топики
методическая разработка по английскому языку по теме

About Myself

 From the very start I should say that it is not an easy thing to speak about myself as it is hard to have a look at yourself from aside, but at the same time who knows you better than you yourself do?

 I am a girl of sixteen. When I look at myself in the mirror I see a blond girl with short straight hair, dark eyes and a slender figure. As to my appearance I'm rather tall and slim. I have never thought I'm a beauty, I wish I were more beautiful. I think that I'm even tempered, rather reserved, calm and modest. But sometimes I can lose my temper and become either angry or sad. I like staying alone and sometimes I retreat into my shell. But at the same time I like my friends, I like to laugh and joke. I have got a sense of humour. It means I understand humour and appreciate it.

 There are many things in our life I like and some I dislike. I like when everything is OK. Being happy is one way of being wise. I like to study because knowledge is useful sometimes. I'm fond of reading as it gives not only knowledge, but also wonderful moments of joy and pleasure. I am neither short nor tall, so I like to wear high-heeled shoes, trousers or jeans.

 I was born on the 25th of April 1985 in the town of Molodechno where I live now together with my parents and my younger sister. My early years, which I remember badly, were typical of a child living in a town. I was born into a family of a teacher and a doctor. I was sent to a kindergarten at the age of three as both my parents were working. As all the children of Belarus I went to school at the age of six. Here I should say that it was my lucky chance to study for 11 years at the school of fine arts in the town of Molodechno. It turned out to be the best school in our town. There I got a proper training in such subjects as English, Russian and Belarusian, literature and world culture. I usually did a lot of home preparation for them and I liked everything I was doing in them. I really tried hard in them. But despite my efforts I was not good at Math.

 School for me was not only lessons and learning, I had a lot of friends there. We organized extra class activities such as parties and other social activities. I actively participated in most of them.

 I am sociable, so I have got a lot of friends among my schoolmates. As for me, I appreciate people's honesty, kindness, sense of justice and intelligence. I don't like when people are rude and aggressive.

 I am stubborn at times. But to my mind being persistent is not always a bad thing. That means if I have an aim I never leave things half done. At times I feel dissatisfied with myself, especially when I fail to do something or can't do things the way they should be done. At the same time I think I am hard-working and diligent. My greatest problem at school was talking in front of the class. I always blushed.

 Very soon I'll pass my final exams at school and after a farewell party at the end of June I'll say goodbye to my teachers who are very well-educated people with broad outlook and deep knowledge of the subjects. They encouraged me in my disire of choosing my future career. School meant a lot to me and it wasn't just learning and studying. I made good friends there and met many interesting people. I faced a new life without school with a mixed feeling of sadness and joy.

 I asked myself a lot of times what I wanted to be when I left school. A few years ago it was difficult to give a definite answer. As years passed I changed my mind several times. But it was only in my last year at school that I finally made up my mind what profession I would most like to have in the future. I realized that my strongest desire was to continue specializing in humanities and learn foreign languages in particular. I hope my dream will come true. If I fail in my exams I'll try to enter the University again.

 And now a few words about my inclinations. I haven't got any special hobby, like collecting something, but I'm fond of reading books. They give me more knowledge of their people's lives and feelings and broaden my outlook. In my opinion, books are a source of emotional inspiration and romantic feeling. Besides, books help me to continue my own education. The time spent on a good book is never wasted. Reading is a rewarding pastime.

 And of course I like music! I'm fond of music of the 60-s, like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Elvis Prestly. The songs of the Beatles give me a lot of delight and pleasure. Besides, I am a great theatregoer. Whenever I have some time to spare, I go to the theatre. I'm not keen on television.

 Sometimes I play different sport games for health and pleasure. I usually play such games as volleyball, basketball, tennis, and sometimes football.

 And finally, the things I hope to achieve in my life are: to have a very successful career, so this year after finishing school I will try to enter the University, to build the house of my dreams and to find someone in my life to share all that with.

1. Dialogue “Asking the way”.

A.: Excuse me, please. I’m a foreigner in your town. Could you tell me where

the nearest post-office is?    

B.: Sure. It’s not far from here. Go straight on, then turn right.

A.: Is it too far to walk?

B.: No, it’s only a couple of hundred yards. It’s no distance at all. But you can

take a taxi.

A.: And where is the nearest supermarket here?

B.: Well, it’s just over there. Take the second on the left and you’ll see it.

A.: Thanks a lot.

B.: It’s a pleasure.

1.2. Список фраз.

