Reading Test "English Classes" (form 7)

Reading Test “Learning English”  (unit 9)

Read the texts. Be attentive to the details

Marta Sokolowska, Poland

I’m a person who used to learn English only at school. I started learning it at the age of 11, when I was in the fifth form, that wasn’t much, only two hours a week. I don’t know how it happened but in the class of 30 people I was able to learn good English. I must say I had a very good teacher. He liked me because I had a kind of gift for English and I showed some interest in what he used to say. I was good at talking and after four years of learning the language at school I was able to speak freely while other people from my class to the simplest question ‘What’s your name?’ would always answer ‘I’m boy’.

Hans Heinrichs, Germany.

My English classes were horrible. We just read aloud and translated from English into German. We had to learn our grammar rules book by heart from cover to cover. We regularly had very difficult grammar tests. Our teacher was very strict and she punished us for each mistake. I didn’t want to attend English classes but I had to. And when I had to speak I was too scared to say a word. I wasn’t able to ask a simple question. I learnt to speak English only at the age of sixteen or seventeen – when I was a teenager. I travelled to Britain then to visit my aunt. It was a wonderful time!

Irina Novikova, Russia.

Our English classes were fantastic! We had quiz-shows, did projects, recited poems, learnt songs by heart, learnt how to use dictionaries and wrote interesting compositions about school, friendship, the music we liked. I loved English when I was at school. Actually, English was my favourite subject.

Reading Test “Learning English”  (unit 9)

I.                   Devide sentences according to the speakers (Marta, Hans, Irina)

1.      The speaker was afraid of his/her teacher.

2.      The speaker started learning English when he/she was eleven years old.

3.      The speaker’s lessons were fantastic.

4.      The speaker’s favourite lesson was English.

5.      The speaker could speak English fluently after four years of learning.

6.      The speaker had to learn grammar books from cover to cover.

7.      The speaker’s classmates weren’t good at English.

II.                Mark the sentences as true or false

1.      All the speakers are from Eurasia.

2.      Marta started learning English in the first form.

3.      Marta had English lessons every day.

4.      Marta had a very good teacher.

5.      Hans loved his English lessons.

6.      Hans had easy tests in English.

7.      Hans’s teacher was kind and cheerful.

8.      Hans learnt to speak English when he was a teenager.

9.      Irina did different tasks at English lessons.

10.  Irina was good at English but it wasn’t her favourite subject.

III.             Answer the questions

1.      Why were Irina’s English lessons fantastic?

2.      Why did Marta’s teacher like her?

3.      Why was Hans scared to say a word at the lessons?