Family

1.FAMILY

1. Let’s talk about family. What role does it play in your life? The family is very important as a unit in our society. Nothing else but family can be an emotional center of people's life. Every mother feels great affection for her children and tries to bring them up in a proper way. Understanding between the members of the family and consideration for others are very important in family relationship. A lot of activities help members of the family to be on friendly terms: discussing  family plans together, going on trips , visiting museums, theaters, exhibitions, sharing the same joys and sorrows.

Now I’d like to tell you about my family. Our family is not large. We are a family of four: my father, my mother, my younger brother and I.

My name is Olga. I am seventeen. I am a school leaver. My younger brother is ten. He is a pupil of the fifth form. He looks like our father. As for me everybody says I look like my mother. I am an ordinary girl of 17.

Our family lives in Shchuchin .My mother is about 40. She looks pretty well. My mother is an economist. We try to share our duties and help her about the house.

My father is an engineer in computers. He is considered to be an experienced engineer. We are very proud of him.

My younger brother also has his duties about the house. He helps mother to set the table and wash the dishes. On Saturdays Dad joins us in our work about the house. He likes to make or repair something. We don't have such problems as misunderstanding between the members of the family.

2. Are you on good terms with your parents and grandparents? Frankly speaking I’m on good terms with my parents and grandparents. We don't have such problems as misunderstanding between the members of the family.

3. What will you ask a British teenager about his/her family? Have you got a big family? Have you got any family traditions? Do you like to spend your free time with your family?

4. What can you advise people who want to get on well with their parents? I can advise  to try to understand the feelings of your parents and show respect to them. Even if you don’t agree with their thinking, try to make them understand politely.

5. They say that parents and children have difficulties understanding each other because of the generation gap. What do you think about this problem? I think that both children and grown-ups should try to understand and  respect each other

2.FAMILY TRADITIONS

 

1. Let’s talk about family. What role does it play in each person’s life? The family is very important as a unit in our society. Nothing else but family can be an emotional center of people's life. A lot of activities help members of the family to be on friendly terms: discussing all the family plans together, going on trips hikes together, visiting museums, theaters, exhibitions and exchanging opinions about them, sharing the same joys and sorrows.

We have some family traditions too. Apart from observing national holidays we celebrate the birthdays of each member of the family, give presents to each other on the New Year day and some other occasions. We come together for  the New Year celebration. First of all, it is a great opportunity to gather all family members together.  When we come together, we can know latest news about ourselves and share our feelings and thoughts. One of our family traditions is spending summer holidays together either at the seaside or in the country, which I enjoy very much. It’s a pity, but my parents and I are usually very busy during the weekdays and we seldom have a chance to spend time together. Sunday is the day when we can sit at a table and talk over everything that happened during the week. Eating together makes us feel close and we often have our most frank conversations at these times.

2. Do you have your own family traditions? Yes, we do. We have some family traditions

3. What will you ask your British friend about his/her family? Have you got any family traditions? Do you like to spend your free time with your family? What holidays do you celebrate with your family?

4. What can you advise people who want to have a close and happy family? First of all I can advise to spend more time together: celebrate holidays together? Discuss different things and help each other.

5. Why are there many one-parent families? How does the state help such families? It’s sad that families are getting smaller these days. One-parent families are those where one of the parents is no longer part of the family unit. Of course such families have support on behalf of the state. There are special financial programs to help the families with low income.

3.FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

 

1.Let's talk about family relationship. Why is family important for you? The family is very important as a unit in our society. Nothing else but family can be an emotional center of people's life. Every mother feels great affection for her children and tries to bring them up in a proper way. Understanding between the members of the family and consideration for others are very important in family relationship. A lot of activities help members of the family to be on friendly terms: discussing  family plans together, going on trips , visiting museums, theaters, exhibitions, sharing the same joys and sorrows.Now I’d like to tell you about my family. Our family is not large. We are a family of four: my father, my mother, my younger brother and I.

My name is Olga. I am seventeen. I am a school leaver. My younger brother is ten. He is a pupil of the fifth form. He looks like our father. As for me everybody says I look like my mother. I am an ordinary girl of 17.

Our family lives in Shchuchin .My mother is about 40. She looks pretty well. My mother is an economist. We try to share our duties and help her about the house.

My father is an engineer in computers. He is considered to be an experienced engineer. We are very proud of him.

