11 ZNO reading.

Read the texts below. Match choices (1-5) to (А- Ж). There are three choices you do not need to use.

Read the text below. For questions choose the correct answer.
DEATH of the Classroom

The New Wave of Online Education

By Scott Reekie

Picture a society where learning can happen at any time, in any place and can be completed without ever going to class. This could be the new wave of education and the Internet technology now exists to support such a system.

The virtual classroom is here. If you are interested in English, or Civil Engineering, then head to the university and click yourself a degree. Well maybe it's not that easy, but you would be on the right track. The flexibility of studying at your own pace, and the money you save with online courses are two of the main attractions.

The Web is a powerful educational tool. Yet some feel that virtual classrooms will isolate students from each other, which will result in problems developing interpersonal relationships and that these skills are much more important than computer skills. Should teachers teach kids how to behave in society, how to respect others and how to co-operate or should kids have already learned this from their parents? No one is saying that social skills aren't important, however, virtual classrooms are far about more than just computer skills. Some strongly believe that education can be taught via the Web and social skills can be gained from joining sports teams, summer camps, or just hanging out!

Others argue that this virtual classroom may place pressure on students: to become computer literate or be left behind in life. Is this undue pressure or reality? Maybe being left behind in life is a little dramatic, but the reality is that the computer age is here. Whether you want to pay for your new jeans with your debit card, or check to see if the library has the book you want, you're going to need some computer skills.

The development of flexible, inquiring minds has rarely been the main concern in the design of educational systems. After all, if you have over thirty inquiring minds and only one teacher, flexibility could be a problem. It seems that developing students' proper social behaviour has always exceeded the concern to develop students' creativity. Computer technology can make individualized attention a real possibility. At the Institute for the Learning Sciences, systems are being developed to allow people to try out things in simulated worlds. This technology will allow for the individual creative growth in students.

The Web will provide amazing opportunities for the education of our society. Anyone with a phone line and a computer has access to unlimited amounts of knowledge and programs designed to help them learn and understand. The teachers and parents involved with these programs will be given the job of making sure that students lead well-balanced lives that combine Web-based education and positive social interaction with their friends and neighbours. Imagine your recreation room has now become your classroom, and your parents seem to be doing as much homework as you are! So, be prepared as the virtual classroom may find its way to a computer screen near you!

Why are people attracted to online education?

Read the text below. For questions choose the correct answer.

DEATH of the Classroom

The New Wave of Online Education

By Scott Reekie

Picture a society where learning can happen at any time, in any place and can be completed without ever going to class. This could be the new wave of education and the Internet technology now exists to support such a system.

The virtual classroom is here. If you are interested in English, or Civil Engineering, then head to the university and click yourself a degree. Well maybe it's not that easy, but you would be on the right track. The flexibility of studying at your own pace, and the money you save with online courses are two of the main attractions.

The Web is a powerful educational tool. Yet some feel that virtual classrooms will isolate students from each other, which will result in problems developing interpersonal relationships and that these skills are much more important than computer skills. Should teachers teach kids how to behave in society, how to respect others and how to co-operate or should kids have already learned this from their parents? No one is saying that social skills aren't important, however, virtual classrooms are far about more than just computer skills. Some strongly believe that education can be taught via the Web and social skills can be gained from joining sports teams, summer camps, or just hanging out!

Others argue that this virtual classroom may place pressure on students: to become computer literate or be left behind in life. Is this undue pressure or reality? Maybe being left behind in life is a little dramatic, but the reality is that the computer age is here. Whether you want to pay for your new jeans with your debit card, or check to see if the library has the book you want, you're going to need some computer skills.

The development of flexible, inquiring minds has rarely been the main concern in the design of educational systems. After all, if you have over thirty inquiring minds and only one teacher, flexibility could be a problem. It seems that developing students' proper social behaviour has always exceeded the concern to develop students' creativity. Computer technology can make individualized attention a real possibility. At the Institute for the Learning Sciences, systems are being developed to allow people to try out things in simulated worlds. This technology will allow for the individual creative growth in students.

The Web will provide amazing opportunities for the education of our society. Anyone with a phone line and a computer has access to unlimited amounts of knowledge and programs designed to help them learn and understand. The teachers and parents involved with these programs will be given the job of making sure that students lead well-balanced lives that combine Web-based education and positive social interaction with their friends and neighbours. Imagine your recreation room has now become your classroom, and your parents seem to be doing as much homework as you are! So, be prepared as the virtual classroom may find its way to a computer screen near you!

What do the advocates of online education maintain?

Read the text below. For questions choose the correct answer.