1. Excuse me, please. – Извините меня, пожалуйста.

2. Can you help me? – Не могли бы Вы мне помочь?

3. Could you tell me the way to .. – Не могли бы Вы подсказать мне путь до…

4. Sure. – Конечно.

5. It’s a good way from here. – Это довольно далеко отсюда.

6. Cross a street. – Перейдите улицу.

7. It’s no distance at all. – Это совсем близко.

8. I’m truing to find… - Я пытаюсь найти…

9. It’s not far from here. – Это недалеко отсюда.

10. You can go there on foot. – Вы можете дойти туда пешком.

11. How long will it take me to get to the station? – Сколько мне потребуется времени, чтобы добраться до станции?

12. Should I take a taxi? – Может мне поехать на такси?

13. You’d better take a taxi. – Вам лучше поехать на такси.

14. Sorry. – Извините.

15. Not at all! – Ничего!

16. It’s all right. – Всё в порядке.

2. Dialogue

A.: Excuse me, please. I’m a foreigner in London. Could you tell me the way  

to    the National Gallery?

B.: Sure. It’s not far from here. First right, second left. You can’t  miss it.

A.: Should I take a bus?

B.: No, you can walk there in ten minutes. It’s no distance at all.

A.: And where is the nearest bank here?

B.: Well, it’s just over there. Go straight on and you’ll see it.

A.: Thanks a lot.

B.: That’s quite all right.

1.2. Список фраз.

1. Excuse me, please. – Извините меня, пожалуйста.

2. Can I help you? – Я могу Вам помочь?

3. Could you tell me the way to .. – Не могли бы Вы подсказать мне путь  

до

4. Sure. – Конечно.

5. Take the second on the left – Второй поворот налево.

6. Turn round. – Поверните назад.

7. It’s no distance at all. – Это совсем близко.

8. I’m truing to find… - Я пытаюсь найти…

9. It’s not far from here. – Это недалеко отсюда.

10. You can go there on foot. – Вы можете дойти туда пешком.

11. How long will it take me to get to the airport? – Сколько мне

потребуется

времени, чтобы добраться до аэропорта?

12. Should I take a bus? – Может мне поехать на автобусе?

13. You’d better take a taxi. – Вам лучше поехать на такси.

14. Sorry. – Извините.

15. Not at all! – Ничего!

16. It’s all right. – Всё в порядке.

FAMILY LIFE - Семейная жизнь британцев (тема)

The English are a nation of stay-at-home. "There is no place like home," they say. And when the man is not working he is at home in the company of his wife and children and busies himself with the affairs of the home. "The Englishman's home is his castle," is a saying known all over the world. And it is true.

A "typical" British family used to consist of mother, father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. Some of these have been caused by new laws and others are the result of changes in society. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact one marriage in every three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families. Society is now more tolerant than it used to be of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents.

Another change has been caused by the fact that people are living longer nowadays, and many old people live alone following the death of their partners. As a result of these changes in the pattern of people's lives, there are many households which consist of only one person or one person and children.

You might think that marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were. However, the majority of divorced people marry again, and they sometimes take responsibility for a second family.

Members of a family - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins - keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their home town to work, and so the family becomes scattered. Christmas is the traditional season for reunions. Although the family group is smaller nowadays than it used to be, relatives often travel many miles in order to spend the holiday together.

In general, each generation is keen to become independent of parents in establishing its own family unit, and this fact can lead to social as well as geographical differences within the larger family group.

Relationships within the family are different now. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved with bringing up children, often because the mother goes out to work. Increased leisure facilities5 and more money mean that there are greater opportunities outside the home. Although the family holiday is still an important part of family life (usually taken in August, and often abroad) many children have holidays away from their parents, often with a school party or other organized group.

Who looks after the older generation? There are about 10 million old-age pensioners in Britain, of whom about 750,000 cannot live entirely independently. The government gives financial help in the form of a pension but in the future it will be more and more difficult for the nation economy to support the increasing number of elderly. At the present time, more than half of all old people are looked after at home. Many others live in Old Peoples' Homes, which may be private or state owned.

My family

I haven’t got a family of my own yet, so I shall speak about my parents’ family. There are four of us: my father, Sergey Viktorovich, my mother, Irina Pavlovna, my younger brother Anton, and myself Alexandr, Alex for short.

First of all some about my parents. My mother is a house-wife. She is a good-looking woman with brown hair. She is thirty-four but she looks much younger.

My father is employee of Bank. He is very experienced. He is a broad-shouldered, tall man with fair hair and grey eyes. He is forty.

