Home duties and household chores

My family

Meet my family. There are five of us, and we are very friendly.
First, meet my mum and dad, Elena and Vladimir. They both love cooking. My mum enjoys embroidering and my dad enjoys playing with my brother Lukasha and my sister Anna.
My mum is slim and good-looking. She has got short dark hair and brown eyes. Her nose is small. My mother is a doctor and she is very clever. My father is a doctor, too. He is tall and handsome. He has got short dark hair and green eyes. He is kind and quite serious.
Here is my brother Lukasha. He is only 3, but he is very clever for his age. He is very cute, too. He is got blonde hair and blue eyes. He is fond of playing with his toys.
My sister`s name is Anna. She is 6 months. She is a beautiful and nice baby. She hardly speaks any Russian, but she is eager to take City and Guilds exams. I think Level A1 is just for her.
My name is Lisa. I have got long dark hair and brown eyes. I like riding a bike and swimming. My hobby is figure skating.
As you see, we are a very - very interesting family!

My Friend Marina

I would like to tell you about my friends. I have a lot of them, but my close friend is Marina. She is my school-mate. We have been studying together in one form all the eleven years of our school-life.

She is 17. We have nothing in common in appearance. Marina is pretty in her own way. She is thin and slender, not very tall. Her hair is red and straight, her face is oval and her forehead is high. She has a turn-up nose and beautiful green eyes with bushy eyelashes.

Marina is as good as gold. Warm-hearted and gentle, quiet and well-bred. Everyone loves her. She is always well dressed and neat. She is always ready to help people, when they are in need.

Marina is the only daughter of her parents and they adore her. Nevertheless she is not selfish. I like to be around her, because she knows a lot of interesting stories, funny jokes.

She is fond of reading. Marina goes in for sports. She plays tennis and swims. She does well at school and it seems to me that all the subjects come equally easy to her.

This year she is leaving school and has chosen medicine as future profession. I hope she will make a good doctor. We always meet at the weekends. We discuss books, listen to the music or visit our friends. I always enjoy the time spent together.

I am happy to have such a friend as Marina. I am sure we shall be friends forever.

My Working Day (1)

On week days I usually get up nearly six o'clock. I do not like to get up early, but I have to, because I have a lot of work to do during the day.

I make my bed, wash my face, put my clothes on and go to the kitchen to have breakfast. My mother usually prepares, breakfast for me, but sometimes I do it myself. If I prepare my breakfast for my own, I should have to get up earlier. I do not like big breakfasts; I prefer a cup of coffee and a sandwich.

Then I go to school. It is rather far from my house and I go there by bus. I have classes till two or three o'clock, it depends on a week day. Then I come home and have dinner. I like a big dinner, because when I come home from school I am hungry.

After my dinner, I have a rest for a couple of hours and then I do my homework. If I have some spare time I do some work about the house. I sweep the floor, dust the furniture and clean the carpets with the vacuum-cleaner. Sometimes my mother asks me to go shopping.

Then I have free time. I go for a walk with my friends or watch TV, or read books or play my favourite computer games. Then I have supper with my family. I like evenings very much, all members of our family get together after work and study and have the opportunity to talk and to discuss our family affairs.

I usually go to bed at about ten o'clock, sometimes at eleven o'clock.

My Day off (2)

I go to school five days a week, so I have two days off — Saturday and Sunday (I'm lucky, because some other pupils have the only one day off). During the week I am very busy, so I like to have a rest on weekend.

I am not an early riser and it is a rare Saturday or Sunday when I get up before 9 o'clock. I enjoy staying in bed, when 1 don't have to hurry anywhere. We have late breakfast at 10 and watch TV.

Usually we have something tasty: meat salad, fried potatoes, chicken, cake or pie. If the weather is fine, I usually do not stay indoors, I and my dog go outside. Often we go to the park and play there. If the weather is rainy and gloomy, I stay at home and watch TV, listen to the music, read, the books.

After dinner we go visit our grandparents or relatives, or just simply take a nap. Sometimes when my friends call me we go roller — blading near the Opera theatre

I like roller — blading very much, I think it is a lot of fun. In the evenings I like to watch video and music programs. There is a big armchair in my room right beside the lamp with blue shade. If it is cold I like to sit there with cup of coffee and read.

Sometimes I do something special on weekends: go to an art exhibition, to the theatre, to the concert. I always go to bed late on Sundays, and Monday morning is the nastiest thing through all the week.

I like weekends very much, because I can rest and gain some energy for the next week.

School Life (1)

I am a pupil of the 11-th form, I study at school number 9. I would like to tell your about our school life.

I go to school five days a week. Our classes start at 8 o'clock a. m. and last till 3 o'clock p.m. So we have 6 or 7 lessons a day. We study many different subjects: Russian, English, French, literatures, history, geography, biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, programming and computer sciences.

Languages, literature and history are my favourite subjects. I make good marks in these subjects. The school year is divided into four terms, called quarters. It begins on the 1st of September known as a Day of knowledge and finishes in May.

Each quarter is followed by holidays. Every pupil has a day-book where the teachers put down the marks, that pupil has earned at the class. During the classes pupils are to answer the teacher's questions, do some exercises, write sentences, count, read.

The pupils are often called to the blackboard. After every lesson the teachers give us home assignment. At the next lesson the teachers check them up. To do good at school one should make home assignments regularly, be active at the lessons and spend at least two-three hours every day studying.

I like studying. My favourite proverb is "Live and learn".

1. The life of a common pupil doesn't consist of a constant study.
2. Every school offers a wide range of different after school activities.
3. As a rule, their main goal is training or educating while entertaining. Thus, our pupils can sing in the choir, dance, participate in the drama club, and go in for different sports.
4. We visit differ­ent workshops, where we are taught useful skills like knitting, embroidering or fixing different appliances.
5. All of these activities are very useful because they help to de­velop pupils' skills and talents, reveal their aptitude and can even influence the choice of future occupation.
6. As for me, I have music lessons after classes.
7. I play piano and sing in the choir.
8. Twice a week I play volleyball at the local sports school.
9. I think that we should de­velop both body and mind.
10. I'm an active member of a student club 'Stage'.
11. This club acts at a commu­nity level and we provide a charity activity helping children with special needs in our city.
12. Such kids lack communication with other children and we try to make their lives a little bit better.
13. We collect books and toys for them, make different conceits and performances.
14. And we talk much with them.
15. This is my favourite afterschool activity as I feel myself useful and impor­tant.
16. This makes my friends and me kinder and more understanding.

My family hobby

My name is Guzel. I`d like to tell you about my family and my family`s hobbies.

Family is one of the greatest things in the world. I think that family is the highest spiritual achievement of men. I believe that a person can be happy if he has a friendly and full family, where everyone is responsible for its comfort, success in work, studying, health and good spirit must be a strong unit. We ought not to forget that we are members of society and family is the most important thing for each of us.

What about hobbies and leisure time of the members of my family? We choose a hobby according to our personality and tastes. There is no accounting for these ones. Exploring free time of my mother I knew that she hasn`t a lot of such time because there is a lot of work in her school. She is knowledgeable in her subject and she gives much energy children to become real citizens of the country, be honest and hardworking. They take an active part in different competitions, conferences, not only in Russia but also abroad. They dance, sing songs, recite poems and create lots of researching work.

My curiosity about the family led me to discovering the fascinating information in my house. My father built the house and his hobby is repairing every corner of it.

My brother, my own flesh and blood, likes cycling very much, sing songs and dance. He is also a chatterbox, he is fond of attracting people`s attention.

Somehow I am a mirror of my parents. Talent passes on through the generations; it runs in the family that is why I am very busy, too, like my parents. I am interested in teaching, designing my home, dancing, singing, participating in projects and so on.

We like gather together on holidays, go to the picnics, celebrate Islamic feasts. It is a really exciting thing that we have the family with strong roots.

I love my family very, very, very much!!!

7. My native school

I am going to tell you about my school. My school is new and modern and I like it very much. It has three floors. The classrooms are light and spacious. There are classrooms for different subjects, such as English, History, Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Geography, Biology Literature etc.

There is a computer class in our school. We study computer science here. The computer class has the most modern equipment and the Internet access.

We’ve also an assembly hall, which is situated on the second floor. Meetings, conferences, concerts and all the celebrations take place here. We prepare different performances for all holidays. We sing songs, recite poetry, dance, and participate in theatre performances.

There are many opportunities to go in for sports in our school. Our school has a gym, a sports ground, a football field, a swimming pool, and other sports facilities. There are many different sports groups: table tennis, swimming, athletics, football, volleyball, wrestling, and rhythmic gymnastics. Many pupils of our school attend these sports groups.

In our school we have also painting group, dance group, theatre group and rock group. All these groups are very popular and many pupils attend them.

The teachers in our school are very skilled. They try to give us all their knowledge and awake our interest to their subjects and to self study. Besides the school subjects, our teachers tell us about everything, about different problems of our world, such as ecology, nature protection, climat changes etc.

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.

