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Education & Teaching vocabulary · School Administration and School Life

Semester

Meaning in education & teaching, with examples

/sɪˈmestər/nounCore term

In education & teaching, semester means: One of the two main parts into which a school or university year is divided, each usually lasting about four or five months.

In Turkish: dönem, yarıyıl

How it is used

Standard in American schools and universities and in Turkish university contexts in English. Courses run for a semester; people say fall semester and spring semester. British schools usually divide the year into three terms instead.

Example sentences

  1. The new curriculum will be introduced in the fall semester.

  2. Report cards go home at the end of each semester.

Common collocations

  • fall semester
  • spring semester
  • end of the semester
  • this semester
  • semester break
  • timetableA plan that shows which lessons happen at which times on each day of the week, for a class, a teacher or a whole school.
  • report cardAn official document that a school sends to parents, showing a student's grades, attendance and teachers' comments for a term or semester.
  • attendanceBeing present at school or in class, or the record of how often a student has been present; schools track it every day.
  • syllabusA document that lists the topics, materials, assignments and assessment of one course, often with a week-by-week schedule.

More terms: School Administration and School Life

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