Ceremonies in school

Pledge of Allegiance

Every classroom has an American flag in it. From elementary to high school, students start each day by standing up and saluting the flag. They put their hands over their hearts and say the ‘Pledge of Allegiance.’ This is a promise to the country. It was written by people who came to America over 200 years ago. Saluting the flag helps people think about the United States and its freedom.

Homecoming

At many high schools and universities there is a big football game once a year and a parade afterwards. This is called ‘Homecoming.’ Students who graduated from the school like to return for Homecoming to see their old friends and teachers again. In the parade cheerleaders and football players walk together. The school band plays loud music for their fans and team. The parade is full of the school colors.

Awards

In American schools there are ceremonies for students who have done good work in school or who are excellent at sports. At these special ceremonies all the students and teachers come together.

They watch the school director give prizes to the students. Sometimes the prize is money for later university study.

Graduation

When students graduate from high school, each of them gets a prize. The prize they get is the high school diploma, written on nice paper with the name of the student and the school. Afterwards the graduating class has a big party, or ‘prom.’ Everyone wears fine clothes and a band plays dance music. It is a party to remember. Student, teachers and parents have worked hard for each diploma. Graduation is the greatest ceremony of all in American schools.

Supplementary materials to Module 3 Cities

TEXT A

Novosibirsk

1. Read the text and answer the questions a) What are the most important facts about Novosibirsk? b) What does Novosibirsk pride itself on?

2. Look up the underlined words and phrases in the dictionary. Make up sentences with them.

Novosibirsk is a city that prides itself on size: it is the third-largest city in Russia(the biggest city east of the Urals), has the biggest railway station along the trans-Siberianroute, the biggest library in Siberia, and the biggest opera/ballet theater in all of Russia - even bigger than Moscow's Bolshoy. The red-brick Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky, while not the biggest, is considered one of the finest existing examples of pure Russian Orthodox architecture.

In 1943, the Academy of Sciences opened up its Siberian branch in Novosibirsk, which marked the beginning of the city's transformation into the educational hub of Siberian Russia. While many research institutes are located within Novosibirsk itself, still many more are clustered in Academgorodok, a small city founded in the 1950s by the Academy, 30 km south of Novosibirsk.

At its height, Academgorodok was home to 65,000 scientists and their families, and was a priviliged area to live in, with well-stocked stores and dachas for the academic elite. Gorbachev's perestroika was initially conceived here, by economists who then moved to Moscow to author the economic revolution. In recent years, Academgorodok has fallen on hard times thanks to slashes in government funding, and many of the younger researchers who once populated the town have left.

Altitude	600ft. 200 m
Time Zone	GMT +8 hours
Temperature of January	–16° C
Temperature of July	+20° C
Precipitation	13 inches 35cm

Info
Population	1,400,000
Founded	1893
Longitude	82° 55' E
Latitude	55° 02'N

TEXT B