My parents have been married for eighteen years. They have much in common, but they have different views on music, books, films, 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 for sports. But my parents have the same opinion about my education and upbringing.

My parents are hard-working people. My mother keeps house and takes care of me, my brother and my father. She is very good at cooking and she is clever with her hands. She is very practical. My brother and I try to help her with the housework. I wash the dishes, go shopping and tidy our flat.

My brother’s name is Anton. He is thirteen years old. He is a schoolboy.

I want to become a student. I’d like to learn mathematics.

We have got a lot of relatives. We are deeply attached to each other and we get on very well.

What will be there in my new flat

Every young man wants to live independently. And I’m not an exception. Of course, the time will come, when I will alone in my flat. I wait for this moment and imagine, that my new flat will be at least three roomed. There will be a study, a bed-room, a dinning-room. Of course, there also will be a kitchen and a bathroom. The dinning- room will be big comfortable room with big table in the center. There also will be several armchairs, and a big TV set in it. In this room I shall receive guests. I also shall put a piano in the one of corners of the room and shall start taking piano lessons cause I like this musical instrument very much.

The bed-room will become my favorite one because it is a room of rest where everybody can spend several hours without noise and fuss. There I shall put my PC that helps me very much.

Another room – study will be the place where I shall do all my work. There will be a large table full of papers and several shelves. I am going to gather big collection of books, so they won’t stay empty.

That’s how I imagine my future flat. I hope that these dreams will become true.

About My family

    My family is not very big, just a typical family: Dad, Mom, me, my brother and sister and our funny cat. My Mummy is forty-two, she is a teacher of French at the University. She is a born teacher. My Dad is forty-three, he is a professional engenier, he works for a design company. My parents both like their work very much. My elder sister Natasha is nineteen, she goes to the University, she wants to be a teacher of geography. She is fond of reading books on history and fiction. My younger brother Vladimir is only six years old, he goes to the kindergarten. He is very funny, I like to spend my free time teaching him something. Vladimir likes to play with our cat. My grandparents are retired. They like gardening. They spend a lot of their time in the garden. They grow vegetables and fruits. We enjoy having fresh vegetables and green on our dinner table.I think It's very healthy food. I love my family very much. We always help each other.My sister often helps my mother.She washes the dishes and dusts. Every summer we like to travel somewhere.Last summer we were in London.We had a good time there. Everyone in my family is my best friend.We are glad that we are together.

 Questions:

 1. How many are there in the family?

 2. Do you have a brother or a sister?

 3. Where do your parents work?

 4. Do your parents understand you?

 5. In what way do you help your parents?

 6. How old are your grandparents?

 7. How do you get along with your family?

 8. Which of the parents do you want to be like?

Where have you been to?

T: Have you ever been to Boston?

P: No,I haven't. No,never.

T: Have you ever been to London?

P: No,I haven't. No,never.

T: Have you ever read about London?

P: Yes, I have.

T: How many times have you read about London?

P: 2 times.

                                            ***

Mary: Hi, Nicolai. I haven't seen you for a while. How have you been?

Nicolai: Fine! I've been to London.

Mary: Did you have a good time?

Nicolai: Fantastic! I went to 10, Downing Street.

Mary: You did?

Nicolai: Yes, I went on Monday. And I met the Prime Minister!

Mary: You didn't!

Nicolai: Yes. I shook his hand.

Mary: You shook his hand?

Nicolai: Yes. And I sat in the Cabinet Room.

Mary: You sat in the Cabinet Room!

Nicolai: Yes! And I visited the Houses of Parliament.

Mary: You visited the Houses of Parliament?

Nicolai: Yes, I was there on Tuesday. I've got photographs.

Insurance

- Good morning!

- Good morning! Can I help you?

- Yes? I want to go to Africa, and I need insurance for this.

- What is the purpose of your trip there?

- Does it make a difference?

- Yes, because we have different types of insurance…

- You see, I wanna go on Safari. What do you offer for this?

- You have chosen a rather dangerous thing to do! And not a cheap one.

- Hunting is for those who aren’t afraid of risk!

- But we are afraid of risks. Everything will be taken into account in your insurance.

- Will you compensate me, if, for example, I am wounded by a lion?

- Of course, but that will cost you 5 $ per day! Or 100 $ with a deductible.

- And what does that mean?

- This means if a lion bites you and the treatment costs less than 100 $, there won’t be any compensation.

- I see.

- But in any case we will take care of the evacuation of your body, or we’ll pay for your funeral right there.

- I have no idea what to choose.

