and more. Because every time you learn something new you become something new. An ignorant teacher teaches ignorance, a fearful teacher teaches fear, a bored teacher teaches boredom. But a good teacher catalyzes in his pupils the burning desire to know and love for the truth and beauty.
John Steinbeck, writing about his school days said, "I've come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and you know how few great artists there are in the world. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since its medium is the human mind and the human spirit." What an incredible responsibility to be the guardians of the human spirit and the human mind! I think, that is the reason why humanity has the deepest respect for teachers.
I would never stop teaching and I'm sure that you, having chosen it for your career, feel the same way. If you don't feel that way then, please, for all our sakes, get out! The human mind and the human spirit are too wondrous to destroy. But if you are prepared to accept the responsibility, I wish you all the luck in the world.
A Teacher
TEXT B. CHOOSING IS NOT SO EASY AS IT LOOKS
Jane: Hallo, Bob!
Bob: Hallo!
Jane: Oh, you've just left college, haven't you?
Bob: Yes.
Jane: What are you going to do?
Bob: Er... well, it looks like a choice between teaching or going into an office and... I think I'd much prefer to go in for teaching, because... well you get long holidays.
Jane: But, Bob, wouldn't you get bored with the same routine year after year teaching... teaching the same material to the children. And... a sense o! responsibility you need — all those children, all those parents.
Вob: Oh, look, it wouldn't be as boring as... as working in an office. Teaching is terribly stimulating. It's... new every day — I'm sure I'd enjoy it.
Jane: But I mean, there's so much variety in office work! Look at my job: I'm dealing with people and their problems, there're new situations to cope with all the time.
Bob: Yes, that's quite true, but I think there's a number of differences between teaching and office work and, well, I think I'll go in for teaching because... it really attracts me.
(From J. Jones "Functions of English". Cam., 1981)
ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY (II)
Words
appreciate υ genuinely adv responsibility n
career n job n responsible adj
challenge n profession n vital adj
choice n reliable adj vocation n
educate υ respect υ work n, υ
Word Combinations
to make/take a (careful) choice rewarding/stimulating work
to have no choice to be devoted to smth. or smb.
to be interested in to be responsible for smth.
to leave/finish school to take/accept responsibility
school leaver to have/need a sense of res-
to consider teaching (medicine, ponsibliliry
etc.) as a career to cope with smth.
to take up a carrer/a job to earn/enjoy gratitude
to go in for teaching and respect
to be in teaching (medicine, to have (no) respect for
banking, etc.) smb. or smth.
to be in/out of one's line love of smth./for smb.
Note: The nouns "work, job, profession, career, vocation" have more or less the same meaning. Nevertheless there is a certain diffеrence in their semantics and usage.
"Work" has the most general meaning and can be applied to anything one has to do in the way of making a living. "Job" is close to it in its meaning but tends to denote less prestigious work. Apart from that the word "job" can also denote a position in employment, in which case the difference between the words "work" and "job" is quite obvious (е.g. I'm very fond of шу job, even though it means doing a lot of work). "Profession" is work which requires advanced education and special training. Traditionally it's applied to law, medicine, architecture and military career. The word "career" itself means either a course of progress in the life of a person or has the same meaning as the word "work" and is mostly used when speaking of the choice of work. The word "vocation" means the kind of work to which a man is led by natural talents (compare with the word "calling"). It's a learned word and is seldom used in everyday speech.
Remember that thе word "work" in the meaning mentioned above is uncountable and shouldn't be used with the indefinite article or in the plural.
In contrast to it the word "job" is countable and can be used with the indefinite article.
EXERCISES
I. a) Transcribe and learn to read the following words:
machines, appreciate, humanity, vital, challenge, individual, awareness, ignorance, fearful, boredom, medium, accept, routine, stimulating, variety.
b) Study Texts A and В and explain the meaning of the words and word combinations listed below:
think privately, the most vital job, a rewarding, job, a challenge to your character, an ignorant teacher, a guardian, the same routine, stimulating work, to go in for teaching
II. a) Write English equivalents of the following words and phrases. Use them in sentences of your own:
сделать выбор, иметь призвание (способности) к чему-л., интересоваться чем-то, подумать о профессии учителя, оценить, быть преданным своей работе, служить людям, жгучее стремление к знаниям, уважение к кому-л.
b) Find in Text A synonyms to the following words and word combinations:
to do well in smth., in fact, because, faithful, confess, gratifying, sincerely, knowledge, to ruin.
III. a) Enlarge upon the following topics:
1. Teaching is not easy and a real challenge to your character, abilities and talent. 2. To be a good teacher you must be genuinely interested in what you are doing. 3. Teaching is a constant stream of decisions. 4. Every time you learn something new you become something new.
P r o m p t s: there's one more thing to be noted, moreover, what's more..., I might as well add that..., in addition, on top of that..., something else I'd like to say is..., talking of....
d) Prepare a 3-minute talk on one of the great teachers of the past or today, give reasons for your choice.
IV. a) Act out the dialogue "Choosing is not so easy as it looks".
B) Role-play a talk between an intending teacher and a will-be journalist on differences and similarities of the careers they've chosen. Use Text В and Essential Vocabulary П.
V. Speak about: