#40 - Back to school! 🏫

Podcast – Back to school!

It’s the end of September already! Can you believe it! Time flies! Many languages have a similar expression because wherever you live in the world time goes so fast that it seems like it is flying away. 

What does the month of September make you think about? …the beginning of fall? …the days getting shorter?
Or do you think about the new school year starting?  

Many schools started in early September after the Labor Day holiday. Shall we talk about school today?

In the US students usually attend school for 13 years. In most school districts school years are separated into three parts:

 Elementary (primary) school – grades Kindergarten “K” through fifth (5th)or sixth (6th) grade. (Notice those ordinal numbers?)

Middle School (from 6th to 8th grade) or Junior High School  - (from  7th grade to 9th grade).

High School  - grades 9 or 10 through 12th grade.  

In high school 9th graders are called freshmen. Tenth graders are called sophomores. Eleventh graders are juniors. Twelfth graders are seniors.  At the end of their senior year, students graduate from high school. Those graduating seniors are usually 17 or 18 years old. They started school when they were 5 or 6 years old.

How old were you when you started school? Did you go to kindergarten? Was your elementary/primary school near your house? Did you use to walk to school, or did you use to take a bus?

 “use to” – That’s an interesting expression! When we say I used to do something” we’re not talking about using something. We say “use to” or “used to” when we are talking about something we did in the past over and over again. “I used to ride my bike to school.” – It was my habit to ride my bike to school.

When do we say “use to” and when do we say “used to”? There is a rule:  when we ask a question with “Did” we say “use to”: “Did you use to take a bus to school?”

When we aren’t asking a “did” question, we say “used to”. “Yes, I used to take a bus to school.”

We know that’s a little bit “in the weeds”  (being worried about small details). 

The important thing – the “take away” is:  When you are listening to a conversation and you hear “She used to be a teacher.” – you will know that in the past she was a teacher, but she isn’t a teacher now.

We always want to tell you the rule, because some people pay attention to these things.

Anyway…. Back to the question: Did you use to take a bus to school?  What do you remember about your first day of school?

Did you go to kindergarten? Do you remember your kindergarten teacher’s name?

What do children learn in kindergarten? They learn the alphabet and the sounds that letters make.  Many children start to learn to read (subject: reading). They learn to print the letters (subject: penmanship) and write words. They learn numbers and what numbers represent (subject: arithmetic/math).

Children also learn to get along with other kids, to share, to be kind & polite, to take turns,  and to “keep your hands to yourself!”. They learn school rules,  like you have to:
raise your hand to talk, sit in your seat , walk in a line,  do your work,  and be responsible

A man named Robert Fulghum wrote a book in 1986 called “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten”. The message of the book is that the world would be better if adults practiced what children learn in kindergarten.                 

Do you agree, dear listener? Please let us know! Send us an email at talcchats@gmail.com

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