Talking About School: Master English Conversations About Education | Complete English Course

Hello, and welcome to today's class. So this session, we're going to be talking about school. Now, I know that most people must have heard this word, school. It's a pretty easy word, but we want to look at words that are associated with school. Now, school is a noun because it's the name of a place. It's a name of a place where people go to acquire knowledge. It's an institution that educates people, children, older students. So are you a student? Are you a school? You'll certainly find this topic interesting. Let's get started. Our first word on this topic is education. Now, education is very important when we say the word school. Education means the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or a university. Education is what is received when we go to the school. Now, it can also be referred to the act of being educated. We have synonyms for education. We could also say schooling, teaching, tuition, training. Phrases that could contain education includes adult education. This is an education or a learning that is meant for adults. Or when we say bilingual education, this is an education that is basically just to learn another language. Distance education, this is an education that is probably drawn from a distance. For example, we have teachers that are in South Africa teaching students that are in Taiwan. And we call that distance education because they are far apart. So that is an example of distance education. So that teacher or those type of teachers also be called distant teachers. How can we use the word education to make sentences? The school is devoted to the education of children with beating difficulties. Now, we know that there are some schools that are meant for special children, children with special needs. That type of school has a particular type of education that it will be giving out. It has a particular type of theme that it needs those children to learn. The next sentence is, the applicant had comparable educations. Can you remember your high school education? If you're done with the university, can you remember the education you received at the university? Would you say that education is really important in a person's life? Is it very necessary? What's your opinion of education? Is it compulsory that we have to learn? Is it compulsory that a person has to be educated? Now, an educated person is a person that has received education. We can also turn this word into a verb when we say educated. I was only trying to educate her when her mom said she should leave the house. My father was educating me on how to solve the mathematical problem. So these are ways to use education to make sentences, and this is what education means. Next, we have teacher. A teacher is a person who teaches, especially in a school. Now, the word teacher is a noun because it's the name of a person that gives education, gives knowledge to his or her students. All right? Now, if this word should be used as a verb, we will remove the er ending and we add es, which makes it in a simple present tense, but it happens at the moment. She teaches him math. And when we add ing, it's something that's happening right now. I'm teaching him how to speak Chinese. But the person that does these actions, we call them teachers. Do you have anybody that is a teacher in your family, a person that teaches and gets paid for that? Are you a teacher? If you are a teacher, what do you love most about teaching? Now, ways we could use the word teacher in this sentence includes, teacher and I went to work in the yard, and I learned about how flowers and trees grow. As a teacher, he was able not only to impact knowledge, but to kindle enthusiasm. So we're thinking or we're saying that this teacher is a fun teacher. This teacher is a person that impacts knowledge in a fun way. Synonyms for teacher could also be educationists, from the word education. Educator, all right? And then phrases containing teacher, head teacher. That means in the school, the teacher that heads the other teachers, we call him or her the head teacher. Student teacher. This is a teacher that teaches students. We also have the parent-teacher association, which we usually call PTA for short. This is an association of parents and teachers that come together to discuss ways of improving their students' and their children's lives. And this is, of course, educational-wise, with regards to their education. We also have another word, substitute teacher. A substitute teacher is a teacher that covers up for another teacher. For example, we have an English teacher that usually teaches students every Monday at 2 p.m. And for some reason, this teacher is not available. So a substitute teacher steps in and covers the class, OK? So the substitute teacher is not the teacher that is in charge, that is responsible for that particular class. She's only covering up for the other teacher that helped, that left or isn't available for probably some health reasons or an emergency. All right? Do you know your children's teachers? Do you know if they have substitute teachers when the teachers are unavailable? OK? Some people say they are confused about the word teacher when addressing a teacher. Someone will say, is it correct to say, for instance, thank you, teacher? Or is it correct to use Miss Justina, for example, Miss Anna? All right? Yes, you can say, may I speak to my teacher? You can say, thank you, teacher. That is correct. You can also go ahead to call your teacher's name. Thank you, Miss Justina. Thank you, Miss Anna. All right? So that's how to use the word teacher in naked sentences and in having conversations. The next word is college. College is an institution of higher learning. Right now, the person is done with the other levels of education, the elementary level, primary level, the nursery level. A person goes ahead to further his or her education, OK? Especially one providing a general or liberal arts education rather than technical or professional education. OK? So this type of education tries to touch the general aspects. If you want to study science, it tries to give you more facts, more ideas about science. All right? Have you been to college yet? Or you're about to go to college? Do you have a child that is in college? Yes, I do. Or no, I don't. And now, yes, the word college is a noun. Right? She is attending college at the moment. She is in college. Can I go to college now? Phrases that contain college. Apply for a college. Could you help me? I'm trying to apply for a college. All right? We have community college. We have state college. We also have teacher's college. So there are many types of colleges. Now, yes, colleges is the plural for college. All right? Examples of how to use the word college in a sentence. He graduated from one of the country's best