This is
the VOA Special English Education Report.
Last week, we talked about the conflict between
sleepy teenagers and
early morning classes. Many people commented on our website and Facebook
page.
For example, Damla Ece in Turkey wrote: I agree with the idea of
starting lessons later so teenagers can feel better in the morning. But
sleeping more than seven hours can be
wasting time for students.
Tran in Vietnam disagreed:
I think teenagers, on the
average, need eight to ten hours of sleep everyday. It's
useless trying to force
them to concentrate while
they can't concentrate.
Enilton Neymakes in Brazil goes to sleep late and
wakes up in the afternoon.
That's my life, but at least
I am studying.
Afshin Heydari from Tehran says schools should start early
to avoid heavy traffic
later in the morning. And Suze from Jordan wrote: When I was a
teenager, I enjoyed taking my courses
as early as possible.
That way I could find a
long time in the day to do my own activities.
But Azra from Kyrgyzstan said: The reason schools start early there,
is a lack of classrooms.
Omid in Afghanistan calls teenagers the destiny makers of a society.
So they must be more alert and active in order to be more successful.
And Joruji in Japan wrote: When I was a teenager,
I used to get up before
six to go to school, which was far from home, and I don't remember
having problems. I think
nowadays the Internet, TV games and cellphones make teens go to
sleep later.
Thirty-year-old Kika in Spain says: In my opinion, young people are
very lazy.
But Dennis Jin disagrees: For high school students in China, we must
reach class at six-twenty
in the morning and be back home usually at ten in the evening. Then
we'll have some extra schoolwork to do. Can you imagine
how long could we sleep
every day?
Teenagers are not the only ones
who suffer. Kathy in Canada wrote: My daughter
likes complaining about
everything in the morning, and I know that this is from a lack of sleep.
I wish schools should
change their start time to eight-thirty or nine a.m.
Vidara Mom, a Cambodian living in New Zealand, says: School starts at
nine and finishes at three p.m. Therefore the students have
heaps of times to
interact and play before they go home.
Wibi Sebastian from Indonesia wishes school started at seven-thirty
instead of seven. But one thing, don't forget to eat breakfast!
And Naima Star in Libya wrote: Getting up so early in the morning
and leaving the warm bed
is so difficult, especially in the cold weather.
It reminds me of that old
song: "It's nice to get up in the morning, but it's nicer to stay in bed."
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. I'm Jim Tedder. |
GLOSSARY
sleepy:
con sueño, somnoliento; wasting time: perder, desperdiciar el tiempo;
disagreed: discrepó, no estuvo de acuerdo; on the average:
en
promedio;
useless:
inútil (useful:
útil); while:
mientras
que, cuando; wakes up: se despierta (gets up: se levanta); at
least:
al
menos, por lo menos;
to avoid:
para evitar; as early as:
tan
pronto como (fuera); that way: de esa forma; a lack of:
falta
de, carencia de;
I used to get up:
solía levantarme; nowadays: hoy en día, en la actualidad; lazy:
perezosos; reach:
llegar
a;
how long:
cuánto tiempo; the only ones who suffer:
los
únicos que sufren; likes complaining about: le encanta quejarse de; I
wish: ojalá; heaps of times to:
muchas
oportunidades para; warm bed:
cama
abrigada; it reminds me of: me recuerda a. |