seacroft school

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Seacroft school	Jennie Cole

introduction > Notes: Stephen interviews Jennie and she talks about the difficulties of going to a high school in a poor area and compares this with the school 'posh kids' went to. Teaching ideas: What underlies the entirety of this conversation is a discourse of education; the 'haves' and the 'have nots' and what this means in terms of life goals, expectations, behaviour, dress codes. Can the learners relate to this in terms of their prior education in their own country? Corporal punishment (the hitting of children) was banned in UK state schools in 1986 and independent schools in 1998. Some people argue for its return because of a decline of teenage behaviour. The conversation below indicates that school behaviour was not necessarily better when corporal punishment was still in use. Ask the learners to discuss their experiences of corporal punishment in their own countries and compare with the UK. Note the frequent use of 'quite' by this speaker; used as an adverb to indicate the extent of something, in lines: 10 - quite frightened 16 - quite unusual 20 - quite young mothers 34 - quite free 36 - quite different How is 'quite' being used in each of these sentences; as an intensifier to exaggerate something (for example, very frightened) or to suggest a lesser extent (for example, a bit frightened)? Draw attention to the potentially problematic language highlighted in bold; explained in the tutor transcript in the handout Note the fillers, false starts, repetition and what the purposes of these are in unrehearsed, spontaneous speech. For instance, draw attention to print English and the differences; few 'natives' speak with perfect English. Remove certain words and use transcript as an audio gapfill or standard reading gapfill.
transcript > Click the audio player on the left to listen. Stephen: Erm,so, can you tell me where you went to school? Jennie: Er, the high school was Foxwood High School, and it was in Seacroft in Leeds. Stephen: And can you describe the area of Seacroft, that school? Jennie: Er, lots of council houses. It was in the middle of a council estate. You didn't really get private houses round there. Erm, so the people, the kids from the council estate ... Stephen: Mmh. Jennie: ... went to the Foxwood High School. Stephen: Erm, how would you describe your experiences going to that school? Jennie: At the time, I didn't think it was a rough school but looking back ... and now being a teacher ... it was a really rough school. (laughs) Erm, I remember an art class that I was in, erm, and there were kids sniffing gas ... Stephen: Okay. Jennie: ... and sniffing glue while the teacher was trying to teach. Erm, I think the teacher was quite frightened to actually confront them so they turned a blind eye. Stephen: Okay. Jennie: Er, but, yes, that was ... that was, the maths teacher got locked in the, in the cupboard ... erm, until the end of the maths class. (laughs) Stephen: And did the students lock him in the cupboard? Jennie: Yes. Students locked them in and erm ... just ... threw things around the classroom until the maths class was over. Stephen: Okay. But of course you, you obviously went, you left school, you, you progressed; you want to university and became a teacher. Where did some of those other students go to? Jennie: I, I think I was, erm ... it was quite unusual to leave that school and go to uni ... Stephen: Okay. Jennie: ... erm ... most people left at sixteen and they were pushing prams ... erm ... Stephen: Okay. Jennie: ... y'know, they had kids ... they were quite young mothers, erm, or they went on to the dole and signed on. Stephen: Okay, erm, so, most of that was, I suppose, an area we would call socially deprived; there wasn't a lot of money, erm, there weren't many jobs. Was there an alternative kind of school in the area where more posh children would go? Jennie: Yes, er, Roundhay School was seen as the er, posh kids' school. Stephen: Okay. Jennie: Erm, and people from Foxwood didn't really mix with the Roundhay ... the area kind of had gangs. You had the Gipton gang, the Seacroft gang and the Roundhay gang. Stephen: Okay. Jennie: And, er, they didn't mix. They weren't friends outside school. Stephen: Okay. Jennie: Er, the Roundhay kids went to school with the blazers and the, er, little hat and the tie. Stephen: Okay, so ... Jennie: Erm, so, if any of the Seacroft kids saw them they got, they picked on them or bullied them. Stephen: So the ... so the, the posh kids had a, a smarter uniform with a, with a tie and hats. Did, did er ... did the children have to wear a uniform at your school? Jennie: No, no, I don't think they, they would have wore it even if it was ... (laughs) even if they tried to enforce it ... Stephen: Okay. Jennie: Erm, for one, the area. I don't think the parents could afford a uniform. Erm, and it was just ... it was seen as quite free for us, not to wear a uniform. Stephen: Mmh. Jennie: It was quite different cos a lot of schools did have to wear these horrible brown and yellow uniforms and we could just wear jeans, or ... Stephen: Okay. Jennie: ... a T-shirt Stephen: That's it. Okay. Thank you Jennie.
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