Speak English with me! School & College Vocabulary

Hello and Welcome to English Lessons with Kate!

Today we’re going to talk about school vocabulary, in English!

We go to school to learn. In the U.S.,  school means

any place where people learn. 

For young students, school includes elementary school,

middle school, and high school. After high school, students can go to college or university,  

and people still call it "school." For example, you might hear someone say, "I'm  

going to school in New York," even if they talk about college. But they still call it school.  

When you go to school, you spend your time in the classroom with your teacher and classmates.  

You learn with your classmates and work together. We can also say – schoolmates,  

fellow students or peers. Peers are people who are the  

same age as you or in the same grade. They don’t always have to be in the same class, but  

they are usually your friends you see at school. In school you study different subjects, like math  

and science. We also call them ‘disciplines’. In school, science is an important discipline  

that helps students understand the natural world. You follow a schedule every day. A schedule is  

a plan that shows what you need to do  and when you need to do it. In school,  

a schedule tells you which classes you  have each day and what time they start.  

At school, students also have  recess, a break to play and relax.  

In the U.S. and Australia, they call it recess.  In the UK, it's called a break or playtime.  

In every school, there is a principal. This  person is like the boss of the school. They  

also talk to students during assemblies. Now let’s watch a short dialogue and review  

all the words we have just learned.

Sometimes, a teacher gives you a quiz or a test

to see what you’ve learned. At the end of the term, students often  

take an exam. If you don’t study enough,  you might fail an exam. If you study well,  

you can pass the exam with a good score. It’s important to prepare for the exam.  

If you don't prepare for the  exam, it will be hard to pass it.  

Each term, you’ll get a report card. This card  shows your grades. It tells you how well you  

did in your subjects. A grade is a score or  letter (like A, B, C) that shows how well you  

did on your homework, tests, or assignments. Assignments are tasks or work that teachers  

give students to do. They can be things like  writing a report, solving math problems,  

or making a project. Assignments help students  practice what they learn in class and show the  

teacher how well they understand the subject. Grade can also mean a year level in school. For  

example, if you are in the 2nd grade,  it means you are in the second year  

of school. 8th grade is usually the last  year of middle school before high school.  

Now let’s watch a short dialogue and review  all the words we have just learned.  

I hope everything was clear for you,  and now let’s talk about grades.  

In different countries, grades can be  very different. In the United States,  

grades are often letters like A, B, C, D, and F. A usually means you did excellent work.  

B means you did good work. C means your work is okay but could be better.  

D means you need improvement. F means you failed.  

The higher the grade, the better the work was. It’s important to come to school every day. When  

you come to school we can say – you attend school.  Attend. Attend means to be present at a place.  

Teachers take attendance every day to check  which students are in class and who is absent.  

When you come to school, you learn new things from  your teacher. To learn better, you need to study  

at home by reading and doing your homework. But  what is the difference between learn and study?  

Learn means to get new knowledge or skills.  It's when you understand something new.  

Study means to spend time practicing or  reading to understand something better,  

like studying for a test to remember facts. Sometimes, you have to memorize important facts,  

so you can remember them for a test.  Memorize means to keep information  

in your mind so you can say or use it later  without help. For example, you memorize your  

phone number so you can remember it anytime. Before a test, you should revise your notes  

to make sure you’re ready. Revise means to look  at something you’ve learned before to make sure  

you still know it well. I always revise my  notes before a test to refresh my memory.  

Participate means to join in  and take part in an activity.  

When you participate, you are actively doing  something with others. You can participate  

in a class discussion. You can participate in a  group project or a group activity. You can fully  

participate in something. Fully participate  means you are helping as much as possible,  

sharing your ideas, and working with your group. If there is a math problem, you will need to  

solve it by thinking about it carefully. To  solve means to find the answer to a problem.  

You might also need to research information  for a project by looking in books or online.  

Research can be used as both a noun and a verb,  and their pronunciation is a little different:  

As a noun, it is pronounced like: REE-search. Example: "I did some research on animals."  

As a verb, it is pronounced like: ri-SERCH Example: "I need to research this topic  

for my project."  

Please pay attention to the stress here. When you miss a class, you need to catch up  

on the work you missed so you can be at  the same level as the other students.  

For example, if you were absent, you need to  catch up by finishing the lessons you missed.  

Now let’s watch a short dialogue and  review the words we have just learned.  

I hope everything was clear for you,  and now let’s talk about graduation.  

At the end of your school journey, there is  graduation. This is when you finish school  

and celebrate all you’ve learned. When you graduate from high school,  

you can go to college or start working. Graduation is a special event at the  

end of school. To graduate means  

to finish all the required courses in school  and be ready to move on to the next step.  

Please remember that in the US  people still call it school,  

whether it is a college or a university. Today, we’ve learned a lot of new vocabulary about  

school, education, and learning. I hope this video  was useful for you. Let me know in the comments  

where you study and what grade you're in! Thank you for watching this video. Please  

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post a lot of useful content. Thank you  for watching! See you next time. Bye!