1 Read the letter home from a British schoolboy in the 1960s. Match the topics with the paragraphs.
a) the other boys b) starting the letter c) finishing the letter d) food and uniform e) the house f) school and its facilities g) after-school activities h) teachers and classes
Yarpole School,
Kington,
Herefordshire
17 September,1968
Dear Alison,
1 How’s everything at home? How are Daphne and her kittens? Are you looking after my goldfish?
2 The school’s not the same as our village school. There are science labs, sports pitches, tennis courts and a swimming pool. There are three hundred boys from thirteen to eighteen and I’m the youngest!
3 There are five ‘houses’ and I’m in Westlake. I’ve got a desk in a common room with twenty other boys and we do our homework there. I sleep in a dormitory with ten boys and there’s no heating. The showers are often cold too!
4 The food here isn’t as nice as mum’s cooking and I dream about her apple pudding! Our uniform is horrible too. We have to wear silly red jackets and hats. When we go into the town, the local kids laugh at us! We can only take off our uniform and put on ‘normal' clothes after church on Sundays.
5 The new boys have to work for the older boys. I have to clean the head of house’s rugby boots and take care of the plants in his room. The other boys are nice but I don’t like a boy called Bartlett. He’s bigger than me and calls me names.
6 My housemaster is nice but sometimes punishes boys with the cane (not me – yet!). My history teacher is very funny and puts on funny voices to imitate people from history. Most of my classes are the same as at those at home (and as boring!) but we have Latin and Greek too. The classes haven’t got as many pupils as those at the village school either.
7 You can take part in lots of after-school activities. I do carpentry and I’d like to take up chess. We play rugby nearly every day and I really like it. Rugby matches against other schools take place on Saturdays and I love watching them.
8 I really miss everybody at home! Write soon!
Love, Martin
2 Read the letter again. Answer these questions.
1 What things does Martin dislike about his new school?
2 What does he like about the school?
3 How is his new school better than the village school at home?
4 What do you think ‘the cane’ is?
olaropucha