新西兰英语 352 Teachers on strike

　　High school teachers will start their rolling strikes on Wednesday when Year 9 students have to stay at home. On Thursday there will be no Year 11 classes and next week Year 10 students will have no classes on one day. To go on strike means¹ that teachers will not teach at all but a rolling strike means that teachers will refuse to teach one class level on a particular day. The rolling strikes will not affect Years 12 and 13 classes.
High school teachers want more money, smaller classes – fewer than 30 students in each class – and more money for middle managers like Heads of Department. The government has offered $1,000 this year, a 2.5% increase over the next two years, and some extra money for middle managers but teachers say it is not enough. It is hard to encourage young graduates to become teachers, it is hard to find teachers who want to be Heads of Department and it is hard to keep teachers in New Zealand. Many of them go overseas² to teach where the pay is better.
At the moment, salaries for new teachers start at $31,305. After five years, that increases to $44,348.
The Minister of Education, Anne Tolley, says that there is no more money. New Zealand is suffering from the economic recession³, many people have lost jobs and many people have had a pay freeze which means their pay stays the same. Some people argue that teachers have long holidays but teachers say they work long hours with lesson preparation and marking. They also say that students are more difficult to teach these days because they are badly behaved.
For more about teachers’ strikes, listen to Sept 15th 2010
Questions
1. Do you think teachers are well paid?
2. How do you think parents feel about these rolling strikes?
3. Primary teachers are paid the same as secondary⁴ teachers. Do you think this is fair?

1 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

2 overseas   

adj.海外的；adv.在海外

参考例句：

• Her man has been sent overseas by his employers.她的丈夫已被雇主派往海外。
• Many firms are focusing on increasing their markets overseas.许多商行都专注于扩大国外市场。

3 recession   

n.（工商业的）衷退（期），萧条（期）

参考例句：

• Manufacturing fell sharply under the impact of the recession.受到经济萧条的影响，制造业急剧衰退。
• A rise in interest rates plunged Britain deeper into recession.利率的提高导致英国经济更加萧条。

4 secondary   

adj.中级的，中等的，次要的；n.次要位置，副手

参考例句：

• It's a question of secondary importance.这是个次要的问题。
• Secondary school means junior school and high school.中学是指初中和高中。