Simon
128
IELTS
reading exercises
Compiled by
Ulugbek Yusupov
Created by
Proper English School
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Page 21
Exercise 36
IELTS Reading: multiple choice about 'times tables'
Read the following passage about the teaching of multiplication tables in Britain.
Children will now have to know their 12 times tables by the age of nine, but it's not about
rote learning, it's about revelling in the profusion of patterns, writes Rob Eastaway, maths
writer and dad.
There was a time - several decades ago now - when the reason for learning the 12 times
table was obvious. As a country using imperial measurements, we were all measuring in
feet and inches and paying in shillings and pence, so multiplying by 12 was a common,
everyday experience.
But for today's children this is all ancient history. Yes, we do still count eggs in dozens, and
a lot of people - including most Americans - do still work in inches, but that's hardly
justification for spending hours swotting those extra tables.
And yet, there's still a case for learning your "twelves", but the reason is to do with
discovering patterns and building a confidence in handling numbers. Once children begin to
get comfortable multiplying numbers larger than 10, they start to get a feel for big
multiplications. Knowing your 11 and 12 times tables can introduce intriguing patterns that
might be missed if you stop at 10.
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