Lead-in

I. List the main branches of engineering. Compare your list with that of your groupmates.

II. You are a student at the University now. Listen to the dialogues you can hear at the University during your first days of studying and learn how to introduce yourself.

A

Teacher: Good morning! Let me introduce myself. I am your English teacher. I am here to help you with English. What are you? What do you do? Why are you here?

Class: We are students.

Teacher: Are you first-year students? Are you freshmen?

Class: Yes, we are.

Teacher: Will you introduce yourselves? Who are you?

Student: I am Andrew Kovalev. I am here to study English.

Teacher: What is your name?

Student: My name is Kate Gomonova. I am a first-year student. I am here to master my English, too.

Teacher: Thank you. I am glad to meet you.

Students: We are glad to meet you, too.

В

Teacher: Allow me to introduce your supervisor.

Supervisor: How do you do?

Students: How do you do?

Supervisor: You are eager to study at our National University of Water Management and Natural Resources Use and become good specialists, aren't you?

Students: Yes, of course, we are.

Supervisor: You are lucky to study at our University. I wish you success.

Students: Thank you very much.

С

Teacher: (in whisper) Oh, I'm sorry, who is this student?

Monitor: This is Oleg Antonyuk.

Teacher: I see. He is 18 years old, isn't he?

Monitor: Yes, he is.

Teacher: Is he from Moscow?

Monitor: No, he isn't. He is Ukrainian. He is from Kuznetsovsk from Ukraine.

Teacher: OK. Thanks a lot.

D

Oleg: Hello, Kate. How are you?

Kate: Very well, thank you. And how are you?

Oleg: Quite well, thanks. Kate, this is Mike. He is my friend here at the University and he was my friend at school.

Kate: Hello, nice to meet you.

Mike: Hi, I'm glad to meet you, too.

E

Petro: That was a busy first day – isn’t it good just to sit down and take our bearings?

Zhenya: True. Tell me, how are you going to be getting in, in the morning?

Dmytro: It’s easy for me. – I’ve an aunt with a three-room flat living on her own, here in the centre, so I’ve only got a short walk. Maybe ten minutes, not more. Besides which, I took a gap year so I’ve been in Rivne for over a year now.

Lee Ho: That was very British of you. What were you doing?

Dmytro: Partly working at a CD stall and partly working distributing leaflets.

Petro: I’m in a Hall of Residence which is only a couple of minutes from the University.

Zhenya: I was asking as I’m in a shared apartment in Soborna Street and so everybody’s told me to take this bus or that bus or that route-taxi. Or walk part of the way.

Lee Ho: I wish there was a public bicycle system here, like in Oxford or Amsterdam or in my native Beijing.

Dmytro: How does that work?

Lee Ho: Well, it’s different in different countries, but basically you take a public bicycle from place to place and just leave it when you’ve finished.

Zhenya: Nothing like that here, I don’t even know where you could safely park a bike near the Academic Building.

Dmytro: Don’t forget how hilly Rivne is. And the snow and ice in winter.

Lee Ho: True, I suppose. It’s rare to see someone on a bike here.

Petro: I’m hardly surprised; what about the traffic here? I’d never dare to tackle Rivne drivers armed with only a bike.