Junio 2006 Part A.

Reading Comprensin Read the following text:

Schools `exclude 10 pupils a day

An average of 10 pupils a day were excluded from school in England last year, according to the Department for education and Skills (DfES). More than 624 pupils were excluded for violence towards teachers or students, and 16,800 were suspended for cases of assault during the year. However, the department stressed that these figurres, which were published last week, should be treated with caution as some local education authorities had submitted incomplete data. The real figures, it said, were likely to be higher, although the government still insisted annual exclusion rates were falling. We believe that numbers of fixed period exclusions, as with the number of permanent exclusions, are reducing as our behaviour policies are now taking effect. The 82 schools that face the greatest challenges are receiving intensive support from the `behaviour improvement programme, where there has been a decrease in fixed period exclusions of 11% from the previous year, said the DfES. In addition, 10,000 learning mentors arre now helping individual pupils overcome behavioural problems in schools, and 17,000 children who are at risk of exclusion are rreceiving intensive support from more than 100 specialist behavioural education support teams.
Rebecca Carvwer Saturday July 31, 2004 Education Guardian.co.uk

I. Answer the following questions using your own words but taking into account the information in the text (2 points: 1 point each) a. What are the main reasons for expelling pupils from British schools? b. What is a mentors task?

II. Are the following statements true (T) or false (F)? Identify the part of the text that supports your answer by copying the exact passage on the answer sheet (1.5 point: 0.5 each) a. All the UK Education Authorities presented full data. b. The number of both fixed period exclusions and permanent exclusions increases year after year. c. The British Government has a special programme to help pupils with behavioural problems.

III. Find a synonym for each of the four words below from these six options: (1 point: 0.25 each) exclude caution support improvement mentors intensive

a. assistance, aid b. experienced people in schools who advise or counsel students c. thorough, exhaustive d. expel

IV. Choose a, b, or c, in each question below. Only one choice is correct (1.5 points: 0.5 each) 1. The number of pupils suspended for assault is a. bigger than the number of pupils excluded for violence. b. smaller than the number of pupils excluded for violence. c. not taken into account. 2. The rreason why exclusions are becoming lower is due to a. the number of pupils and teachers. b. violence in schools. c. the behaviour improvement programme. 3. Children who are likely to be excluded receive support from a. more than one hundred specialists. b. more than one hundred groups of behavioural education experts. c. ten hundred learning mentors. Part B. Composition (130-150 words approximately). Choose one of the following topics (4 points) a. Why do some students experience behavioural problems? b. What would you do to solve behavioural problems in schools?

Septirembre 2006

Part A. Reading Comprensin Read the following text:

Meet the Metrocescents

Did you know there were tracking devices you could put on your teenagers mobile? I could put one on the phone of my daughter. Then, instead of worrying and imagining, you can sit in front of your computer and watch the little dot that is your teenager moving arround on the street diagram. I call this love, a different kind of love that parents have for teenagers nowadays. Since we have a different kind of teenager, we need a different kind of control. Nowadays anything seems fair game in the campaign against teens. Its no surprise, then, that the modern parents are either terrified of teenagers or terrified for them. What we have to accept is that we might be seeing a new breed of adolescent, a totally different kind of teenage tribe. A tribe so different they probably should not even be called teenagers any more a better term might be Metrolescents, whose defining characteristic would be, in the age of the intyernet and the all-powerful teen media, that they are united, bonded, on the same web page like never before. In the past, kids used to feel left out and they had to make an effort to be a part of the action. In the era of Metrolescent, it is possible to live far away and still feel a part of everything. Fashions take seconds to sread, the latest gossip is only a click away. Suddenly, the youth scene is everywhere, for everybody. That might be the problem. Barbara Ellen The Observer, 6 November 2005 I. Answer the following questions using your own words but taking into account the information in the text (2 points: 1 point each) a. What is a tracking device used for? b. Why should todays teenagers be called Metrolescents?

II. Are the following statements true (T) or false (F)? Identify the part of the text that supports your answer by copying the exact passage on the answer sheet (1.5 point: 0.5 each) a. New technologies prevent parents from being worried. b. Today many adolescents share the characteristique of being Metrolescents. c. Adolescents feel more isoleted than ever before because they live in suburbs.

III. Find a synonym for each of the four words below from these six options: (1 point: 0.25 each) devices diagrams powerful fashions spread youth

a. trends b. potent c. mechanisms d. disseminate

IV. Choose a, b, or c, in each question below. Only one choice is correct (1.5 points: 0.5 each) 1. If you put a tracking device inside the mobile a. you worry a lot because you can see where your son or daughter is going. b. you feel less worried because you can see where your son or daughter is going. c. you worry a lot because your son or daughter might discover it. 2. Teenagers a. can terrify their parents. b. can be terrifird by their parents. c. can be terrified for their parents. 3. Metrolescents are united because a. they can send e-mails to their friends. b. transport is very fast nowadays. c. they can use all sorts of media. Part B. Composition (130-150 words approximately). Choose one of the following topics (4 points) 1. Are todays teenagers really so different from teenagers in previous decades) 2. Do you think that new technologies (Internet, SMS, iPods, Messenger) are changing the way teenagers behave and live their lives in the 21st century?