The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
Ministry of National Education Second Term Examination
Third Year Duration: 2 hours
Read the text carefully then do the activities.
Once, Mr Meadowes had himself been a teacher. Thirty years in the classroom, in the smell of chalk and cabbage and mown grass and socks and wood-polish. Of course, in this year of 2023 there were no more teachers. After all, computers were far safer and more efficient, but the school still looked so familiar, so real in the sweet October light that he could almost ignore the chain- link barriere that reared mightily above the little wall and ran all the way around the playing field, the lightning-bolt electrification symbol and the lettered warning school -no unaccompanied adults- bolted to the post.
But Mr Meadowes was remembering his own classrooms; the scarred
wooden floors stained purple with ink and polished to a type of paint by
generations of young feet; the passageways soft with blackboard dust; the flying
staircases of books, words and drawings on desks with their secret slogans, tne crushed work sheets, confiscated cigarettes, copied homework mysterious messages, and other forgotten arte facts of that lost and long-ago state of grace.
Of course, it wasn't really like that: nowadays each pupil had a workstation ; with a plastic desktop, a voice-activated monitor, an electronic pen and a computer-generated private teacher with an ageless and intelligent face ( new type of device selected from thousands of designs by the Centre for Generational awareness to inspire confidence and respect).
All lessons were taken from the workstation-even practicals were performed under virtual conditions. In the barbaric old days children had been acid-burned in chemistry, had their bones broken in various sport, skinned their knees in asphalts playgrounds and were intimidated and victimized in countless ways by their human teachers nowadays, all children were safe. And yet they still looked much the same as He remembered thought, Mr Meadowes.
1. Circle the letter that corresponds to the right answer
The text is
a) argumentative
b) narrative
c) expository
2. Are the following statements true or false?
a) Mr Meadowes was a supervisor.
b) Mr Meadowes didn't suffer from ancient classrooms.
c) There is no difference between ancient and modern classrooms.
d) Mr Meadowes thought that the children still looked the same.
3.Fill in the following table.
Means of studying
old Modern
4. Answer the following questions according to the text
a) Did the story take place in the past? Justify your answer.
b) What's the difference between the past classrooms and the present ones?
5. What do the underlined words refer to in the text.
a) himself (§1) b) their (§2) c) their (§3)
B/ Text exploration
1. Match words and their synonyms.
- Bolted
- Reared
- Practicals - Raised
- Examination
- fixed
2. Give the opposites of the following words keeping the same root.
Educated, distinct, *******,
3. Connect each pair of sentences with one of the words given. Make changes where necessary: nevertheless, unlike, in order to
a- An educated person pays attention to many things. An illiterate ignores many things.
b- Today’s government is working to rectify the imbalances in education. The syllabus remains.
c- Tuitions are paid by students. They are going to do further studies.
4. Match pairs that rhyme.
- Numeral
- Generalize
- Afford - Accord
- Penalize
- General
5. Fill in the gaps with words from the list:
Qualification, secondary, literacy, kindergarten, discipline.
Education is a long process that only provides us with basic skill such as ……… and numeracy. But it is also essential in shaping our future lives from the moment, we enter ……….. as small children and as we progress. Though primary and………… education, we are arranging the foundation for the life ahead of us. We must ……… ourselves work hard so that we can pass exams and gain …………. We will need in our life.
Part two Written Expression
Choose one of the following topics.
Topic one : In no more than 80 words explain if you are for or against teaching.
Topic two : in 12 lines compare the Algerian and the British educational system.