runs down to the bank

[keannu]

1. Does "fifth year" mean "fifth year in career" or "fifth grade teacher"?
2. "To the bank" definitely means "to the construction by the dam or river" differentiated from the second bank for pun, right?
3. What is the difference between "run to" and "run down to"?

j3-1
ex)A fifth year teacher was giving his elementary school students a lesson to develop their logical thinking. "This is the scene," said the teacher. "A man is standing up in a boat in the middle of a river, fishing. He loses his balance, falls in, and begins yelling for help. His wife hears him screaming, knows he can't swim, and runs down to the bank. Why do you think sh ran to the bank?" The teacher said to students. "Guess what the answer might be." A little girl raised her hands and asked. "To draw out all his savings."

[charliedeut]

1. Does "fifth year" mean "fifth year in career" or "fifth grade teacher"?
2. "To the bank" definitely means "to the construction by the dam or river" differentiated from the second bank for pun, right? See definition #4 of "bank" here
3. What is the difference between "run to" and "run down to"? In this case, following the definition in the link I provided, it literally means that the bank was at a lower level to the place where the woman was.

j3-1
ex)A fifth year teacher was giving his elementary school students a lesson to develop their logical thinking. "This is the scene," said the teacher. "A man is standing up in a boat in the middle of a river, fishing. He loses his balance, falls in, and begins yelling for help. His wife hears him screaming, knows he can't swim, and runs down to the bank. Why do you think sh ran to the bank?" The teacher said to students. "Guess what the answer might be." A little girl raised her hands and asked. "To draw out all his savings."

As for the first question, IMO it refers to fifth grade.

charliedeut

[emsr2d2]

In the UK, a fifth year teacher could mean:

1) A teacher of 11-year-olds, who are in their fifth year of school. (We seem to be adopting the US system of years/grades in the UK now.)
or
2) A teacher of 16-year-olds at a secondary school. When I went to secondary school, we joined at the age of 12 (which was confusing called "second year") and then moved up through the third, fourth and fifth years. In the fifth year, we were 16-year-olds taking our main exams. Secondary school children now start at the age of 11 and join the first year, but still move up through to the fifth year.

However, the fact that the original piece says "A fifth year teacher giving his elementary school pupils ..." shows that, in this instance, my second definition would not fit.

[BobK]

...
2. "To the bank" definitely means "to the construction by the dam or river" differentiated from the second bank for pun, right?
3. What is the difference between "run to" and "run down to"?

j3-1
ex)A fifth year teacher was giving his elementary school students a lesson to develop their logical thinking. "This is the scene," said the teacher. "A man is standing up in a boat in the middle of a river, fishing. He loses his balance, falls in, and begins yelling for help. His wife hears him screaming, knows he can't swim, and runs down to the bank. Why do you think sh ran to the bank?" The teacher said to students. "Guess what the answer might be." A little girl raised her hands and asked. "To draw out all his savings."

Definitely Construction has nothing to do with it. See charliedeut's post.

She runs. In the nature of things, the bank is lower than her starting point; so she 'runs down' to the bank. 'Run' alone wouldn't be wrong, but it would sound odd in the context. The narrator is using the historic present, for increased immediacy. Not to enhance the picture, by including the word 'down', would sound unnatural.

b

[keannu]

What do you think this "lesson" means? Like "general lesson for life" or "school lesson"?

j3-1
ex)A fifth year teacher was giving his elementary school students a lesson to develop their logical thinking. "This is the scene," said the teacher. "A man is standing up in a boat in the middle of a river, fishing. He loses his balance, falls in, and begins yelling for help. His wife hears him screaming, knows he can't swim, and runs down to the bank. Why do you think sh ran to the bank?" The teacher said to students. "Guess what the answer might be." A little girl raised her hands and asked. "To draw out all his savings."

[emsr2d2]

Simply the school lesson he was delivering to that class at that time.