English for All - Алексей Конобеев's Blog

Are your pupils interested in their family history? Probably very few of them are. However, family history may become a very good topic for a lesson or a series of lessons, as it is closely related to lots of other topics. For example, when we talk about the anniversary of victory in WWII, we could make a project (anything really, from posters to cards to presentations) "My family in WWII". I am sure many interesting things will come out of it. I am lucky to be able to trace the history of at least some of my ancestors at http://www.konobeev.narod.ru/index.html, but a student could create his or her own genealogical tree as part of school research. This may call for a joint lesson with a teacher of history, but it may raise the students' awareness of the fact that each and every one of them is not only a person, but also an heir to many generations of interesting people. This could even become the basis for a joint Local Studies project. What do you think?

Попытался подвести личные итоги года. За год с семинарами только я сам побывал в 19 регионах, пролетел и проехал минимум 56 тысяч километров. На семинарах меня слушали больше 2000 учителей. Много это или мало? Исходя из размеров России это немного. Но всегда приятно читать отзывы после семинаров о том, что было в выступлениях полезного, в чем работа стала понятнее, в чем интереснее. И я очень надеюсь, что эффект от семинаров дойдет и до учеников этих двух тысяч учителей, и нескольким тысячам школьников изучать английский язык станет немного легче, немного интереснее. С этой перспективы, наверное, сделанного еще не много, но уже есть о чем говорить.

За год я многому учился, но не всему выучился. Например, еще так и не нашел достаточно сил и времени, чтобы научиться делать музыкальные презентации по советам Avgust. Не научился еще создавать Powerpoint-тренажеры, о которых подробно рассказала Kitten 2010. Не разобрался в теории языкового хаоса, о которой пишет Радислав Петрович. Да много что еще предстоит сделать и узнать, много у кого научиться. А пока хотел сказать спасибо всем тем, кто приходит на семинары, кто пишет на форуме, с кем можно обсудить рабочие аспекты а главное, у кого можно поучиться.

СПАСИБО!

Well, here we start!

Blogging in ELT is a fairly new issue in Russia, therefore I am going to try and research its advantages, explore the opportunities it opens to students and teachers alike and try to fand ways out of potential problems and setbacks.

I intend to keep this blog in English as this will help to better achieve one of its goals, namely, practise English as well as share ideas on ELT methodology.

So, how can blogging be useful for students and teachers? First of all, it takes some workload off the teacher's shoulders. Instead of giving tasks to students, collecting those tasks and minding the deadlines, a teacher can just start a blog, post tasks there and write by what date and time the response has to be given. The students post their responses online, and the teacher can easily see the date and time of their response. In this way we can save ourselves and the students the trouble of writing their response on a sheet of paper, handing it in, carrying it home and bringing it back to school when checked. Also, a student's work cannot get lost in this way.

Grading students' work becomes easier through a blog. A teacher just posts a response and can copy and paste the phrases that have mistakes in them or just need to be paraphrased or corrected in any other ways.

Students can take part in peer correction or working on a topic/project together by collaborating online in the comments to a blog. Such a online discussion has the benefit of students'' having extra time to think, collect and present their arguments in a logical manner, and the teacher can easily assess each student's work as everyone contribution is visible and written down. By working with a blog each teacher can collect portfolios for her/his students without having to mess around with paper and cardboard or plastic folders.

Privacy may be one of the issues here. A teacher can screen or unscreen any comments to any posting in the blog at any time, thus making some of the writing visible or invisible as the lesson plan requires.

Blogging is a good way of making studies inclusive for students who are on a sick leave and cannot attend the class. We have been increasingly creating and developing materials for our lessons with computers, so it is just as easy to put some materials online for the students as well as bring them to the class.

Of course, not everything is perfect in this world. To be able to use blogs, both the teacher and the students need to have a regular access to the internet. However, more and mre students have such access these days and they are normally more motivated to do something on the internet rather than write anything by hand. Of course, the bulk of teaching still has to be done in class and sometimes in one-on-one lessons, but nevertheless, a blog can be an interesting expansion of the classroom work both for the teacher and for the students.

I would be very interested in reading your comments on these ideas. Has anyone got a personal blog on blogspot, or livejournal or elsewhere? How comfortable are you with putting your ideas online and providing access to them? Would you be willing to try this activity with your students? Here are some possible suggestions of what can be done using a blog:

1. Project work. Each of the students has to do his or her own part of the project. The task is put online in the blog. The students do research, find materials and publish them as comments to the blog entry. In this way the teacher can easily see how much of the project has already been done, and the students can see what else needs doing. Then as a separate entry, the project is put together and published online for every student to see it.

2. Written assignments. The teacher gives an assignment (e.g. "Write a letter" or "write an essay" ) with detailed explanation of what needs to be done, and the students post their responses as comments to the blog entry.

3. Discussions. Some students are very reluctant to participate in discussions in class, and some of them just haven't got enough time for it as they need more time to formulate their arguments or put their ideas in good English. Therefore a teachers can ask his/her students to present their arguments as comments to a blog entry. Each of the students can be asked to give only arguments for or arguments against. True, this is very much like what we do in class ever so often, but this "delayed" conversation gives students more time to think and do their research and deals with the stress of having to speak in front of the class. Besides, arguments can be edited at any time, thus leaving the way to perfection (or at least improvement) open for the student. Some of my colleagues who keep educational blogs, tell that this activity very quickly becomes a favourite with older students, and younger students like it because it allows them to be as creative as they like since this can be used as a preparatory stage for a big classroom discussion.

There are some other ways of using internet resources and ICT for teaching English at school, and I'll be looking into them closer in my next entries.

I am now travelling around Scotland. From the textbooks at the University and the books by Walter Scott I got an image of Scotland as some very dark, gloomy and not very happy country, with the history of the jacobute uprisings and the wars for independence lurking at the back of the mind together with the romantic history of the poor mary Queen of Scots. As it usually happens, the real life is different from the stereotypes. Edinburgh is a bustling city with lots of tourist shops, filled with fridge magnets, tartan and cashmere, the royal yaght Britannia and the palace of Holirood House are easily accessed without having to queue up, and the people ared incredibly friendly inspite of the articles about yobs and the overall moral degradation of teenagers that some newspapers love to publish.

