39. Is it true or false?

1. Universities, corporations and professionals, look unfavourably on students who have spent a school year abroad.

2. If you become an exchange student abroad, you will learn, learn and learn.

3. Tourists have much more opportunities than exchange students.

4. Teenagers all over the world are the same.

5. Host families want to learn about your culture and introduce you to theirs.

6. The fastest way to learn a foreign language is to live abroad.

40. Be ready to tell about advantages of being an exchange student. You may use the plan for your answer. All the other students have to prepare at least one question concerning this problem. Try to answer them.

41. Would you like your child to be an exchange student? Why?

42. Read the following article about German- Russian relations and write out the events happened in the years pointed out:

1992
2003
October 2005
April 2005
2004/2005

The cultural cooperation agreement between the governments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Russian Federation, which was signed on 16 December 1992, forms a contractual basis for cultural relations between the two countries.

With their extensive two-year programme, the 2003/2004 German-Russian cultural exchanges under the patronage of the two countries’ presidents made an important and innovative contribution to deepening the relations between German and Russian society and has resulted in many ongoing contacts.

In foreign language teaching, German, though losing ground, occupies second place behind English. An intergovernmental agreement on learning the partner country’s language was concluded in 2003. There are currently some 12,000 young Russians studying at German universities. The agreement on cooperation in youth policy, which entered into force in October 2005 and is implemented through national coordination offices in Hamburg and Moscow, puts bilateral school and youth exchange on a broader footing.

In April 2005, the then Federal Chancellor Schröder and President Putin signed a Joint Declaration on a Strategic Partnership in Education, Research and Innovation aimed at stepping up bilateral cooperation in the education sector, particularly in training specialist and executive personnel. The Goethe Institute is active in many parts of Russia, above all in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where it has its own offices. Numerous other German cultural organizations are also represented. The restitution of German cultural property taken to Russia during the war is an issue that has yet to be settled.

The academic excellence of German universities and universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen) is convincing more and more “high-potentials” from all over the world. Almost 250,000 foreign students are currently registered at German universities – nearly 100,000 students more than 10 years ago. In the 2004/2005 academic year alone, the number of US citizens studying in Germany rose by 10%. A German university place is especially popular with students from China, Bulgaria, Poland and Russia.

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