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Fill in the table.

Names of the grades in high school (and university/college) for the different years?

a) = ______ grade

b) = ______ grade

c) = ______ grade

d) = ______ grade

II. What are 3 differences concerning the schedule in high school? - The students….

1.

2.

3.

III. What is the grading system?

IV. Which system, Russian or American, has more vacation time? ___________________

V. Name the different sports teams in high school? Who supports them?

1. Read and find out what “ muallem” means.

‘MUALLEMS’
by Abdel Hamid Ahmed of Gulf News

At the beginning of each academic year, we suddenly think of schoolteachers – muallems, in Arabic. They have otherwise largely been forgotten and we remember them only then. Their role and their significance, or importance, have been lost to sight; their prestige is almost at rock bottom!
Ahmed Shawki, who was given the title of “Prince of Poets” by other Arab poets, said in a poem about teachers, “Stand up for your teacher and show him respect. For he is the person above all others to be esteemed ”
Shawki’s words show the high status teachers enjoyed in the past. But times have changed - teachers in the Arab world today are not treated as they were in times gone by. Despite their hard work, for which they are barely acknowledged, they are disregarded and underpaid. Disrespect for them has passed from father to son. Schoolboys now insult their teachers and sometimes even beat them.
There are now scores of people who bear the title of muallam, although they have nothing to do with education. A flagrant encroachment on the teaching profession has occurred. The teacher has been robbed of his title, which has been given to those who sell shawarma and falafil bean cakes. These so-called ‘ muallems’ have earned the title, not by teaching others how to make sharwarma and falafel, but merely by knowing how to prepare this food.
The Arab world and other countries are overrun by thousands of shawarma and filafil ‘muallems’. Even MacDonald’s has put filafil on its menu, a guarantee that the falafil trade is prospering. These ‘ muallems’ have big incomes, many of them earning in a month more than a teacher could earn in a year.
But the teachers’ plight is not the fault of the ‘ falafil and shawarma muallems’. It is due to governments’ reluctance to improve the teachers’ living conditions.
The incomes of the shawarma muallems are growing because, unfortunately, the demand for shawarma seems to grow faster than the demand for education. Perhaps this explains the increase in both illiterates and big bellies in the Arab world in contrast to the Western world where shawarma i s not as savoured.
As the abuse of schoolteachers continues, the muallems proliferate – the plumbers, the blacksmiths, the mechanics are all ‘ muallems’. Some have even been accorded the title of ‘professor’!
In the Arab world, we also have female muallems and fahlawis, who seem to know everything and have ready answers to all questions on all subjects.
In this messy situation, the beleaguered schoolteachers have had to hit back even harder to defend their name, existence and dignity against a society that has insulted them and demoted them from the elevated status given to them by the Prince of Poets, Ahmed Shawki.
Teachers have now turned into business men, becoming part-time taxi-drivers or vegetable vendors. Some wander through the night from house to house giving private tuition that could push their monthly income from Dhs. 5,000 to Dhs. 20,000. They do this under cover of their government job, which guarantees them end of service benefits and pensions – the dream of every civil servant!
Disrespect for schoolteachers has combined with flawed school syllabi and a shortage of funds for education that is pushing the entire Arab education system to the verge of collapse.
In order to restore the teacher’s prestige, we must first restore prestige to the system. This could be done by increasing allocations for education and, above all, improving living conditions for teachers and, of course, restoring the teacher’s prestige. It is unacceptable that “the person above all others to be esteemed” should be equated to sellers of falafil and shawarma and the like. The title of muallem is for teachers only!