XIII. HOMEWORK AND PREPARATION

BEE gives the following definition: "... It is the name given to set tasks, planned by the teacher and arising out of a lesson experience or sometimes leading to the next planned lesson, which the pupil is expected to complete outside the classroom."

It corresponds to домашнее задание. Teachers set homework using such sentences as:

е. — What's our English homework?
or — What have we got to do for (English) homework?

Homework corresponds not only to (домашнее) задание, as in the above examples, but to уроки in such sentences as:

Lessons should not be used in such cases, as it is old-fashioned. Homework is sometimes contrasted with classwork.

e.g. g. Brian's homework is often carelessly done, but he answers well in class.

The type of homework can be specified if necessary, as reading homework learning homework written homework

The use of the word homework is not customary in English universities and colleges, perhaps originally because so many students live away from home. Instead one of the words given in units 305-307 is used.

Task has the same basic meaning as задание. The SOED defines it as, among other things: "a piece of work imposed, exacted, or undertaken as a duty or the like; spec, a portion of study imposed by a teacher, a lesson to be learned or prepared." In practice, however, this specific meaning is no longer used. Home task is not given at all; the addition of home appears to be the result of literal translation from Russian. The modern meaning of task given in the SOED is: "any piece of work which has to be done; something one has to do (usually involving labour or difficulty)". Task is sometimes used in this sense with reference to teaching and learning, at least in formal style.

In everyday speech task is not often heard. For example, the above two sentences could be rephrased as follows:

е. Every pupil was given something different to do.
d. Mastering the use of tenses is (very) difficult.
or It is (very) difficult to master the use of tenses.

Sometimes exercise is used to denote a set task. Its use is wider than упражнение (see also unit 217).

Assignment has come to have the same meaning as task. This is a modern use of the word, not given in the SOED, and classed as American by the more recently revised COD. It is rarely used in English educational establishments, but its meaning is clear enough and Soviet teachers may use it

sometimes in the sense of задание. Ноте assignment is not given in any of the dictionaries consulted, and appears to be a literal translation from Russian.

Preparation, usually abbreviated to prep, is used instead of homework in some schools, mainly independent boarding schools, where the work is not done at home but at school. Here prep may denote not only the work set, but a period when the pupils do the work under the supervision of a teacher or prefect (see unit 176), as in the following sentence rom Chapter One of THE SANDCASTLE by Iris Murdoch:

This means that he (Donald) is keeping order in the room where the junior boys are doing the work they have been set. Preparation (not abbreviated) and to prepare are used in universities and colleges when the work set is a direct preparation for the next class, when each student will be asked to translate, or explain difficult points, or contribute to a discussion. Another example is that of preparing to speak on some pre-arranged topic.

e. (Student to teacher) — / т sorry but I m not
prepared today. (See unit 270.)

As mentioned in unit 270, prepared (not ready) corresponds to the Russian (не) готов к уроку.

Prepare and preparation are also widely used of teachers in the sense of "готовиться к урокам/занятиям; подготовка".

e.g. d. (One teacher to another) — / must go. I've got to prepare my lessons/a lecture for tomorrow.

e.g. е. — I've got to prepare for a/my translation class. Preparation is used in such sentences as:

The general word work is widely used in universities and colleges in such sentences as:

a. (One student to another) — Miss Stuart has giv
en/set us a lot of work this week.

e.g. Students sometimes complain that they have too much set work (or that they are set too much work).

Teachers and students often avoid the necessity for homework, preparation or an equivalent noun by using for followed by the day or date by which the work has to be done.

to do the translation on page 27. b. — For next week I'd like you to write an essay on

e.g. d. — You are to read all Shakespeare's histories ( = historical plays) by the beginning of next term.

309. Soviet teachers are sometimes in doubt about various
practical points relating to the way in which written work
in English should be done. Practice in England varies con
siderably, but most schoolteachers expect their pupils to set
their work out in more or less the following way. These rules
are not enforced in universities and colleges, but students
are expected to present their written work neatly and in
accordance with certain basic standards, for the sake of clar
ity and out of respect for the teacher who has to read and
mark it. If this is not done, the teacher may refuse to accept
the work.

Exercise books in England do not usually have printed margins. Pupils draw a margin on the left-hand side of each page, about an inch wide (the same width as those in Soviet exercise books) usually in pencil. They do not write anything in the margin, except, for example, the numbers of questions/ sentences in an exercise. It is left free for marking. Note the singular use of margin in such sentences as Draw/Leave a margin, Don't write in the margin.

1st. March, 1980 —read (the) first of March, nineteen eighty or Manh 1st., 1980 —read March the first, nineteen eighty.

Note that the definite article and of are not written, except sometimes in continuous prose.

During recent years simplified forms have become more and more common, mainly owing to the desire to save time and space:

March 1 (,) 1980 —more common in the USA These are read in the same way as the traditional forms. They are particularly common in typewritten and printed matter, but are being increasingly used in handwritten matter too.

These may be read as they are written, that is: one, three, eighty, or in full, like the other forms. Originally these abbreviated forms were used only on forms, lists, etc. to save space, but they are now used by some people in letters, and by some schoolchildren and students in written work. Most teachers accept these forms, although some insist on one of the fuller forms.

Note that if the day of the week is included, it is always put at the beginning.

This is read: (Today is) Monday the fifteenth of September without a pause after Monday. The date is usually written in the top right-hand corner, and often underlined.

The heading, for example, the title of the composition, the page and number of the exercise, is usually written in the middle of the page, often on the line below the date, and underlined. Sometimes it is put on the left, against the margin.

The first word of a heading and all the following words except articles and prepositions should be written with a capital letter.

Page numbers and exercise numbers are often abbreviated in headings as follows: Р. 10, Ex. 4.

Writing must be neat and legible. When children learn to write in the primary school they start by printing and later begin to join the letters together. In some schools pupils are taught a particular style of handwriting; in others they are simply allowed to develop their own style, legibility and neatness being the only criteria.

Each paragraph ("абзац") should be indented, which means that it should begin a little way in from the margin, not right against the margin. 'The word indent is rather a technical one, and teachers usually express the idea in some other way, particularly in schools, where pupils may not know the word.

Abbreviations are widely used in headings, lists, and so on, but they are not on the whole encouraged in complete sentences. They generally give a slipshod impression and show a lack of respect for the teacher who is to mark the work. Thus in compositions, essays and translations, abbreviations such as etc. and e.g. should be avoided, and low numbers (up to about a hundred) should be written in words. The abbreviated and (&), called "ampersand", should also be avoided in continuous prose.

abbreviations are encouraged, and which in any case are usually for the writer himself to read.

When the teacher has marked the work and given it back, he usually expects the pupils to correct the mistakes they have made. He may say, for example:

— (Will you) please do your corrections now. or Please remember to do your corrections at home.

He may ask: — Are there any questions about corrections? The usual way of doing corrections is to write out misspelt words three times, and to correct other mistakes by writing out the whole sentence once. The pupils put the heading Corrections. The forms Mistakes Corrected and Correction of Mistakes are not usual, although their meaning is clear, and they are grammatically correct.

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