- We can also insure you against delayed departure, baggage loss…

- I have never thought of that! Let’s do it!

- By the way, who will take care of your house in your absence?

- Nobody.

- If there will be a fire, a flood…

- There is my collection of hunting trophies. Can you insure my house, also?

- Then let’s start filling out your policy!

In the Tour Agency

- Good morning!

- Good morning!

- Is this the tour agency Incredible tour?

- Yes. Would you like some coffee or tea?

- No, thanks. I saw your advertisement. Do you really offer incredible tours?

- Yes, our firm can offer you the most incredible tours to any country of the world.

- What can you recommend me for Christmas?

- Will you go by yourself?

- No, I need a trip for two.

- Then I’d recommend you to see Paris on Christmas. You can spend some unforgettable romantic days   there.

- Wait a minute. I’m going with my brother.

- Pardon me. How about skiing in Andorra? Snow, fresh air…

- That sounds rather good but skiing is not my thing.

- Well, you could go to Thailand. It’s an exotic tropical place with ancient temples of Buddha, Thai    massage….

- But I can’t stand the heat.

- And what about a tour to the North Pole? It’s really extreme.

- Excuse me, where did you take this photo?

- Oh, I celebrated Christmas with my friends.

- And where was this taken?

- We rented a village house there out of town.

- This is exactly what I want.

- Are you sure?

- I want this house for two weeks.

- But, may be, you will still think about your tour to Bali?

Ideas for the dialogue “In the Tour Agency”

- Good morning!

- Good morning!

- Is this the tour agency Incredible tour (Trip in Dream/Ideal Holidays/)

- Yes. Would you like some coffee or tea?

- No, thanks. I saw your advertisement. Do you really offer incredible tours (Desirable/Ideal)Tours?

- Yes, our firm can offer you the most incredible tours to any country of the world.

- What can you recommend me for Christmas (the New Year/ For summer holidays)?

- Will you go by yourself?

- No, I need a trip for two (…).

- Then I’d recommend you to see Paris on Christmas (Europe in the New Year/Turkey in summer). You can spend some unforgettable romantic (fantastic days/astonishing )  days there.

- Wait a minute. I’m going with my brother (…).

- Pardon me. How about skiing in Andorra (sunbathing in Bali, snowboarding in Baikalsk)? Snow, fresh air…(yellow beaches, smiling people)…

- That sounds rather good but skiing (sunbathing , snowboarding) is not my thing.

- Well, you could go to Greece. It’s an ancient country with statues of Gods….

- But I can’t stand the heat.

- And what about a tour to the Alps? It’s really extreme.

- Excuse me, where did you take this photo?

- Oh, I celebrated Christmas with my friends (had a picnic with my family on the shore of lake Baikal).

- And where was this taken?

- We rented a village house there out of town.

- This is exactly what I want.

- Are you sure?

- I want this house for two weeks.

- But, may be, you will still think about your tour to Bali (Egypt)?

        My family album   Мой семейный альбом

- Do you want to see my family album?

- Хочешь посмотеть мой семейный альбом?

- With pleasure.

- С удовольствием.

- These are my parents. Here they are very young. This is their wedding.

- Это мои родители. Здесь они очень молодые. Это их свадьба.

- You look a lot like your mother. You have the same eyes and smile.

- Ты очень похожа на маму. У вас одинаковые глаза и улыбка.

- You think so? All relatives of my father say that I look a lot like him. We have the same nose. Look: this is my grandma. Here she is 25 years old.

- Ты так думаешь? Все папины родственники говорят, что я очень похожа на него. У нас одинаковый нос. Смотри, это моя бабушка. Ей здесь 25 (двадцать пять) лет.

- What a cutie! It's hard to believe that we will be 70 some day too.

- Какая красавица! Трудно поверить, что нам с тобой когда-то тоже будет 70 (семьдесят)лет.

- I prefer not to think about it.

- Предпочитаю не думать об этом.

- Who is this attractive guy?

- А это что за симпатичный парень?

-This is my brother. He is a sailor. The uniform looks good on him, doesn't it?        

- Это мой брат. Он моряк. Форма ему к лицу,

не так ли?

- Very much. And where is he now?

- Очень. И где он сейчас?

- He’s sailing on the Mediterranean sea. He’s coming on holiday soon. We’ll have a party to celebrate his arrival. Are you coming?

- Он плавает по Средиземному морю. Он скоро приедет в отпуск. У нас будет вечеринка в честь его приезда. Ты придёшь?

- For sure!

- Обязательно!