Improving zoos

The (0) ..protection.... of animals is one of the main concerns of the PROTECT

World Zoo (1)..........., an international society that helps zoos ORGANISE

maintain high standards for their animals - and for their (2)........... VISIT

Made up of (3)..........such as zoologists, the WZO also helps zoos SCIENCE

around the world exchange valuable (4)..........about their INFORM

animals' health, breeding habits, etc. The (5) ………. of such an CREATE

organisation helps zoos to keep moving in the right (6)........... DIRECT

Animal rights (7) ........keep a close eye on zoos to make certain ACTIVE

that the (8)..........the animals receive is safe and not cruel. TREAT

They sometimes even send (9)..........to the zoos for a first-hand INSPECT

look. The WZO has helped in the (10) …… of a number of truly MANAGE

wonderful zoos around the world, where animals can live safely and

happily and can be viewed and appreciated by many people.

Task 1

Name the suffixes which can form nouns.

Form the nouns using the words in the right column, put them into the text.

Task 2

Answer the following questions:

Do you approve of the initiative described in the text?

What is your attitude to zoos in general?

Check yourself.

Choose the correct option.

1. Someone who loves and cares for the environment, including animals and plants, is a nature lover/nature liker.

2. A place to deposit used bottles for recycling is called a bottle bin/bottle bank.

3. A product that does not in any way harm the environment is called environmentally friendly/environmentally fair.

4. The proper place to dispose of your crisp packet is a litter bin/litter dump.

5. A destructive product of pollution in the atmosphere is acid rain/chemical rain.

Final tasks

1. Take any environmental issue which interests you and make up a report about it.

2. Speak on the topic “Environmental Problems”

LOOKING FOR A JOB

PROFESSIONS

Task 1

People have created many professions! In different situations they address to appropriate specialists. Look at the column on the left. Whom would you contact or call on in these situations? In the right column find the appropriate person for each case. Be careful!

1. a filling has come out of one of your back teeth a chiropodist

2. you think your eyes need testing a broker

3. you find you have an ingrowing toe-nail a dentist (dental surgeon)

4. you back hurts and your doctor can’t help a vicar (priest)

(find four people) a hairdresser (hair stylist)

a bookmaker

an architect

5. your fringe is getting a bit too long an osteopath

6. you want a portrait photograph of yourself a driving instructor

7. you have decided to sue somebody a solicitor

(who might refer you to another lawyer) a barrister

8. you fancy a holiday in the sun a dog (breeder)

9. you want advice on investment or insurance a (garage) mechanic

10. your grant piano isn’t sounding quite right a photographer

11. you want to find a 400-year-old grandfather clock a piano tuner

12. you are planning a church wedding a chiropractor

13. your car won’t start a optician

14. you want to place a bet on the 3.45 race at Ascot a masseur (masseuse)

15. someone in the family has just died a building contractor (build-

er)

16. you want to learn to drive an antique dealer

17. you want to buy a pedigree alsatian a travel agent

18. you have decided to sell your house a scrap metal dealer (mer-

chant)

19. you want plans drawn up for a new house a physiotherapist

20. you want to go ahead and have the new house built an undertaker (funeral direc-

tor)

21. you are moving house and have a furniture problem an electrician

22. you have a lots of old iron you want to get rid of an estate agent

23. you want new windows put into the house a maintenance engineer

24. your new fridge is leaking a glazier (and a carpenter)

25. you like the idea of new wallpaper throughout the

house a fire brigade (firemen)

26. water is gushing from your kitchen taps even a psychiatrist

when turned off

27. all the lights in your house have fused a social worker

28. you think your neighbours just might be neglecting a removal firm

their little child

29. your house is on fire a plumber

30. you think you are going crazy an interior decorator

Task 2

The jobs below are grouped according to the results of a survey on average weekly earnings in Great Britain. Specialists in group A earn the most, those in group J earn the least. Decide how fair you think earnings are in Britain.

Group A

medical practitioners (doctors, etc.) pilots specialists in finance, insurance/tax inspectors university lecturers

Group B

police inspectors fire-service officers prison officers sales managers marketing executives company secretaries personnel/industrial relations officers

Group C

ship's officers advertising executives public relations officers journalists (reporters) electrical/electronic engineers local government administrators

Group D

mechanical engineers civil engineers computer programmers system analyst accountants teacher in further education metallurgists public health inspectors production engineers policemen

Group E

industrial designers surveyors draughtsmen ambulancemen technical sales representatives welfare workers prime/secondary school teachers

Group F

toolmakers and fitters furnacemen welders (skilled) security officers guard and detectives laboratory technicians sales supervisors bus/coach drivers sheet meta1 workers

Group G

lathe operators train drivers and signalmen motor mechanics (skilled) bricklayers postmen mail sorters catering supervisors joiners shipping and travel clerks telephonists

Group H

packers, bottlers, canners, fillers chefs and cooks plasterers, hotel/pub/club managers midwives and registered nurses painters and decorators refuse collectors (dustmen) bakers and confectioners hospital porters storekeepers

Group I

shop assistants, salesmen, shelf-fillers caretakers bus conductors bleachers and dyers gardeners butchers barmen

Group J

road sweepers general farm workers kitchen hands nursing auxiliaries waitresses

Task 3

Match the profession with the appropriate picture.

an actress	……….	an hair dresser	……….	a businesswoman	……….
a bus driver	……….	an office worker	……….	a mechanic	……….
a fireman	……….	an engineer	……….	a bank clerk	……….
an opticiant	……….

a postman	……….	an electrician	……….	a doctor	……….
a policeman	……….	a typist	……….	a nurse	……….
a shop assistant	……….	a secretary	……….	a dentist	……….
a waiter	……….

