Read the article about Alison’s experience and do the tasks that follow.
Alison Blackmoor talks about the School Enterprise Challenge
I first got interested in the School Enterprise Challenge when I was working as a teacher. I got bored with teaching the same old subjects and felt that students needed to learn life skills as well as the traditional maths and history. The School Enterprise Challenge helps students start and run their own business, and the best businesses win prizes. Students all over the world take part. The aim isn’t for students to make lots of money for themselves, but to learn about business and help their school or local community.
I’m always amazed at the clever ideas students have, like opening a school café or repairing furniture for other schools. There was an amazing project in Colombia, South America one year. The students could see that the natural forest in their area was getting smaller as businesses were cutting down too many trees. To help people to recycle paper, the students built recycling boxes and put them in local schools, colleges and businesses. They sold the waste paper for recycling, then used the money to plant more trees. It was a brilliant idea, which helped the environment and really taught everyone how important recycling is.
As well as learning how to run a business, the students also learn more general skills such as how to plan ahead and manage a team of people. The organisation that runs the School Enterprise Challenge supports schools with information packs and ideas about how to develop their business plan. And there are lots of different ways students can choose to spend the money they make. Some use it to buy sports equipment for their school. Others might use it to help poorer students to buy books or school uniforms.
I stopped teaching and got a job in business a few years ago, and now I’m going to apply to work for the School Enterprise Challenge as a competition judge. I’m sending my application in next week, so wish me luck! Judges travel all over the country to visit schools that are taking part, to see their businesses in action. It sounds amazing! Then the judges decide on the winners. Next year’s competition opens in March, so if you’re reading this, why not think about having a go and starting your own school business?
Task 1: Read the title of the article. What do you think the School Enterprise Challenge is? Read the first paragraph and check your ideas.
A. a business that sells things to schools
B. a new kind of school where students learn about business
C. a competition for schools to start businesses
Task 2: Read the article again. For each question, choose the correct answer.
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1 |
Alison liked the idea of the School Enterprise Challenge because |
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A. |
she knew that most schools need more money. |
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B. |
she thought students needed to do more than traditional subjects. |
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C. |
she wanted to help students to become rich. |
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D. |
she was already running her own business. |
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2 |
What does Alison say about the project in Colombia? |
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A. |
It stopped local businesses from cutting down trees. |
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B. |
People used less paper as a result of the project. |
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C. |
Some people still don’t agree that recycling is important. |
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D. |
The students spent the money they made on helping the environment. |
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3 |
Alison says that students who take part in the competition |
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A. |
always make a lot of money. |
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B. |
already know how to run a business. |
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C. |
can decide how to use the money they make. |
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D. |
can work individually or as a team. |
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4 |
How does Alison feel about the idea of working for the School Enterprise Challenge? |
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A. |
She is excited about seeing lots of different businesses. |
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B. |
She thinks she wouldn’t enjoy all the travelling. |
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C. |
She is worried it would be very difficult to choose the winners. |
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D. |
She thinks there won’t be time to visit many schools. |
Task 3: Complete the definitions with the highlighted verbs in the article. Put the verbs in the correct form.
1 When you ________ a new business, it begins to work.
2 When you ________ money, you get it by selling things.
3 If you ________ a business, you are the boss and help it to work well.
4 If you ________ a café or shop, you start it, so that people can come into it for the first time.
5 If you ________ a business plan, you make it by thinking carefully about it.
6 When you ________ a team of people, you tell them what to do.
ANSWER KEY
Task 1.
C
Task 2.
1. B 2. D 3. C 4. A
Task 3.
1. start 2. make 3. run
4. open 5. develop 6. manage