Poziom: B1+/B2 · Rozmówcy: Olivia (young English teacher), Graham (literature teacher, thirty years)
📄 To nagranie pochodzi z lekcji Let’s Talk: Books (Lesson 2, Exercise 2–3) – pełny scenariusz z ćwiczeniami znajdziesz w naszym sklepie.
Transkrypcja nagrania
Olivia: Graham, look at this pile. Thirty essays on a 19th-century novel, and I’d bet half of them just read a summary online.
Graham: Then they should be ashamed of themselves. It’s a wonderful book.
Olivia: For us, maybe. For a fifteen-year-old it’s four hundred pages about people who never text each other. With respect, I don’t think these lists have changed since you were at school.
Graham: They’re classics for a reason, Olivia. Classics teach you how language works. They give students a shared culture — references they’ll meet for the rest of their lives.
Olivia: That’s true up to a point, but what’s the point of a shared culture if they all hate it? We’re teaching them that reading is a punishment. Something you do for a test.
Graham: Not everything has to be fun. Maths isn’t always fun either.
Olivia: But nobody does maths in bed on a Sunday for pleasure. Reading can be like that — if we let it. Habits come from pleasure, not pressure.
Graham: So what would you do? Throw out every classic and give them comics?
Olivia: No! I’d give them time to read what they choose — twenty minutes a week, any book, any format. Fantasy, sport, graphic novels, whatever gets them hooked. Then the classics feel like the next step, not a wall.
Graham: Hmm. … Can I tell you something? I hated the books we read at school. Every single one.
Olivia: You? The man with the Dickens mug?
Graham: I became a reader at thirteen because my uncle gave me The Hobbit. Nobody tested me on it. I just couldn’t stop reading. After that I read everything — even the classics.
Olivia: Exactly! That’s my whole point.
Graham: Fair enough. I’ll give you that. But I’m not giving up on the classics completely.
Olivia: I’m not asking you to. What if we meet halfway? One classic per term — and one book they choose themselves.
Graham: One classic and one free choice… All right. But I’m choosing the classic.
Olivia: Deal. As long as it’s shorter than four hundred pages.