Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. delay
    • ex. The family had to delay their vacation plans because of the bad weather.
  2. a stepping stone
    • ex. Working for a popular company can be a stepping stone to a successful career.
  3. a recipient
    • ex. She is the recipient of many awards because of her research work.
  4. an obstacle
    • ex. He experienced a lot of obstacles before becoming a doctor.
  5. lack
    • ex. We lack practice. I think we will lose the game.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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The pandemic made Jaden Todd delay college for two years. He wasn’t sure if starting at a four-year school was right. So, he felt that community college was a good stepping stone. But he heard students have to start over again after transferring. The new school didn’t accept the credits students got from their previous community college. Fortunately, he joined Northern Virginia Community College’s ADVANCE program, a partnership with George Mason University.

The U.S. Education Department reported that partnerships between two-year and four-year colleges have shown potential in helping community college students achieve bachelor’s degrees. Only 13% of government aid recipients who started at community college in 2014 received a bachelor’s degree within eight years. Many students plan to transfer to a four-year program, but there are obstacles. One of those obstacles is they lack guidance in transferring credits.

The new data examined around 620,000 government aid recipients. The results are especially worrying for low-income students who often start at community colleges. And to help students, the State University of New York is using AI. Through AI, students can plan their courses across the different campuses within their system.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Two-Year and Four-Year College Programs

  • Which is better, two-year or four-year college programs? Why? Discuss.
  • Do you think four-year college programs are more popular than two-year college programs in your country? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • In your opinion, is it okay to delay college education? Why or why not? Discuss.

Government Aid Programs for Education

  • In your opinion, does your country have enough government aid programs for education? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • In your country, what college programs do you think the government should give more support (ex. business, engineering)? Why? Discuss.
  • Aside from college aid programs, what can the government do to help low-income students? Discuss.