English for All - Алексей Конобеев's Blog

Мне еще со школы нравится английская поэзия. Привлекает звучание, то, как можно спрессовать эмоции в несколько строчек, то, каким красивым становится язык. И интересно то, как меняются с веками идеалы, как новые идеи отражаются в стихах. Вот несколько стихотворений из тех, которые мне нравятся. Привожу те, на которые авторское право перешло в public domain:***Jenny Kissed Meby Leigh HuntJenny kissed me when we met, Jumping from the chair she sat in. Time, you thief! who love to get Sweets into your list, put that in. Say I'm weary, say I'm sad; Say that health and wealth have missed me; Say I'm growing old, but add- Jenny kissed me!***I Am Not Yours by Sara TeasdaleI am not yours, not lost in you,Not lost, although I long to beLost as a candle lit at noon,Lost as a snowflake in the sea.You love me, and I find you stillA spirit beautiful and bright,Yet I am I, who long to beLost as a light is lost in light.Oh plunge me deep in love -- put outMy senses, leave me deaf and blind,Swept by the tempest of your love,A taper in a rushing wind.***After Love by Sara TeasdaleThere is no magic any more,We meet as other people do,You work no miracle for meNor I for you.You were the wind and I the sea --There is no splendor any more,I have grown listless as the poolBeside the shore.But though the pool is safe from stormAnd from the tide has found surcease,It grows more bitter than the sea,For all its peace.***If you were coming in the fall,I'd brush the summer byWith half a smile and half a spurn,As housewives do a fly.If I could see you in a year,I'd wind the months in balls,And put them each in separate drawers,Until their time befalls.If only centuries delayed,I'd count them on my hand,Subtracting till my fingers droppedInto Van Diemen's land.If certain, when this life was out,That yours and mine should be,I'd toss it yonder like a rind,And taste eternity.But now, all ignorant of the lengthOf time's uncertain wing,It goads me, like the goblin bee,That will not state its sting. by Emily Dickinson***Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part,Nay, I have done: you get no more of me,And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,That thus so cleanly I myself can free.Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,And when we meet at any time againBe it not seen in either of our browsThat we one jot of former love retain.Now at the last gasp of Love's latest breath,When his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies,When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,And Innocence is closing up his eyes,Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,From death to life thou might'st him yet recover.by Michael Drayton***Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett BrowningHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of Being and ideal Grace.I love thee to the level of everyday'sMost quiet need, by sun and candle-light.I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.I love thee with the passion put to useIn my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.***NO sun--no moon!No morn--no noon!No dawn--no dusk--no proper time of day--No sky--no earthly view--No distance looking blue--No road--no street--no "t'other side this way"--No end to any Row--No indications where the Crescents go--No top to any steeple--No recognitions of familiar people--No courtesies for showing 'em--No knowing 'em!No traveling at all--no locomotion--No inkling of the way--no notion--"No go" by land or ocean--No mail--no post--No news from any foreign coast--No Park, no Ring, no afternoon gentility--No company--no nobility--No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,No comfortable feel in any member--No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds--November! by Thomas Hood***Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now;Now, while the world is bent my deeds to cross,Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,And do not drop in for an after-loss:Ah, do not, when my heart hath 'scoped this sorrow,Come in the rearward of a conquer'd woe;Give not a windy night a rainy morrow,To linger out a purposed overthrow.If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last,When other petty griefs have done their spiteBut in the onset come; so shall I tasteAt first the very worst of fortune's might, And other strains of woe, which now seem woe,Compared with loss of thee will not seem so.by William Shakespeare***Rudyard KiplingRecessionalGod of our fathers, known of old-- Lord of our far-flung battle line Beneath whose awful hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine-- Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget - lest we forget!The tumult and the shouting dies; The captains and the kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget - lest we forget!Far-called, our navies melt away; On dune and headland sinks the fire: Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget - lest we forget!If, drunk with sight of power, we loose Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe-- Such boasting as the Gentiles use Or lesser breeds without the law-- Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget - lest we forget!For heathen heart that puts her trust In reeking tube and iron shard-- All valiant dust that builds on dust, And guarding, calls not Thee to guard-- For frantic boast and foolish word, Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!***Not UnderstoodBy James Brunton StephensNot understood, we move along asunder; Our paths grow wider as the seasons creep Along the years; we marvel and we wonder Why life is life, and then we fall asleep Not understood. Not understood, we gather false impressions And hug them closer as the years go by; Till virtues often seem to us transgressions; And thus men rise and fall, and live and die Not understood. Not understood! Poor souls with stunted vision Oft measure giants with their narrow gauge; The poisoned shafts of falsehood and derision Are oft impelled 'gainst those who mould the age, Not understood. Not understood! The secret springs of action Which lie beneath the surface and the show, Are disregarded; with self-satisfaction We judge our neighbours, and they often go Not understood. Not understood! How trifles often change us! The thoughtless sentence and the fancied slight Destroy long years of friendship, and estrange us, And on our souls there falls a freezing blight; Not understood. Not understood! How many breasts are aching For lack of sympathy! Ah! day by day How many cheerless, lonely hearts are breaking! How many noble spirits pass away, Not understood. O God! that men would see a little clearer, Or judge less harshly where they cannot see! O God! that men would draw a little nearer To one another, -- they'd be nearer Thee, And understood.***Edward Rowland SillThe Fool's PrayerThe royal feast was done; the KingSought some new sport to banish care,And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool,Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!"The jester doffed his cap and bells,And stood the mocking court before;They could not see the bitter smileBehind the painted grin he wore.He bowed his head, and bent his kneeUpon the monarch's silken stool;His pleading voice arose: "O Lord,Be merciful to me, a fool!"No pity, Lord, could change the heartFrom red with wrong to white as wool;The rod must heal the sin; but Lord,Be merciful to me, a fool!" 'Tis not by guilt the onward sweepOf truth and right, O Lord, we stay;'Tis by our follies that so longWe hold the earth from heaven away."These clumsy feet, still in the mire,Go crushing blossoms without end;These hard, well-meaning hands we thrustAmong the heart-strings of a friend."The ill-timed truth we might have kept-Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?The word we had not sense to say-Who knows how grandly it had rung?"Our faults no tenderness should ask,The chastening stripes must cleanse them all;But for our blunders-oh, in shameBefore the eyes of heaven we fall."Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;Men crown the knave, and scourge the toolThat did his will; but Thou, O Lord,Be merciful to me, a fool!"The room was hushed; in silence roseThe King, and sought his gardens cool,And walked apart, and murmured low,"Be merciful to me, a fool!"А вам какие стихи нравятся, на любом языке?

I have a friend who lives in Portugal. He is still at school and this year he is very upset that Portugal has not been getting any snow at all. After I talked with him several days ago I thought of what it must be like to not have any snow when you want some, and I wrote this story. Of course, the character in this story has only a few things in common with the prototype: the real Ricardo is much older, although he also loves birds and takes beautiful pictures of insects and plants in his garden. When I was writing this story I rather had a younger audience in mind, my thought only spinned off a real person. That's why the language is fairly simple here, except for the couple of conditionals I've had to use. So here it goes:

In a very warm country in the south of Europe there lived a boy who was very fond of birds, insects and plants. He dreamed of becoming a biologist when he grew up, but now he was still at school.

There was a small garden near the house where the boy lived with his father, mother and younger brother, and every morning he would go into the garden to look at the flowers and take pictures of some of the butterflies and other creatures who lived there. The herbs and the flowers were much the same as those in the neighbours’ gardens, but for some reason butterflies preferred to spend days in the boy’s garden, and in spring thrushes and nightingales would come there too. The garden stood bright and green until winter, but in winter all was brown and bare.

In winter the birds would fly away to warm African countries, the insects would hide under the ground for their long sleep and only the trees would stretch their leafless branches above the dry grass. In winter the garden looked almost uninteresting, and when the frosts came, even the trees and flowers would go to sleep. However, the boy knew that the sleep wouldn’t last long and that very soon, in a couple of months, the garden will be full of life again.

Sometimes the boy felt worried about his plants in the garden. He knew that if real frosts came, many plants could freeze to death. His was a warm country and had no snow in winter, but now and then cold winds blew and brought biting frosts with them. Frosts without snow would just kill the garden.

So winter was not a very welcome season for him. But the boy loved snow! He saw it on TV so many times! He watched films where children made snowmen and played snowballs, where the first soft snow would fall ever so quietly and stay on the grass, and cover everything in a warm, white, sparkling and fluffy blanket. But he lived in a warm and dry country and no snow ever fell there. Sometimes he despaired that he would ever see snow before he grew up and started travelling. But when he grew it wouldn’t be the same then, would it?

