Spotlight - 11.2019

56 Spotlight 11/2019 THE BASICS

THE BASICS

Easy English

Here, you’ll find a dialogue, with facts and

exercises related to it, at the A2 level of English —

basic language points you may have forgotten or

missed before. By VANESSA CLARK

EASY

Dialogue

Here, we present interesting lives from around the English-

speaking world. This time, we talk to Freya, a nine-year-old girl

who is homeschooled.

Have you ever been to school?

No, never. My sister went for a bit, but she didn’t like it, so mum

decided to homeschool us instead.

Homeschooling is allowed in England, then?

Yes. I know lots of other kids who are homeschooled.

What do you do every day?

I hang out at home with my sister. We do normal stuff. We play

in the garden, we go ice skating, we go to drama club, we bake

cakes, we play with the cats...

You’re a busy girl. Do you have lessons, too?

We don’t have lessons, but we read a lot, and I like watching stuff

online. We just do what we’re interested in. I’m really interested

in penguins at the moment, and I watched a documentary about

how climate change is affecting their habitat.

What would you like to do when you’re older?

I’d love to do something awesome like Greta Thunberg. I’ve

taken part in the school strikes against climate change, even

though I don’t go to school.

Show and tell

Now, find out more about another kind of home education that’s

popular in the UK: The Open University.

The Open University (OU) is the UK’s biggest university. It of-

fers hundreds of different courses in all subjects, like a tradition-

al university. What you see in our cabinet of curiosities below is

the Open University logo.

The OU is different from traditional universities because it of-

fers flexible, part-time study through distance learning. Students

can study at home with books and online materials. They have

regular online contact with their course tutor and with other

students.

An OU course is cheaper than one at a traditional university. It’s

more flexible. You can study and have a full-time job or care for a

family at the same time. You can study at any age.

This model of open learning sounds like a new idea, but the OU

started in the late 1960s. In fact, it’s celebrating its 50th birthday

this year. Happy birthday, OU!

affect [E(fekt]

, beeinflussen, beein-

trächtigen

awesome [(O:sEm] ifml.

, toll, fantastisch

distance learning

[(dIstEns )l§:nIN]

, Fernstudium

habitat [(hÄbItÄt]

, Lebensraum

homeschool

[(hEUmsku:l]

, zu Hause unterrichten

Cabinet of curiosities

Freya, homeschooler