colleges. All right, in your country, what do you think the best college is? She attended a business college. What type of college did you attend? Did you go to a business college, a fashion college, a community college? There's so many types of colleges. Or what type of college would you want your children to attend? All right? Our next word is academics. Now, academics is related to education and scholarship. All right? It's related, and it's also associated with an academy. All right? An academy or school, especially for higher learning. Now, when we look at academic as a noun, that means we're referring to a member. It could be a professor, a member of an institution of learning. So the plural form of academic is academics at S. All right? We have academic subjects. Academic subjects are courses taken at a school or a college. Now, when we talk about the synonym for academic, we have educational, intellectual, and scholastic. These words are synonyms when academic is used as an adjective. All right? Now, we have words, phrases that contain academic. An academic year, that is the year in which, or the days in a year in which a person needs to be in school or has to finish up schoolwork. Academic freedom. All right? Being able to acquire knowledge that would help you assess certain standards in life, assess certain luxury in life. Now, how do we use the word academics to make sentences? If you excel in academics, the arts or athletics ask about performance-based scholarships as well. Now, scholarship means that we have the full scholarship. We also have a half scholarship. Scholarship means that your fees will be paid. Your tuition will be paid. You don't need to pay school fees. So when a person has a scholarship, for instance, if it's a full scholarship, it means the person wouldn't be paying any school fees. If the scholarship was given by another institution, it means that when the time is right, when it's time for you to pay your fees, these people will send you the money. So most times, athletic students gain scholarship for their nice performance during competitions that they might have in their schools, all right? In order to continue this tradition and to deliver this aim, we are dedicated to working with leading academics, all right? So that is how to use the word academics to make sentences. And it is also related to education. Our next word is classroom. Now, just the way we have bedroom, living room, but that is in a home where we live. Classroom is the room we have in the school. It's a room in which a class of pupils is our younger students. So we use the word pupils to talk about students that are still in elementary school or in elementary school or that are in their preparatory classes, while we use students for people that are learning that are in higher education, in higher schools, for instance, in college or in the university. So a classroom is a room in which a class of pupils or students is taught, all right? We could also say it's a place where classes meet, all right? A place where teachers give their lessons and students receive their lessons. Now, a classroom is a name of a place. That means it's a noun. When we have more than one classroom, we call it classrooms. There are so many classrooms in my school. And examples of how to use the word classroom to make sense, the classroom teacher is very strict. That means she's a teacher that is very particular with abiding to the rules and regulations. When you say a person is strict, a strict person is someone that wants you to do the right thing no matter what. Always be early to class, always pay attention. They don't take people that default like you. They might either give you some punishments or make you do things that you wouldn't like to do so that next time you would be punctual, next time you would do what you choose to do. The school needs new classroom desks, all right? The desks are the object to have a classroom where the students can place their books or other things they need to learn. It could be their books, their crayons, their pencils. It serves as a table for students in class. Have you been to your children's classroom before? Can you describe the classroom? What is the color of the wall in your child's classroom? Are their classrooms colorful? That means they have so many colors. Are their classrooms well-ventilated? That means do they get enough air? Do they have enough windows? Or if you are a student, can you describe your classroom? My classroom is painted white. We have a big white board and three bookshelves. Now, classmate is a person in the same class with you. A person you share the same classroom with is a person you call your classmate. So if you say, I have 20 classmates, this simply means that in your room, there are 19 people. That's what a student is. There are 19 people. So while we have classrooms, which is the place where we go to learn, classmates is a person that we share the classroom with. All right? Next, we have graduate. Graduate. A graduate is a person who has successfully completed a course of study or training, especially a person who has been awarded an undergraduate or first academic degree. So when you are done with school and you've been awarded your certificate, you can say, I am a graduate. So the word graduate is a noun. But it can also be used as a verb when we say, I graduated from high school when I was 16 years. She is graduating tomorrow. That means that's when she gets her certificate. That's when she's done with school or she's done with a particular course. All right? Can you remember what age you graduated from college? That's if you're done with college. Or when does your child graduate from elementary school? We can also use the word graduate as an adjective. Now, we use it as a word that tells more about a noun. For example, a graduate student. Now, this word tells you more about that student. That means that's a student that has successfully completed a course. OK? A college graduate. That means this person has completed his or her course in a college. Are there graduates? How many graduates do you have in your family? Now, we also said that it is used as a noun. We've talked about graduating. That means it happened in the past. Or when you have graduated, that means it's happening in the present time. More examples on how to use the word graduate. When you say, I am a graduate, that means you're talking about yourself. That means you're telling someone, look, I have this certificate. Look, I have finished this course or I have finished my school. She graduated with a degree in history. So what degree did you graduate with? Did you graduate with a bachelor's degree? Did you graduate with a doctorate degree? That's if you got your PhD. Or are you looking forward to graduate from school? All right? So that is what we mean when we hear the word graduate. And that is