The Profession of a Teacher

There are professions – vocations – to which people wholly devote themselves. Undoubtedly, the profession of a teacher is one of them.

Even if you want to be a teacher you can’t become a good one. You must be born one. Love for children, an ability to communicate with them, understand and teach them – these are the most important qualities of a good teacher. Ability to be a good teacher is God’s gift; it’s a talent like the talent of a writer, an artist or a musician. A teacher is like a sculptor: he moulds a personality out of a child like a sculptor creates a beautiful statue out of clay.

Pedagogy is a very complex and responsible study; probably, no less responsible than medicine. Like patients hand to the doctor the most expensive thing –their life, parents entrust the teacher with the most valuable creature – their child. It depends on a teacher what kind of person a child will grow up. If you have been dreaming to become a teacher since your childhood, it’s not a problem nowadays.

In Russia there are more than 250 teachers training colleges and universities; six of them are in Moscow. Every year thousands of young people graduate from these colleges to come to school on September 1st. According to a survey, more than 70 per cent of students enter these colleges by their own choice, and it is well-known to them what difficult and sometimes ungrateful work is waiting for them after receiving their diplomas. In the process of education when they were asked whether they were sorry about their choice of profession, 60 per cent said that they were not sorry at all. Judging by these facts, we can say that teachers come to school not for money (the salary of a teacher is miserable), but because it’s their vocation to work with children.

The profession of a teacher combines both joy and sorrow.

A person who gets pedagogical training should possess much knowledge. He also should be kind. Doctors have a rule: “Don’t do harm”. Teachers must also follow this rule because there is nothing more valuable than children and it depends on teachers what kind of people the children will become. A teacher is responsible for all his students.

Task 1

Answer the following questions:

Do you agree that teacher’s profession is a vocation?

What skills / traits of character should a person possess to become a good teacher?

Does teacher’s profession seem attractive to you? Why?

Task 2

Make up a dialogue. One of you is going to be a teacher after graduating from the University. The other hesitates. Try to persuade you friend to become a teacher.

Teachers in Russia 4

State, community and profession

Ben Eklof and Scott Seregny

Throughout much of the history of public (in particular primary) schooling teachers have been the classic "insider-outsiders". Teachers could be perceived as valued members of the community, but at other times as bearers of non-traditional values and as agents of an interventionist state.

How do teachers make do at present? A survey by sociologist Frants Sheregi addresses this question. According to his survey, one half of all teachers work on the side "to make life tolerable". First, many teach more than a full-time load (18 hours per week); another study concludes that the average teacher works a 150 per cent load. In addition, teachers receive supplementary payments for teaching-related tasks such as supervising a homeroom, correcting student notebooks, and maintaining classroom facilities. Others teach in more than one institution; some moonlight in commercial enterprises. More than 30 per cent regularly tutor students outside the classroom. Many teachers regard their salaries not as a living wage but as a contribution to the family budget.

Because wages are so dismal, then, most teachers are forced to spend extraordinarily long hours working; undoubtedly this diminishes the quality of their labours. It also makes many look for work elsewhere; according to Russian sociologist Sheregi, 48 per cent of teachers surveyed said they had thought of changing careers in the past year. The feminization of the profession, already well advanced, has accelerated since 1998. Finally, the considerable sums the state invests in training teachers at pedagogical institutions are partially squandered, for fewer than half of all graduates of such institutions take up careers in teaching and of those who do, many leave within the first three years. In the Sheregi survey, the proportion of those contemplating changing careers was much higher in the age cohort under thirty.

Given these conditions, we would expect there to be a large shortfall of teachers in the schools. In many areas, language, Russian literature, and computer teachers are in short supply. Yet most regions are experiencing no overall shortage of teachers, nor can one speak of turmoil stemming from exceptional turnover in the schools; more than one-third of all teachers have been in the classroom for twenty years or more. An explanation for this continued stability is elusive. Personal dedication plays a role, as do high unemployment levels in many provincial cities and in the villages; one-third of teachers explicitly say they stay on the job only for this reason.

Still, teaching is a vocation. We should take off our academic caps and pay homage to a profession, nearly 2 million strong, which has endured great hardship, and demonstrated great courage and intelligence in the service of Russia’s next generation.

Task 1

Answer the questions:

How does the author of the article characterise teachers in Russia?

What is people’s attitude to teachers?

What do the authors say about present-day situation in school education?

This article was written by foreign authors. Do you share their point of view?

What does it take to be a Good Translator?

It is pretty clear that one should devote his/her body and soul full time to the profession to begin with – like in any other trade – however that is not enough. Based on my 10+ years’ experience in recruiting and searching for talents in translation, I have drawn the list below, which I believe contains the fundamental features of a good translator: