Easy Reading in English. Методическое пособие по домашнему чтению для студентов II курса неязыковых специальностей педагогических вузов

Compare the status of a teacher in Britain (or other English-speaking countries if available) and that of Russia and comment on it.

What is the attitude towards this problem in our society? What have you read or heard about this phenomenon? Did anything surprise you?

Do you agree with the theory presented in the article?

Have you (or your friends) ever had to deal with the problem described in the article?

How would you do in a teacher’s place? How are teachers treated in our country?

Give your own opinion of the importance of a teaching profession in our life.

7.Define the meaningful parts, make up a plan to the article and entitle each part of your plan.

8.Who is the addressee?

9.Render the article according to the plan, using new words and expressions.

TEACHING? IT’S A JOB FOR A SAINT

(From «The Daily Telegraph» 20 January 2010 by Rebecca Fowler) We all have ideals, and many of us have first-class degrees: David

Cameron's problem will be how to keep us in the blighted state sector, says Rebecca Fowler.

The last time I sat in the school lecture suite, overlooking the cricket pavilion, on a dazzlingly clear day that made the grass verdant Disney green, I considered how much I loved my job as an English teacher. There are off days, of course, when the words don't flow, the Smartboard conks out, and, occasionally, the pupils seem just a little too complacent in this north London world of plenty.

But, for the most part, work is a series of lessons with bright, engaging and sometimes gifted teenagers. There are plenty of books. The heating works, most of the time. The library is an oasis. Poets visit. Novelists visit. Playwrights visit. The children aim high and go far. And there are free biscuits, although these days the custard creams outnumber the chocolate digestives.

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It was to this, a flourishing, heavily over-subscribed, independent north London school, that I brought my crumpled Oxford degree in English and my PGCE certificate three years ago. I was yet another refugee from the state sector. They welcomed me warmly into an English department brimming with talent, first-class degrees, doctorates, wit and passion: a dream department that achieved 95 per cent A-grades in the revamped English AS level last summer.

In manyways, it wasa happyending toa brash,impulsive decision toleave a well-established career in journalism to go and do something a bit more – well, you know, meaningful. No more sitting next to people at dinner having a go about the British media and muttering darkly «you killed our Diana». Here was something proper, or even, in David Cameron's words, «noble».

And yet this is not how I imagined my career panning out. Oh, no. In that impulsive moment, when my brain worked only in headlines, I was off to save the world, determined to join the comprehensive sector at its most inner-city challenging, to teach mixed ability, to inspire, to aspire – all the spires you can think of.

Instead, my story is a direct challenge to David Cameron's so-called vision for education. How easy to talk of transforming it through the «best» new recruits and «brazen elitism», and no more third-class degrees. Do they even exist any more? I thought further education had been dumbed down sufficiently to make them extinct.

It is a vision that offers little more insight than an episode of Waterloo Road, while simultaneously patronizing the very people who struggle day in and day out to hold together an education system beaten up by 25 years of political meddling.

Once again, I found myself asking, do you have any idea what teachers at the heart of the state system face in their day-to-day working lives? And before you start marking their CVs with red biro, do you have any real idea of who is entering the profession, what is keeping them there and what is driving them away again?

Although my usual response to anything Ed Balls utters on the subject is a poor pun on his name, New Labour's single achievement in education has undoubtedly been raising the standard of applications to teaching through bursaries, golden handshakes and the «Those who can teach» campaign. When I started my PGCE course in English and Drama at Cambridge Universitysevenyearsago,Ididsowithanarrogantsenseofrubberstamping. But I found myself surrounded by unnervingly motivated, highly qualified

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graduates: Oxbridge, firsts, drama prizes, scholarships, fellowships. While my undergraduate contemporaries had entered the law, media and banking, this generation was taking up teaching with a competitive verve. Nothing second rate here.

It is the schools that they are entering in which the true challenges lie: profound and complex layers of social deprivation and disaffection; a gaspingly inarticulate underclass; drug dependency and violence; exams that have been dumbed down in a desperate attempt to create some kind of progress, and have, inadvertently, further highlighted the gap between the most and least privileged.

