Write a letter to the Headmaster explaining the situation and asking for advice.
You are a pupil.Write a letter to a friend describingyour feelings and theteacher’s feelings about what happened in the class.
Adapting and supplementing materials Activity 1, Handout 1d, Adapting a text
TO SIR, WITH LOVE By E. R. Braithwaite Chapter 8
(Extract)
Read the 4 parts of the text and complete the tasks.
Part 1
Each Friday morning the whole school spent the pre-recess period in writing their Weekly Review. This was one of the old Man’s pet schemes: and one about which he would brook no interference. Each child would review the events of his school week in his own words, in his own way; he was free to comment, to criticize, to agree or disagree, with any person, subject or method, as long as it was in some way associated with the school. No one and nothing was sacred, from the Headmaster down, and the child, moreover, was safe from any form of reprisal.
“Look at it this way,” Mr. Florian said. “It is of advantage to both pupils and teacher. If a child wants to write about something which matters to him, he will take some pains to set it down as carefully and with as much detail as possible; that must in some way improve his written English in terms of spelling, construction and style. Week by week we are able, through his review, to follow and observe his progress in such things. As for the teachers, we soon get a pretty good idea what the children think of us and whether or not we are getting close to them… You will discover that these children are reasonable fair, even when they comment on us. If we are careless about our clothing, manners or person they will soon notice it, and it would be pointless to be angry with them for pointing such things out. Finally, from the reviews, the sensible teacher will observe the trend of individual and collective interests and plan his work accordingly.”
On the first Friday of my association with the class I was anxious to discover what sort of figure I cut in front of them, and what kind of comment they would make about me.
