Conversation
After a quick greeting, use the following questions as a guideline to form an interesting conversation with your tutor. Feel free to diverge from these suggestions if anything interesting comes up.
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Grades (marks) encourage students to learn. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
- How do grades encourage students to learn?
- How do grades discourage students in learning?
- What would be an alternative to grades?
Vocabulary
Skip this section if you have 15 minute plan. Read the word/expression and definition out loud, and your tutor will go over anything you do not understand. Practice creating a sentence or two to make sure you know how to use the word/expression properly.
Vocabulary/ Expressions
| Expression | Definition |
| incentive | (n) a thing that motivates or encourages someone to do better She used her grades as an incentive for being able to play with her friends. |
| error | (n) mistake The teacher counted off if there were any errors in spelling. |
| discouraged | (adj) causing someone to lose confidence When a student performs poorly, they can often become discouraged and sad about school. |
| fair | (adj) in accordance with rules He didn’t think it was fair that she got the better grade. |
| grade | (v) give a mark to The teacher spent hours having to grade all the papers. |
| motivate | (v) provide someone with a motive for doing something For many schools, grades motivate students to do better. |
| take off | (expression) to remove She had to take off points for misspellings. |
| wear out | (expression) to become unusable He made so many changes that his eraser eventually was going to wear out. |
| make up | (expression) to invent or count for She could make up the points she missed if she made the changes and then resubmitted her paper. |
| pass with flying colors | (expression) complete something successfully With her persuasive essay, she passed with flying colors and could graduate. |
Something Extra
Read the following quote out loud.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
― Nelson Mandela
Cambly Content 