The lake Loch Ness is beautiful but otherwise not very impressive. Long and narrow and surrounded by tiny villages, mentions of the monster and walking trails.

And the most beautiful part of Scotland is the Highlands. I've taken about 500 pictures so far and am surely going to take a couple hundred more before my flight to London. When I get back I will tell about the beauty of Scotland in my blog.

The seemingly easiest way to introduce ICT into the language classroom is to use specially-created learning software. The advantages of such software are obvious – the content and the tasks are already there, the teacher does not need to design any tasks of his/her own, the software can be used both in class and by individual students, and it is readily available in the market. But the situation is not really as brilliant as it seems to be, and sometimes disadvantages of such software may outweigh any potential advantages that it may have. Let’s look deeper into this issue.

Types of software and their features

First of all, there are different types of learning software. Among others, one can find skills-building software, which is aimed at building students’ vocabulary, or grammar, or listening, or reading skills. Usually such software includes only one type of skills, although more and more often one can find different skills sections on a single disc, e.g. such as grammar and pronunciation building program. Such programs are good for individual practice if they suit the student by the language and conceptual level. However, very often, as it would sometimes happen with a grammar-and-vocabulary course, the vocabulary is either too low-level or too high-level for the grammar exercises and thus creates problems rather than helps students to get rid of them. Besides, as these programmes are too focused on particular skills, they are not easy to apply in a classroom where students are expected to be equally making progress in all types of language skills.

Another example of learning software is exam preparation or testing software. Usually it takes the form of a set of electronic tests, which provide immediate feedback to the user and explain the peculiarities of a particular type of task or an entire exam. Numerous TOEFL Preparation CDs belong to this type of software. These programmes are useful mainly for those who wish to prepare for a particular exam and are not very suitable for pupils studying English for General Purposes.

Probably the most frequent type of learning software are ready study courses. Such programmes are, basically, courses of English which are supposed to be ready for studying. They are usually arranged around certain topics (like Travelling, Eating Out, Checking In a Hotel, Buying Tickets and so on), contain exercises for learning vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing and simulating speaking activities and are designed according specific language levels. Some courses include a variety of features, such as images, games, glossaries, voice record and playback option and short videos. Other courses include mainly dialogues together with their audio version, vocabulary, grammar and writing games and exercises, mock role plays when a programme pronounces certain phrases and the student has to insert suitable phrases in the gap, sometimes using a feature allows students to record their own speech and compare it to the bits recorded by native speakers. Again, very much like with skills training software, such courses are best for use by individual students, who can select and adjust their pace of work as they go along. Using these courses in the classroom frequently leads to problems, as often the content of these courses does not fit the federal standard and the federal programme, the topical vocabulary is different from what the students have in their textbooks, the order of learning grammar issues also differs from what there is in a textbook or from what is required by the federal standard and programmes. In short, such digital courses clash with the textbooks in vocabulary, grammar, level of difficulty and pace of study, and the teacher has to spend a lot of time and effort to select the contents which would suit the class and make studies more effective rather than leading to failures.

A more suitable for a general audience type of software is multimedia, specially designed to go with a particular textbook. On the surface level the advantages of such multimedia supplements are obvious: they fit the lexis and grammar of the textbook, they suit the students’ language level, they do not confront the conceptual level of the textbook, and the exercises on CDs support and expand the exercises in the textbook by providing more practice on varying levels.

On the other hand, though, there still is a number of aspects to consider while analyzing the supplement to decide how to use it most effectively.

What makes multimedia supplement effective?

Multimedia supplement is most effective when it:

• Follows the topics of the textbook, thus helping students to expand their understanding of the material that they are studying;

• Fits the vocabulary, grammar and language level of the book, providing extra practice in the subject matter;

• Contains multi-level exercises so that both the more and the less-successful students would benefit from using the supplement;

• Provides various features that can not be included into the textbook: videos, animated cartoons, sounds, interactive games, puzzles, tests, other exercises for interactive practice;

• Provides instant feedback to students so that they know whether they have been successful in doing an exercise or a test. Some multimedia supplement rely on the teacher to give feedback to the students, which, instead of increasing learner autonomy, make the students even more dependent on the teacher, which is hardly effective from the point of view of applying ICT to teaching EFL;

• Contains additional resources, such as additional exercises, information, access to online resources (which is relevant only unless the textbook itself has a support website);

• Can be easily built into the learning process both on technology (that is, be used with a single computer and a data projector plus a smartboard if required, used in a computer classroom or by the students individually as part of their homework) and on methodology level (contains clear and concise instructions for the students on what to do and how to do the exercises);

• Helps the teachers to save time and better organize study process (that is, contains a detailed teacher’s guide which explains the overall uses and objectives of the supplement and contains instructions and recommendations for every single exercise, together with information on how they can be best fit into the lesson), contains a class management system;

• Is easy to use due to an intuitively understandable interface and does not require installation of any additional software or access to the internet to do the exercises.

The following checklist can help teachers to analyse learning software and easily decide if they want to use it in their classroom:

Analysing for Focus on Questions to consider How to find out

Target audience Age and level of students 1. What level of English is this software for?

2. What age of students is it meant for?

3. Are the instructions and tasks formulated clearly enough for your students to easily understand them? Check the annotation on the cover. Run a demo of the software to see if it suits your students.

Educational objectives Type of software and its objectives 1. What type of software is it? Is it a skills trainer? Is it meant for exam practice? It is an independent course? Is it a multimedia supplement to a textbook?

2. What is it supposed to prepare students for? Check the annotation on the cover. Check the index (the contents) page of the main menu of the programme. Run a random lesson to see what its objectives are.

Usability Equipment needed and technical difficulty/ease of the software 1. Does it need any extra software to be installed?

2. What equipment is needed can it be used only with a smartboard? Will it work if you have only a standalone computer and a data projector? Do you need a computer classroom to use it? Can it be used by individual students at home?

3. Does it require internet connection or special registration/activation key?

4. Can it run in a network, or does it have to be installed individually on each and every computer?

5. Do you need to obtain a license for using it on several computers?

6. Does the manufacturer provide technical support?

7. Is the interface (the layout of the screens and the elements on the screens like buttons etc) clear and understandable? Check the technical requirements information on the cover.

