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Session 39
In today’s episode we will be discussing whether children should be paid to do their maths homework.
Session 39 score
0 / 4
- 0 / 4Activity 1
Activity 1
Should we pay kids to do homework?
Look at the Session Vocabulary – make sure you know what these words mean:
- homework
- responsibility
- financial inducement
Quiz
According to the OECD, how much homework do British 15-year olds do every week?
a) nearly 10 hours
b) nearly 5 hours
c) nearly 15 hours
Listen to the discussion and find out the answer.
Listen to the audio and take the quiz.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ሰላም፡ እንቋዕ ናብ መደብ English Together ብድሓን መጻእኩም። ኣብዚ መደብ’ዚ ብዛዕባ እዋናዊ ኣርእስቲ ክንመያየጥ ኢና። ብእኡ ኣቢልና ድማ ብዛዕብኡ ንምዝራብ ዘኽእል ቋንቋ ከነስንቐኩም ኢና። ኣነ ተኽልማርያም በኪት’የ። ምሳናውን ፊልን ቶምን ኣለዉ።
Phil
Hi, I'm Phil.
Tom
And I'm Tom. Hi everybody, welcome to today's episode.
ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ናይ ሎሚ መዓልቲ መደብና ብዛዕባ ቘልዑን ዕዮ ገዛን ክኸውን እዩ።
ብመሰረት ሓበሬታ OECD፡ ቘልዑ ዓዲ እንግሊዝ ክንደይ ሰዓታት ኣብ ዕዮ ገዛ ምስራሕ የጥፍኡ?
ሀ፡ ከባቢ 10 ሰዓት
ለ፡ ከባቢ 5 ሰዓት
ሐ፡ ከባቢ 15 ሰዓት
እንታይ ይመስለካ ፊል?
Phil
I don't know what the answer is, but I think 15 hours a week sounds about right. 3 hours a night is quite a long time, but I think it's fair – children should be studying, it's important.
Tom
Well, I'm not going to say that it isn't important – but surely they need to have time to play as well – life isn't just about work. I think about an hour a night is more than enough – so I'd say, for the quiz, nearly 5 hours.
Phil
Play is fine – but let's be honest, if you haven't got a good understanding of language, maths and science, then you're not going to be that successful as an adult.
ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ብዛዕባ’ዚ እንታይ ከምእትሓስቡ ንርኣ። ኣብዚ ጸብጻብ ካብ BBC World Service ብዛዕባ ሓንቲ ኣፕ ንቘልዑ ዕዮ ገዛ ምስ ሰርሑ እትኸፍል ክንሰምዕ ኢና።
News presenter
8 years ago Mohamad Jebara designed an online maths programme for children, mildly successful, but six months ago he added another dimension – children would be paid real money if they completed their maths exercises and according to Mr Jebara, their performance skyrocketed.
Mr Jebara
…So we've been testing this with a pilot group over the last six months, and we have seen that 75% of them are completing their three exercises in a week, which is about an hour's worth of work in the week.
ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
እንታይ እዩ ርእይቶኹም?
Phil
Oh come on, that's ridiculous! I want them to be driven by the importance of learning. I don't think this does that.
ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
'Driven' ዝደፋፍኣካ ማለት እዩ። 'driven' ከኣ ንትምህርቲ ኣዝዩ ኣገዳሲ እዩ።
Tom
So, you don't think that cold, hard, cash is a driver for people to learn?
Phil
No, that's not a real driver – it's just financial inducement – we should be better than that.
ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
'Financial inducement' ገንዘባዊ ምትብባዕ ማለት እዩ። ኩሉ ነገር ብገንዘባዊ ምትብባዕ ድዩ ዝሰርሕ?
Tom
Well, yeah that's what I was going to say. Inducing people to do something with money isn't always bad – isn't that why we get paid for working in the first place? I think there's something good about showing people that there's an upshot to the choices that they make.
ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
'Upshot' ውጽኢት ወይ መደምደምታ ማለት እዩ።
Phil
Shouldn't the upshots be about learning? Why does everything have to be about money?
Tom
Because it's teaching people responsibility and if it means that they learn maths at the same time – that’s great! I mean, if you think homework is a good thing then you should be happy about this, Phil.
ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ሕራይ፡ ብዛዕባ ዕዮ ገዛ እናተዛረብና መልሲ ናይ ሎሚ ሕቶና፡ ብመሰረት OECD ቆልዑ ዓዲ እንግሊዝ ክንደይ ሰዓታት ኣብ ዕዮ ገዛ ምስራሕ የጥፍኡ ዝብል ነይሩ። እታ መልሲ 4.9 ሰዓት እዩ፡ ስለዚ ናብ ከባቢ 5 ሰዓታት ይጽጋዕ።
Tom
Yes, I got the answer right and that sounds sensible – time to study, and time to have a life, as well.
Phil
Hmm, doesn't seem enough to me. Maybe they do need the financial inducements.
Tom
I thought you said that motivation should come from somewhere else?
Phil
Maybe you convinced me.
Tom
Now, there's a first!
ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ግዜና ይኣክል ስለዘሎ፡ ኣብተን ዝተዛራረብናለን ቃላት ኣቶኪርና ንርአ። 'Driven' ዝደፋፍኣካ፡ 'financial inducement' ገዘባዊ ምትብባዕ 'upshot' ማለት ውጽኢት ወይ መደምደምታ ማለት እዩ።
ብተሳትፎኹም እናመስገና፡ ኣብ ዝስዕብ መደብ English Together የራኽበና።
Meaning & Use
frivolous (adjective)
Something that is frivolous is 'not serious or unimportant'.
I get really annoyed when people describe my job as frivolous.
I think playing computer games is a frivolous way to spend time.
driven (adjective)
Someone who is driven has a strong desire to achieve something.
She was so driven to get fit that she went to the gym every day.
You need to be driven if you want to succeed.
financial inducement (noun)
A financial inducement is a sum of money intended to convince someone to do something.
The low tax rate was a financial inducement for companies to move there.
She thought that her bonus was a good financial inducement to work hard.
upshot (noun)
The upshot of something is the consequence or result.
The company introduced a dress code. The upshot of that was that many people left their jobs.
They had a massive argument yesterday. The upshot of that is they won't talk to each other.
Should we pay kids to do homework?
4 Questions
Choose the correct answer.
ቅኑዕ መልሲ ምረጹ።
Help
Activity
Choose the correct answer.
ቅኑዕ መልሲ ምረጹ።
Hint
ኣየናይ እዩ ደስ ዘብል፡ ግን ከኣ ኣገዳሲ ዘይኮነ።Question 1 of 4
Help
Activity
Choose the correct answer.
ቅኑዕ መልሲ ምረጹ።
Hint
ኣይትረስዑ driven ማለት ልክዕ ከም ዝድርኽ/ዘተባብዕ ማለት እዩ።Question 2 of 4
Help
Activity
Choose the correct answer.
ቅኑዕ መልሲ ምረጹ።
Hint
እዚ ገንዘብ ሓደ ነገር ክትገብር ይደፋፈኣካ።Question 3 of 4
Help
Activity
Choose the correct answer.
ቅኑዕ መልሲ ምረጹ።
Hint
'Upshot' ሳዕቤን እዩ።Question 4 of 4
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
What do you think? Should children be paid to do their homework? Tell us on our Facebook group.
እንታይ ይመስለኩም? ቆልዑ ዕዮ ገዛ ስለ ዝሰርሑ ክኽፈሉ ኣለዎም’ዶ ትብሉ? ኣብ ፌስ ቡክ ሓብሩና።
Join us for our next episode of English Together when we will learn more useful language and practise your listening skills.
- ኣብ ዝቕጽል English Together ኣገደስቲ ናይ ኢንግሊዝኛ ዝርርብን ናይ ምስማዕ ብቕዓትኩምን እትለማመዱሉ መደብ ሒዝናልኩም ክንቀርብ ኢና።
Session Vocabulary
homework
ዕዮ ገዛperformance
ውጽኢትimportance
ጥቅሚresponsibility
ሓላፍነትfrivolous
ሃተውቆጠው ወይ ዘይረብሕ ነገር ምግባርdriven
ድፍኢትfinancial inducement
ገንዘባዊ ምትብባዕrepercussion
ሳዕቤን