Is your vision of yourself as a language learner the same as how others see you?

• Write a description of yourself as a language learner.

• Use a small sheet of paper. Do not sign it. Hand it in to your teacher.

Ex. 4

Think of the ways to improve yourself as a language learner.

I promise I solemnly undertake I swear	that I will always… that under no circumstances will I… that I will never… to be… (adj.)
I will I’ll do my best	(to) be… (to) do… (to) become…

Ex. 5

Translate the words in bold into Russian according to the context.

1. He speaks French fluently, i.e. he can speak French well, doesn’t pause while speaking.

2. She has a well-rounded education in economics, i.e. she has complete and varied experience in it.

3. I think travelling broadens our minds, i.e. enlarges our knowledge and understanding of our world.

4. She is not very good at English now, but she is working hard at it. After all, what counts is hard work.

5. Frequent practice is beneficial for developing speaking skills.

6. Learning foreign languages helps people to gain a better appreciation of their own language, i.e. to understand how their own language works.

7. This book on English history expanded my knowledge of the country. Now I am more aware of many aspects of modern life in Britain.

8. In the word “get” the first letter is pronounced as [g] which is not according to the rule, it is an exception.

Discuss the following text.

“ANY FORM OF EDUCATION OTHER THAN CO-EDUCATION IS SIMPLY UNTHINKABLE”

Imagine being asked to spend twelve or so years of your life in a society which consisted only of members of your own sex. How would you react? Unless there was something definitely wrong with you, you wouldn’t be too happy about it to say the least. It is all the more surprising therefore that so many parents in the world choose to impose such abnormal conditions on their children – conditions which they themselves wouldn’t put up with for a minute!

Any discussion of this topic is bound to question the aims of education. Stuffing children’s heads full of knowledge is far from being foremost among them. One of the chief aims of education is to equip future citizens with all they require to take their place in adult society. Now adult society is made up of men and women, so how can a segregated school possibly offer the right sort of the preparation for it? Anyone entering adult society after years of segregation can only be in for a shock.

A co-educational school offers children nothing less than a true version of society in miniature. Boys and girls are given an opportunity to get to know each other, to learn to live together from their earliest years. They are put in a position where they can compare themselves with each other in terms of academic ability, athletic achievement and many of the extracurricular activities which are part of school life. What a practical advantage it is (to give just a small example) to be able to put on a school play in which the male parts will be taken by boys and the female parts by girls! What nonsense co-education makes of the argument that boys are cleverer than girls or vice versa. When segregated, boys and girls are made to feel that they are a race apart. Rivalry between the sexes is fostered. In a co-educational school, everything falls into its proper place.

But perhaps the most contribution to co-education is the healthy attitude to life it encourages. Boys don’t grow up believing that women are mysterious creatures – airy goddesses, more like book illustrations to a fairy-tale, than human beings. Girls don’t grow up imagining that men are romantic heroes. Years of living together at school dispel illusions of this kind. There are no goddesses with freckles, pigtails, piercing voices and inky fingers. There are no romantic heroes with knobby knees, dirty fingernails and unkept hair. The awkward stage of adolescence brings into sharp focus some of the physical and emotional problems involved in growing up. These can better be overcome in a co-educational environment. Segregated schools sometimes provide the right conditions for sexual deviation. This is hardly possible under a co-educational system. When the time comes for the pupils to leave school, they are fully prepared to enter society as well-adjusted adults. They have already had years of experience in coping with many of the problems that face men and women.

Read the text.

AT SCHOOL FOR 17 HOURS A DAY

It is 6.30 a.m. and the sun has only just come up when the two alarm clocks next to Jie Sun’s bed ring simultaneously. She gets out of bed and goes to the kitchen. Her eyes half closed, she hardly says a word while she eats breakfast. Next to the table is her blue Benetton school bag which she packed the night before. It weights just over six and a half kilos. At 7 a.m. she says goodbye to her parents and sets off to her school, just outside the capital city, Seoul. She returns home at 6 p.m for dinner, but half an hour later she sets off again for a private academy where she studies for another four hours. On a typical night she gets home at midnight and falls asleep, completely exhausted.

Studying for up to 17 hours a day is a fact of life for South Korean secondary school pupils. They live in a society where education is very important, and there is great competition for a place at university. Getting a good degree from a top university is the only way to be sure of getting a professional well-paid job. The normal secondary school day, as in most other countries, lasts eight hours. But after that most parents make their children stay at school for extra classes. In theory these classes are optional, but in practice they are compulsory. When the school day ends, the children are not allowed to relax and enjoy themselves. Most of them have to study all evening in libraries, with private tutors or at private academies.

Classes of 50 are not uncommon and the teachers are strict. Pupils have to repeat after the teacher and memorise everything. ‘Teachers at my school don’t give you any individual attention because they haven’t got time,’ says Jie Sun. ‘They don’t let us ask questions because they say it wastes time.’

Young people like Jie Sun have almost no social life. They rarely have time to see their friends, and having a boyfriend or girlfriend is unthinkable. ‘I’ve never had a boyfriend and neither have any of my friends,’ says Jie Sun. ‘Our studies come first.’

This lifestyle may seem very hard to many European schoolchildren, who are accustomed to going out most weekends, and watching TV every evening. But on the other hand, in many British schools, up to 40% of teenagers leave school with no qualifications and the prospect of unemployment. So which system really is better?

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of this education system? How different is it from the system in your country?

Ex. 1