Иностранный язык (Английский). Практикум

PART I. COUNTRIES, CULTURES, PEOPLE

The colleges in the United States differ greatly in size – they may include from 100 to 5 000 students and more. Most of the larger institutions fall into the category of universities, the largest being University of California, State University of New York, New York University, Columbia University and others.

8. Answer these questions.

1)How can you characterize the organization of school education in the

USA?

2)What groups can schools in the USA be divided into?

3)What subjects are taught at schools?

4)At what age do children study at a high school?

5)What education do high schools give?

6)What colleges does a university in the USA usually have?

7)What are the ways to continue education in the USA?

8)What program has a technical or a vocational school?

9)What degrees are offered at universities in the USA?

10)What are the main universities in the USA?

9. Read the texts about old universities in the countries and say what they have in common and how they differ?

“The Heart of Russian Education”

Moscow University is by right regarded the oldest Russian university. It was established in 1755. The foundation of a university in Moscow became possible only due to the efforts of Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov (17111765), the outstanding Russian scholar and scientist, a person of encyclopedic learning. In 1940, on the occasion of its 185th Anniversary, Moscow University was named after M.V. Lomonosov.

To conform to Lomonosov’s scheme, Moscow University opened three faculties, those of philosophy, law and medicine. The students would start their course at the faculty of philosophy where they received a solid education in natural sciences and the humanities. They could then go on specializing in law, medicine or further their course at the faculty of philosophy. Unlike the universities in the West, Moscow University did not have the faculty of theology, which accounts for the existence in Russia of a special system of education for the Russian clergy.

Moscow University played an outstanding role in spreading and popularizing scientific and scholarly knowledge. Members of the general public were allowed to attend lectures delivered by Moscow University professors or be present while the students were debating different issues. In April, 1756 a printing facility and a bookshop opened on the premises of Moscow University in Mokhovaya Street. Thus began the development of book publishing

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in Russia. There and then the University launched the first civic periodical publication known as Moskovskiye Vedomosti (Moscow Gazette), and starting from January, 1760 they began the magazine Poleznoye Razvlecheniye (Useful Entertainment). For ten years, from 1779 to 1789, the print shop was headed by the graduate of the University grammar school, a prominent Russian representative of the Enlightenment, N. I. Novikov.

A year after the inception of the University, the library opened its doors wide. Over a hundred years it remained the only public library in Moscow.

The work of Moscow University as an enlightener of the public helped set up on its basis and with the participation of the professors and the tutors suchmajorcentresofRussiancultureasKazangrammarschool(from1804Kazan University), the Academy of the fine arts in St. Petersburg (until 1764 it was affiliated to Moscow University), the Maly theatre and others.

Oxford University

Oxford is a unique and historic institution. As the oldest English-speaking University in the world, it can lay claim to nine centuries of continuous existence. There is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.

In the 13th century, rioting between town and gown (townspeople and students) hastened the establishment of primitive halls of residence. These were succeeded by the first of Oxford’s colleges, which began as medieval ‘halls of residence’ or endowed houses under the supervision of a Master. University, Balliol and Merton Colleges, established between 1249 and 1264, are the oldest.

Less than a century later, Oxford had achieved eminence above every other seat of learning, and won the praises of popes, kings and sages by virtue of its antiquity, curriculum, doctrine and privileges. In 1355, Edward III paid tribute to the University for its invaluable contribution to learning; he also commented on the services rendered to the state by distinguished Oxford graduates.

Oxford early on became a centre for lively controversy, with scholars involved in religious and political disputes.

In the late 17th century, the Oxford philosopher John Locke, suspected of treason, was forced to flee the country. The 18th century, when Oxford was said to have forsaken port for politics, was also an era of scientific discovery and religious revival. Edmund Halley, Professor of Geometry, predicted the return of the comet that bears his name; John and Charles Wesley’s prayer meetings laid the foundations of the Methodist Society.

From 1878, academic halls were established for women, who became members of the University in 1920. Since 1974, all but one of Oxford’s 39

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PART I. COUNTRIES, CULTURES, PEOPLE

colleges has changed their statutes to admit both men and women. St Hilda’s remains the only women’s college.

During the 20th century, Oxford added to its humanistic core a major new research capacity in the natural and applied sciences, including medicine. In so doing, it has enhanced and strengthened its traditional role as an international focus for learning and a forum for intellectual debate.

The University of Oxford’s total student population numbers over 17,000 now.

Almost a quarter of these students are from overseas, and more than 130 nationalities are represented among our student body.

Over 5,600 students are engaged in postgraduate work. Of these, around 3,000 are working in the arts and humanities.

Every year 16,500 people take part in courses offered by the University’s Department for Continuing Education.

The admissions office is in contact with more than 5,000 schools and colleges across the UK, and the admissions staff visits a school, college or Higher Education Fair nearly every working day of the year.

In the most recent Teaching Quality Assessment exercises, Oxford was awarded top marks in six out of nine subjects assessed.

Oxford has been awarded a total of four Queen’s Anniversary Prizes, most recently in recognition of the Refugee Studies Centre’s pioneering research and innovative training programmes in the study of forced migration and refugees.

Harvard University

Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It was founded in 1636, just 16 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Harvard is also one of the richest private universities in the United States, with an endowment of over $4 billion. The main campus is in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The university also has several schools in Boston.

Harvard has played an important role in American life. Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy graduated from Harvard. President Rutherford B. Hayes attended Harvard law school.

Educational programme. Harvard’s 10 graduate and professional schools are open to both men and women. These schools have over half the university’s enrollment the schools of arts and sciences, design, divinity, education, law, and government are on the Cambridge campus. The schools of business administration, dental medicine, medicine, and public health are in Boston.

Many Harvard departments use a tutorial plan. Under the plan, individual students or small groups meet periodically with faculty tutors for instruc-

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tion in the students’ major area of study. Most students who participate in tutorials do not do so until their sophomore year. Most honors candidates in departments with a tutorial plan receive tutorial instruction.

General examinations test the students’ grasp of their major field. Students in some fields must pass general examinations to graduate, no matter how high their grades might be. Harvard awards about $ 145 million in financial aid to its students each year. Undergraduates receive about $43 million of this aid.

The Harvard campus. The Harvard Yard is the center of the original college. Dormitories, libraries, and class buildings in a variety of architectural styles stand near this grassy, shaded area. During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington’s troops used Massachusetts Hall as barracks, and the provincial legislature met in Harvard Hall.

First-year students live in dormitories in and near the Yard, but most other students live in the 12 residential houses. These houses are modeled after the residential colleges of Oxford and Cambridge universities. Harvard’s residential houses are more than places where students eat and sleep. They are also centers for social and educational activities. Each house has its own dining hall, library, and athletic facilities. Faculty members live or eat at the house, permitting students to mix informally with instructors. The 12 residential houses are Adams, Cabot, Currier, Dunster, Eliot, Kirkland, Leverett, Lowell, Mather, North, Quincy, and Winthrop. Dudley House has facilities for students who live at home. All university housing is coeducational.

Harvard has the world’s largest university library system. Its collection includes more than 12 million books and pamphlets and many manuscripts, maps, microfilms, slides, and other materials. Museums on the campus include the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology; the Botanical Museum; the Geological Museum; the Mineralogical Museum; the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

10. Situations for Discussion on “Education in Great Britain, Russia and America”

1.Make a presentation on the educational system of Russia, GB and the USA. (school and university education). Be ready to answer your classmates’ questions.

2.Compare the educational systems in Russia and GB and the USA. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each system?

3.Discuss the ways the state education system in Russia differs from that in GB and the USA.

4.Compare the private sector of education in Russia, GB and the USA. What are the arguments for and against having a separate system of education for those who can afford to pay for it?

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PART I. COUNTRIES, CULTURES, PEOPLE

5.One of your professors has just returned from the USA where she/he was on business trip getting acquainted with the USA educational system and the system of teacher training in the USA. Interview him/her.

6.Discuss the problems that young people face choosing a career in GB. Compare them to the problems young people from Russia have. Speak about the ways students from both countries solve them.

7.A Russian student and an American student are exchanging information on systems of higher education in their countries.

8.A group of university professors from America came to your University. Be a guide to them. Show them your university and tell about the main educational principles and name the characteristic features of your university. Be ready to answer their questions.

9.A student from GB has come to your university on a summer language course. Help him to feel at home. Describe the program, the schedule of the Foreign Languages Department. Explain the difference in instruction process; acquaint him/her with students’ life. Act out your talk.

10.Advertise your university /department/ as a place for getting good education.

11.Write an essay: “The system of education in GB.”

12.Imagine you want to apply to Cambridge/Oxford for admission. Write the statement of purpose, paying special attention to the fact why you are particularly interested in getting education there.

13.Find some interesting information about students’ life and traditions in Oxford and/or Harvard. Discuss it in class.

14.Talk on a topic suggested “A typical day at a British school”, “Education in GB”.

15.If you are a school principal what would do.

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Unit 4

AMERICANS, BRITISH, RUSSIANS

AND THEIR MEALS

Цель занятия: формирование системы знаний и представлений о еде в России и странах изучаемого языка, развитие межкультурной компетенции, расширение кругозора.

В результате изучения темы студент должен:

–знать терминологию по теме занятия;

–уметь применять на практике лексику, необходимую для беседы с англоязычным партнером; работать в паре;

–владеть навыками диалогической речи, необходимыми в межличностном и межкультурном общении на иностранном языке (ОК-2).

Актуальность темы: знание базовой лексики необходимо для эффективного межкультурного и межличностного общения на иностранном языке.

Теоретическая часть

▪ Russian cuisine

There have always been two types of Russian cuisine - on the one hand, the aristocratic, rich style and on the other hand - a peasant, simple, everyday style.

During the times many different kinds of bread, cakes and pies were baked and filled with things which were in the house, farm, garden, field or forest: chicken, vegetables, peas and beans, fruit, berries or mushrooms. The rivers were full of fish, so pies filled with all types of fish were very common. Chicken pies were eaten on public holidays. Meat was eaten boiled and on special occasions at the end of the meal like blessed food. There was no shortage of soup, especially vegetable soup: borsch, stchi - a soup made from marinated cabbage. Another favourite was the famous Russian kasha. So there is a Russian saying: “Stchi and kasha is all we ever get to eat”.

The cuisine of the aristocracy preferred the pancakes, which were invented by Russian gourmands. The evening meal at the tsarist court comprised 20 courses for each person. There were hot broths, marinated chicken, rabbit, sausages, salads, bitter oranges, pasties, blini, sweets.

Some traditions still exist. They have survived - at family dinners, friendly parties, even in the kitchens of the communal apartments, where every housewife, and sometimes a houseman, cooked his or her own special dish. To this very day, the greatest praise which can be said to a cook is that it “tastes as if it were home-made”.

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PART I. COUNTRIES, CULTURES, PEOPLE

Вопросы и задания

1.Read and translate the texts.

2.Match a word in A with the definition in B

3. Read and translate the text.

Traditional Meals in Britain

The usual meals in Britain are: breakfast, lunch, tea and supper. Breakfast is generally a bigger meal than they have on the continent, though some

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English people like a continental breakfast of rolls, butter and coffee. But the usual English breakfast is porridge or cornflakes with milk or cream and sugar, bacon and eggs, marmalade made from oranges with buttered toasts and tea or coffee. For a change, you can have a boiled egg, cold ham or, perhaps, fish.

People in Britain generally have lunch about one o’clock. The businessman in London usually finds it impossible to come home for lunch, and so he goes to a cafe or restaurant; but if he is making lunch at home, he has cold meat, potatoes, salad and pickles with a pudding of fruit to follow. Sometimes people have a mutton chop or steak and chips followed by biscuits and cheese, and some people like a glass of light beer with lunch.

Afternoon tea you could hardly call a meal but it is a sociable sort of thing as friends often come in then for a chat while they have their cup of tea, cake or biscuit.

In some houses dinner is the biggest meal of the day. In many English homes people make the midday meal the chief one of the day, and in the evening they have the much simpler supper - an omelette or sausages, sometimes bacon and eggs, and sometimes just bread and cheese, a cup of coffee or cocoa and fruit.

Some people also have «high tea». They say there is no use for these afternoon teas where you try to hold a cup of tea in one hand and a piece of bread and butter about as thin as a sheet of paper in the other. They have it between five and six o’clock, and have ham or tongue and tomatoes and salad or sausages with good strong tea, plenty of bread and butter, then stewed fruit, with cream or custard and pastries or a good cake. And that’s what an Englishman calls a good tea.

