Electronic Teaching
The potential of closed-circuit television and other new electronic teaching tools is so great that it is fascinating to visualize the school of tomorrow
Televised lessons will originate from a central building having perhaps four or five master studios. The lessons will be carried into classrooms all over a city, or even an entire country.
After a televised lesson has been given, the classroom teacher will take over for the all-important follow-up period. The students will ask any troublesome questions, and difficult points will be cleared up through discussion.
The teacher in the classroom will have additional electronic tools. On the teachers desk, the traditional chalk and erasers will have been replaced by a multiple-control panel and magnetic tape players. The tape machines will run pre-recorded lessons which pupils will follow by headphones. The lessons will be specifically geared to the students levels of ability. For instance, while the class as a whole studies history, each student will receive an individual history lesson, directed to his particular level of ability.
Should question arise, the students will be able to talk directly to the teacher on individual intercoms without disturbing the rest of the class. In this way, the teacher will be able to conduct as many as three classes at the same time.
With the rapid development of computer science, students will be aided with specially prepared multi-media software to study their subjects better. Homework will possibly be assigned and handed in via electronic mail system. Students can even take examinations on their computer linked with the teachers and get the score instantly. They will get certificates or diplomas if they pass all the required examinations. Experts believe that this type of education will be very popular in the years ahead.
1. Lessons broadcast by television will come from
A) the school of tomorrow.
B) Classrooms.
C) Big buildings.
D) Master studios
2. Which of the following statements about the function of the teacher in the teaching process is true?
A) The teacher will not need to be involved.
B) The teacher will still have to play an important role.
C) The teacher will only need to press buttons.
D) The teacher will be completely replaced by electronic tools.
3. When having lessons, the students will.
A) always listen to the same pre-recorded lessons together.
B) Usually have individual lessons according to their ability levels.
C) Control the multiple-control panel and magnetic tape players.
D) Receive face-to-face instructions from the teacher in the same classroom.
4. If there are questions, the students will
A) talk to the teacher through intercoms.
B) Raise their hands and wait for the answer.
C) Discuss them with the rest of the class.
D) Solve the problems all by themselves.
5. Computer teaching will help the study in the following ways except that
A) teachers can give and collect homework using electronic mail system.
B) Examinations can be conducted on computers better than on paper.
C) Test scores can be obtained soon after the test is taken.
D) Certificates or diplomas are required if the students want to pass the tests.
KEY：DBBAD
The Cherokee Nation
Long before the white man came to the America, the land belonged to the American Indian nations. The nation of the Cherokees lived in What is now the southeastern part of the United States.
After the white man came, the Cherokees copied many of their ways. One Cherokee named Sequoyah saw how important reading and writing was to the white man. He decided to invent a way to write down the spoken Cherokee language. He began by making word pictures. For each word he drew a picture. But that proved impossible-there were just too many words. Then he took the 85 sounds that made up the language. Using this own imagination and an English spelling book, Sequoyah invented a sign for each sound. His alphabet proved amazingly easy to learn. Before long, many Cherokees knew how to read and write in their own language. By 1828, they were even printing their own newspaper.
In 1830, the U.S. Congress passed a law. It allowed the government to remove Indians from their lands. The Cherokees refused to go. They had lived on their lands for centuries. It belonged to them. Why should they go to a strange land far beyond the Mississippi River?
The army was sent to drive the Cherokees out. Soldiers surrounded their villages and marched them at gunpoint into the western territory. The sick, the old and the small children went in carts, along with their belongings. The rest of the people marched on foot or rode on horseback. It was November, yet many of them still wore their summer clothes. Cold and hungry, the Cherokees were quickly exhausted by the hardships of the journey. Many dropped dead and were buried by the roadside. When the last group arrived in their new home in March 1839, more than 4,000 had died. It was indeed a march of death.
1. The Cherokee Nation used to live
A) on the American continent.
B) In the southeastern part of the US.
C) Beyond the Mississippi River.
D) In the western territory.
2. one of the ways that Sequoyah copied from the white man is the way of
A) writing down the spoken language.
B) Making word pictures.
C) Teaching his people reading.
D) Printing their own newspaper.
3. A law was passed in 1830 to
A) allow the Cherokees to stay where they were.
B) Send the army to help the Cherokees.
C) Force the Cherokees to move westward.
D) Forbid the Cherokees to read their newspaper.
4. When the Cherokees began to leave their lands.
A) they went in carts.
B) They went on horseback.
C) They marched on foot.
D) All of the above.
5. Many Cherokees died on their way to their new home mainly because
A) they were not willing to go there.
B) The government did not provide transportation
C) They did not have enough food and clothes.
D) The journey was long and boring.
KEY: BACDC