新西兰英语 338 High School teachers on strike

　　About 16,000 high school teachers went on strike today. They did not go to school. Instead they held protest¹ marches, and Wellington teachers took their protest to Parliament². However the teachers in Canterbury did not go on strike because school was cancelled last week after the earthquake.
The teachers’ union is called the PPTA – post-primary teachers’ association³. Most high school teachers belong to this union. They want a 4% pay rise. The government is offering them 1.5% this year and 1% next year. Teachers say they are nearly at the bottom in pay out of all the 33 countries in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). They also worry that graduates will not want to become teachers, many teachers will find other jobs and good teachers will move to Australia or USA. The Minister of Education says there is no more money.
However, the PPTA say that this strike is not just about pay. They also want smaller classes. They want a maximum class size of 30, and 24 for practical classes, for example in a science laboratory⁴. They say that the workload⁵ is too much – they have to work very long hours. They also want their own lap top computer so that they can do their class preparation and enter marks. They have a long list of changes that are needed to make teaching⁶ an attractive profession.
Questions
1. Would you like to be a teacher? Why or why not?
2. Do you think teaching is a hard job? What would make it easier?
3. Do you think teachers should be well paid? Most teachers study at university for four years. Do they get paid as much as other professionals who have a four-year degree?

1 protest   

v.反对，抗议；宣称；n.抗议；宣称

参考例句：

• I can't pass the matter by without a protest.我不能对此事视而不见，我要提出抗议。
• We translated his silence as a protest.我们把他的沉默解释为抗议。

2 Parliament   

n.议会，国会

参考例句：

• She won a seat in Parliament at the election.她在选举中赢得了议会中的席位。
• The drug was banned by an act of parliament.议会的法案明令禁止该药品。

3 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

4 laboratory   

n.实验室，化验室

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a laboratory.她捐款成立了一个实验室。
• Our laboratory equipment isn't perfect,but we must make do.实验室设备是不够理想，但我们只好因陋就简。

5 workload   

n.作业量，工作量

参考例句：

• An assistant one day a week would ease my workload.每周有一天配一个助手就会减轻我的工作负担。
• He's always grousing about the workload.他总是抱怨工作量大。

6 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。