DEATH of the Classroom

The New Wave of Online Education

By Scott Reekie

Picture a society where learning can happen at any time, in any place and can be completed without ever going to class. This could be the new wave of education and the Internet technology now exists to support such a system.

The virtual classroom is here. If you are interested in English, or Civil Engineering, then head to the university and click yourself a degree. Well maybe it's not that easy, but you would be on the right track. The flexibility of studying at your own pace, and the money you save with online courses are two of the main attractions.

The Web is a powerful educational tool. Yet some feel that virtual classrooms will isolate students from each other, which will result in problems developing interpersonal relationships and that these skills are much more important than computer skills. Should teachers teach kids how to behave in society, how to respect others and how to co-operate or should kids have already learned this from their parents? No one is saying that social skills aren't important, however, virtual classrooms are far about more than just computer skills. Some strongly believe that education can be taught via the Web and social skills can be gained from joining sports teams, summer camps, or just hanging out!

Others argue that this virtual classroom may place pressure on students: to become computer literate or be left behind in life. Is this undue pressure or reality? Maybe being left behind in life is a little dramatic, but the reality is that the computer age is here. Whether you want to pay for your new jeans with your debit card, or check to see if the library has the book you want, you're going to need some computer skills.

The development of flexible, inquiring minds has rarely been the main concern in the design of educational systems. After all, if you have over thirty inquiring minds and only one teacher, flexibility could be a problem. It seems that developing students' proper social behaviour has always exceeded the concern to develop students' creativity. Computer technology can make individualized attention a real possibility. At the Institute for the Learning Sciences, systems are being developed to allow people to try out things in simulated worlds. This technology will allow for the individual creative growth in students.

The Web will provide amazing opportunities for the education of our society. Anyone with a phone line and a computer has access to unlimited amounts of knowledge and programs designed to help them learn and understand. The teachers and parents involved with these programs will be given the job of making sure that students lead well-balanced lives that combine Web-based education and positive social interaction with their friends and neighbours. Imagine your recreation room has now become your classroom, and your parents seem to be doing as much homework as you are! So, be prepared as the virtual classroom may find its way to a computer screen near you!

What do the opponents of online education maintain?

Read the text below. For questions choose the correct answer.

DEATH of the Classroom

The New Wave of Online Education

By Scott Reekie

Picture a society where learning can happen at any time, in any place and can be completed without ever going to class. This could be the new wave of education and the Internet technology now exists to support such a system.

The virtual classroom is here. If you are interested in English, or Civil Engineering, then head to the university and click yourself a degree. Well maybe it's not that easy, but you would be on the right track. The flexibility of studying at your own pace, and the money you save with online courses are two of the main attractions.

The Web is a powerful educational tool. Yet some feel that virtual classrooms will isolate students from each other, which will result in problems developing interpersonal relationships and that these skills are much more important than computer skills. Should teachers teach kids how to behave in society, how to respect others and how to co-operate or should kids have already learned this from their parents? No one is saying that social skills aren't important, however, virtual classrooms are far about more than just computer skills. Some strongly believe that education can be taught via the Web and social skills can be gained from joining sports teams, summer camps, or just hanging out!

Others argue that this virtual classroom may place pressure on students: to become computer literate or be left behind in life. Is this undue pressure or reality? Maybe being left behind in life is a little dramatic, but the reality is that the computer age is here. Whether you want to pay for your new jeans with your debit card, or check to see if the library has the book you want, you're going to need some computer skills.

The development of flexible, inquiring minds has rarely been the main concern in the design of educational systems. After all, if you have over thirty inquiring minds and only one teacher, flexibility could be a problem. It seems that developing students' proper social behaviour has always exceeded the concern to develop students' creativity. Computer technology can make individualized attention a real possibility. At the Institute for the Learning Sciences, systems are being developed to allow people to try out things in simulated worlds. This technology will allow for the individual creative growth in students.

The Web will provide amazing opportunities for the education of our society. Anyone with a phone line and a computer has access to unlimited amounts of knowledge and programs designed to help them learn and understand. The teachers and parents involved with these programs will be given the job of making sure that students lead well-balanced lives that combine Web-based education and positive social interaction with their friends and neighbours. Imagine your recreation room has now become your classroom, and your parents seem to be doing as much homework as you are! So, be prepared as the virtual classroom may find its way to a computer screen near you!

Why does the author mention “over thirty inquiring minds and only one teacher”?

Read the text below. For questions choose the correct answer.