Check the booklet/inlay to see if it contains an activation key or any information on licensing.

Check the cover, the booklet/inlay for technical support contact information/website.

Content and features Content of the programme and what it can do 1. What features of the programme make it different from a textbook?

2. What type of resources does it contain? Does it contain videos, sounds, interactive images?

3. What type of exercises does it contain? Does it contain multi-level exercises? Does it contain interactive texts, quizzes, tests?

4. What skills does it focus on? Does it contain reading, listening, writing and speaking exercises?

5. Does it contain information and tasks for project work/case studies etc?

6. Does it increase learner autonomy through exercises for independent work, exploration and instant feedback? Check the booklet/inlay for information. Run a random lesson to see what it includes.

Management of the study process Information for teachers and students 1. Does the software include teacher’s guide in the booklet/inlay or on the disc?

2. Is the teacher’s guide written in clear, concise language?

3. Is there enough information in the guide on what stages of the lesson to use the software at?

4. Does the guide include pictures or video instructions that explain how to use the software?

5. Does the guide contain recommendations on how to use every single exercise?

6. Is the software fully compatible with your textbook and easy to build into your lessons?

7. Does the software include a Class Management System? Check the booklet/inlay for information. Run a random lesson to see what it includes.

This checklist may help you to analyse learning software and foresee most of the potential problems that you can face as a teacher. However, the importance of each of these issues is more visible when applied to a concrete example. Let’s do a case study of some learning software.

Learning software – a case study

The software we are going to study is called “Enjoy Listening and Playing 2”. We are going to quickly go over all the questions in the checklist, answer them and then decide whether this software is suitable for your classroom.

Target audience:

1. What level of English is this software for? – Beginner to elementary.

2. What age of students is it meant for? Grade 2 of Russian schools – 1-8 years old.

3. Are the instructions and tasks formulated clearly enough for your students to easily understand them? – The tasks are in Russian, written in simple language, formulated in the same words throughout the entire disc which makes them easy to understand for students. The instructions are written in white letters at the bottom of each screen. Besides, there is a button marked “?”, which makes more detailed instructions appear on the screen. Students should easily understand them.

Educational objectives:

1. What type of software is it? Is it a skills trainer? Is it meant for exam practice? It is an independent course? Is it a multimedia supplement to a textbook? – The software is a multimedia supplement to the “Enjoy Englis” Grade 2 textbook, as it says on the cover.

2. What is it supposed to prepare students for? – The main objectives of this software is to practise students’ listening and reading skills, with the main focus on interactive listening. Another objective is to help students memorise and practise vocabulary and grammar.

Usability:

1. Does it need any extra software to be installed? – No, no extra software is needed, the program will run “as is” on any computer, no installation is required.

2. What equipment is needed can it be used only with a smartboard? Will it work if you have only a standalone computer and a data projector? Do you need a computer classroom to use it? Can it be used by individual students at home? – This program can be used both with a standalone computer and a data projector, with a computer, data projector and a smartboard, in a computer class or individually by students on their PCs at home. Thus the programme is pretty universal in usability.

3. Does it require internet connection or special registration/activation key? – No, no internet connection or special activation key is necessary in this version.

4. Can it run in a network, or does it have to be installed individually on each and every computer? – One disc can be run in a class network without having to be installed on every single computer.

5. Do you need to obtain a license for using it on several computers? – Unless you use one disc for the class network, you need to have a separate disc for each computer.

6. Does the manufacturer provide technical support? – Two websites are listed on the cover as providing internet-support.

7. Is the interface (the layout of the screens and the elements on the screens like buttons etc) clear and understandable? – The interface is intuitively understandable. There are instructions on how to use the buttons on the inlay and in the teacher’s guide.

Content and features:

1. What features of the programme make it different from a textbook? – Although the programme is built on the audio from the textbook, it consists of fully interactive exercises, animated cartoons and contains additional exercises for extra practice to add to those you can find in the textbook.

2. What type of resources does it contain? Does it contain videos, sounds, interactive images? – The programme contains animated cartoons, sounds, interactive images, interactive listening tests and exercises.

3. What type of exercises does it contain? Does it contain multi-level exercises? Does it contain interactive texts, quizzes, tests? – The programme contains interactive listening exercises and tests.

4. What skills does it focus on? Does it contain reading, listening, writing and speaking exercises? – The programme focuses mainly on listening exercises, but also contains a large number of reading and some writing exercises. With most of the exercises students need to repeat new words and phrases, thus practising their pronunciation and speaking skills.

5. Does it contain information and tasks for project work/case studies etc? – Although the programme contains extra exercises, there are no project tasks as enough of such tasks are used in the textbook.

6. Does it increase learner autonomy through exercises for independent work, exploration and instant feedback? – The exercises provide instant feedback and can be done independently by learners. The programme will repeat words, phrases and dialogues as many times as needed until the learners get them right. Every timea learner does an exercise correctly, he/she gets a visual bonus (a short animated cartoon) which motivates learners to do the exercises.

Management of the study process:

1. Does the software include teacher’s guide in the booklet/inlay or on the disc? – The software contains a detailed teacher’s guide on the disc. The guide is in pdf format and can be viewed either on the screen or printed out for reference.

2. Is the teacher’s guide written in clear, concise language? – The guide is written in clear, concise language and is easy to understand.

3. Is there enough information in the guide on what stages of the lesson to use the software at? – The guide contains a description of the overall goals and objectives and use of the software as well as recommendations on what stages of the lessons the exercises can be best used.

4. Does the guide include pictures or video instructions that explain how to use the software? – The guide contains pictures and screenshots that make it very easy to understand.

5. Does the guide contain recommendations on how to use every single exercise? – The guide contains detailed recommendations for each and every exercise.

6. Is the software fully compatible with your textbook and easy to build into your lessons? – The software is fully compatible with “Enjoy English” Grade 2 textbook, the information in the Teacher’s Book and in the Teacher’s guide on the disc is enough to allow it to be easily built into the lessons or to be used by students for homework.

7. Does the software include a Class Management System? – No, this version of the software does not have a Class Management System. But it looks like ot does not need one either.

Scottish highlands are famous not onlyy for their mountains and wildlife, but also for their lakes. Practically anywhere you go in the south-west Scotland, you'll be near one loch (a lake) or another. But Scottish lochs do not look the same as Eastern European lakes. When we say the word "lake", as often as not we imagine a round or oval body of water, lying peacefully in a shadowy forest or in a very flat valley. In Scotland, for one thing, you'll hardly find a flat valley. What you do find is mountines, ravines, steep valleys, and the lochs are usually long and meandering. So you can drive along a loch for hours. For example, the famous Loch Ness is about 37 kilometres long and Loch Lomond is 39 kilometres long. So there is an abundance of fresh water in Scotland.

Apart from fresh-water lochs, there are plenty of seawater ones in Scotland. So unlike a lake, a loch may mean a body of eitherfresh or sea water. The shores of Scotland are famous for their cliffs and bays, sometimes going quite far inland, and the tide is particularly high there. Therefore when you see a loch in Scotland, you never know whether the water in it is going to be fresh or salty and if it connects to the sea, but whatever it is, all the lochs I've seen are immensely beautiful.

One of the worst things about aiports is having to stand in long queues waiting to be checked in. Often, if you arrive at the aiport a little later than you should have, all the best seats are already taken and you may have to squeeze into the middle seat and remain crammed for the duration of the flight. Modern technologies provide a good way to deal with the queues and seating problems. You can always use a self-check-in terminal, if there company you're flying with provides such a service. With this terminal you can check in within minutes and also you can see for yourself which seats are still available and choose the one that you prefer. Not bad, eh? I've seen such terminals in Domodedovo, but they are not quite as efficient as the ones in many British airports. In Domodedovo you can currently check in through a terminal if you've got only carry-on (cabin) luggage. If not, you will still have to queue up to be checked in by the company's officer and have your luggage taken to the luggage compartment of the plane. In Britain the terminals work for you no matter how much luggage you've got on you. All you have to do is either type in your ticket confirmation code (for e-tickets, bought online), or swipe your passport through the scanner, or just type in the flight number and your name to get a boarding pass. Then you go on to the company's counter and drop your luggage there. Simple as that. When I was flying from Glasgow to London, all I had to do was type in my booking confirmation number, choose my seat and the borading pass was printed out by the machine. At the counter I showed the boarding pass and my luggage was taken and I was free to go through the security control and board the plane. Not once did I have to show my passport to anyone at all. So if you are flying somewhere and there are self-check-in terminals at the airport, my advice for you would be to use them as they'd save you a lot of time.

have you ever bought anything in a store and found, on return home, that it is not quite the thing you wanted? What do you do, try to use this thing anyway, since it's been paid for, or do you return it to the shop? While in Russia very often I think that returning something to the shop just isn't worth the effort, it can be done much easier in the UK and in the USA. The laws protect customers quite well, and there is customer satisfaction guarantee, which means that if you are not satisfied with what you've bought because you don't like the quality, or the colour, or the size doesn't quite fit, you can return it to the shop where you've bought it.

when it comes to chain stores, you can usually return the goods to other branches as well. When I was studying/teaching in the USA, I used to know a girl who would go shopping, bring loads of stuff from the store (mainly clothes), take a very close look at her purchases at leisure and then return most of them to the store. Very often, when she was travelling, she returned these things to other branches of the chain store where she bought them. The usual requirement is to have the packaging intact (that is, undamaged so that the item you're returning could be repacked and resold) and of course the good should be in the same condition as it was when you bought it.

Different shops have different return policy. For example, if you're buying something at a sale, these items are usually non-refundable, so you can not return them. This policy was probably introduced because many people buy far too many goods during teh sales period and in the end decide that they do not want them.

Some goods are non-returnable from the very beginning. Indeed, how could you return an opened bottle of medicine, or perfume or something of the kind? Reason and hygiene would not allow it.

Very often you can read the information on the receipt to see during which period you can return the item to the shop. For example, Waterstones (a large UK chain of book and music shops) allows you to return books and videos 21 days after the sales date. With other shops this period can be shorter or longer. Walmart, a famous American chain store, is famous not only for being probably the cheapest shop you can find, but also for accepting returns during very long times.

So if you've bought something in the UK or in the USA and feel that you do not really want this item, take it back to the store (or the local branch if it's a chain store) and you will get your money back, or, if you paid by card, the money will be transferred to your account.

As you walk along the Royal Mile towards Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh there is a green-and-brown tavern/pub on your left. The tavern is called "Deacon Brody's" and the house is about 300 years old. On the wall there is a large board that tells the story of this tavern and Deacon Brody. Since this story is important for British literature, I think you may be interested to know it.

William Brodie (sometimes spelt as "Brody" was a cabinet maker and a deacon of a trade guild, so often he is referred to as "Deacon Brodie". In the 18th century Edinburgh he was a prosperous and respected man, so respected, in fact, that he was made a member of the burgh council and served on the jury as well. To better serve justice, he even designed and funded a gallows to be put up in the city.

But who was a respectable man in the daytime turned into a burglar and gambler at night. Since he was a very popular craftsman and locksmith, he was often invited to the homes of the richest people of Edinburgh to fix locks for them, which gave him excellent opportunities to see where the money was. At night he would disguise himself underneath a mask,, burgle the houses he had recently been called to, used copies of the keys he had made for the locks and take the money. His night-time "earnings" enabled him to gamble a lot, keep two mistresses and five children. When he was found out, he was condemned and hanged on the same gallows that he had so enthusiastically built. A legend has it that he tried to bribe the hangman and put a steel collar to escape the death by hanging, but the plan di dnot work.

Robert Louis Stevenson was so impressed by this man's adventures that he wrote his famous "The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". So this was deacon Brody's involuntary input in British literature. And somehow the dark stones of the old houses in the Royal Mile make it easy to believe the story.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse is one of the oldest but also the most rarely used royal residences. The Queen spends there a week each summer and then moves on to Balmoral for her holiday.

The palace is built next to the ancient Abbey, now in ruins, and it stands right at the end of the Royal Mile as you walk downhill from Edinburgh castle. Across the street from the palace there is the Scottish Parilament, a modern building, and right in fromnt of the palace there is the Queen's gallery. If you want to go inside the palace, you buy tickets in the Royal Collection shop (as well as doing some shopping on the way, judging by the majority of visitors there) and walk on to the palace gate. With your tickets checked, you move on into the palace yard. The peace and quiet there is amazing, you immediately forget that you are in the middle of a tourist area of a large city. On your right there is a mountain, and on your left there stands a monument to Edward VII. In front there're tourists having their pictures taking, so it's not easy to take in a good view of the palace. Photography is allowed only outside the palace, so no pictures could be taken inside, but this seems to be almost the only restriction there is. As you come into the palace, you expect to see lots of security cameras and lots of guards everywhere, but in fact you don't notice any cameras and there are several guides inside, but not in every room. Almost all tourists rent audioguides where you can choose your preferred language, so you just move from room to room, dial the number you see on a small stand inside the room and the audioguide tells you about the room. Invariably, every recorded story ends with the words "If you'd like to learn more about this room, the guide will be happy to help you".

The guide walks into the room a couple of minutes after you've appeared there and stands patiently and very quietly in the corner. In many rooms there are chairs you can sit on while you're listening to your audioguide, and only some chairs are roped off because they are too old for the general public to sit on them.

The tour is designed in such a way that you proceed from the "everyday use" rooms like the dining room with the table fully set, a couple of drawing rooms with Victorian furniture and drapings, through the Throne room to the older rooms. The guides are really eager to help you. On the two thrones in the Throne room there are the monarchs' initials: GR, which obviously stands for Gerogius Rex (King George in Latin), and MR (the Queen's name and the first letter of the word Regina, "Queen" in Latin). I couldn't remember which of the Georges had a wife whose name started with an M, so I asked the guide when the thrones were made. He told me that they were made around 1922 for George V and his wife Queen Mary (do I hear you say "duh"?) and asked me whether I'd like to know what firm made them. Of course I said yes, so the guide took the rope off, walked to the thrones, brought back the Queen's footstool, turned it over and showed it to me. There was the label and the hallmark of some London firm which made the throne. I touched the hallmark and the footstool, thanked the guide and walked on through the long portrait gallery to the historical chambers.

The portrait gallery is interesting in itself. It is very long and the walls are hung with portraits of all Scottish kings. Now, the portraits look strikingly alike, and the audioguide tells you that they were all painted by one and the same artist and his task was not to convey the true looks of old kings, but to show that the reigning monarch (Charles II) was a true successor of the old Scottish kings, so every portrait looks a lot like Charles II.

From there you move on to the Royal Apartments. You go past the Queen's drawing room and then take a steep stair up through the room where Queen mary of Scot's private secretary was murdered. From there you get into Queen mary of Scots' bedchamber. The Royal Apartments are maintained in the same style as they used to be from the beginning, so the bedchamber reflects the yesra that mary spent at the French court in her youth. In the bedchamber you see some of Queen Mary's needlework and her scissors, as well as her purse. Then you get into a small museum, although every room is already a museum in its own right. The only thing that reminds you that this is a working royal residence and that the Queen actually lives there for a small part of the year is that the pictures there have no plaques under them, like you wouldn't really put up plaques underneath pictures in your own home. Now, this museum room is full of rather gruesome exhibits, such as a medallion with a lock of Queen mary's hair, a button in which you can see a tiny part of a handkerchief with the blood of the executed King Charles I etc. The room is darkish, but still you can spend hours there.

Telling about the other rooms would take up too much time. I am working on an article about Scotland now, so there you will find more information, stories and photos. What I'll say for now is when you leave the palace, you get to go past the Abbey. The Abbey was built in the 12th century and many Scottish kings are buried there, but since it was a catholic abbey, a riotous crowd destroeyd most of it in 1688, and the roof fell in in the 18th century, so now the Abbey is a picturesue ruin. From the Abbey you go through the palace garden (a small but still nice one), past the large white tents where the Queen had given garden parties just a few days before our arrival, and there you are, right next to the exit. You can do some shopping in the royal collection shop if you want, but to tell the truth, your head is still so full with the things you've just seen in the palace that you feel that a lunch in some quiet place would do it more good than any other activity.

A frequent problem in communication with people from different countries is that we can misunderstand each other by misinterpreting gestures, attitudes and each other's expectations. many people learn the cross-cultural differences the hard way, by trial and error method. However, there are certain lines along which cultures differ, and if we help our students to realise these differences, this will enable them to be more successful in reaching their communicative aims while dealing with people from different countries.

So how exactly do cultures differ?

1. One of the greatest differences is whether a culture is explicit (or low-context) or implicit (high-context) one. In low-context 9explicit) countries you will find a nlot of information about everything. If you're driving along an American road, a sign signalling a turn will be repeated three times, so you can't really miss it. It's difficult to lose your way in the USA because there are so many signs that tell you much more than you want to know about each and every direction. In Russia... well, have you ever tried to find a specific building in the street? Does every building has its number written clearly so that it's easy to see from the street? The answer is 'no" - in most cases. The implication of this 'implicitness-explicitness" difference is that for someone from an implicit culture the abundance of signs may seem like an intrusion into private life bordering with insanity, and the absence of so many important pices of information will be absolutely maddening for a person from an explicit culture.

2. Degree of formality-familiarity, or formal vs egalitarian cultures. In a formal culture you have to address someone as "Mr. Jones" as oposed to "Tim". Again, in an egalitarian culture it is normal to be on first-name terms with your boss or going jogging with the boss, while calling someone by their first name after you've just met would be an insult in some other country. Compare it with the use of Вы and ты in Russia, vous and tu in France etc. An student who is unaware of these cross-cultural features may seem stand-offish and too formal while he/she is just trying to be polite, and vice versa, while using only first names with people from the 'wrong" culture, may seem too familiar and impudent.

3. Some cultures are monochronic (doing one thing at a time), while others are polychronic (many things may be going on simultaneously). Order is the top priority in a monochronic culture, so if you're paying attention to something else during an important talk or a lecture, this will be taken as a sign of your not being interested or not working hard. In a polychronic culture someone can excuse themselves to answer a phonecall during a meeting, or be signing some papers while listening to a colleague, and this is considered to be a good working attitude. When a person from a monochronic culture gets into a polychronic one he/she may feel slighted that the entire attention is not given to him/her, while for a representative of a polychronis culture such a claim for undivided attention may seem way over the top.

