DETAILED COURSE DESCRIPTION 1 page

Estimated student work time in hours

128 (64 contact hours; 64 self-study hours)

Syllabus

Teaching/learning methods

Practical classes, group work, discussion groups.

Study module teaching form

Plan of in-class hours

Schedule of individual work task and their influence on final grade

The structure and content of the syllabus

Section I (6 double periods)

Education system in Russia and English speaking countries

Section aim

· Learn about education systems in Russia and English speaking countries

· Practice key vocabulary by doing lexical exercises

· Develop students’ reading comprehension skills

· Develop students’ listening skills

· Develop students’ writing skills by writing short essays on the topics discussed

· Review and practice Word Order and the Present Simple Tense by doing grammar exercises

· Test students’ knowledge by doing the final presentation

Section II (6 double periods)

Countries and cities (traditions, customs and holidays in Russia and English speaking countries)

Section aim

· Learn about Russia and English speaking countries

· Practice key vocabulary by doing lexical exercises

· Develop students’ reading comprehension skills

· Develop students’ listening skills

· Develop students’ writing skills by writing short articles on the topics discussed

· Review and practice the Present Simple and Present Continuous Tenses by doing grammar exercises

· Test students’ knowledge by doing the final presentation

Section III (6 double periods)

Scientists (famous people)

Section aim

· Learn about prominent scientists in Russia and English speaking countries

· Practice key vocabulary by doing lexical exercises

· Develop students’ reading comprehension skills

· Develop students’ listening skills

· Develop students’ writing skills by writing short essays on the topics discussed

· Review and practice the Past Simple/Past Continuous Tenses by doing grammar exercises

· Test students’ knowledge by doing the final presentation

Section IV (6 double periods)

Computer

Section aim

· Learn about computer science

· Practice key vocabulary by doing lexical exercises

· Develop students’ reading comprehension skills

· Develop students’ listening skills

· Develop students’ writing skills by writing e-mail letters on the topics discussed

· Review and practice the Present Perfect Tense by doing grammar exercises

· Test students’ knowledge by doing the final presentation

Section V (6 double periods)

Career prospects

Section aim

· Learn about business correspondence

· Practice key vocabulary by doing lexical exercises

· Develop students’ reading comprehension skills

· Develop students’ listening skills

· Review and practice the Future Simple/Future Continuous Tenses by doing grammar exercises

· Develop students’ writing skills in preparing CVs and letters of application

· Test students’ knowledge by doing the final presentation

Examination/credit test (2 double periods)

40 minutes preparation – reading text

15 minutes presentation

5 minutes analysis

NOTES

According to the Communicative Approach we are including grammar part for self-study, but from the experience of our educational system we strongly recommend a specific attention on a grammar approach in a cognitive way. Here are some points to support it:

1. Huge difference between grammar structures of Russian and English (different branches);
2. Multileveled groups (from beginners to intermediate);
3. Low level of English at school (especially grammar skills);

4. Lack of practice.

Sometimes (11%), Russian is not a mother language for learners (multinational country), so it takes more efforts to get the purpose – students have to do double transfer (via their mother tongue).

Unit I

EDUCATION SYSTEM IN RUSSIA AND ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES

prepared by

Marina Berezina

e-mail: marina_berezina_@inbox.ru

Lesson 1

The lesson plan

1. Lead-in (10 min)
2. Active vocabulary (10 min)
3. Reading text (10 min)
4. Reading comprehension (15 min)
5. Speaking practice (25 min)
6. Writing (10 min)
7. Homework

LEAD-IN

b) Work in pairs. Match the questions in A with their answers in B:

This exercise helps students with vocabulary developing and this is the preliminary work before making dialogues on the topic about their study and prereading work about education.

ACTIVE VOCABULARY

Ask students to give synonyms or close meanings of the following words and word combinations and to try to pronounce them correctly:

Secondary school – a school for pupils aged from 6-7 to 17-18.

Private school – a school providing education that the children’s parents pay for directly.

Higher education – the education, which you get after secondary.

Natural science - sciences that deal with the physical world, considered as a group or as individual subjects such as physics, chemistry, or biology.

Total number – general quantity.

Entrant – someone who enters the competition or examination.

Entrance exam – exam which you need to pass before to be accepted by some school.

To pay for tuition – teaching cost.

Non-government – something, which doesn’t belong to the government.

Applicant – someone who applies for something.

Graduate – someone who has finished their studies at university or college, usually by getting a degree.

Employers – a company or a person that employs people.

Link – a connection between two people, places or facts.

Optional – elective.

Compulsory – obligatory.

Macmillan Essential Dictionary, International Student Edition

READING TEXT

Prereading discussion

This is the building of MGU (Moscow State University), one of the greatest educational centres in Russia. It is situated in Moscow.MGU was founded in 1755 by Michael Lomonosov.