I think that school years are very important for every person. It’s a period of becoming adult, achieving knowledges, and choosing your way in life. Often school friends remain your friends for all your life. So I’ll never forget my school, my teachers, and my classmates.

8. my native town

VINNYTSIA

Vinnytsia is a regional city situated upon the Southern Bull River. The population of the city is o^er 400 000.

The city is first mentioned in 1363 as a Lithuanian fortress of Vennytsia. The name of the city comes from 'veno' - a dowry. It is known from history that Podillia, where Vinnytsia is situated, was acquiredby Princes Koriatovych. The Transcarpathian Prince Fedir Koriatovych was the governor-general of Podillia.

After the Union of Liublin of 1569 Vinnytsia became a Polish town. In 1793 it was united with Russia.

Vinnytsia is an important industrial centre of the Right-Bank Ukraine. The leading industries include machine-engineering, wood working and producing of building materials.

The city is one of the cultural and educational centres. Vinnytsia boasts of the Teachers Training Institute and the Medical and Polytechnic Institute, the Russian Drama Theatre, the Philharmonic Society and the House of Organ Music. The city boasts of the Literary Memorial Museum of M. M. Kotsiubynskyi and the museum-estate of M. Pyrohov.

The architectural image of Vinnytsia is represented by the wooden churches of Nicholas (1746) and Yurii (1726), by the complex of former monastery buildings of the 17th century, the memorial complex of Glory and the monument to M. I. Pyrohov.

The city is the capital of the Vinnytsia Region established on February 27, 1932. The region includes 26 districts, 17 towns, 29 settlements and 1456 villages.

9. my favourite holidays

My favourite holiday, or, better to say, holidays are, definitely, the New Year and Christmas. I n Russia the New Year is celebrated twice — on January 1, according to the Gregorian calendar, and on January 14, according to the Julian calendar which was used in Russia before 1918. Christmas is a traditional holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus with both religious and secular aspects. It is commonly observed on December, 25 by Catholics, and on January, 7 by the Russian Orthodox Church. New Year and Christmas are the first, and the most joyful, holidays of the year, when people see the Old Year off and the New Year in. I enjoy the holidays for several reasons. Firstly, they have a special atmosphere of joy and excitement everyone looks forward to for several months. They are holidays of renewal and magic, exchanging presents and wishes. Most people, irrespective of their age, stay up all night on December, 31, setting off fireworks and making merry. Father Christmas and Snow Maiden are the popular characters of TV programmes and school festivals though no one except very young children believes in their existence. The second reason I prefer this holiday to all the rest is that it is the centre of the New Year and Christmas season which is, in fact, a sequence of holidays. It starts on the 25th of December and finishes on January 14, and everyone has a chance of relaxing after a long period of hard and stressful work.

There are many New Year and Christmas traditions which make these holidays so special. For Christmas people decorate their houses with mistletoe and the Christmas tree, go to church, send Christmas cards — and, of course, give and receive gifts.

My favourite Christmas tradition has been receiving and giving presents since my childhood when gifts were put into stockings for me and I believed it was Father Christmas who brought them, unheard and unseen while I was sleeping. I believe Christmas presents should be special and have a touch of magic, enabling your dearest wishes to come true. Firstly, giving gifts to all the members of the family adds to love and affection in it and helps to forget minor quarrels and misunderstandings. It makes you believe you are a family no matter what happens. Secondly, it creates the atmosphere of joy and magic. This simple and long-standing tradition helps you to believe in miracles and renewal, and regain optimism if you are in trouble.

Sports im my life

People all over the world are fond of sports and games. Sport makes people healthy, it keeps them fit, it makes them more organized and better disciplined. It unites people of different classes and nationalities. Many people do sports on their personal initiative. They go in for skiing, skating, table tennis, swimming, volley-ball, football, body-building, etc.

All necessary facilities are provided for them in our country: stadiums, sport grounds, swimming pools, skating rinks, skiing stations, football fields.

Sport is paid much attention to in our educational establishments. Gymnastics is a part of children's daily activities in the kindergartens. Physical culture is a compulsory subject at schools and colleges.

Professional sport is also paid much attention to in our country. In the city, where I live, there are diferent sporting societies, clubs and complexes.

Practically all kinds of sports are popular in our country, but football, gymnastics and tennis enjoy the greatest popularity.