4. Attitude to time:"time is money" (time-precise) vs "you can wait" (time-loose) policy. People from some countries tend to be very pragmatic. "time is money" they say,. and your attempt to take up more of their time than is absolutely necessary will be regarded as an attempt to rob them of some very important and precious resource. For example, if you say to some Americans right before a lunch break "Why don't we have lunch together", they will take out their diary to check when they are free. In a more time-loose culture someone can be quite insulted by such attitude. Just the other way round, in a time-loose culture you will be expected to wait as people come late to meetings, they keep you waiting and they sincerely do not understand your frustration. Just imagine two people from these cultures trying to arrange a meeting!

5. Individualism vs. collectivism. In some cultures the individual is the utmost value, and the common belief is that you are personally responsible for everything that is happening in your life. Just think of the saying "A man is his own army". In other cultures the society is much more important than the individual, and everyone is expected to give up some of their privacy/money/resources for the sake of the 'common cause" (Один в поле не воин"). In an individualist country there is always a single person who is supervising a business and is responsible for it, while in the collectivist cultures there is shared responsibility. In collectivist cultures (for example in Japan) loyalty is more important that a person's professional qualities.

6. Attitude to past-present-future. In some cultures past is not really important. Past is way behind, and all effort is going into shaping up the future. People from such cultures just do not understand the store some other people set by tradition or history of relations and past offences and treachery. Other countries are very traditional, and among such countries you will find not only China, for example, but also Britain where you still have separate taps for cold and hot water not because this is convenient or comfortable, but because "that's how things are done here". A relatively small number of countries copncern themselves with the present day and think of short-term profits rather than long-term relationships.

All these differences may lead to severe cases of culture shock in students when they only begin to communicate with people from different cultures and do not really see any difference between British people and Americans on the grounds that they all speak the English language (well, sort of, you know). Some excellent insights into culture shock and ways of overcoming it, as well as very practical exercises can be found in "Enjoy English" book Grade 10, Unit 4 Section 4. In fact, you may use this information as a starting point for a project work to enlarge upon that section.

Witty mockery is where sometimes the flexibility of language shows best. It is not easy to tell what you think about someone without being rude, but when you can do it, your words go down in history. Here's a short collection of famous put-down phrases:

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."

—Winston Churchill

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about."

—Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."

—Clarence Darrow

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it."

—Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know."

—Abraham Lincoln

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."

—Groucho Marx

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."

—Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends."

—Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play. Bring a friend . . . if you have one."

—George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second . . . if there is one."

—Winston Churchill, in response

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here."

—Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."

—John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."

—Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others."

—Samuel Johnson

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure."

—Jack E. Leonard

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt."

—Robert Redford

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."

—William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?"

—Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them."

—James Reston (about Richard Nixon)

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily."

—Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him."

—Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"

—Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."

—Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."

—Oscar Wilde

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."

—Billy Wilder

If you want me to read your mind, give me more to work with.

—One of Eric Slinn's coworkers

Have you ever tried the famous Waldorf salad? It's just the right type of salad if you want a nice light meal. To make 2 servings you will need:

2 large red apples

2 sticks of celery

a handful of shelled crushed walnuts

a tablespoonful of mayonnaise

Procedure:

Core and dice the apples. Dice the celery. Add the crushed walnuts and the mayonnaise. Leave for ten minutes before serving.

Yes, it's simple as that. Do not overdo the mayonnaise, you need it only to make the salad smooth. The taste is very fresh due to the celery, and the sweetness of apples makes it a nice meal on its own. Just right for summer.

This is a recipe I've learned from a good American friend who has spent some time in Italy and has never hesitated to adopt and adapt Italian recipes for her own family. I quite like this dish and often make it in summer.

Spaghetti Carbonara.

A legend says that the recipe was made up during WWII. When American soldiers in Italy were hungry, they'd give whatever they had - some bacon and an onion and a few eggs - to Italian women, who made a dish for them, mixing the ingredients with traditional Italian foods. However, there're plenty of very different legends about this dish, which may, or may not be true. Anyway, to make spaghetti carbonara Italian-American style, you'll need:

Ingredients:

two eggs

a large onion

a few rashers of bacon (I use 4 or 5)

about 80 grams of parmesan or any other hard cheese

half a glass of milk

half a glass of dry white table wine (if there's no wine, just use 1/2 glass of milk instead)

some chopped parsley

200-300 g. spaghetti

some salt to taste

Cooking method:

Chop the onion and the bacon. Stir-fry in a frying pan until slightly golden and soft, take off the fire.

Boil the spaghetti for 5-7 minutes. Spaghetti should be "al dente" - a bit hard.

Break the eggs into a bowl, add a pinch of salt (don't forget that the bacon is already salty), pour in the milk and the wine and beat with a fork to mix well. Grate the cheese. Add the cheese and the parsley, mix again.

Sieve the spaghetti and put them into the frying pan together with the onion and the bacon. Put the frying pan back on fire, stir, then pour the cheese-eggs-wine-milk-parsley mixture on top, stir it in and turn the fire off.

You will get a thick sauce, with a slightly meaty smell and it'll taste fresh and a bit cheesy. The wine adds a slighlty sour aftertaste. If you've used only milk, it won't taste sour at all. A great dish for a hot summer evening, to be served with a glass of cold dry white wine. And it takes about 20 minutes to cook.

I learned this recipe from a British friend. She was spending the winter in Russia together with her Russian husband and this dish, it seems, can be easily made to suit Russian tastes, although it may be slightly different from the origina;l British recipe. But since I'm only sharing my own experience, do bear in mind that it is all suited - and sometimes adapted to Russia.

They say that years ago a shpeherd would spend the entire day in the fields, so he needed something to eat that would be nourishing and still taste good even several hours after it was cooked. I will give th eversion I tried in Russia first and then links to the original English recipe.

To make shepher'd pie you'll need the following ijgredients:

400 grams of minced beef or fresh chicken.

