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📘 IELTS Reading Practice Guidelines
- This is a full IELTS reading passage practice activity designed to improve your reading skills.
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Research Findings About School Sports in Different Nations
In recent years, numerous studies have highlighted the significance of school sports and how their role varies across nations. While physical education (PE) is universally recognised as a vital part of student development, the structure, frequency, and social perception of school sports differ widely depending on the country and its cultural values.
One extensive study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with UNESCO examined sports programmes in schools across 30 countries. The research revealed that Scandinavian nations, such as Sweden and Norway, place a strong emphasis on physical activity throughout the school week. In these countries, students are provided with at least four hours of structured physical education per week, along with access to recreational sports clubs after school. These programmes are funded by the government and are aimed at promoting lifelong physical and mental health.
In contrast, several Asian countries, including South Korea and China, adopt a more academically driven approach. Although students may participate in national-level sports competitions, regular PE lessons are often limited due to the focus on core academic subjects and exam performance. According to the Asian Education Review (2022), many schools in these regions allocate less than two hours per week to physical education. However, elite sports training is encouraged outside of school hours for high-performing athletes.
Meanwhile, in countries like Australia and Canada, school sports are deeply integrated into both the academic curriculum and community life. Schools often collaborate with local sports clubs and provide a wide range of team and individual sports opportunities. Participation is not only encouraged but also celebrated as a means to develop leadership, teamwork, and social skills. The Canadian Institute for Educational Research (CIER) found that students who engaged in regular school sports displayed higher levels of self-esteem and academic motivation.
Interestingly, economic factors also influence the quality and availability of school sports. In lower-income countries, limited funding and lack of infrastructure often restrict students’ access to regular sports activities. Despite this, non-governmental organisations have stepped in to provide alternative programmes in countries like Kenya and Nepal, where sports are used to foster community development and social inclusion.
Overall, the global research underscores that while school sports are universally acknowledged as beneficial, their implementation and emphasis are shaped by national priorities, educational systems, and cultural perspectives.
📝 Summary Completion – Questions 1–3
Complete the summary below. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
A global study by WHO and UNESCO showed major differences in school sports. In Scandinavian countries, students receive around of physical education per week. In contrast, in some Asian nations, PE is limited because of the focus on performance. Meanwhile, in Australia and Canada, sports help students build confidence and .
- 1. four hours
- 2. academic
- 3. social skills
✅ True / False / Not Given – Questions 4–7
4. All countries provide equal time for physical education in schools.
5. Scandinavian students can also play sports after school in organised clubs.
6. South Korean schools completely exclude sports from the timetable.
7. NGO initiatives have helped promote school sports in some developing countries.
❓ Multiple Choice – Questions 8–10
8. What is one purpose of school sports in Australia and Canada?
9. What does the Asian Education Review suggest about PE in Asia?
10. What challenge do low-income nations face in promoting school sports?
📘 Glossary from the Passage
| Academic Phrase | Simpler Academic Equivalent | Burmese Translation | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Significance | Importance | အရေးပါမှု | The research highlights the significance of physical activity in childhood development. |
| In collaboration with | Working together with | ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်မှုဖြင့် | The study was conducted by WHO in collaboration with UNESCO. |
| Emphasis | Focus | အလေးပေးမှု | Scandinavian nations place a strong emphasis on physical education. |
| Structured physical education | Organized PE activities | စနစ်တကျ စီစဉ်ထားသော ကာယပညာရေး | Students receive four hours of structured physical education weekly. |
| Academically driven approach | Focus on academic performance | ပညာရေးကို ဦးစားပေးသော နည်းလမ်း | Asian countries adopt a more academically driven approach to education. |
| Allocate | Assign | သတ်မှတ်ပေးသည် | Many schools allocate less than two hours per week to physical education. |
| Integrated | Incorporated | ပေါင်းစည်းထားသော | School sports are deeply integrated into both the curriculum and community life. |
| Social skills | Interpersonal abilities | လူမှုဆက်ဆံရေး စွမ်းရည်များ | Sports participation helps develop social skills among students. |
| Self-esteem | Self-confidence | မိမိကိုယ်ကို တန်ဖိုးထားမှု | Students who play sports displayed higher levels of self-esteem. |
| Infrastructure | Facilities and resources | အခြေခံအဆောက်အအုံ | Limited infrastructure restricts access to sports activities in lower-income countries. |
| Foster | Promote | မြှင့်တင်ပေးသည် | Sports programs foster community development and social inclusion. |
| Implementation | Execution | အကောင်အထည်ဖော်မှု | The implementation of sports programs varies by country. |
| Underscores | Emphasizes | အလေးပေးဖော်ပြသည် | Global research underscores the benefits of school sports. |
| Cultural perspectives | Cultural viewpoints | ယဉ်ကျေးမှုဆိုင်ရာ ရှုမြင်ပုံများ | Sports programs are shaped by cultural perspectives unique to each nation. |
📘 Fill in the Blanks Exercise: Academic Phrases
Instructions: Complete each sentence by filling in the blank with the most appropriate academic phrase from the list below.
Academic Phrases:
social skills, underscores, allocate, foster, implementation, emphasis, significance, integrated, academically driven approach, in collaboration with, cultural perspectives, self-esteem, infrastructure, structured