Back in the lecture suite, I was briefly returned to a very different world from the one I now inhabit. We were refreshing our knowledge of child protection, a pre-requisite of any school these days – state or independent – and rightly so. As the friendly woman from Haringey council, who had the slightly shrill joviality of someone who witnesses horror on a regular basis, laidoutaselectionofscenariosofabuse,violenceanddeprivation,shequietly acknowledged that the experiences of many of these children, labelled only byletter,wereoutsideanythingthatwewerelikelytoencounter.Thesewere horror stories, real-life ones, followed by the carefully prescribed policies on what a teacher should do in a similar situation. These stories are the most disturbing index of an education system that finds itself trying to teach Shakespeare and algebra with one hand, while dialling 999 with the other.

Evenatitsleastdramaticlevel,itisaworldofviolence,abuseanddisruption. This was the sphere of teaching that I was determined to enter and, step by step, it was the one I distanced myself from: first a mixed comprehensive with 80 per cent of pupils on free school meals, then to a boys' comprehensive, a partially selective girls' school, followed by a girls' grammar school and then to an independent day school in the private sector.

WhatIlearntinthatsketchytourwasthatextraordinaryteachinginthestate sector demands extraordinary people, trained to the highest degree. Academic credibility is an important part of the story, but so too is the ability to act as social worker, charity worker, sergeant major, and momentarily to fill every gap in an increasingly fissured society, every hour of every school day.

On one of my placements, even the staff room resembled the set of Trainspotting, with its ripped pool table and defunct drinks machine. I wandered into a drama lesson to discover a bewildered Year 9 boy selfharming beside a curtain. The teacher swept in and persuaded the rest of the class into a well-run lesson on Greek theatre, while simultaneously directing the boy into an exhausted pastoral system.

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On another placement, I was given an intensive training in «behaviour management» – a euphemism for discipline: a class of 14 pupils with «challenging behaviour issues». Those 40-minute sessions were terrifying, exhausting, and occasionally fantastically rewarding. A writing project produced some poems that were later used at a seminar on creativity in schools. When I told the boys that their poems were going to be read out at Cambridge University, they were all quiet at once, for the first and last time that I taught them.

Even now, I think the rewards of teaching «challenging pupils» can outweigh just about anything else. But the training, the support, the time and energy involved are also beyond anything else. And it's so incredibly tiring.

So many of the teachers I met in my training have moved on: one was given compassionate leave, another left teaching, and one moved to a grammar school. They took their good degrees and their «nobility» with them. To operate effectively, consistently and for any length of time in the state sector is tough, even impossible.

And that raises another feature of Cameron's vision: fast-tracking and direct entry into the profession. My full-time training was superb. I cannot imagine being a teacher without it: to experience a range of schools and teaching styles, to be taught that teaching is an art in itself, by people who do it very well, is crucial. To value teaching is to teach teaching properly.

In the private sector, where the focus of teachers is to educate and pass on knowledge, teachers may be born. But in the state sector, they are made. You can no more stick a banker in a state «academy» and tell him to copy what the other teachers are doing, than you can stick him in an operating theatre and tell him to have a go.

Walking down the corridors of my current school it strikes me that, for anyone who has transferred from the state sector to the private sector, it's like walking from broken glass on to calfskin. The real challenge in teaching is not in attracting the best and the brightest, but giving them a reason to stay.

Becarefulwhatyouwishfor,DavidCameron.Themoreyouquestionthe teachers, the more you may find them exposing a system in profound need of radical and courageous reform to give even the poorest child a chance to experience what the pupils at my school are given. Our schools reflect our worlds with painful accuracy. To set a school right is to set the world right. You don't need a doctorate for that. You need a halo.

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Assignments

1.Read and translate the article.

2.Name all the synonyms to the word “teaching”.

3.Look through the article, find the sentences with the following words and word combinations and translate them into Russian:

Самодовольный, преуспевающий, политический эмигрант, значительный, благородный, призыв, сталкиваться с чем-л.., стипендия (в шотландском университете), браться (за профессию), признавать, необычный, трудный, подготовка.

