Form teacher and the form. Не/she is usually elected for one term or one year by the form.

First-former, second-former, etc. are used in both formal and informal style to denote a pupil of the first/second form, etc.

There is no special word for a child in the same form. Class - matelfellow are rarely used now, least of all by the children themselves. Instead English people use:

a boy/girl in mylhislher form Similarly schoolmate has been replaced by schootfriend.

Year includes all the pupils of the same age group in any type of school, whether or not they are divided into parallel classes or forms, and is widely used in English schools nowadays. It could replace form in examples a-c above (unit 176). Here are some more examples:

b. Jill was away so much that she had to repeat the year
or... to stay down for another year.

Note that there is no special noun for a pupil who is repeating a year. (Repeating a year is very rare in English schools.)

This is used in American English to denote a year group. The numbering of grades is continuous from the beginning of compulsory schooling to the end, although students (= pupils) generally transfer to high school at 12/13.

In most secondary schools, and even in many junior schools, the pupils are streamed, that is, they are divided into the parallel classes or forms described above according to their ability or achievement. These parallel forms are called streams and the practice itself is known as streaming. The most able are in the A stream (the top stream), the less able in the В stream, and the least able in the C, D, or even H stream (the bottom stream), the number of streams depending on the size

of the school. Thus the letters A, В, C, as in 1A, 1B, 1C, etc. do not indicate purely administrative groupings, as in the Soviet Union, but groupings according to ability or achievement, which is assessed by examinations or tests at the end of each year.

Transfer from one stream to another is possible. For example, a child who makes very good progress in 1C and whose work is above the general standard of that form may be transferred to 2B, or even 2A, at the beginning of the next school year. In practice, however, this happens in relatively few cases, because in many schools the lower streams either follow a simplified curriculum, or, if there is a common curriculum, cover less material. Thus children in the lower streams are often unable to compete on an equal footing with those in the higher streams in the examinations or tests at the end of the year. Transfer to a lower stream is also possible, although not common. Most children tend to conform to the stream in which they are first placed, and go through the school in the same stream/The bottom stream is usually remedial, that is, for pupils whose level of achievement is far below average for their age. In a remedial form remedial work/teaching is done, which means work aimed at teaching these pupils basic skills which they should have learned earlier. Sometimes the existence of streaming is disguised by giving the forms the initial letter of their form teacher's name instead of A, В, C, etc.

In some grammar schools they call the streams alpha, beta, gamma. However, whatever the streams are called, the system is basically the same.

Opposition to streaming has increased in recent years and some schools have unstreamed classes, either throughout the school or only for the first two or three years. However, most English teachers are not used to teaching classes of mixed ability and find it very difficult. Many also say that it does not work for certain subjects, mainly maths and foreign languages. A compromise between streaming and mixed ability classes is provided by banding or setting (see units 180, 181 below).

Stream and streaming are usually translated into Russian as поток, деление на потоки.

Banding is a modified form of streaming, which has recently been introduced in some comprehensive schools with a large number of parallel forms in each year. Instead of there being as many streams as there are parallel forms within each year (as described in the previous unit), all the forms in each year are grouped in, for example, two bands (A band and В band), each consisting of several forms which are not differentiated from each other. The forms in the A band follow a more academic course, those in the В band a less academic, more practical one. In such cases there is usually also one remedial form (see unit 179).

Setting means "dividing a form or year into groups for a particular subject according to the pupils' ability or achievement in that subject". For example, in the first year there may be three parallel forms (streamed or unstreamed) and three, four or even more sets for French. A pupil may be in the first! top set for French, the second or third set for maths, and so on. Setting is usually practised only for certain subjects, especially maths and foreign languages; pupils are taught in forms for the other subjects.

This word is not used in the sense of set as defined in the previous unit. It has a more general meaning. However, in situations where a form is split up into smaller groups, but not according to ability, group is preferable.

A tutor group is a subdivision of a house (see unit 183). In comprehensive schools the houses are very big and are therefore sometimes divided into smaller units called tutor groups, under a tutor, who can get to know the pupils in his group better than either the house master/mistress (because he has fewer people) or the form master/mistress (because the pupils stay in the same tutor group for several years).

The house system originated at the independent boarding schools, where the pupils (usually boys) were grouped not only according to age and achievement in forms but also in houses, each of which contained an equal number of pupils from each form. (One might say that the pupils are divided not only horizontally into forms but vertically into houses.) In boarding

schools the houses are the buildings in which the pupils live, under the care of a housemaster and his wife. (For example, Мог, in "The Sandcastle" by Iris Murdoch, is a housemaster.) When a boy enters the school he is allocated to one of these houses and stays in it until he leaves, although naturally he moves up from one form to another. These houses are used as a means of encouraging competition between pupils, especially in games.

The house system was adopted in a modified form by the state schools, mainly the grammar schools. As these are mostly day schools, the houses have no building and no residential significance. They are simply groupings for competitions of various kinds. Not all schools have houses.

There is no exact English equivalent for this general term, although student seems to be moving in that direction (see unit 170). Learner can be used in some cases (see unit 169). In others, the combination schoolchildren and students seems to be the only possibility.

In formal style pupil can be used, but in non-formal style boy, girl or one of the other alternatives given in unit 173 is more appropriate.

Ученик/ученица... -го класса is better translated as first-former, second-former, etc. than pupil of the... form. Such sentences as "Он ученик 1-го класса" can be translated as He's in the first form, etc.

Class can be used as a general term, meaning any group of children being taught. For example, speaking about a student on teaching practice, we may say: He managed/failed to hold the attention of the class.

Form is generally used by Soviet teachers in translating первый/второй класс. While first form, second form, etc. are acceptable translations on the whole, they have one drawback. The fact that in most English schools forms start only in the secondary school, at the age of eleven, may lead to confusion. Thus if we say that a pupil is in the first form (meaning "в первом классе") when talking to an English person unfamiliar with the Soviet system, he will suppose the child to be eleven

or twelve, not seven or eight (see unit 176) and so on. It might therefore be preferable to use the American term grade as a translation of класс denoting a year group, at least when talking to English people or Americans. This has the advantage of being applicable to all the years of compulsory schooling, not just secondary school (see unit 178). It is true that there is one year's difference in age, because children in the USA start school at six, but this does not seem too serious. Grade is the word used by several members of a group of teachers from England who visited some Soviet schools (see bibliography, No. 12), which proves that it is a familiar word to educated English people, even if it is not used in their schools.

When класс denotes not the whole year group but only one of the parallel divisions (e.g. 1A, 2B), grade is not appropriate and form or class should be used.

When forms are split up, for example, for language lessons, group is the best translation (see unit 182).

The following words are used with reference to university and college students. (For the use of student, see unit 170.)

An undergraduate (student) is a person who is studying for a first degree (see unit 371) and has therefore not yet graduated, in contrast to a graduate or a postgraduate (see below). It usually denotes a university student, because other institutions have mainly non-degree courses.

A postgraduate (student) is one who has graduated (having taken a first degree) and is continuing his studies at a more advanced level, often for a higher degree (see unit 372).

Undergraduate/postgraduate are often abbreviated to under-grad/postgrad in colloquial style.

The two words are used adjectivally in such expressions as undergraduate/postgraduate work/course/grant.

In England a graduate is not a student but simply a person who has graduated, that is, taken a first degree, either at a university or other institution providing higher education

courses (see unit 27). It implies a contrast with non-graduate, that is, a person with a qualification other than a degree.

of Oxford (or Oxford graduates), b. Arts graduates often have difficulty in finding jobs nowadays, (see unit 392).

In American English, however, graduate is used differently. When attributive it generally corresponds to British English postgraduate, as in graduate student and graduate work. When used substantially, it may denote a person who has received a degree or diploma from any educational institution, including high school (see unit 18) and the expressions high school graduate and college/university graduate occur frequently. It follows from this that graduate cannot be used alone to denote a person with a higher educational qualification, as in British English.

Students are generally divided into years, as follows: first year, second year, third year.

First degree courses at English universities usually last three years, as do many college courses. In the case of longer courses, however, one may say, fourth year, fifth year, etc. First/ second year, etc. are used as follows:

e.g.— Г т a first-year postgraduate (student) at Г т in my first year of research.

Fresher is a colloquial word used in some English universities and colleges to denote new students. It is not a synonym of first-year student. Students are only considered to be freshers for about a month, until they get used to university/ college life.

Freshman (for both sexes) is an Americanism denoting a first-year student, and is occasionally usedjin England too. The American words for second-, third- and fourth-year students, sophomore , junior and senior, do not seem to be

used in England. Junior/senior could be used in a general sense to denote the younger/older students, but as most degree courses last only three years this is not a natural division.

The students of one year are often divided into groups for certain types of work, for example, seminars, tutorials (see units 275, 276), or for conversation. These groups are called seminar/tutorial/conversation groups, and the divisions are usually temporary, made only for one type of work. They may, and often do, vary from one term to another. A group may consist of about ten students, or six, or only three, depending on the work involved.

It is interesting to note that in England students are referred to as men (students) and women (students), and not boys and girls. The full forms, with student, are used mainly in formal style. In non-formal style girls is often used instead of women (students), but boys is not usual. Thus one meets the combination men and girls instead of the traditional men and women and boys and girls.

However, when using this translation, bear in mind that it has a wider application than the Russian word (see unit 170). When студент is contrasted with аспирант, undergraduate is more appropriate (see unit 188).

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