Jigsaw reading

1.What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of the teaching profession? Consider the following points:

· Status in the society

· Opportunities for advancement

· Self-education

· Payment

2.In pairs, decide which of these words or word-combinations are from the article about the negative sides of teaching and which are from the article that discusses the positive aspects of this job.

A special calling / long serving staff / lack of social life / to facilitate the adoption of e-learning / grinding admin / to moan about workloads / to drive teachers to continue / to be offered a golden goodbye / a burnout / to beat the most enthusiastic down / exhilarating / unteachable / to dig deeper and learn more / to put students through the testing hoops / to mold the future / to be creative and autonomous / beyond their sell-by date / simplistic measurement of achievement / conducive to family life

3. Work in two groups.

Group A read TEXT A

Group B read TEXT B

Read your article, then answer the following questions and do the given tasks.

1) Were your answers to the previous exercise correct?

2) Which points from your text do you agree with? Which points do you disagree with?

3) Were you surprised by any of the ideas from the text?

4) Find a partner from the other group and compare and swap information.

TEXT A. TOP 10 REASONS TO BECOME A TEACHER

Teaching is a special calling. It is not a job well-suited to everyone. In fact, many new teachers leave within the first 3-5 years of teaching. However, there are many rewards that come with this oft maligned career. Here are my top ten reasons why teaching can be a great profession.