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Lesson 2
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Advanced English
Lesson 2 - School
Reading

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English Reading Exercise

 

Review of Key Words
chimney
bucket
coal
whittle
pupil
court
dismiss
unseemly   
engage
sum
earnings
declining
burden
pool
hall
shave
barber shop   
worth
fault
approve

 

1872 Rules for Teachers

Schoolhouse

The following is a real list of rules that teachers were expected to follow in 1872.

  1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys.
  2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's session.
  3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.
  4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
  5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.
  6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
  7. Every teacher should lay aside from each day's pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.
  8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.
  9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.

Questions

1. What happens if a woman teacher gets married?
   

2. What can teachers do in their free time?
   

3. How much of a raise can a good teacher expect after five years of service?
   

4. What do you think "scuttle" means in the following sentence?
   

Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's session.

5. What do you think "nibs" means in the following rule?
   

Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.

6. What do you think "goodly" means in the following rule?
   

Every teacher should lay aside from each day's pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.

 

Writing

Do you think that teachers today should have rules of behavior? If so, what should they be? Make a list of modern rules for teachers. Write on a paper or on our blog.

     

 

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