Long Listening · Section 4

Elementary School

In American English, the term elementary school

Level: A2 · 56 sentences

Transcript

  1. In American English,
  2. the term elementary school
  3. usually refers to the years of school between first grade and sixth grade.
  4. The word grade refers to one year or level of school.
  5. Some elementary schools are from first grade to fifth grade,
  6. but most are from first grade to sixth grade.
  7. In the US, people usually start first grade
  8. when they're six years old.
  9. In some other countries, this might be different.
  10. Kids might start first grade when they're seven years old, for example.
  11. But in the US,
  12. the majority of kids are six when they start elementary school.
  13. Before first grade, children normally go to kindergarten.
  14. Kindergartens are often connected to elementary schools,
  15. but they're usually separated from the main elementary school campus.
  16. In the US,
  17. kindergarten is usually the first time when children really start learning.
  18. I remember practicing reading, writing,
  19. and other skills when I was in kindergarten.
  20. Then, once you're in first grade, you start real school.
  21. In the US, and probably in most countries,
  22. you only have one teacher per year in elementary school.
  23. So, the same teacher teaches you math, reading,
  24. history, science, and all the other subjects as well.
  25. However, in some schools, sixth graders have more than one teacher.
  26. For example, when I was in sixth grade,
  27. I had three different teachers to teach me different subjects.
  28. They do this to help prepare students for middle school,
  29. where you have like six or seven teachers.
  30. But from first to fifth grade, everyone just has one teacher,
  31. and they're with the same classmates for the whole school year.
  32. In elementary school, students receive grades in their classes,
  33. but it's not always the same grading system that we use in middle school or high school.
  34. In middle school and high school,
  35. students in the US receive a grade ranging from A to F.
  36. An A is the highest grade you can get,
  37. and an F is the lowest grade you can get.
  38. You need to get at least a C to pass the class.
  39. If you get a D or an F, you fail.
  40. In elementary school, though,
  41. they don't always give you a letter grade for the class.
  42. I remember receiving a number grade
  43. from one through four or five, maybe.
  44. But elementary school isn't that hard in the US.
  45. Almost everyone passes their classes, even if they're not good students.
  46. The funnest part of elementary school is playing outside during recess and lunch break.
  47. I played a ton of different games outside with my friends.
  48. For example, we played sports like soccer and basketball
  49. and we also played on the playground.
  50. Our playgrounds had slides, swings, monkey bars, and more.
  51. One of the bad things about elementary school
  52. is that many of the lunch items that they give you aren't very good.
  53. They sometimes have tasty dishes,
  54. but most of the food isn't that great.
  55. This is how it was when I was in elementary school,
  56. but maybe it's better now.