Podcasts in English

Jackie: For this week's podcastsinenglish.com, I'm talking to Mat, who's a teacher. Hi, Mat.

Mat: Hello

Jackie: Mat, tell me first of all about the school that you teach in. What kind of school is it?

Mat: It's a school in England and it's a private school so the students have to pay to go there.

Jackie: Is that primary school, a secondary school?

Mat: It's a secondary school.The pupils are thirteen to eighteen.

Jackie: Is it boys, girls or mixed?

Mat: It's mixed,  both boys and girls.

Jackie: Am I right in saying that you're an English language teacher?

Mat: That's right, I teach English as a foreign language.

Jackie: A foreign language in an English school? That sounds a bit strange.

Mat: Yes. But we have quite a lot of pupils who come from overseas and their first language isn't English.

Jackie: Which countries do the pupils come from?

Mat: We have quite a lot from Europe, a lot of from Germany, from Spain er... and also from Russia, China er... Japan, all over the world.

Jackie: Why do you have so many foreign pupils at the school?

Mat: Um... they want to come to have a British education and quite often they want to stay in the UK to go to university after school.

Jackie: Right. Do you have a typical day at school?

Mat: I do. I usually arrive in my classroom at about eight o'clock.

Jackie: The classes start at eight o'clock?

Mat: The classes start at 8.45...

Jackie: Oh, right.

Mat: ...but I arrive at about eight o'clock and sort of plan my day and have a look at what's happening. Um... I teach two 55 minute lessons then there's a half hour break, then another two 55 minute lessons. Then there's lunch and sometimes in the afternoon another two lessons but on er... Sundays there would be sport and activities in the afternoons and so no lessons.

Jackie: You teach on a Sunday? Well, you work on a Sunday?

Mat: I do often work on a Sunday. We do teach on a Saturday so the pupils have lessons six days a week, but there's no teaching on a Sunday.

Jackie: So how come you're there seven days a week?

Mat: Because the students er... live at the school, it's a boarding school.

Jackie: Ah, it's not a day school.

Mat: That's right they're there all the time.

Jackie: Ah, right.

Mat: So there are activities in the evenings and at the weekends that require teachers to be there and um.. I have to go in and do all sorts of different things.

Jackie: So on top of your teaching then what other extra curriculum activities are you involved in?

Mat: I am the school photographer so I photograph the sport and plays and musical events and things like that. Er... I look after a football team in one term and a tennis team in another term. I'm also a deputy housemaster in one of the houses where the pupils actually live.

Jackie: Where they... where they sleep and things.

Mat: That's right.

Jackie: So um... you're wearing many different hats then, Mat.

Mat: Yes. It's a... it's a very varied job. Um... it's certainly not boring because you're always doing something different, um... not just in the classroom but on a the football pitch or... in all sorts of different areas of the school.