Public and Catholic Schools – English Language Bits

Match these words with their meanings below.

You can type the words or copy & paste them. Check your answers by clicking Submit at the end.

throwback – concept – biased – component – faith – mass – fund – well-behaved – impression – take – baptize

Example:

someone’s opinion about a situation or idea – take

the opinion or feeling you have about someone or something because of the way they seem –

unfairly preferring one person or group over another –

to provide money for an activity or to an organization –

a part –

to accept someone as a member of the Christian church by a ceremony of baptism –

behaving in a calm polite way, and not being rude –

idea –

something that is similar to something that existed in the past, or belongs to the past –

a strong feeling of trust or confidence in someone or something; religion –

the main ceremony in some Christian churches, especially the Roman Catholic Church –

Fill in the missing words in the text. You can type them or copy & paste them.

You can check your answers by listening or by clicking Submit at the end.

throwback – biased – component – faith – mass – concept – funded – well-behaved – impression – take – baptized – concept

Yuliya: Thank you, Pat, for agreeing to answer these questions! So, I was wondering… You have all this experience as a Catholic school teacher… How would you say Catholic schools in Ontario differ from public schools?

Pat: The big difference is we teach a religion . So the students each day, in theory and hopefully in practice, get a bit of a religious instruction every day.

And then we have masses, some schools once a month. It depends on the school, the number of es they have. Some schools are involved with the different sacraments in the Catholic Church, other schools, the church, the parish church does it.

All the students are coming from one area [of the city]. The populations are diverse but we all have this one unifying component, which is our faith.

And historically, I know now it’s kind of, when you think about the school system and the population of Ontario, now it does seem like a to an earlier era when Catholic education was created to protect the rights of the minorities. Majority, I think we were a majority in number, but minority in political clout, and this may not be the case anymore.

So I know it’s kind of, for some it’s not really a popular to have catholic education, publicly funded catholic education in Ontario.

But you know, I’m a product of it, I work in it, so I’m a little , I kind of like it.

And I know in high school we do have children who are not Catholic attend Catholic high schools. And even in our school here, if one parent is Catholic, was , and then the child can come even if they don’t attend, or one parent is not Catholic.

So that’s my on it.

Yuliya: I see. So, did you go to a Catholic school as a child, you mentioned?

Pat: Yes, yes, high school and grade school. Of course when I went to high school, we had to pay for catholic education. After grade… It was only publicly funded until grade 10, and so we had to pay for grade 11, 12 and 13. But now they did away with that, a few years, I think, after I graduated, so… So it’s publicly all the way up.

Yuliya: And as you mentioned not everyone is happy about that anymore…

Pat: And I can understand a lot of people who come from a different , and, you know, why do the Catholics have their own system… I can understand that, especially now when, you know, everybody… You want a level playing field for all, but…

Yuliya: I see. I’ve heard from some parents who aren’t even Catholic, that they are interested in getting into Catholic schools. Why do you think they may have that kind of goal?

Pat: You know, I don’t know why they would… I think there’s the idea, now, I don’t agree with it, but I think there’s a concept, a belief that we might be stricter or, you know, our students wear uniforms, some parents like the idea of a uniform. That might be the case.

Some of our high schools are single, you know, all-girl or all-boy. Some parents like the idea of a high school that’s one gender.

But you know, I think, really, a school is a school depending on the community. And, you know, that our children are more well-behaved than the public school down the street – me, personally, I don’t think so. I think the community, the families, the teachers are all part of having students, a student population.

I think, that’s my impression, that people think that Catholic schools are stricter and they might like that. I don’t. That’s my , I don’t know why.

Yuliya: Would you say that apart from religious instruction, what kids study is the same?

Pat: Yes, it’s definitely, it’s the Ontario Curriculum.

Yuliya: I see. Thank you!

Pat: Yeah, no problem!

Discussion Questions:

These questions are for you if you want to practice speaking or writing.

Important Note: Generally, in Canada, we do NOT ask questions about other people’s faith and do not discuss religious matters with others. These are considered private decisions that most people would prefer to keep to themselves and not discuss publicly.

You can answer these questions for your own language practice, if you are interested. OR you can discuss them with a speaking partner ONLY if they also feel comfortable discussing this topic with you.

What’s your take on the issues of religious education?

Does it exist in your first country?

Is it available for a variety of religions or for the dominant one only?

Have there been any discussions in society about changing that?

What school would you send your own kids to?

Would you like to share reasons for your choice?

Find the best sentence for each of these words.

You can type the words or copy & paste them. Check your answers by clicking Submit at the end.

throwback – biased – components – faith – mass – funded – well-behaved – impression – take – baptized – concept

My dog is really , he won’t cause any trouble.

What’s your on this?

Exercise is one of the key of a healthy lifestyle.

I got the that he wasn’t very happy with his new job.

The federal government s a number of scholarships for international students.

Cause and effect is a simple .

Unfortunately, some people lose their in the government.

Of course I’m , but I thought my daughter’s paintings were the best.

What time do they have Sunday morning at this church?

I know I was as a kid, but I do not have the certificate to confirm this.

His suit looked like a to the 1990s.

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