--- title: Jake and the head teacher — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Jake and the head teacher», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Jake had been sent to the head teacher's office so often that the secretary just said «the usual chair, Jake?» He laughed, but felt a bit asham --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/) / Jake and the head teacher # Jake and the head teacher Lesson 373 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 25 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/0/) — Jake had been sent to the head teacher's office so often that the secretary just said «the usual chair, Jake?» He laughed, but felt a bit ashamed. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/1/) — Mr Pryce, the head, asked him to explain exactly what had happened, and Jake realised he could not remember why he had hit the other boy. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/2/) — They worked it out together: a pushed queue, a shove, a bloody nose, all over a place in the line. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/3/) — The week after a fight, Jake lost his place on the school trip to the zoo. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/4/) — He cried in the toilets, because it felt unfair. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/5/) — When the class came back with photos of the penguins, he decided the fight had not been worth it. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/6/) — Some costs of a fight arrive later, and they can hurt more than any punch. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/7/) — Mr Pryce tried something new. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/8/) — He made Jake a playground buddy for the Year 2s, and Jake had a whole week without a fight because he had little ones to look after. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/9/) — He also gave Jake a «calm card» to show when he needed to leave class and cool down. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/10/) — Jake was embarrassed at first, but the more he used it, the less he fought. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/11/) — The fourth time the school called Jake's dad in, Dad said in the car: «I lost half a day's pay for this.» Jake had never thought that his fights cost his family money. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/12/) — Then Jake was put on report and needed a teacher's signature after every lesson; after two weeks the card was full of good comments, and he showed it to his gran. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/14/) — What helped him was a teacher who believed in him and a boxing club with strict rules. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/15/) — Jake asked, «why does everyone expect me to be the bad one?» Mr Pryce said that reputations take time to change, and promised always to ask Jake's side first. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/16/) — A head teacher's job includes finding out what really happened, not only giving punishments. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/17/) — Many fights turn out to be about almost nothing once people slow down and look closely. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/18/) — Losing a trip or a treat is a common school consequence of fighting. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/19/) — Being trusted with a job, like looking after younger children, often helps a child behave well. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/20/) — A calm card or time-out pass lets a child leave a room to calm down before anger turns into a fight. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/21/) — When school calls a parent in, the parent may have to leave work and can lose pay. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/22/) — Being «on report» means getting each lesson checked and signed by teachers. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/23/) — A report card can also become a record of getting better. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/24/) — Many adults who now work with children had trouble at school themselves and changed. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/373-jake-and-the-head-teacher/25/) — People change how they act faster than other people change how they see them. - ← previous: [Jake, always in bruises](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/372-jake-always-in-bruises/) - next →: [What fights cost: bruises, noses and teeth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/374-what-fights-cost-bruises-noses-and-teeth/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)