V Home-task

Ex.9 Read the text “American student VS Ukrainian student” without a dictionary.

American Student vs Ukrainian Student

Being a student in the U.S. is different in a lot of ways than what I experienced when I studied in Ukraine. Classes are taught differently, schools are run differently, and grades are given differently. It is like a medal that has two sides.

While in the U.S. students’ grades are not revealed to the whole class, in Ukraine it is the opposite. It is common for a Ukrainian professor to announce students’ grades publicly in the presence of the whole class. It is also common for Ukrainian professors to put a list of students’ names and grades next to the names on their office door, so everyone at the university can see the students’ grades.

Another policy in line with the previous point is the habit of high schools in Ukraine to call or write letters to students’ parents if students do not do well academically. This is what American students would probably take as a violation of their privacy.

Many Ukrainian professors require that students take notes during the lecture or seminar. They often tell students what exactly to write down, and if they see someone is not taking notes they may ask the student to leave the classroom. In an American classroom it’s usually your choice what you want to write down or not.

Exams in Ukraine are certainly more stressful than in the U.S., because in many cases a final exam is worth 90 or 100 per cent of the grade. The exam format is similar for all majors and class years. During the exam, a student receives several random questions based on the content of the entire course, and often has to answer the questions orally in a one-to-one conversation with the professor.

In the U.S., academic advisors play a decisive role in helping students make all kinds of academic decisions. At Ukrainian universities, there are no academic advisors, simply because there is no need for them. Ukrainian students cannot choose what courses to take. High schools together with the government develop a program of study for each major compulsory for all students studying that major.

About half of the courses that Ukrainian students take at universities are evaluated on pass or fail scale. Students take such courses in addition to four or five graded courses, so the average number of courses students take each term is about twice as big as the normal course load at American colleges. Moreover, American students don’t have as much homework as Ukrainian students.

Another distinctive feature of the Americans is that most American high school students have a job, usually a part-time job. Thus they gain experience and make some money. Some jobs of American students are: delivering newspapers, babysitting, working in a cafe.

There is something about the Ukrainian culture that is responsible for students’ tendency to collaborate in many situations in which American students don’t, for example, during exams. As students progress from their first year to their last, they develop more and more creative ways of “helping” each other without being caught by professors.

Notes:

academic advisor академический консультант, куратор по учебным вопросам (сотрудник учебного заведения, консультирующий студентов по вопросам выбора тех или иных предметов или курсов; знакомит с требованиями различных курсов, программам подготовки к экзаменам).

reveal – объявлять

pass or fail scale – шкала «зачтено» или «не зачтено»

graded course – экзамен или дифференцированный зачёт

collaborate – сотрудничать, работать совместно

Ex.10 Complete a comparison table using the information from ex.9

Grades
Parents
Notetaking
Exams
Academics
Job
Collaboration

Ex.11 Speak about the differences between American and Ukrainian students using the table from ex.10.