Brainstorming Phrases Practice – Improving Education

Improving education brainstorming phrases practice

Brainstorming phrases and practice/ Education vocabulary and speaking

In pairs or small groups, quickly choose one way in which education in your country could be improved and then prepare to justify your choice using the stages below.

Stage 1 – BrainstormingBrainstorm reasons why the thing you have chosen might be the best way to improve education in your country.

Useful phrases for brainstorming (initial) ideas“Any more ideas?”“I think we need three or four more”“Let’s just get all our ideas down and discuss them later”“That’s probably not true, but let’s write it down anyway”

 Stage 2 – OrganisationTry to group your ideas from above together, adding any more ideas that come up as you are doing so

Useful phrases for organising your ideas“I think these two are related.”“These are both/ all kinds of…”“Another example of that is…”

 Stage 3 – Choose the best ideas/ Edit the ideas down

Useful phrases for editing down your ideas“This one is a bit weak.”“This one doesn’t fit in anywhere.”

 Stage 4 - Add support

Useful phrases for adding support to your ideas“An example of this is…”“This is true/ important because…”“We can support this one by saying…”“Someone once said…”

 Stage 5 - Anticipate the other side’s counterarguments

Useful phrases for preparing counterarguments“They might say…, but we can argue that…”

Change groups. Try to persuade your new partner(s) that the way of improving education that you choose would be more effective than their idea(s).

Without looking back at the previous page, brainstorm phrases to do these things when you brainstorming together in groups: 

Brainstorming/ Asking for ideas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organising the ideas/ Putting the ideas into order/ Putting the ideas into categories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editing down the ideas/ Choosing the best ideas/ Getting rid of weak ideas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adding support for your ideas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anticipating the other side’s counterarguments

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look above, then brainstorm more.

Compare your extra phrases as a class or with the suggested answers.

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Suggested answers

Asking for ideas

“Do you have any more ideas (at all)?”“I think we need a couple more”“Let’s just write all our ideas down and discuss them later”

“That’s probably not true, but let’s write it down anyway”

“What about…?”

“Can we write anything else here/ in this category?”

 

Organising the ideas/ Putting the ideas into order/ Putting the ideas into categories

“I think these two are related to each other/ linked by…”“These are both/ all kinds of…”“Another example of this is…”“We can put these together because…”“These are similar in terms of…”

 

Editing down the ideas/ Choosing the best ideas/ Getting rid of weak ideas

“This one doesn’t seem to link to any of the others”

“This one isn’t very convincing”

“This one doesn’t fit in with any of the others”

“These two are too similar”

“I think this is true, but I can’t explain why”

“Can I cross this one off?”

“I think we can eliminate this one because…”

 

Adding support for your ideas

“A good example of this is…”“This is true/ important because…”“We can support this one by saying…”

“The best argument for this is…”

“The proof for this is…”

“If they are not convinced, we can say that…”

“I read/ saw something about this which said…”

 

Anticipating the other side’s counterarguments

“They might say…, but we can argue that…”

“If I was them, I’d say…”

“If they say…, we can argue that…”

“If they argue that…, the best counterargument is…”

“If they notice the weakness in this argument, we can say…”

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Brainstorming ideas tasks

Choose at least one of the topics below and brainstorm ideas using language like that above

• Reasons why education should be free/ shouldn’t be free
• Ways to improve English language education in schools
• Advantages and disadvantages of a gap year
• Advantages and disadvantages of starting English lessons very young
• Strengths and weaknesses of the education system in your country
• Ways educational institutions could respond to a falling birth-rate
• Things would should be taught (more) in schools
• Advantages and disadvantages of giving school children more choice
• Advantages and disadvantages of also having interviews to enter university
• Ways of stopping truancy/ students skipping school
• Ways of revising English vocabulary
• Advantages and disadvantages of living at home during university
• Advantages and disadvantages of co-ed (=coeducational/ mixed sex) schools
• Suitable punishments for school children
• Ways of really testing English ability
• Advantages and disadvantages of continuous assessment

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Brainstorming language tasks

Use similar phrases to help brainstorm vocabulary into the following categories. You will get one point for each correct word or phrase that isn’t in the answer key.

Educational institutions

 

Qualifications

 

Punishments

 

Rooms and buildings

 

Things connected to money

 

People

 

Collocations with “test” and “exam”

 

Things which are different in British and American English (including because the educational systems are different)

 

Abbreviations (= short forms) of education vocabulary

 

Opposites

 

Words which have similar but different meanings

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Suggested answers

Educational institutions

cram school, primary school, kindergarten/ nursery/ pre-school/ playschool, uni, grad school, (technical/ vocational/ junior/ two year/ 6^th form) college

 

Qualifications

school leaving certificate, BA/ BSc/ bachelor’s degree/ first degree/ four year degree/ university degree/ undergraduate degree, junior college degree/ two year degree, master’s degree/ master’s/ MA/ MSc/ MPhil/ MBA, postgraduate degree, PhD/ doctorate, post-doc,

 

Punishments

lines, detention, physical punishment/ corporal punishment (e.g. caning), extra homework

 

Rooms and buildings

cafeteria, lab(oratory), students’ union, dorm/ student halls

 

Things connected to money

grant, scholarship, fees, living expenses

 

People

pupil, professor, lecturer, lab assistant, student, mature student, postgrad student

 

Collocations with “test” and “exam”

take, retake, fail/ flunk, pass with flying colours, scrape through, entrance, end of term, final, open book, multiple choice, national, school leaving, essay-based, oral

 

Different in British/ American English

secondary school/ junior high school, grad school, term/ semester, revise/ review, junior/ second year student, sophomore – third/ final year student, senior, three year degree/ four year degree, fresher/ freshman, Oxbridge/ Ivy league, redbrick universities, the meaning of public school

 

Abbreviations

BA, BSc, MA, MSc, MBA, PhD, post-doc, SAT, uni, finals, co-ed, PTA, Oxbridge, lab, postgrad, dorm, grad school

 

Opposites

pass – fail, undergraduate – postgraduate, attend – skip, major – minor, co-ed – single sex, fresher/ first year student/ freshman – final year student/ senior

 

Words which have similar but different meanings

pupil/ student, quiz/ test/ exam, essay/ dissertation, university/ college, freshman/ new recruit, lecture/ lesson, lecturer/ professor, grant/ scholarship, certificate/ qualification, academic year/ calendar year, hearing test/ listening test, BA/ BSc

 

What are the differences between the things in the last category above?

What do the abbreviations mean/ stand for?