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English Audio Request

erreq
English / 7C - Education
by erreq on Aug. 1, 2016
142 Words / 3 Recordings / 8 Comments
Listen Record
Note to recorder:

Please not too slow, not too fast. For an intermediate student. Thank you!

An important education issue in Spain is whether students should be given homework or not. Parents protest that children don't have enough time to play and relax. Besides, they complain that homework is unfair to weak students. These children need additional help to do the homework, and parents cannot always support them.

The expectation that parents can help their children with homework is simply unrealistic. Some people, however, consider that working outside school usually reflects on the grade at the end of the course.

Two solutions come to mind. One of them would be to offer afternoon classes for weak students, so that they can do the homework with help of specialists. The other would be to reduce the amount of homework and, as far as possible, to give it in a way that parents can check with help of a key.

Recordings

  • 7C - Education ( recorded by vankrot ), British

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  • 7C - Education ( recorded by Delly ), US (West Coast)

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    Corrected Text
    more↓

    An important education issue in Spain is whether students should be given homework or not. Parents protest that children don't have enough time to play and relax. Besides, they complain that homework is unfair to weak students. These children need additional help to do the homework, and parents cannot always support them.

    The expectation that parents can help their children with homework is simply unrealistic. Some people, however, consider that working outside school usually reflects on the grade at the end of the course.

    Two solutions come to mind. One of them would be to offer afternoon classes for weak students, so that they can do the homework with the help of specialists. The other would be to reduce the amount of homework and, as far as possible, to give it in a way that parents can check with the help of a key.

  • 7C - Education ( recorded by Delly ), US (West Coast)

    Download Unlock
    Corrected Text
    more↓

    An important education issue in Spain is whether students should be given homework or not. Parents protest that children don't have enough time to play and relax. Besides, they complain that homework is unfair to weaker students. These children need additional help to do the homework, and parents cannot always support them.

    The expectation that parents can help their children with homework is simply unrealistic. Some people, however, consider that working outside school usually reflects on the grade at the end of the course.

    Two solutions come to mind. One of them would be to offer afternoon classes for weaker students, so that they can do the homework with the help of specialists. The other would be to reduce the amount of homework and, as far as possible, to give it in a way that parents can check with the help of a key.

    Another version:

    An important education issue in Spain is whether students should be given homework or not. Parents protest that children don't have enough time to play and relax. Besides, they complain that homework is unfair to underperforming students. These children need additional help to do the homework, and parents cannot always support them.

    The expectation that parents can help their children with homework is simply unrealistic. Some people, however, consider that working outside school usually reflects on the grade at the end of the course.

    Two solutions come to mind. One of them would be to offer afternoon classes for underperforming students, so that they can do the homework with the help of specialists. The other would be to reduce the amount of homework and, as far as possible, to give it in a way that parents can check with the help of a key.

education homework school

Comments

erreq
erreq
Aug. 4, 2016

Hi vankrot, I'm very thankful for this recording, but I'm asking for other people to record it because the sound quality is not that good, and I want to use this with a student of mine who needs very good quality to concentrate and repeat.

So, anybody wishing to give it a second go, I'll be grateful!

vankrot
vankrot
Aug. 4, 2016

Is it too quiet?

erreq
erreq
Aug. 4, 2016

No, there are lots of background noises, as if furniture was being moved around. Not that that is happening, I guess it has to do with the mike or something. But thank you anyway, I really appreciate your being willing to help!

vankrot
vankrot
Aug. 4, 2016

I listened to them.
They seemed a bit quiet.
For this reason I spoke forcefully with my mouth close to the microphone.
This may be what caused the furniture sounds.
I will try speaking more gently and not exhaling into the mike.

I will keep recording for you anyway, I want to earn loads of credits.
If none of them are any good, with any luck a higher quality recorder will come through anyway.
:)

erreq
erreq
Aug. 4, 2016

Thank you! I'll let you know when they are okay.
(FYTK, recording several times the same text won't give you credits..., but trying it will let you know when your recordings are clear enough for future occasions, won't it?)

Delly
Delly
Sept. 13, 2016

For your information…
Let me introduce a nit-picky remark about nuance. Twice in this passage the term 'weak students' is used. It's meaning is perfectly understandable (and I recorded the audio using that expression), but I tend to think that people involved in education would avoid that term. To designate a child as a "weak student" is akin to slapping a negative label on the kid. A child who is termed a weak student could absorb that verdict into their own self-identity. "I don't perform well because I am a weak student, so I'm not capable of doing any better." For a child with a fragile sense of identity, such a label could be quite damaging.
A minor adjustment that could be made would be to say, "weaker students." It's an amazingly small change, but it shifts the nuance away from one of identity, to the idea of a comparison—a sliding scale of performance, if you will. This student is performing at a weaker level (for some reason), but it doesn't mean there's anything...

Delly
Delly
Sept. 13, 2016

...intrinsically wrong with the child. It's like a fantastic racing car that's in need of a tune-up in order to perform according to its potential.
In practice, school personnel probably have an alphabet soup of locally-used acronyms to designate children in need of additional help, but those acronyms would vary across school district boundaries, state lines, and national borders.
If you'd like me to re-record the audio saying 'weaker students,' just leave a comment to that effect. I'd be happy to do so. Or, if that's too finely nuanced for your requirements of teaching secondary school-level English (I assume), then feel perfectly free to ignore me utterly. I won't be offended! :)

Delly
Delly
Sept. 20, 2016

As agreed, I re-recorded the passage saying 'weaker' students, but then I added on another version of the same passage saying 'underperforming' students, which is an even better word to go with, in my opinion. Both versions on the same file, so only one credit to download both.

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