A TEACher of ENGLish

Ø 1) Read the text aloud and answer the questions:

a) What is Mr. Quigley?

b) How old is he?

c) What foreign languages does he know?

d) Is he a polyglot?

e) What is his hobby?

f) When does he usually go to bed?

g) What does he do at the weekend?

h) How do Mr. Quigley’s children learn foreign languages?

Mr. Quigley is a teacher of English in Spain. He isn’t a very young man, but he is not old. He knows three foreign languages and reads and speaks and writes them very well. He reads many books and writes some. He works very late, sometimes till one o’clock in the morning.

There is a telephone and a lot of books on his desk. There are books with poems, stories, fairy-tales, dictionaries, grammar references, and maps in different languages on the bookshelves. He is fond of reading in foreign languages to his wife and their three children. Even baby Sally understands him! Sometimes they karaoke famous songs together.

He also has a large collection of DVDs with BBC films about animals, plants, people, and countries. Mr. Quigley spends a lot of time in the Internet where he chats with the native speakers and where he finds interesting information for his classes. Lately he has installed a satellite TV and now the whole family watches TV in different languages.

The pupils come to Mr. Quigley for their lessons every day, even on Saturdays and Sundays. The students are different. Some are hard-working and clever, others are clever but don’t work much. One is not clever or handsome but he can tell funny stories. They are all friends and they often talk about their work and their holidays, their cousins, parents, and pets, what they like and what they don’t like.

Mr. Quigley is fond of teaching even at the weekends. He often says, “When a job is a hobby, it is happiness.”

Ø 2) Answer the questions from task 1 about yourself.

Ø 3) Would you like to be a teacher? Why / Why not? Talk about your favourite teacher of mathematics, Russian, history, geography, PT, literature, or other subject.

1.15 FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN STUDENTS’ LIVES

Ø 1) Find Russian equivalents to the extracurricular activities mentioned in the text.

Students’ life in the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk is quite diverse and intensive. All the necessary conditions for extracurricular activities supplementing the study process have been created in the Karelian Branch. The Students’ Council, a body of students’ self-government, has been functioning in the Karelian Branch since 1999.

The cohesive plan of extracurricular activities consists of the following events:

· maintaining the Karelian Branch’s traditions (the AIDS Prevention Day, the Anti-Smoking Day);

· leisure activities (Merry and Witty Guys Club, Beauty Contest, Best Video Contest, Best Group Monitor Contest, etc.);

· sport events (the sports club and volleyball, football and mini-football teams; activities devoted to the International Health Day).

Do the students need foreign languages for their extracurricular activities? Of course they do! They get ready for the Evening Parties in Foreign Languages during which they recite, perform, dance, joke, and sing in all the languages they have mastered.

Some students use foreign languages to find exciting information on any subject that is of interest to them. Then they share the information with fellow students by placing it at Polyglot Corner in the academy.

The speakers of different languages are regularly invited to the Karelian Branch. Such meetings of native speakers and students are naturally held in foreign languages.

The scientific-research work of students is provided, too. The interregional scientific conference of students and post-graduate students called “Management: History, Science, and Culture” has already become a tradition. Ten sections contribute to the work of this conference, including the foreign languages section “Management, Leadership, Culture.” Students make reports in English, German, French, and in Finnish. Day-department students as well as correspondence students and foreign students take part in the conference.

The annual events organized in the Karelian Branch are “Derzhavin Readings, ” “The Week of Science, ” public lectures of scientists from the Karelian Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Science, from Petrozavodsk State University, and from the Karelian State Pedagogical Academy. Thus, the students of the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration understand the role of science in contemporary world and value the work of modern scientists. The students also understand the role of foreign languages in their future career.

Ø 2) Answer the questions:

a) You are a socially active student, aren’t you?

b) Which of the mentioned events would you like to take part in?

c) Should students be involved in extracurricular activities or should they devote their free time to studying only?

Ø 3) Agree or disagree with the statements:

a) “Students’ life in the Karelian Branch of NWAPA is quite diverse and intensive.”

b) “The students of the Karelian Branch of NWAPA understand the role of science in contemporary world and value the work of modern scientists.”

c) “The students also understand the role of foreign languages in their future career.”