500 grams of potatoes

a glass of milk

50 grams of butter

an onion

pepper and salt to taste

any other spices you use with meat (optional)

200 grams cheese

300 grams of green beans or any other vegetables (optional).

Cooking method:

If you're using chicken: boil the chicken until it's very soft. Take the meat off the bones and cut in very small bits. Do not mince to preserve the texture. If you're using minced meat, warm a frying pan, add some vegetable oil. Chop the onion. Fry the minced meat with the onion until golden brown.

In the meantime peel and boil the potatoes. mash them with the milk and butter.

Grate the cheese.Boil the vegetables.

In an oven-proof dish put a layer of meat, then a layer of vegetables and mashed potatoes on top and cover with the grated cheese. Put into a hot oven and bake until the cheese is melted and golden on top. As Clauire told me, the dish is most delicious when each of the three layers is about the same size.

Serve like you'd serve a pie or a cake.

I've made this dish both with minced beef and with chicken, and I prefer chicken.

The original English shepherd's pie would be cooked like this:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1727,134184-248192,00.html

or like this: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_shepherds_pie/

I've already written here that a good and controversioal quotation is a great way to start class discussions. Lower-level students can be asked to explain the meaning of the quotation, higher-level ones can be prompted to agree or disagree withteh quotation and explain why, and if your students like to make stories, you can even ask them to make a story to illustrate the idea o fthe quotation (but remember that this is good for a writing class and not for an everyday conversation lesson, as not everyone is happy with having to make up stories unless they're to explain why they haven't done their homework).So here're a few more interesting quotations which could be used as discussion starters:otes to Like!• Id rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not. - Kurt Cobain• The trouble with real life is that there is no danger music. - Cable Guy• If you are going through hell, keep going. - Sir Winston Churchill• Everything is okay in the end, if it is not ok, then it is not the end.• Never give up on something that you can not go a day without thinking about.• Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.• What you are is Gods gift to you, what you make of yourself is your gift to God. - Jewish Proverb• Every great achievement was once considered impossible.• A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Sun Tzu• The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. - Ghandi• No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt• Sometimes you just have to be alone until you are no longer lonely.• We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill• Never tell your problems to anyone...20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them. - Lou Holtz• Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind dont matter and those who matter dont mind. - Dr. Seuss• People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day. - Whinnie The Pooh

Мне после семинаров слушатели иногда говорят, что приятно послушать правильный русский язык. Действительно, во время публичных выступлений всегда отслеживаешь не только что говоришь, но и как произносишь, как работают органы речи, как звучит голос. Это важно для любого обращающегося к публике человека. Пару недель назад я был свидетелем того, как сорок минут перед аудиторией выступала дама, рассказывавшая довольно очевидные вещи. При этом она в каждом втором предложении вставляла слова "всё-таки", и речь ее звучала примерно так: "А в последнее время в школах появились компьютеры. И дети всё-таки ими умеют пользоваться. Значит, для компьютеров полезно иметь обучающие программы. Программы всё-таки можно использовать и на уроке, и дома. Также в УМК должна быть хорошая рабочая тетрадь. Учителя могут всё-таки использовать из нее задания". И так - сорок минут. Я. честно говоря, так и не понял что она так яростно отстаивала, с кем дискутировала своими "всё-таки". Учитывая ее довольно высокий и одновременно подхрипывающий голос, слушать было не очень легко как с точки зрения логики выступления, так и из-за звучания. Конечно, звучание может быть самым разным. Я часто вспоминаю анекдот про учителя и ученика, история эта, на мой взгляд, иллюстрирует региональную вариативность речи даже на нашем родном языке. История вот какая: ученик рассказывает наизусть стихотворение у доски. Начинает: "Поздняя осень, грачи улятели". Учитель, ожидая, что ученик исправит ошибку: "Стоп, еще раз начни". Ученик послушно начинает снова: "Поздняя осень, грачи улятели". Учитель просит начать снова. Ученик: "Поздняя осень, грачи улятели". Наконец учитель не выдерживает: "Ну почему улятели, почему улятели-то?". "Пачяму-пачяму, клявать нечего, вот и улятели", - отвечает ребенок.А сегодня в очередной раз я поймал себя на том, что наша повседневная речь, вне аудитории, иногда может звучать очень забавно. Обсудив с коллегой несколько документов, которые сегодня надо отправить в одну организацию, договориваюсь, что я подпишу эти документы и передам ей для отправки. Подписываю, отдаю и говорю: "А это вот эти, ну, которые туда надо. Ты их да?". Коллега берет бумаги и говорит: "Сейчас". Поворачиваюсь чтобы вернуться в свой кабинет, потом не выдерживаю и разворачиваюсь: "Как здорово, что мы друг друга понимаем!". Коллега улыбается, я ухожу.Я иногда вспоминаю оговорки и свои, и своих еще вузовских преподавателей. Например. многие годы спустя помню вот эти высказывания: "и бывают такие минуты, что эти несчастные эмигранты неделями воют дома от тоски". Или: "и так я на них рассердилась, товарищи, что прямо вот взяла бы палку и застрелила бы!". А у вас что интересного говорят коллеги или ученики7