how we use it to make sentences. Academy is a school usually above the elementary level. It's when we talk about a school that is more advanced. So that is where we use academy. All right? We have, for example, an Academy of Fine Arts. That means this school is particularly about fine arts or for fine arts. We could also use academy when we're talking about a private high school. When it's a private school, that means when we say private, that means it's not owned by a government. The opposite of private is public. OK, it's not owned by the government. It's either owned by a person or owned by a group of people. OK? Now, how do we use the word academy in a sentence? The academy excluded women from its classes. This is an academy of music. OK, so we call it a music academy. And that is what we mean when we say academy. Academy is a place. OK? It is a place. Next, we have university. Now, university is a high-level education institution in which students study for degrees at academic institutions. That's where students say they have projects to do. The university is higher than the other levels. It is after we have the university that you can go ahead to get your master's degree. And then after your master's degree, you can go ahead to get your doctorate degree. Now, a person that's also done with the university is also a graduate. The university impacts information, but it impacts its imaginative. She failed to gain admission to the university of her choice. Now, we know that when children are almost done, when students are almost done with their secondary level of education, they have their choices of university. Oh, I want to go to this university, and I want to go to that university. So this particular sentence, where Jimmy Baptist, female only, failed to gain admission, didn't get into the university she wanted. Has that happened to you before? Did you want to get into a particular university and you weren't admitted? All right? Next is student. Student is a person who is studying at a university or other place of higher education. So a student is higher than a pupil. OK? That is how we differentiate people that are still at elementary level of education. So student, the word student is a noun. It is not a doing word. It's a naming word. Students of the private faculties have to examine and take their degrees from the state faculties. This is an example. OK, maybe in this particular school, there are some things that are expected of the students. Tom is a high school student. Now, other words we can use for students are scholar and even learner. Yes, a learner is a person that's learning. And so as a student, a person that is learning. Now, a person, the opposite of student, could be non-student. All right? We have examples where we have more than one student. So all we need to do is to add S. There are so many students in my school. I have never seen so many students wear the same uniform, for example. Now, uniform means that everyone is dressed the same way. Everybody's wearing white, for instance. White shirt and blue pants for the boys. And white shirt and blue skirts for the girls. That's an example of a uniform. Everyone dresses the same. All right? Maybe you've also heard the word alma mater. And you're like, what does that even mean? Alma mater is the university, school, or college that one formally attended. So any school that you went to when you were younger or any school that you attended, that you were a graduate of, then that is your alma mater. My alma mater is St. Brigid's College. That was the high school I attended. OK? So what is your alma mater? And how do we use the word alma mater in making sentences? Alumni were increasingly returning to teach and work at their alma mater. All right? Now, when we use the word alma mater, it is because we have a good feeling about that. That's just what it means sometimes. It's generally used as a positive term, all right? In implying reverence and loyalty for the nurturing qualities of an institution. Probably the school was so nice to you. They helped you become who you are. They believed in you. They pushed you, the teachers at the school and other staff of the school. So when we use the word alma mater, that means that it's coming from a place of positivity. My mother wanted me to go to her alma mater, but I chose another school instead. So would you like your child to go to the same school you went to? Would you like your child to go to your alma mater? All right? Next, we have alumnus or alumna. The plural form is alumni. OK, so what we have more than one is alumnus. Now, a former pupil or student, especially a male one, of a particular school, college, or university, that's alumnus. And alumna is a female former pupil or student of a particular school or university. So for male, that's boy, or man, we say alumnus. For girl or woman, we say alumna. So you are an alumnus of your alma mater, all right? Many colleges and universities turn to the alumni for financial support. That alumnus helps seal the deal, OK? So alumnus is also a noun because it is a word for a person. It is a naming word for a person, all right? All right, it's practice time. Fill in the blanks with the correct word. There are so many words associated with school. Now, I want to be sure that we can use them to make sentences, or we understand when someone uses it in a sentence, what they mean exactly. She received her blank at private schools. Blanks make their students academically strong, and they always encourage their students to do better in their life. The blank are hardworking and generally very intelligent. Many alumni return to their bank as visiting professors. Both my mother and father are blank of the University of Virginia. I believe that we know the answers, so let's do it. Great job. If these were your answers, then you did an amazing job. She received her education at a private school. At private schools, rather. Teachers make their students academically strong, and they always encourage their students to do better in their life. The students are hardworking and generally very intelligent. Now, for this word, for this sentence, if you said the teachers are hardworking, that is also correct. The alumni are hardworking. That is also correct, because we're referring to people. Many alumni return to their alma mater as visiting professors. Both my mother and father are alumni of the University of Virginia. That means that the University of Virginia is the alma mater of my parents. All right, so well done. Congratulations. You were exceptional today. You did an amazing job learning about words that are associated with school and education. So now it's time to use them while you have conversations. All right, and to understand what they mean, maybe if you were reading a book. Well done, and remember to keep practicing. All right, now it's time to say goodbye.