As for me, I go in for table tennis (ping-pong). It needs mobility, liveliness and much energy. It keeps me in a good form. I have been playing table tennis for five years, but the more I play, the more I like it. I get a real joy taking part in competitions or simply playing with my friends. Sometimes, I go to tennis courts. Certainly, there's a great difference between my manner of playing and such favourites as Jim Courier, Stephan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Per Korda, but I train with great pleasure and hope to play as well as the best players do.

home duties and household chores

Doing household chores is a necessary part of our life. People all over the world try to work hard. They usually have a lot of duties. I have a lot of duties, too. My parents are often tired and I must take care of them. Everybody is happy when the home is always bright and clean. Day after day I can have fun when I do my household chores. I sweep the floor, tidy my room, clean the shoes, dust the furniture, make food myself and do every kind of work. It's not easy to do every kind of work at home, but I can learn to do everything myself. When I do my household chores well, everybody in the family is happy. If I have a holiday party at home, I can help my mother and grandmother a lot. How happy mother is to see everything bright! It's a nice present for my parents to tidy the house! It's wonderful to make people happy! If I have time, my mother asks me to go to the shop. I go there and buy bread, eggs and sugar. Very often I go to the market with my mother. We buy some vegetables and fruits. Then I help my mother to carry them. My mother cooks well; sometimes I help her when she makes cakes. She usually makes them before holidays and on my birthday. We have got a country house. There is a big garden with many trees, bushes and flowers in it. There is a lot of work in our garden and I help my parents to do it. We must do our household chores, because if we hadn't done it our flat would look like a trash can. I usually clean my flat on Friday. First of all I clean with duster table, piano, some boxes, TV, lamp and many other things. At second I clean with vacuum cleaner carpet in my room, then I clean carpet in mother's and father's room. I usually wash the floor in all rooms. Then I wash bath-shell with "Pemolux". Later I wash stove with "Fairy". Every day I must feed my cat. It is very big and fat. I cook a fish soup I to it. After supper I always wash plates and dishes. Sometimes I cook myself, but my cookies up aren't so nice as mother's. I think I make an impact in tiding our place. It is necessary to help the parents. Try to make people happy and you will be happy yourself

My Meals

It goes without saying that I prefer to have meals at home. At the weekend I like to get up late and have a good breakfast of scrambled eggs, or pancakes, or something like that. But on weekdays I'm always short of time in the morning. So I just have a cup of strong tea or coffee and a couple of sandwiches.

As I spend a lot of time at school (usually eight or nine hours) it's necessary to have a snack at midday just to keep me going. That's why I have to go to the school canteen to have lunch. Our school canteen leaves much to be desired. It has become a tradition with our canteen to serve chops and watery mashed potatoes every day with a glass of cocoa or stewed fruit.

But I enjoy my evening meal at home. My mother is a wonderful cook and her dinners are always delicious and various.

To begin with, we usually have some salad- tomato and cucumber salad or mixed salad (I like it very much). For the first course we have some soup- noodle, mushroom or cabbage soup, or maybe some fish soup for a change. For the main course we have meat, chicken or fish dishes, for example, steak or fried fish with spaghetti or potatoes (boiled or fried). We also have a lot of vegetables- green peas, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers. I prefer meat to fish but my mother makes me eat fish from time to time. She says it's good for my brains.

For dessert we have some fruit, fruit juice or just a cup of tea with a slice of cake.

On Sundays we sometimes go to McDonald's. I like everything there: cheeseburgers, hamburgers and Big Macs, apple pies and fruit cocktails. But unfortunately we can't afford to go there very often, because it's rather expensive for a family and besides, they say it's not very healthy to eat at McDonald's.

14 eating habits in GB. Some people criticize English food. They say it's unimaginable, boring, tasteless, it's chips with everything and totally overcooked vegetables. The basic ingredients, when fresh, are so full of flavour that British haven't had to invent sauces to disguise their natural taste. What can compare with fresh pees or new potatoes just boiled and served with butter? Why drown spring lamb in wine or cream and spices, when with just one or two herbs it is absolutely delicious?

If you ask foreigners to name some typically English dishes, they will probably say "Fish and chips" then stop. It is disappointing, but true that, there is no tradition in England of eating in restaurants, because the food doesn't lend itself to such preparation. English cooking is found at home. So it is difficult to a good English restaurant with a reasonable prices.

In most cities in Britain you'll find Indian, Chinese, French and Italian restaurants. In London you'll also find Indonesian, Mexican, Greek... Cynics will say that this is because English have no "cuisine" themselves, but this is not quite the true.