4.Comment on the questions and do the given tasks:

What problem does the author want to show in the article? What is the author’s opinion on the problem?

Say whether you agree with the author’s understanding of the importance of teacher’s work. Give your own comments.

Compare the status of a teacher in the USA, Britain (or other Englishspeaking countries if available) and that of Russia and comment on it. What is the attitude towards a teacher in our society?

What else have you read or heard about a teacher’s profession?

5.Make up a plan to the article and entitle each part of it.

6.Who(m) can it be interesting for to read?

7.Render the article according to the plan, using new words and expressions.

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Список литературы

1.Англо-русский словарь: Около 34 000 слов / сост. В. Д. Аракин, З. С. Выгодская, Н. Н. Ильина. – Екатеринбург: Урал-Советы, 1991. – 988 с.

2.Выборова, Г. Е. Advanced English [Текст]: учебник английского языка для гуманитарных факультетов (II этап) / Г. Е. Выборова, К. С. Махмурян, О. П. Мельчина. – 2-е изд., перераб. и доп. – М.: Флинта, Наука, 1997. – 240 с.

3.Дубровин, М. И. Англо-русский словарь / М. И. Дубровин. – 3-е изд., дораб. – М.: Просвещение, 1993. – 317 с. – ISBN 5-09-004 862-2

4.Дубровин,М.И.Современныйангло-русскийирусско-английский словарь: 180 000 слов, словосочетаний и идиоматических выражений

/М. И. Дубровин. – 4-е изд., стереотипное. – М.: Цитадель-трейд: РИПОЛ КЛАССИК: Дом. XXI век, 2007. – 992 с.

5.Мельчина, О. П. On Education. О педагогике [Текст]: практикум по английскому языку / О. П. Мельчина, Л. Ю. Морозова. – М.: Флинта; Наука, 1999. – 176 с.

6.Редько, С. В. Внеаудиторное чтение по специальности для студентов педагогических вузов [Текст] / С. В. Редько. – 2-е изд., стереотипное. – Соликамск, 2002. – 44 с.

7.Телень, Э. Ф. Язык английской и американской прессы [Текст]: учеб. пособие по английскому языку / Э. Ф. Телень, М. Ю. Полевая. – М.: Высшая школа, 2006. – 119 с.

8.Федотова, И. Г. Ускоренный курс английского языка [Текст]: учеб. пособие для неяз. спец. вузов / И. Г. Федотова, Н. А. Ишевская. – 2-е изд., исправл. и доп. – М.: МП ИННКО, 1992. – 288 с.

9.Шукунда, С. З. Newspaper in the Classroom. Английский язык для гуманитариев [Текст] / С. З. Шукунда, Е. И. Энгель. – Ростов н/Д: Феникс, 2004. – 384 с. – (Серия «Учебники МГУ»).

10.Mark H. Teeter Diamonds are forever. Diplomas aren’t [Text] / M. H. Teeter // The Moscow News. – 2009. – № 21. – p. 8.

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В пособии использованы материалы следующих периодических изданий:

The Independent (www.independent.co.uk) The Times (www.timesonline.co.uk)

The Daily Telegraph (www.dailytelegraph.com. au) The Morning Star (www.morningstaronline.co.uk) The St. Petersburg Times (www.sptimes.ru)

Reader’s Digest (www.rd.com)

The Evening Standard (www.thisislondon.co.uk) The Guardian (www. guardian.co.uk)

The Sunday Times (www.timesonline.co.uk) The Daily Mail (www.thedailymail.net) Newsweek (www.newsweek.com)

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Приложение 1

Методические рекомендации студентам для самостоятельной работы по домашнему чтению

При работе с отрывком из художественного текста главной задачей в процессе работы с различными видами текстов является полное понимание их содержания, что осуществляется в несколько этапов:

1)сначала рекомендуется прочитать весь текст полностью, не используя словарь (главное – понять общее содержание текста);

2)исходя из общего содержания, нужно приступить к повторному чтению (при этом незнакомые слова начинают обретать определённый смысл);

3)затем можно использовать словарь для выяснения значения узкоспециальных слов и выражений.

