Context my family

I am Max Kovaliov. I am seventeen years old. I want to tell you a few words about my family. My family is large. I have got a mother, a father, a sister, a brother and a grandmother. There are six of us in the family.

First of all, some words about my parents. My mother is a teacher of history. She works in a college. She likes her profession. She is a good-looking woman with brown hair. She is forty-five but she looks much younger. She is tall and slim.

My father is a computer programmer. He is very experienced. He is a broad-shouldered, tall man with fair hair and grey eyes. He is forty-seven. My father often sings and when we are at home and have some free time, I play the guitar and we sing together. My father knows all about new TV sets and likes to repair old ones. He is also handy with many things. When he was little, he liked to take everything to pieces. My grandmother told me a story that once my father tried to «repair» their kitchen clock. He managed to put all the wheels and screws back again — but the clock did not work. They had to give it to a repairman. But that happened a long time ago. Now he can fix almost everything: a vacuum cleaner, a washing machine, a fridge and what not. He's got a few shelves where he keeps everything he needs. On the table there is I always a TV set in pieces.

My parents have been married for twenty-six years. They have much in common, but they have different views on music, books, films and sports. For example, my father likes horror films and my mother likes «soap operas». My father is fond of tennis. My mother doesn't go in for sports. But my parents have the same opinion about my education and upbringing.. My parents are hard working people. My mother keeps the house and takes care of all of us. She is very good at 'Cooking and she is clever with her hands. She is very practical. My father and I try to help her with the housework. I wash the dishes, go shopping and tidy up our flat.

My grandmother is a pensioner. She lives with us and helps to run the house. She is fond of knitting. My sister Helen is twenty-four. She is married and has a family of her own. She works as an accountant for a joint venture company. Her husband is a scientist. They have got twins: a daughter and a son. They go to a nursery school.

My brother Sergey is eleven. He is a schoolboy. He wants to become a doctor but he is not sure yet. Three months ago he dreamed of being a cosmonaut.

I want to become a student. I'd like to learn foreign languages. I think I take after my father. I'm tall, fair-haired and even-tempered. I always try to be in a good mood.

Hobbies

Hobbies differ like tastes. If you have chosen a hobby according to your character and taste you are lucky because your life becomes more interesting. Hobbies are divided into four large classes: doing things, making things, collecting things, and learning things.

The most popular of all hobby groups is doing things. It includes a wide variety of activities,-everything from gardening to travelling and from chess to volleyball. Gardening is one of the oldest of man's hobbies. It is a well-known fact that the English are very fond of gardening and growing flowers, especially roses.

Both grown-ups and children are fond of playing different computer games. This is a relatively new hobby but it is becoming more and more popular. Making things includes drawing, painting, making sculpture, designing costumes, handicrafts. Two of the most famous hobby painters were President Eisenhower and Sir Winston Churchill. Some hobbyists write music or play musical instruments. President Bill Clinton, for example, plays the saxophone.

Almost everyone collects something at some period in his life; stamps, coins, matchboxes, books, records, postcards, toys, watches. Some collections have no real value. Others become so large and so valuable that they are housed in museums and galleries. Many world-famous collections started in a small way with one or two items. People with a good deal of money often collect paintings, rare books and other art objects. Such private collections are sometimes given to museums, libraries and public galleries so that others might take pleasure in seeing them.

No matter what kind of hobby a person has, he always has the opportunity of learning from it. By reading about the things he is interested in, he is adding to what he knows. Learning things can be the most exciting aspect of a hobby.

KHERSON

Some years ago I've made a letter-friend at abroad. She is Mary Di Ginnaro. She is an American. She lives in Pensylvania, in the small city Royersford. Once she asked to get an opportunity to describe my city and to remember what I know about Kherson.

I wrote her that Kherson is the Southern Ukrainian city, which is situated on the right bank of the river Dnieper, tens of kilometres away from the place where it falls into the Black Sea. The climate here is moderately continental and dry. The city was founded in the 18th century. At the same time the Admiralty and ship-yard came into existence. Kherson was the cradle of the Black Sea merchant navy. Today Kherson is a large sea - and river port.

My city is buried in the verdure of numerous parks. The view of the Dnieper is magnificent. Golden and peaceful beaches succeeding one another, fresh air and delightful climate attract thousands of people. Kherson is included into the Dnieper cruise.

There are two museums in the city: the museum of Local lore and Art Museum. There is also the Philarmonic Society, numerous architectural monuments. Among them there is St. Sophiya's Cathedral and the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. The exposition of the Art Museum includes paintings of the 18th and 19th centuries as well as pictures of modern artists. There are masterpieces by Shishkin, AjvazovsJciy and others.

Kherson is a town of youth. There are a lot of educational establishments: 4 institutes, so my State University is one of them, colleges, technical and vocational schools. There is also a lot of facilities for sport and entertainment: grounds, courts, pools, gyms, bars, movies, clubs for teenagers and adults. Puppet-show is very popular among children and their parents. Kherson Drama Theatre named after Kulish is famous all over Ukraine.

Kherson is an industrial centre as well. The main branches of industry here are shipbuilding and textile. But nowadays in the conditions of economic crisis many other enterprises had to diminish the output of their goods.

Kherson is a town of chest-nuts. It's very green and beautiful. It takes the 3d place in Ukraine in gardening and planting trees. Day by day it grows. New districts are rapidly built. My city is my pride and glory, like the proverb says: "East or West, home is best".

KHERSON STATE UNIVERSITY

Kherson State University is the biggest institution of higher education in Kherson, of IV^th ac­creditation level. Our educational establishment is the oldest in the Southern Ukraine. This year the University is going to celebrate its 90-th anniversary. It prepares qualified specialists in 34 specialties, professionals in their work. These are teachers of all subjects which are taught at school, teachers for preschool child care centers, engineer teachers, lawyers, economists, environmentalists, psychologists, social workers, journalists, translators and others. Such task is accomplished by our tight-knit teaching stuff comprising 56 professors, doctors of sciences; 228 associate professors, candidates of sciences; 105 senior teachers, assistants.Forty five chairs provide training of students and supervise their scientific activities. Alto­gether there are about 8 thousand of full-time, part-time and external students studying at the Univer­sity, almost 1400 of them annually graduate as diploma professionals with bachelor's, specialist's or master's degree. Besides the 5 educational buildings the University has a sporting health-improving camp "Burevestnik" on the Black Sea coast, training center on the river Dnieper, botanic garden - agro­biological station in the city of Kherson.

1500 students from other cities and towns live in University dormitories. University library with 5 reading-rooms, containing 400000 units of book storage, works all days of week. One of the principal directions in the University work is preparation and realization of interna­tional projects in the field of science and education. Today higher education in the whole world is characterized by mutual integration and interna­tionalization of educational process. Integration objectives are brought to the forefront in Bologna Declaration. For this reason the development of international relations belongs to primary aims of Kherson State University.

Cooperation with the foreign partners is realized on substantive directions by means of differ­ent organizational forms - from students and stuff exchanges, to participation in international confer­ences, seminars, "round tables" for realization of joint complex educational projects.