DEATH of the Classroom

The New Wave of Online Education

By Scott Reekie

Picture a society where learning can happen at any time, in any place and can be completed without ever going to class. This could be the new wave of education and the Internet technology now exists to support such a system.

The virtual classroom is here. If you are interested in English, or Civil Engineering, then head to the university and click yourself a degree. Well maybe it's not that easy, but you would be on the right track. The flexibility of studying at your own pace, and the money you save with online courses are two of the main attractions.

The Web is a powerful educational tool. Yet some feel that virtual classrooms will isolate students from each other, which will result in problems developing interpersonal relationships and that these skills are much more important than computer skills. Should teachers teach kids how to behave in society, how to respect others and how to co-operate or should kids have already learned this from their parents? No one is saying that social skills aren't important, however, virtual classrooms are far about more than just computer skills. Some strongly believe that education can be taught via the Web and social skills can be gained from joining sports teams, summer camps, or just hanging out!

Others argue that this virtual classroom may place pressure on students: to become computer literate or be left behind in life. Is this undue pressure or reality? Maybe being left behind in life is a little dramatic, but the reality is that the computer age is here. Whether you want to pay for your new jeans with your debit card, or check to see if the library has the book you want, you're going to need some computer skills.

The development of flexible, inquiring minds has rarely been the main concern in the design of educational systems. After all, if you have over thirty inquiring minds and only one teacher, flexibility could be a problem. It seems that developing students' proper social behaviour has always exceeded the concern to develop students' creativity. Computer technology can make individualized attention a real possibility. At the Institute for the Learning Sciences, systems are being developed to allow people to try out things in simulated worlds. This technology will allow for the individual creative growth in students.

The Web will provide amazing opportunities for the education of our society. Anyone with a phone line and a computer has access to unlimited amounts of knowledge and programs designed to help them learn and understand. The teachers and parents involved with these programs will be given the job of making sure that students lead well-balanced lives that combine Web-based education and positive social interaction with their friends and neighbours. Imagine your recreation room has now become your classroom, and your parents seem to be doing as much homework as you are! So, be prepared as the virtual classroom may find its way to a computer screen near you!

What role are parents supposed to play in the web-based education of society?

Read the texts below. Match choices (1-6) to (A- Ж). There are two choices you do not need to use.

Literary Heaven

There's nothing like your first great bookstore discovery. Here are some of the most remarkable bookshops from all around the globe, each one of them is special in its own way.

In what way is each bookstore special?

Read the text below. Choose from (A–H) the one which best fits each space (33–38). There are two choices you do not need to use.

Preparing to Take off for Valencia, Spain
Just yesterday my family and I were planning a trip. We wanted to leave today, but there was one problem. We didn’t know (33)                                          [that we wouldn’t make it on the country, when I get back next week, where we were going yet, which were so interesting, what was wrong with that one, when there are things to stop you, because we can plan a spontaneous trip, because of the wonderful beaches that ar]! The only thing that we knew was that we were going out of the country. At first, we were planning on going to Costa Rica, then Nicaragua, but it was a rainy season there and we were worried (34)                                          [that we wouldn’t make it on the country, when I get back next week, where we were going yet, which were so interesting, what was wrong with that one, when there are things to stop you, because we can plan a spontaneous trip, because of the wonderful beaches that ar]. The next trip we started to plan was going to Argentina. I don’t know (35)                                          [that we wouldn’t make it on the country, when I get back next week, where we were going yet, which were so interesting, what was wrong with that one, when there are things to stop you, because we can plan a spontaneous trip, because of the wonderful beaches that ar], but we decided not to go there. You know the saying third time’s the charm? It worked! Finally, we knew where we were going. We are going to Valencia, Spain on the Mediterranean coast. I am very excited to go there (36)                                          [that we wouldn’t make it on the country, when I get back next week, where we were going yet, which were so interesting, what was wrong with that one, when there are things to stop you, because we can plan a spontaneous trip, because of the wonderful beaches that ar].
Some of you may be wondering why we waited until the last minute to plan our trip. That is because our dad is a pilot and we don’t have to buy a ticket. We get put on the stand-by list. It is great to have a dad that is a pilot (37)                                          [that we wouldn’t make it on the country, when I get back next week, where we were going yet, which were so interesting, what was wrong with that one, when there are things to stop you, because we can plan a spontaneous trip, because of the wonderful beaches that ar]. I am very lucky to have a dad like that. I’ll blog again (38)                                          [that we wouldn’t make it on the country, when I get back next week, where we were going yet, which were so interesting, what was wrong with that one, when there are things to stop you, because we can plan a spontaneous trip, because of the wonderful beaches that ar].