Education & Training – B2 English Listening Exercise
Listening 1
You will hear a school director called Sarah Jenkins giving a presentation about a new staff recruitment strategy. For questions 9-18, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase.
A New Teaching Strategy
Sarah explains that the school is trying to stop using (9)……………………… in favour of practical learning.
Rather than contacting universities, Sarah recruited instructors who worked in (10)……………………… .
An accountant was hired to instruct students in a subject called (11)……………………… .
The professionals are invited to the school to act as (12)……………………… for short courses.
All recruited professionals are required to obtain a (13)……………………… prior to taking a class.
Sarah has noticed a significant improvement in the students’ (14)……………………… during project presentations.
The new initiative has provided older students with the opportunity to do (15)……………………… .
Sarah reveals that dealing with (16)……………………… has been the most challenging aspect of the programme.
Sarah says she was anxious about how the (17)……………………… would react to this new strategy.
For the coming year, the school aims to hire experts who work in (18)……………………… .
ANSWER KEY
9 textbooks 10 local businesses 11 financial planning 12 guest speakers
13 teaching certificate 14 confidence 15 summer internships
16 scheduling 17 parents 18 technology
AUDIO SCRIPT
Sarah Jenkins: Hello, everyone. My name is Sarah Jenkins, and I am the director of Oakwood Secondary School. I’m here today to share some insights into a new recruitment strategy we’ve recently introduced. For a long time, our curriculum was quite conventional. We relied heavily on standard lectures, and to be honest, I noticed our teenagers were becoming increasingly disengaged. I considered shifting to digital articles, but ultimately, we decided to step away from using textbooks altogether for certain subjects, and focus instead on hands-on, applied learning.
To achieve this, we realised we needed a completely different kind of instructor. Initially, I thought about partnering with academic departments at local universities to find enthusiastic lecturers. However, it soon dawned on me that what our students really lacked was exposure to genuine industry experience. Therefore, we started recruiting professionals directly from local businesses to come and teach our applied subjects.
Let me give you a concrete example of how this works. We used to offer a standard economics class where students just memorised theory. We considered replacing it with a basic maths module, but instead, we brought in a highly qualified, practising accountant. He now comes in to teach financial planning, which the teenagers find incredibly practical and relevant to their future lives.
Now, of course, these industry experts aren’t replacing our dedicated core teaching staff. When I first proposed the idea, some people thought we were hiring them as full-time substitute teachers, which caused a bit of a stir! Actually, we bring them in as guest speakers to lead specific, project-based modules over a period of three or four weeks.
You might be wondering how these individuals manage a classroom full of teenagers. They obviously have impressive industry qualifications, but that certainly doesn’t mean they naturally know how to teach! While they obviously don’t need a full master’s degree in education, we do insist that every professional we hire must complete a short teaching certificate before stepping into the classroom. We provide this training in-house over a weekend.
The impact on the students has been absolutely wonderful to witness. We had originally hoped to see an immediate improvement in their exam grades, but to be honest, those haven’t dramatically changed just yet. However, what has noticeably increased is their confidence when presenting their own practical projects to the class. They speak with so much more authority now.
And this connection with the local economic community goes far beyond the four walls of the classroom. We originally planned to organise some simple factory tours to get the kids out of the school. But the professionals themselves offered something far better, and now many of our older teenagers are participating in summer internships with these companies. It’s a fantastic foot in the door for them.
Naturally, implementing this strategy hasn’t been without its difficulties. Everyone assumes that our main problem would be the budget, as hiring successful professionals can be quite an expensive endeavour. In reality, the biggest headache by far has been scheduling, simply because these experts have their own demanding, full-time jobs to work around.
The reaction from the wider community has been very interesting. The school board was entirely supportive from the start, and the students were curious, but I was admittedly very nervous about the parents. I thought they might prefer a traditional academic approach. Fortunately, they have been absolutely thrilled with the practical, real-world skills their children are acquiring.
Looking ahead, we are eager to expand this programme. We have successfully covered subjects related to business, commerce, and the arts over the last twelve months. Next year, our primary focus will be recruiting professionals from the field of technology, such as software developers and network engineers, to run our new coding workshops. It’s a very exciting time for our school!