Общие принципы и правила перевода текста с английского на русский язык

Главной задачей любого перевода является точная передача содержания подлинника средствами родного языка с соблюдением его строя и с сохранением стиля языка оригинала. Необходимо строить предложение так, как это свойственно русскому языку; поэтому при литературной обработке перевода можно выбрасывать «лишние» слова или добавлять нужные, эквивалента которым нет в подлиннике. Перевод английского текста – это литературный перевод, т.е. передача содержания оригинального текста соответствующими средствами русского языка с учетом его норм и правил использования.

Переводу подлежат не слова, а понятия и значения слов. Текст состоит из предложений, которые выражают определённую мысль, облечённую в грамматическую форму согласно нормам языка, на котором представлен текст. Для правильного перевода необходимо:

–уяснить общее содержание текста;

–понять смысловые связи текста в целом и каждого предложения

вотдельности;

–определить последовательность развития мысли автора;

–установить причинные, временные и другие виды связей в подлиннике.

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После работы над переводом текста переходят к выполнению лексических упражнений после текста, составлению вопросов по содержанию и их обсуждению и т.д.; затем ведётся работа по обсуждению главных героев, автора, названия рассказа и т.д. (см. Introduction); далее переходят к составлению конспекта текста по плану с использованием ключевых слов и выражений, выделенных в каждом пункте плана, краткой передаче содержания, выражению главной мысли и своего мнения по тексту.

Конечным результатом работы со статьями из газет и журналов является аннотация. Аннотацией называется краткое и исчерпывающее изложение содержания статьи, понятное широкому кругу читателей.

Аннотация (от лат. annotatio – замечание) – краткая характеристика издания (рукописи, монографии, статьи или книги), его идейнополитической направленности, содержания, назначения, ценности и др. Аннотация может быть описательной или рекомендательной, общей или специализированной.

Аннотация показывает отличительные особенности и достоинства издаваемого произведения, помогает читателям сориентироваться в выборе произведений печати. Аннотация даёт ответ на вопрос: «О чём говорится в первичном документе?»

Перед текстом аннотации присутствуют выходные данные (автор, название, место и время издания) в номинативной форме. Аннотация содержит основную тему статьи, кроме этого, она может перечислять основные положения описываемого источника, называть проблему, освещенную в статье, и указание, какому кругу лиц данная статья интересна для прочтения. Аннотация может не упоминать субъект действия (предполагая, что он известен из контекста); она содержит пассивные конструкции – глагольные и причастные.

Как правило, аннотация не включает каких-либо формул или цифровых данных, имеет объем, не превышающий 1200-1600 знаков, и является законченной логической единицей, дающей читателю возможность решить, следует ему читать данную статью или нет.

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Приложение 2

Примерный план работы над художественными текстами

The plan of retelling literary texts

I. Introduction:

• the head-line of the text:

– The text (extract, story) I have read is called …

– The text is head-lined…

– The head-line of the text under discussion is …

• the author of the text:

– The author of the text is…

– The text is written by …

– The author is anonymous.

• The extract (text, story, chapter) is taken from the story, novel “…” by ….

• the main characters:

– The main (second) character(s) is (are) …

– But also … took part in the story.

• the place of the action:

–The action took place in …

• the topic of the story:

–The story touches upon …

–The story is about …

–The story introduces us …

–From the text we have learnt about … who … II. The contents of the text:

–The author starts telling the readers about …

–The author writes (states, thinks) that …

–According to the text …

–Further the author says that …

–In conclusion …

–The author comes to the conclusion that … III. The main idea of the story:

–The main idea of the text is …

–The text is about …

–It’s important to show …

–The story deals with … (touches upon…).

–The purpose of the extract is to give the reader some information on ….

–The author wants to show (to underline, to point out) the fact that …. IV. Your opinion of the text:

I found the text interesting (important, dull, too hard to understand …)

because ….

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