С начала года я провел больше 20 вебинаров, в которых в общей сложности приняли участие около 5500 человек. Организовал примерно еще столько же. В прошлом году тоже были вебинары, и постепенно набрался опыт организации и проведения вебинаров, которым не стыдно и поделиться. Возможно, кто-то попробует организовать методическое объединение в виде вебинара, кому-то так будет удобно проводить дистанционные занятия, а кто-то воспользуется идеями и придумает свою форму работы. Итак, вы решили провести вебинар, что для этого нужно?1. Определить тему. Это совсем не такое простое дело. как может показаться. почему? Потому что нередко лектору хочется говорить о том, что интересно ему самому. А для вебинара важно поговорить о том, что интересно и важно для слушателей. Поэтому сначала задайтесь вопросом: о чем по-настоящему полезно и важно будет услышать людям? Для своих вебинаров я определяю темы, опираясь на вопросы, которые мне задают участники региональных семинаров. 2. Сформулируйте тему максимально конкретно и понятно. Скажите о чем будет вебинар и на примерах чего вы собираетесь об этом рассказать. Я стараюсь избегать слишком наукообразных названий, сложные названия отпугивают и слушателей, и лектора. 3. Рассчитайте длительность вебинара. Очень тяжело слушать долгие выступления, сидя перед экраном компьютера, особенно когда интернет нестабилен и звук может прерываться. Если только вы не собираетесь говорить о чем-то крайне важном для слушателей, да еще таком, что вы знаете лучше всех, не планируйте слишком долгого выступления. Полтора часа с учетом времени на вопросы и ответы - это, пожалуй, максимум того, сколько вас захотят слушать. Конечно, бывают очень интересные темы или просто интересные лекторы, которые увлекательно могут рассказать о чем угодно, но все-таки вебинар, как любая лекция, должен быть динамичным и легким для восприятия, а это значит - не затянутым. Хотя нельзя не признать, что многое зависит и от attention span некоторых слушателей, для кого-то и двадцать минут - непосильная длина и они уже начинают спрашивать о сертификатах.4. Рассчитайте "информационную плотность" вебинара. Не стремитесь рассказать сразу все, что вы знаете по теме вебинара. Если у вас много сложной теоретической информации - обязательно разбавьте ее живым, желательно веселым практическим примером. Теорию стоит распределить равномерно по ходу вебинара и чередовать ее с практикой. Что приводит нас к следующему пункту:5. Соблюдайте баланс между теоретической и практической информацией. Теория без практики мертва, и чаще всего неинтересна. Я стараюсь, чтобы в моих вебинарах теории было процентов 25, а практических примеров - 75%. Впрочем, для каждого лектора и для каждой темы удачным будет свой собственный баланс. Кому-то важнее поделиться практическими разработками или находками, кто-то рассказывает о новых открытиях или требованиях, которые только-только начинают входить в повседневный опыт, и тогда имеет смысл показать возможные пути развития и применения новых теорий. Что касается теорий - в среднем для подготовки к вебинару мне приходится прочитать страниц 200-300 научных статей на русском, английском и иногда французском языках и законспектировать их. Так что подготовка к одному вебинару может занять несколько недель.6. Еще один важный момент - это взаимодействие со слушателями. Чат во время вебинара удобен тем, что позволяет увидеть, слушают вас или нет, согласны с вами или нет, интересно, наконец, то, что вы говорите, или нет. Поэтому я всегда стараюсь читать то, что пишут слушатели вебинара и быстро отвечать на вопросы, давать дополнительную информацию когда это нужно или опровергать высказывания, которые могут ввести в заблуждение остальных участников вебинара. Если же для вас такое взаимодействие не очень удобно (например, тема вебинара довольно сложная и нет времени откликаться на все комментарии), то тогда имеет смысл отключить чат и включить его ближе к концу, когда вы будете готовы отвечать на вопросы. Иногда участники вебинара могут захотеть поспорить с вами. Это нормальная ситуация, потому что позволяет всем еще раз обдумать то, что вы говорите и соотнести с собственным опытом. Никто не может быть прав всегда, но вы в любой момент можете сказать на чем, на каких исследованиях или опыте вы основываете ваше мнение. И точно так же можете попросить вашего собеседника сделать то же самое, после вас. 7. Любое использование ИКТ, в том числе и для проведения вебинаров, приводит к тому, что в это время вы зависите от работы техники. Бывает так, что у провайдера услуги происходит сбой. Может на время перестать работать сервер, с которого вы предлагаете скачать документ. Здесь есть только один совет из знаменитой книги и не менее знаменитого мультфильма: Спокойствие, только спокойствие!". ТО, что может быть отремонтировано быстро, будет налажено за несколько минут. А если что-то сломалось серьезно и надолго, то на хороший, интересный вебинар его участники придут снова, а из-за неинтересного не стоит и беспокоиться. Как сделать вебинар хорошим - см. советы выше.Конечно, эти советы очень общие, каждый находит свои пути и выделяет для себя что-то важное по-своему. Поэтому если вы напишите в комментариях что в моих вебинарах вам нравится, а что нет, то я очень постараьсю исправить то, что не нравится, и усилить то, что вы одобряете.

Первый рабочий день 2014 года встретил туманом и сыростью. Пока зима в нашем регионе стоит совершенно европейская, только солнечных дней маловато. В такую погоду хочется хоть как-то согреться, потому что влажный воздух проникает везде и всюду.В такую погоду хорошо помогает одно традиционное французское блюдо - любимый суп короля Людовика Пятнадцатого. Готовить его очень просто и он совсем недорогой, поэтому я решил поделиться рецептом - а вдруг кому-то пригодится? Кстати, а какие у вас любимые зимние блюда? Чем можете поделиться с коллегами?Итак, французский луковый суп. Рецептов этого супа существует несколько, я напишу самый простой, по вкусу получается то, что доводилось пробовать в Париже. Вам потребуется:1. Полтора литра любого бульона, мясного или куриного2. Пять средних луковиц3. 80 грамм сливочного масла4. Одна чайная ложка сахара5. 150 грамм жирного сыра6. Черный перец (молотый) или смесь перцев7. Тонкие ломтики белого хлеба по числу порций супа (по одному на тарелку). Лучше всего брать тостерный хлеб или батон (багет).8. Одна столовая ложка муки9. Соль по вкусуПриготовление:1. Лук мелко порезать. На сковороде растопить сливочное масло и на медленном огне потомить лук пока он не станет прозрачным и немного золотистым. Зажаривать нельзя, лук должен быть именно мягким, но не хрустящим. Для цвета хорошо добавить чайную ложку сахара. В конце добавить столовую ложку муки и перемешать.2. Лук переложить в кастрюлю, залить бульоном, добавить перец и соль и варить на среднем огне пока лук не станет совсем мягким, минуть 25-30. Получится очень густой, насыщенный бульон.3. Сыр потереть на крупной терке. Ломтики хлеба слегка обжарить в тостере или подсушить на сковороде без масла. хлеб должен быть подсушенным, но не зажаренным.4. Для подачи: в каждую тарелку положить ломтик хлеба, посыпать его тертым сыром (сыра надо "с горкой" и залить горячим луковым супом, подавать сразу же, сыр как раз растает.