My younger brother also has his duties about the house. He helps mother to set the table and wash the dishes. On Saturdays Dad joins us in our work about the house. He likes to make or repair something. We don't have such problems as misunderstanding between the members of the family.

 

2.Are you on good terms with your parents and grandparents? Yes I am. I am ongood terms with my parents.

3. What will you ask your British friend about his/her family relationships? Have you got close relations with your parents? How often do you have misunderstandings with your parents? What do you usually do to solve the problems in your relationships?

4. What can you advise a person who wants to have a close and happy family? First of all I can advise for anyone to try to understand the feelings of your parents and show respect to them.

5. They say that parents and children have difficulties understanding each other because of the generation gap. What do you think about this problem? I think that both children and grown-ups should try to understand and  respect each other.

 

 

 

4.FRIENDSHIP and RELATIONSHIPS with FRIENDS

1. Let’s talk about friendship. What role do friends play in your life? As we live in society, we meet a lot of people during our lives.  Our attitudes towards each of these people are different. Usually I classify people I know as acquaintances, friends and close friends. I'm going to tell you about the best friends of mine. They are Victor Danilov and Dmitri Petrov.

Victor is a good-natured guy of medium height, strong in body, light-haired with light blue eyes. Victor is fond of foreign languages. Victor also likes music. He is a good singer; he plays the guitar and dances better than Michael Jackson.

Dmitri is rather slim, not very tall, his hair is brown, and his eyes are grey.  He is an enthusiastic football fan. Dmitri is an extremely sociable person. By means of e-mail he corresponds with many people from different countries. They discuss political and economic issues.

My friends are very interesting to talk to. Both of them possess great charm, they are both very clever and educated guys, they are open-hearted and social, well-mannered and tactful. I respect them for their fairness, strong will, intellect, and modesty. People usually like them. I'm happy to have such friends as Victor and Dmitri.

  2. Can you rely on your best friends? Yes I can. I can rely on my best friends.

3. What questions do you usually ask when you want to get acquainted with someone? Have we seen each other before? Where are you from? How do you usually spend your holidays?

4. What can you advise a teenager who has no friends? Probably, a person with such problems needs advice on behalf of a psychologist. But if someone asks me to help, I will recommend her or him to join some kind of a club or a society to meet people with the same interests.

5. They say: “A person has just one true friend”. What do you think about this? In the reality there are very few true friends. A real friend, on the other hand, is usually one person who shares your life.  True friends are hard to find, and are worth holding on to.

 

 

 

5.EDUCATION

1. Let’s talk about education. What can you tell me about the system of education in Belarus? Most children in Belarus start school at the age of 6.

All pupils must follow the basic education curriculum up to the age of 15, and the vast majority of pupils stay at school until they finish their high school education at 18.

At the age of 15, pupils   can attend college or professional technical institutions.

Completion of a high school or professional certificate allows students to apply to continue their education at the university level. There are more than 50 higher educational establishments in Belarus. All educational establishments are governed by the state.

  I'd like to tell you about my school. The school is housed in a large three-storeyed building.   The building consists of four blocks which form a square with a small court inside.

  Teacher s and pupils celebrate holidays   together. They organize concerts, sport competitions, parties and performances. The most popular events are Teacher's Day, New Year party, intellectual games, foreign song contest "Top -School", School Day.

I like my school and my class. I always felt at home there. I was on good terms with my classmates and we often spent our free time together.

2. Does your school differ from any other school you know? I don’t think so, our school doesn't differ from any other schools.

3. Ask me what problems I had when I was a student. Did you visit all lessons in the university? Did you get a scholarship? Have you got any problems with passing the exam?

4. You are talking with a British student. What would you advise him/her to do to prepare for an exam well?   I advise him to give up watching TV and sitting in front of the computer display and to sit down and work hard with the exam materials.

5. Today some young people want to study abroad because they believe that the level of education is higher there. Would you do the same? Our system of education is based on theoretical preparation of students to their future career. At the same time studying abroad guarantees a good training of practical skills. So I’d prefer to study abroad.

 

6STUDYING at SCHOOL

1. Let’s talk about studying at school. What can you tell me about your school? My school is a three-storeyed building. It is quite big with a sport ground behind it.

On the ground floor there are classrooms for the primary-school pupils, workshops. .

If you enter the school and turn left you see a big light canteen. It is always busy and noisy, but it is clean. Here pupils and their teachers have their lunch. 

