Welcome to University

Dear friends,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the Department/Chair of the English Language and Speech Communication (DELSC).

I guess you have already had a chance to get to know some of our teachers and have already acquainted with the main principles, requirements and aims of the course of English. We touched upon these questions at our previous lesson.

Today I would like to give some details about the course of English, to discuss the goals of the course and teaching strategies to achieve them. But first, let’s try to answer the question how English has become a world language and why learning foreign languages is so important.

Nowadays, when English is one of the major languages of the world, it requires an effort of imagination to realize that this is a relatively recent thing – that in Shakespeare’s time, for example, only a few million people spoke English, and the language was not thought to be very important by the other nations of Europe, and was unknown to the rest of the world. English has become a world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outside England, in all the continents of the world. This exporting of English began in the seventeenth century, with the first settlements in North America. Above all, it is the great growth of population in the United States, assisted by massive immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that has given the English language its present standing in the world. Today English has become the world’s most important language in politics, science, trade and cultural relations. In a number of speakers (400 million) it is second only to Chinese.

The English language is studied and used as a foreign language all over the world. People who speak English fall into one of three groups: those who have learned it as a native language; those who have learned it as a second language in a society that is mainly bilingual; and those who are forced to use it for a practical purpose – administrative, professional or educational. One person in seven of the world’s entire population belongs to one of these three groups. Incredibly enough, 75% of the world’s mail and 60% of the world’s telephone calls are in English. It is the language of business, computer technology, public communication, science and diplomacy.

All these facts and figures prove the importance of knowing English for future research and professional career. Besides, learning languages doesn’t only broaden the mind, it enriches all of us culturally. We learn to appreciate ways of life which may be different from our own. In other words learning languages equips students with the communicative and intercultural competences which are today the essential and often decisive prerequisites for the successful entry into many professions. The teachers of the department will be doing their best to help you to develop your communication skills and to encourage lifelong language learning. As the saying goes ‘knowledge is no burden’. ‘Live and learn’ should be a motto of modern professionals.

The teachers of our department firmly believe that the course will help you to improve your ability to communicate in English in a wide range of everyday and professional situations. Everybody studying this course will enlarge their vocabulary, develop grammar skills, improve their reading abilities and become more fluent and confident in using the English language. Good knowledge of English will, without doubt, increase the career prospects in any professional field. Even in those areas where knowledge of a foreign language may not be a primary requirement, linguistic proficiency often gives graduates a vital edge over other applicants.

The Department lays special emphasis throughout the course on the acquisition of a high level of language skills, both written and spoken. Written skills are developed by means of writing essays, reports, doing projects, translations, and other assignments. The instruction method is communicative, geared for adults and tailored to the needs of students. Participation in different forms of interaction: conversations, discussions, debates, presentations -- helps to develop oral speech skills. The material which features in the language classes is chosen for its topicality (актуальность) and authenticity (подлинность, оригинальность) and deals as far as possible with up-to-date themes from everyday life, professional subjects, politics, economics, and culture, including computer-assisted language learning and the use of videos.

Classes are held in small groups (maximum15 students) comprising learners of similar level of competence, which permits intensive and highly personal attention to the individual students.

However, you should realize that the success in achieving learner’s aims is not only a matter of teaching techniques. Today, the active role of the learner is an established principle. It is obvious that the teaching outcome greatly depends on your efforts and motivation. Certainly, a few gifted language learners do exist, but most people arrive at their fluency only as a result of hard work, expended over a considerable period of time.

Let’s try to start working hard from the very beginning. Your achievements mainly (entirely) depend on you. When you work to your full capacity, you can hope to attain the knowledge and skills that will enable you to create your future and control your destiny. Take hold of your life, apply your gifts and talents, work with dedication and self-discipline. Have high expectations for yourself and convert every challenge into an opportunity.

Thank you for your attention. Feel free to ask questions if you have any.

Reading Comprehension Tasks