Listening en inglés Elementary school homework offers no real benefit

Children are being given hours of school homework every week -- but all the extra work does not do them any good, according to an Australian study by professor Richard Walker, from Sydney University’s Education Faculty.

Research shows that elementary school homework offers no real benefit to the pupil and offers only limited results in junior high school. Only high school students show any benefit from homework.

Richard Walker said "What the research shows is that, in countries where they spend more time on homework, the achievement results are lower."

He continues by saying that "The amount of homework is a really critical issue for kids. If they are overloaded they are not going to be happy and not going to enjoy it.
There are other things kids want to do that are very valuable things for them to be doing.”

Only senior high school students should be doing homework believes professor Walker.

And not all parents want their children to have homework. In France a group of French parents and teachers have called for a two-week boycott of homework in schools, saying it is useless, tiring and reinforces inequalities between children.

Homework is officially banned in French primary schools, and has been since 1956. But many teachers choose to ignore this and send children home with homework. Older children often spend up to an hour each evening doing homework, and longer at the weekend or on Wednesdays when most schools close.

Whether young children should do homework has been a matter of fierce debate and disagreement in France since 1912. However the anti-homework campaigners stand little chance of banning it, but hope to put the controversy back on the political agenda.

The mother of a young child in her first primary school class, writes in a blog: "My daughter is completely stressed out … often she doesn't have time to finish her homework and she is afraid of being told off."

A statement from the french parents’ association said: "Either a pupil has understood the lesson and succeeded in doing the exercises in class, in which case homework is a waste of time and stops them reading, for example, or they haven't understood and it's not at home in the absence of a teacher that they're going to do better."

As always not everyone agrees. Myriam Menez, general secretary of PEEP, another school parents' association, said “giving primary school children homework prepared them for secondary school. Of course it has to be reasonable, going back over a lesson is the best way of learning things."

Globally there is no consensus. Over the last decade, Japanese schools have been scrapping homework while in America, elementary schools have been handing out more of it.


Vocabulary
homework > deberes

benefit > beneficio, provecho

according to > según

kids = children > peques, niños

overloaded > sobrecargar

boycott > Stop cooperating with or participating in something. > boicot

useless > inútil

spend (verb: spend) spend time > pasar tiempo o spend money > gastar dinero
in countries where they spend more time on homework, the achievement results are lower.
en los países en donde pasan más tiempo en las tareas, los resultados de los logros son más bajos.

whether = If > Si
Whether young children should do homework has been a matter of fierce debate and disagreement in France since 1912.
Si los niños deben hacer los deberes ha sido objeto de un intenso debate y  desacuerdo en Francia desde 1912.

fierce > feroz, intenso

stand little chance > tener pocas posibilidades

banning > prohibir

stressed out > estresarse

afraid (adjective: afraid) > miedo. To be afraid > tener miedo.
often she doesn't have time to finish her homework and she is afraid.
a menudo no tiene tiempo para terminar sus deberes y tiene miedo.

told off  (phrasal verb: tell off) > regañar, reñir

waste of time (verb: waste) > perdida de tiempo

absence > ausencia

scrapping > (verb: scrap) > eliminar, abandonar.

while > mientras

handing out (phrasal verb: hand out) > repartir, dar


Curso inglés online por Roy Robinson