There is a gymnasium on the ground floor as well. Our physical training lessons are held there. Pupils like to go there even after the lessons, because it has a lot of sport equipment. Our school has many classrooms. The classrooms are light and spacious.

Each room has teacher's table, pupils desks, blackboard, tables and charts on the wall, maps and portraits. There are special classrooms for Chemistry, Physics, Biology, History, Geography, English, and Russian. On the first floor there is a big nice assembly hall. A lot of meetings, concerts, festivals are held there.

When I think about my school I don't remember its walls and desks; it is my teachers and school-mates who will be always with me. I am so thankful to our teachers for what they have done for us.

2. Do you agree that Belarusian secondary school provides a person with good knowledge? Why (not)? I fully agree with this statement. Belarusian secondary school provides a person with good knowledge

3. Ask me whether I liked school when I was a pupil. Did you like to go to school in the childhood? What was your favourite subject?

4. What ideas from Belarusian school can you advise a teacher from Great Britain to use in British school? I advise to learn a wide range of foreign languages and to pass final exams in each of them.

5. Today some young people think that having a good education is not very important. Do you agree with them?  In my view only a good education can guarantee a good job in the future of a person. This means that the salary will also be good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.SCHOOL TRADITIONS

1. Let's talk about school traditions. Are you proud of your school? My school is a three-storeyed building. It is quite big with a sport ground behind it.

On the ground floor there are classrooms for the primary-school pupils, workshops.

If you enter the school and turn left you see a big light dining-room. It is always busy and noisy, but it is clean. Here pupils and their teachers have their lunch. There are blue curtains on the windows and beautiful pictures on the walls.

There is a gymnasium on the ground floor as well. Our physical training lessons are held there. Pupils like to go there even after the lessons, because it has a lot of sport equipment. On the first floor there is a big nice assemble hall. A lot of meetings, concerts, festivals are held there.

  Teacher s and pupils celebrate holidays   together. They organize concerts, sport competitions, parties and performances. The most popular events are Teacher's Day, New Year party, intellectual games, foreign song contest "Top -School", School Day.

There is a good tradition in our school. Every year people who graduated our school come here to meet their teachers and classmates. These meetings take place every first Saturday of February

When I think about my school I don't remember its walls and desks; it is my teachers and school-mates who will be always with me. I am so thankful to our teachers for what they have done for us.

2. Does your school have any traditions? . Yes, it does. Our school has a lot of traditions.

3. Ask me about my school life. What did you like best while studying at school? What was your favourite subject? Have you ever been to your school after finishing it?

4. What can you tell me about your favourite school tradition? There is a good tradition in our school. Every year people who graduated our school come here to meet their teachers and classmates. These meetings take place every first Saturday of February

5. Nowadays some young people complain that they have lots of problems at school. Do you agree with them? Not to have such problems they should respect their teachers and classmates and work much harder.

8.CHOOSING a CAREER

 

1. Let’s talk about your future career. What would you like to become? There are many interesting and useful professions and it is really not an easy task to choose the right one.

I began to think about my future profession at the age of 15. My favourite subjects at school were mathematics and English. My teachers encouraged me in my desire to become an economist. Now I know well what I'm going to do after leaving school. I opted for a career in business economics. It was my father who aroused my interest in that field. I got interested in the matter.

Economics is the science of making choices, which is based upon the facts of our everyday life. Economists study our everyday life and the system, which affects it. To become a good specialist in economic matters and business one must know many sciences, such as business economics, finance and credits, statistics, history of economic theory and philosophy, mathematics, as well as economic management, etc.

If I pass my entrance exams successfully and enter the University I'll try to study to the best of my abilities to achieve my life's goal. I also hope that I'll never regret my choice and get a well-paid and interesting job.

2. Does a person need to possess special qualities to become a good specialist in this or that particular field? Why? Yes, a person needs to possess special qualities to become a good specialist in every field because only qualified specialists are real professionals.

3. What questions will you ask your future employer at a job interview? What will be the working conditions? How much will you pay me? Are there any perspectives of advancement?

4. Give me some advice on how to behave at a job interview to create a positive impression on the employer. Show up for the job interview a little early. Speak professionally.  Stay positive during the interview. Ask the interviewer some questions about the position and the company.

5. Some people think that it is necessary to have a good command of a foreign language to get a good job. Do you agree with this? It is very important for a specialist in business matters to speak at least one foreign language.  You'll be able to follow business developments in the world by listening to radio and TV news, by reading newspapers or magazines, or by getting in contact with your business partners abroad.