You were asked to prepare a report about the system of education of any English-speaking country

- what the age of schooling is;

- what types of schools there are;

- what subjects are taught there;

- what exams the pupils take.

Each country in the United Kingdom has a separate system of education under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for England; the Scottish, the Welsh and the Northern Ireland Governments are responsible for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Today I would like to tell you about the system of education in England.

There are two main categories of schools: state schools, which are free to all children between the ages of 5 till 16 and independent schools, which are called Private or Public Schools. In these types of schools parents have to pay for their children's education.

According to the latest statistics, 93% of the children in England go to "state schools". State schools are non fee-paying, they are funded from taxes and most of them are organized by Local Authorities. Parents are expected to make sure that their child has a pen, a pencil, a ruler etc., but the cost of more specialized things like books, examination fees are covered by each school. Parents are, however, expected to pay for their child's school uniform and items of sportswear. Charges may also be made for music lessons and for board and lodgings on residential trips. Schools may ask for voluntary contributions for school time activities - but no pupil may be left out of an activity if their parents cannot contribute.

Only seven percent of British schoolchildren go to private schools called independent schools. Parents pay for this. Most independent schools are called preparatory schools because they prepare their children for the Common Entrance Exam which they take at the age of 11.

Children's education in England is normally divided into two separate stages. They begin with primary education at the age of five and this usually lasts until they are eleven. Then they move to secondary school, where they stay until they reach sixteen, seventeen or eighteen years of age.

At primary school children learn to read and write and the basis of arithmetics. Later children learn geography, history, religion and, in some schools, a foreign language. After primary school children go to the secondary school. There the main subjects are English, Mathematics, Geography, Art, Science, History, Physical Education, Information Technology, Music and Religious education.

When students are 14-16 years old they may take an exam in various subjects in order to have a qualification and at 16 they get The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) (English, French and Maths). It is for those students who are seeking a university entrance. Some school-leavers can take the General National Vocational Qualifications (design, business and tourism).

If you need more information about the system of education in Great Britain, you can search the Net and find what you want.

 

Card 15

You were asked to prepare a report about libraries. Tell:

- what we need libraries for;

- whether you visit your school library and why;

- whether you prefer to use the library or the Internet and why.

The word “library” comes from the Latin word “liber” meaning "a book". Nowadays we understand a library like a place where information in printing and in other forms is collected and arranged to serve people of all ages and interests. Libraries appeared in ancient times in Egypt, Assyria, Greece and Rome.

Perhaps the most famous library of that time was in Alexandria. It contained numerous Greek texts as well as manuscripts in other languages from every part of the known world. The first libraries in Russia were established in medieval monasteries. Public libraries were opened in the 19 century at the Academy of Sciences and at Moscow University.

A library today is a centre for all kinds of communications: printed, pictured, recorded, and even electronically stored. In modern libraries you can find books, newspapers, periodicals, documents, printed music, maps, CDs and DVDs.

In some libraries we can also get access to their electronic resources or the Internet. Most libraries have a professionally educated staff whose first duty is to help us. Librarians also select and purchase books and other materials, organize materials so that we can easily use them, answer questions about facts, people, events, or advise us how to find the information we need.

Many people have books at home. As a rule these are the books of their favourite authors, dictionaries and reference books and what not. My family also has a home library. But books are read not only for pleasure. Reading books helps us in our education. We can find all kinds of books in the library: novels, biographies, fiction, short stories, books on traveling, technical books, magazines, books for children and so on. There we can find books in many foreign languages.

Libraries can be found in many places. There are libraries in villages, towns and cities, and we can see libraries at school, colleges,and universities.

Personally I prefer to go to our lyceum library. I must admit our library has a good stock of books. A great number of volumes fill the shelves. There we can find different kinds of books: adventure stories, historical novels and tales, psychological novels, collections of short stories, immortal classics and what not. Our library subscribes to several newspapers and magazines. They keep us well informed about the latest developments in our country and abroad, news in the spheres of science, art and literature.

The library is full of publications necessary for work on different subjects like art, physics, mathematics and so on. We often use them to prepare for reports or discussions. There are different stands in our library which illustrate the most important events in our and other countries, articles about famous people and funny stories or get us acquainted with new books.

Our librarian is always ready to help us to choose a necessary book. Sometimes we have literary disputes in our library. Our librarian often invites poets, journalists and other interesting people to speak to us. The pupils of our lyceum like our library very much and go there with great pleasure.

Some people think libraries are useless nowadays because almost everyone has an access to the Internet and can easily find any information there. I cannot but agree with the fact that the Internet helps us greatly. But it is a great pleasure to turn real pages and feel that special smell of a book.

Libraries have always played a great part in the development of humanity. The cultural heritage of mankind has been kept there for centuries. Through out the history, libraries have been the centre of scholarship, art and science. That`s way I’m sure libraries will preserve their educational function forever.

 

 

Card 16

You met your neighbour and you want to tell him about your last journey. Tell him:

- why travelling has become so popular;

- what the best means of travelling are (from your point of view);

- what people like doing while travelling.

Hello,Mary. So happy to see you. Looking at me you can guess that I have had a wonderful time. You can ask me where I have been too. It is not a secret I have just returned from the Crimea. It was an unforgettable journey. I spend three weeks there and my parents and I visited a lot of places of interest of that exiting peninsula.

Our journey has helped me not only to relax but to learn a lot of interesting and useful things. What is more I have become even stronger as we went hiking a lot there.

You see it seems to me that if you want to have your perfect holiday, to relax and to get new impressions, it is necessary to go on a journey. I mean to organize your travelling as it has become very popular now. It is clear that travelling helps to fight boredom in order to be in a good mood. People say, ‘He that travels far knows much’ and it`s a true fact because it’s always interesting to find out something new and to explore new places and to meet new faces.

At present there are a lot of means of transport you can use during your trip. We can travel by plane, by train, by coach, by car, by ship and what not. Each way of travelling has its pros and cons. As for me, I prefer travelling by plane because it is the quickest kind of transport. I can`t stand spending time on reaching the place of my destination. It is very comfortable to get to the necessary place in no time. The only disadvantage is that sometimes it takes some time to get from the airport to your hotel, for example.

It is common knowledge that during any travelling people can do various things. It depends on the people who travel, first of all. If travelers enjoy a quiet journey, they can go for a walk, meet some people, read books, take pictures and simply dream. But if you are a follower of an active journey, you can go on different excursions, take part in extreme activities, visit restaurants and night clubs and organize noise parties. Of course it is very important not to do any harm to your health and to the surroundings. More than that I think that it is impossible to be bored while you are on a journey.

So, Mary, I hope you can understand how great it is to travel and it is my dream to go on a journey with you. I am sure we will have a wonderful time.

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