Reading practice - opinions on school life and teachers

Children writing at desks in classroom

Here is some vocabulary connected with life at school.

divertido/afun/amusing
aburrido/aboring
el castigodetention/punishment
el concursocompetition
el comportamientobehaviour
demasiadotoo/too much
entregarto hand in/hand over
esforzarseto make an effort
hacer una preguntato ask a question*
el juegogame
levantar la manoto put one's hand up
la pizarra interactivainteractive white board
poner deberesto set homework
la reuniónmeeting
riguroso/aharsh
simpático/anice/kind

*There are a number of different ways of saying to ask in Spanish.

  • To ask a question (where the word question is included) is hacer una pregunta. He asked me a question. - Me hizo una pregunta.
  • To ask (questions) is preguntar. He asked me where I live. - Me preguntó dónde vivo.
  • Preguntar (followed by por) is also used if you are asking for a person. He asked for the head teacher. - Preguntó por el director.
  • To ask for a thing is pedir. Note that there is no word in the Spanish to translate for when using pedir. He asked me for the book. - Me pidió el libro.
  • Pedir is also used if you are asking someone to do something. I'll ask him to come tomorrow. Le pediré que venga mañana.
  • Note also the expression pedir prestado, which means 'to borrow'. He borrowed the book from me. - Me pidió prestado el libro.

Read what these students say about their teachers.

'La profesora de biología es demasiado estricta. No se puede hacer una pregunta si no levantas la mano antes.'

'La profesora de geografía es muy divertida. Hacemos muchos juegos de geografía y concursos en la pizarra interactiva. ¡Qué risa!'

'El profesor de matemáticas es muy serio. Ha pedido una reunión con los padres de uno de los chicos de mi clase porque quiere hablar con ellos sobre el comportamiento de su hijo. Dice que tiene que esforzarse más.'

'El profesor de historia es guay. Casi nunca nos pone deberes.'

'El profesor de inglés es simpático. La semana pasada olvidé entregar mis deberes, pero no me castigó.'

Question

Now answer these questions in English.

  1. Which teacher is cool and why?
  2. Which teacher is too strict?
  3. Which teacher is kind?
  4. Which teacher uses the smart board to play games?
  5. Which teacher has asked for a meeting with a student's parents because of his behaviour?
  1. The history teacher is described as cool because he hardly ever sets homework.
  2. The biology teacher is too strict because students can't ask questions without putting their hands up first.
  3. The English teacher is kind because he didn't punish a student for not handing in their homework the week before.
  4. The geography teacher uses the interactive whiteboard for lots of geography games and competitions.
  5. The maths teacher asked for a meeting with a student's parents.