Find out more: http://www.msu.ru/en

READING COMPREHENSION

I. Fill in the blanks with suitable words.

- Free education in Russia is the most common; there also exist ..........schools and universities which charge tuition fees. (non-government)

- Gymnasium is a kind of secondary school which concentrates mainly on the (humanities).

- The competition for entering universities is very……… (tough).

II. Match the words and their definitions given below:

curriculum; tuition fee; applicant; fresher; department; graduate from; employers; term; scholarship; a graduate.

person who wants to be a student – applicant;

payments for teaching – tuition fee;

successfully complete an academic course – graduate from;

one of the periods into which the academic year is divided – term;

person who gives work, usually for payment – employer;

course of study in a school, college, etc.- curriculum;

yearly grant given to a student to continue his study – scholarship;

person who has completed the course at an educational institution – a graduate;

one of several divisions of a university – department;

first-year student – fresher.

III. Answer the following questions and be ready to discuss the main ideas of the topic:

- Is education at Russian schools and universities free?

- Is there also a fee-paying-form of education at government universities?

- What is the difference between a gymnasium and an ordinary school?

- Why is the competition so tough at government universities as compared with private ones?

- Has the number of students in Russia been increasing lately?

- How do students who graduate from universities find jobs?

IV. Retell briefly about education in Russia.

Speaking practice

Remind the students to ask indirect questions if they want to use these phrases. We advice to give the opportunity to speak to all students of all levels: if the level is weak, the students may use ready phrases given before; and to encourage the students who can speak, to give them more freedom to create their own dialogues – logical and real to life!

Writing

This task helps to develop students’ writing skills and also speaking skills on the topic about their study.

Homework

1. Write a letter to your penfriend about yourself and your study at the University following this scheme:

1) Your name, age; 2) the name of your University; 3) the date of its foundation; 4) its faculties; 5) the faculty you are in; 6) the subjects you study; 7) your success in studies; 8) exams; 9) whether you get a grant or not; 10) the place you live in...

1. Do revision test.

Lesson 2

The lesson plan

1. Introduction (10 min)
2. Lexical exercises. Active vocabulary (15 min)
3. Reading text (15 min)
4. Reading comprehension (15 min)
5. Speaking practice. Work in pairs. On/offline activity (30-35 min)
6. Homework ()

Introduction

This is the building of the oldest Universities in Great Britain – Oxford University. It has got the name of the city it is situated in. The history of the University and the city started at the same time in the 12^th century as the result of the migration of students. There is no “university” as such. Each college is practically autonomous, with its own set of rules for its good government. There is a central administration, providing services such as libraries and laboratories. This is a photo of ALL SOULS COLLEGE – The lovely twin towers which are a memorial to Hawksmoor, the 18^th century architect.

Recommended resources http://www.ox.ac.uk

LEXICAL EXERCISES

Active vocabulary

Ask students to find suitable definitions to the following words and word combinations, which they learned at the previous lesson. The definitions are given in random order.

Secondary school – a school for pupils aged from 6-7 to 17-18.

Private school – a school providing education that the children’s parents pay for directly.

Higher education – the education, which you get after secondary.

Natural science – sciences that deal with the physical world, considered as a group or as individual subjects such as physics, chemistry, or biology.

Total number – general quantity.

Entrance exam – exam which you need to pass before to be accepted by some school.

To pay for tuition – teaching cost.

Non-government – something, which doesn’t belong to the government.

Applicant – someone who applies for something; a person who wants to be a student.

Graduate – someone who has finished their studies at university or college, usually by getting a degree.

Employers – a company or a person that employs people.

Link – a connection between two people, places or facts.

Optional – elective.

Compulsory – obligatory.

New words:

Ask students to give synonyms or close meanings of the following words and word combinations and to try to pronounce them correctly:

Primary school, comprehensive school, craft, domestic science, woodwork, campus, nursery, tutor, Bachelor degree, preparatory, public schools.

Primary school – a school for children between the ages of four of five and eleven.

Comprehensive school – a school for students of different levels of ability between the ages of 11 and 18.

Craft – a traditional skill of making things by hand.

Domestic science – the householding.

Woodwork – the activity or skill of making things of wood.

Campus – an area of land containing all the main buildings of a university.

Nursery – a school or a place where very young children are looked after.

Tutor – a teacher in a college or university.

Bachelor’s degree – a first university degree.

Preparatory – done as preparation for something else.

Public school – an expensive private school in Britain; a school that is controlled and paid for by the government in the USA.

Macmillan Essential Dictionary for learners of English,

International student Edition.

SPEAKING PRACTICE

Reading text

Ask students to read the text “Education system in Great Britain” paying attention to pronounce the new words and word combinations correctly.