4. Match a word in A with the definition in B.

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PART I. COUNTRIES, CULTURES, PEOPLE

5. Read and translate the texts.

American meals

What does a typical American or Canadian usually eat? Most people think that typical American diet consists mostly of fast food-hamburgers and French fries. It also includes convenience foods, usually frozen or canned, “junk food” without much food value - candy, potato chips, and cereal with lots of sugar but no vitamins and so on. This diet is high in sugar, salt, fat and high in cholesterol, and the choice of food does not provide good nutrition.

However, eating habits are changing. North Americans are becoming more interested in good health, and nutrition is an important part of health. People are eating less red meat and fewer eggs, and they are eating more chicken and fish. They know that chicken and fish are better for their health than meat or eggs because these foods do not contain much fat or cholesterol.

Some food might cause health problems, and people want to stay away from it.

For health reasons, many people are also buying more fresh vegetables. They may eat them without cooking them first, or they might cook them quickly in very little water because they want to keep the vitamins. The “typical” North American diet now includes food from many different countries. More ethnic restaurants are opening in big cities in the United States and Canada. Foods from Japan, Thailand, Mexico, West Africa, China, and India are very popular. At lunchtime many people go to ethnic fast-food places for a Mexican taco, Middle Eastern falafel, or Philippine lumpia.

How are we going to eat in the future? We will probably continue to eat more fish and vegetables and less meat. We will still buy convenience food, but frozen food will be better for our health, and canned food will have less salt and sugar. Our “junk food” in the future is not really going to be “junk” at all, because instead of candy bars we are going to eat “nutrition bars” with a lot of vitamins and protein. In the future our diet will probably be even more interesting and healthful than it is now.

Fast food

Everyone is always in a hurry these days. No one has time to sit and enjoy a meal with a friend. People want to eat now and they want to eat fast. The fast food industry tries to give them what they want, when they want it. It’s an industry that’s getting bigger all the time. The big names in American fast food are now well known all over the world, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut sell pizzas, chips, hot dogs, hamburgers and fried chicken from Los Angeles to London and Tokyo to Turin.

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These multi-million dollar companies work hard, to get more customers. Big lights and TV advertisements are not enough. The waiters wear special uniforms. There are lots of big mirrors and bright colours. Many of the fast food restaurants have special offers for families and do their best to attract children. Some even organise children’s birthday parties. For busy parents with no ideas and plenty of money, a birthday party at McDonald’s can save a lot of time and trouble. But you can’t eat fast food all the time. Doctors say chips make you fat, and dentists say coca cola spoils your teeth. It’s the old, old story everything that’s nice is bad for you!

6. While reading the text Food personalities keep the following questions in mind.

1.What does a typical America or Canadian usually eat?

2.What’s wrong with the typical North American diet?

3.How are people changing their eating habits?

4.What food will we eat in the future?

Food Personalities

People express their personalities in their clothes, their cars and their homes. Because we might choose certain foods to “tell” people something about us, our diets can also be an expression of our personalities. For example, some people eat mainly gourmet food, such as caviar and lobster, and they eat only in expensive restaurants (never in cafeterias or snack bars). They might want to “tell” the world that they know about the “better things in life”.

Human beings can eat many different kinds of food, but some people choose not to eat meat. Vegetarians often have more in common than just their diet. Their personalities might be similar, too. For example, vegetarians in the United States may be creative people and they might not enjoy competitive sports or jobs. They worry about the health of the world and they probably don’t believe in war.

Some people eat mostly “fast food.” One study shows that many fastfood eaters have a lot in common with one another, but they are very different from vegetarians.

They are competitive and good at business. They are also usually in a hurry. Many fast-food eaters might not agree with this description of their personalities, but it is a common picture of them.

Some people also believe that people of the same astrological sign have the same food personalities.

Arians (born under the sign of Aries, between March 21 and April 19) usually like spicy food, with a lot of onions and pepper. People with the sign of Taurus (April 20 to May 20) prefer healthful fruit and vegetables, but they often eat too much.

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