The Nerd

MODULE 1

EDUCATION

LEAD-IN

Text I.

Discuss in a class.

a) Do you remember your school years? What was the atmosphere in the classroom like? What relationships did you have with your classmates and teachers?

Read the text.

British School Stereotypes

How was your school life? Did you enjoy it? Or did you hate it? Of course, your experience at school depended on many things, the school itself, the teachers and the pupils. What are British school children like, you may wonder. Well, most of time they’re just like school children from all over the world. They want things like extra playtime, no homeworkand permission to go to the toilet when the class gets boring. However, in every British class there are some distinct types of pupil. We’ve identified a few of these stereotypes and we’d like to tell you all about them.

The Nerd

The nerdknows absolutely nothing about fashion, popular music or sport. They are generally excellent at Maths and Science and are usually highly intelligent. At school they are often the victim of cruel jokes or comments because of their clothes and hair. Nerds hate sport and they hate gym class, especially on cold winter days when they have to go out and play football. They stand on the pitchtrying to keep warm and hoping no one will notice them. They spend the whole of the lesson trying to avoid the ball. They are usually blamedfor any poor performance by their team.

In class they sit there day-dreamingand thinking about nuclear physics and things like that. At home they love reading, playing computer games and surfing the net. Nerds want to be Bill Gates when they are older.