15. When we are ill, we call a doctor, and he examines us and diagnoses the illness. When we have a headache, a stomach ache, a sore throat, a cold, or a pain in some parts of the body, we call a doctor. He takes our temperature and our pulse. He examines our heart, our lungs, our stomach or the part where we have pain, and tells us what the matter is with us. The doctor prescribes medicine, and gives us a prescription, which we take to the chemist's, who makes up the medicine. If you follow the doctor's orders, you get better; if you disobey the doctor, you may get worse, and even die. We must obey the doctor, if we want to get better. If we have a temperature, we must stay in bed and take the medicine he prescribes. If we cannot get better at home we must go to hospital. If we are too ill to walk, we go to hospital in the ambulance. After our illness we can go to a sanatorium until we are strong again.

When we have toothache, we go to the dentist's. He examines our teeth, finds the tooth which hurts us, stops or extracts it. Now here in Russia health system incorporates a variety of medical institutions. The medical service in Russia is of two kinds. Some state establishments give their employees medical insurance cards. They guarantee the people free of charge medical assistance. Some medical establishments charge fees for treatment.

They may be rat-her high, but our medical service now uses all modem equipment and medicines and provides qualified medical help to all people.

16. Everybody knows there are four seasons in a year. They are spring, autumn, summer and winter. Of course, all seasons are nice and every season has its colour: spring for example is green, summer is bright, autumn is yellow, winter is white. Every season has its advantages.
Winter lasts for three months: December, January and February. The temperature in winter is low. It is frosty, and it often snows. Rivers and lakes are frozen. Everything is white with snow and it's a merry time for both children and grown-ups, they can go skating and sledging, but sometimes the weather is rainy and gloomy, and this is the most unpleasant time.

Winter brings us a lot of wonderful holidays: New Year's Day with its New Year Tree, brightly decorated with toys and lights, the Snowmaiden and Father Frost. We also celebrate such holiday as Christmas. I think these are the most favourite holidays of our people.
Spring begins in March and ends in May. The Sun is warm, the sky becomes blue. The air is fresh, it is full of birds' songs. The trees and the grass are green. There are a lot of beautiful flowers. How beautiful they are: snowdrops, lilies, lilies of the valley, daffodils, lilac, tulips and violets - the first spring flowers. So nature returns to life.
The three summer months are June, July, August. In summer it is hot, the sky is clear and blue. The days are long and the nights are short and warm. Summer brings us fruit and vegetables. There are a lot of beautiful flowers. It is a very good season for holidays and vacations. We can go to the sea or to the forest and have a good time there.
After a good summer rest autumn comes. September, October, November are autumn months. The weather at the beginning is still fine. It is rather warm in the day-time, but it is already cool at night. The sun is not so warm as it is in summer. Autumn is the season of harvesting. Apples, pears, grapes and other fruits are in our gardens. In October and November is already cold. It often rains.
As you can see, it's rather difficult to say what season is the best one, because as I have already said, every season has its own advantages. But nevertheless, my favourite season is spring. And it's no wonder because i like fresh spring air and I like beautiful spring flowers. I also like to walk along the streets in spring and watch how nature awakens from its long winter sleep and returns to life.

17. Modern life is impossible without travelling. Thousands of people travel every day either on business or for pleasure. They can travel by air, by rail, by sea or by road.

Of course, travelling by air is the fastest and the most convenient way, but it is the most expensive too. Travelling by train is slower than by plane, but it has its advantages. You can see much more interesting places of the country you are travelling through. Modern trains have very comfortable seats. There are also sleeping cars and dining cars which make even the longest journey enjoyable. Speed, comfort and safety are the main advantages of trains and planes. That is why many people prefer them to all other means.

Travelling by sea is popular mostly for pleasure trips. On board large ships and small river boats people can visit foreign countries and different places of interest within their own country. It is very pleasant to see the rise and fall of the waves, to feel the fresh sea wind blowing and hear the cry of the seagulls. Trips on the Volga, the Dnieper, the Yenisei, the Black Sea are very popular today.

Many people like to travel by car. It is interesting too, because you can stop when and where you like, you do not have to buy tickets or carry your suitcases.

A very popular method of travelling is hiking. It is travelling on foot. Walking tours are very interesting. Hitch-hiking is a very popular method of travelling among young people. But it is not so popular in our country as abroad.

The Black Sea is one of the most wonderful places which attracts holiday-makers all over the world. There are many rest-homes, sanatoriums and tourist camps there. But it is also possible to rent a room or a furnished house for a couple of weeks there. Sometimes we place ourselves in a tent on the sea shore enjoying fresh air and the sun all day long. As a rule I make new friends there. In the daytime we play volleyball, tennis, swim in the warm water of the sea and sunbathe. In the evening I like to sit on the beach watching the sea and enjoying the sunset.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1483