Divide students into groups of 3-5 and ask them to discuss this point in groups.

Students like to discuss this theme very much, especially when the teacher tells them a few words from own experience to motivate them to start to talk. Encourage students to work together in groups and to appreciate the benefits and pleasures of working with partners, try to listen to everybody about their opinion, advise them to use the phrases of agreements, disagreements and opinion expressions.

Homework

Ask them to find additional information from the Internet resources about education in Britain and to divide into two teams. The first team finds the differences and the second one – similar features between education systems in Great Britain and Russia.

Resources recommended:

http://www.eng.umu.se/education/Default.htm

http://www.eng.umu.se/education/hist27.htm

Explain shortly the formation of the Present Simple Tense and ask to do grammar and revision tests.

Ask students to write a short composition about themselves “My routine day” using the Present Simple Tense sentences

Lesson 3

The lesson plan

1. Introduction (5-7 min)
2. Active vocabulary (10 min)
3. Listening (30 min)
4. Reading text (15 min)
5. Reading comprehension (15 min)
6. On-line/off-line activity (10 min)
7. Homework

ACTIVE VOCABULARY

Lexical exercises

Ask students to refresh words and word combinations they have learnt at the previous lesson, matching the words and their definitions given below:

primary school – a school for children between the ages of four of five and eleven.

preparatory – done as preparation for something else.

comprehensive school – a school for students of different levels of ability between the ages of 11 and 18.

craft – a traditional skill of making things by hand.

domestic science – the householding .

woodwork – the activity or skill of making things of wood.

campus – an area of land containing all the main buildings of a university.

nursery – a school or a place where very young children are looked after.

tutor – a teacher in a college or university.

bachelor degree – a first university degree.

compulsory – obligatory.

total number – general quantity.

non-government – something, which doesn’t belong to the government.

applicant – someone who applies for something; a person who wants to be a student.

LISTENING

Reading

New words

Ask students to give, if possible, the synonyms or close meanings of the following words and word combinations and try to pronounce them correctly:

State, elementary school, high school, public schools, junior high school, senior high school, grade, kindergarten, comprise, taxes, funding, assignment, mandatory, college.

State – here a state institution is one that is run by the government.

Elementary school – in the US, a school for children between the ages of 5 and about 9.

High school – in the US, a school for children between the ages of 14 and 18; in the UK, between 11 and 18 = secondary school.

Public school -an expensive private school in Britain; a school that is controlled and paid for by the government in the USA.

Junior high school – a school in the US for children between the ages of 12 and 5.

Senior high school – a school in the US for children between the ages of 14 and 18.

Grade – one of the levels of school in the USA that lasts for 1 year.

Kindergarten – the first year of formal education in the US, for children aged of 5 or 6.

To comprise – to include.

Taxes – an amount of money that you have to pay to the government.

Funding – money that a government or organisation provides for a specific purposes.

Assignment – a piece of work that you must do.

Mandatory – something that is mandatory has to be done because of a law or rule, obligatory.

College – place that gives students qualifications below the level of a university degree, often in the skills that they need to do a particular job.

Private school – a school that the children’s parents pay for directly to the school.

University – an education institution where students study for degrees and where academic research is done.

Reading comprehension

I. Match the pairs of synonyms among the following words:

to select – to choose;

to comprise – to include;

elective – optional;

to be a must – to be mandatory;

to receive – to obtain;

task – assignment;

specified – certain;

education – training;

vocational – professional.

II. Match synonyms from the two columns:

1. establishment n) institution
2. receive f) obtain
3. finish i) graduate
4. admit d) accept
5. support a) subsidize
6. scores l) results
7. differ m) vary
8. standards k) requirements
9. term c) semester
10. fund g) finance
11. select e) choose
12. fall h) autumn
13. end-of-the year b) final
14. vacations j) holidays

III. Answer the following questions:

1. Education in the United States comprises three levels: elementary, secondary and higher education
2. Kids start school by going to kindergartens at the age of 6. First six years are elementary school, then come junior (grades 7-8) and high school (grades 9-12).
3. The basic subjects at school are: English, science and mathematics, social sciences and physical education.
4. High school students plan their careers and select subjects that will be useful in their chosen work – foreign languages, fine arts, advanced mathematics and science, and vocational training.
5. The results (scores) from these tests are known only by teachers, and not by the students or their parents.
6. The organisation and curriculum of private schools are similar to those of public schools, but the tuition costs are so high that only the wealthiest families can afford.
7. Many private schools are boarding schools.
8. Most young Americans graduate from school with a high school diploma upon satisfactory completion of a specified number of courses. Each student is given a high school transcript with grades obtained. That is the end of mandatory free public education.
9. One half of the students enter institutions of higher education, others may get further education at special colleges.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 1858