Reading Comprehension.
11 grade
Schools of the future
Goodbye to the classroom?
Technology is slowly establishing itself in the classroom: interactive whiteboards, tablets, and video streaming
have all become commonplace. However, there is one thing in schools that hasn´t change for centuries: the
classroom itself.
High-tech technology is modifying how we live, work, and study, but only now is it beginning to have an impact
on the buildings that we do these things in. One of the first new school buildings to include technology in the
design process was Microsoft´s School of the Future, in Philadelphia. With whiteboards that cover whole walls,
classroom furniture that is light and easy to rearrange, and state-of-the-art software and hardware, the school
was soon attracting visitors from all over the world. The school wasn´t a complete success at the beginning, but
it must have inspired some visitors, as they have gone on to develop the school´s ideas.
One such school is the Orestad High School in Copenhagen, Denmark. Students at the school only use digital
materials, and they often communicate with each other and with their teachers via the internet during class. The
school is one big classroom, with no walls or whiteboards, and although new students are noisy at first, they
soon adapt to their new learning environment.
The objective of schools like Orestad High School is to encourage students to take responsibility for their own
learning and to train them to be comfortable working individually and in teams. They also want to prepare
students for the digital working world that they will enter once they leave education. Only time will demonstrate
if they have been successful.
Read the text again. Put the information in the order that you read it.
A. Students soon learn to behave in an appropriate way for their learning environment.
B. Communication in class is done digitally.
C. Students will become independent learners.
D. Classrooms are the same as they always have been.
E. Students from high-tech schools will be ready for the demands of the modern job market.
F. Reorganizing the classroom is easier.
G. Buildings are changing.