One December evening the boy was sitting in his room doing homework. The TV was on, and the news presenter was telling about strong winds coming fast from the Arctic. It seemed that the neighbouring countries were getting their share of snow already. The boy looked out of the window, but there was not a cloud to be seen in the pale evening sky. It didn’t look like snowing at all. He sighed, shook his head sadly and returned to his textbooks.

On the next day the air grew cold. It was not freezing yet, but the chilly wind kept getting under the boy’s jacket and his hands felt so cold when he touched the rosebush in the garden. It looked like they were going to have an unusually cold day and a frosty night. And, same as yesterday, the sky was clear with no clouds in sight.

When the boy returned from school, it had already got very cold, maybe even too cold for some of the flowers. The bushes could be covered with plastic sheets or even with old newspapers, like first flowers are covered sometimes in early spring to keep the morning chills off. But there was no way the entire garden could be covered. If it got any colder, the sap would freeze in the trees, and the ice it would turn into would break the trunks from the inside. The seeds and the flower bulbs would die too, and so would many of the hibernating insects. And in spring, when the birds fly back, they’ll find only bare lifeless trees instead of their green blooming garden. The boy looked up. The sky was still clear. The sun looked dim and distant, and the cold wind was getting stronger. In fact, it had already got so strong that it began wistling sadly in the branches.

While helping his father decorate the Christmas tree, the boy was listening to the news. There were pictures of every single neighbouring country covered with snow. The longest spells of cold weather in 29 years were reported in Britain. Snowdrifts were causing traffic congestion in France and Germany, and Spain was shivering with cold, while children there were playing snowballs. Even Italy had some snow falling, and some schools were closed much to the joy of the children there. Flights were delayed, cars couldn’t run, only the big buses connected the cities everywhere but in the boy’s country. The temperature was still going down as more cold air kept streaming in from the distant ocean in the North.

The next day was Christmas Eve, so there was no school. Instead of sleeping through half of the morning as he normally would, the boy got up even earlier than usual. He looked out and saw the car the windows of which were covered in ice. The river that he could catch a glimpse of, didn’t look as dark as yesterday. Instead it sent up white sparkles. In the night it had frozen over and the ice, although still very thin, covered it from the one bank to the other.

The boy got dressed quickly and went out. The ground was unusually hard and he could hear his footsteps as he walked. The air was biting cold now, but still there was not a snowflake in the air. It looked like a fair, sunny, beautiful and entirely snowless morning. One more day like that, the boy thought, and his garden would die.

While his parents were doing their last-minute Christmas shopping and his little brother was watching cartoons, the boy spent the afternoon covering the bushes with plastic sheets. But he knew that that was not enough as it was growing colder and colder every minute. Only snow could save his garden now. It was already growing darker as winter days are so short, and the sky was red and clear in the west.

His younger brother spent the evening chatting about the presents he wanted to receive. AT dinner parents looked at their children and smiled, but when they asked the boy what he wanted for Christmas he said nothing. All the autumn he dreamed of a new camerato take pictures of his flowers and insects, but all he wanted now was snow for his garden. After all, if the plants and insects died, there’d be nothing to take pictures of in the first place, and what’s the use of a camera, he thought, if all you can photograph is people and landscapes?

That night, while the wind was howling outside, shaking the house by the roof, he did not dream of Santa Clause, Christmas trees or presents. Instead he saw dark forests, trees, lying on the ground with their roots in the air, dead flowers, carried by wind, and finally, when he felt he did not want to have those dreams any more, he saw a big snowman that was wearing Santa’s red hat. The snowman had a carrot for his nose and two large black coals for eyes. The snowman turned to the boy and seemed to wink at him encouragingly. For some reason this last dream was so peaceful and full of joy that he smiled and woke up.

All was quiet outside. The wind had ceased in the night. The boy pulled the curtains and saw that the ground was not black any more. It looked very soft and white as if covered with seagulls’ feathers. The sky was light-blue like yesterday, but now it seemed very deep and the rays of the rising sun were golden.

The boy put on his sweater and ran outside without looking at the heap of presents underneath the Christmas tree. In the garden it was cold but the frost seemed quite mild. The snow seemed soft to the touch and felt almost warm. The rosebushes looked like small white hills and there was not a blade of grass left above the snow. The boy smiled and looked around. There was smoke coming directly up from their neighbours’ chimney. All was incredibly quiet and the boy stood there, taking in the calm, for nearly ten minutes before he suddenly felt how cold it was. He turned back and slowly walked towards the house. After all, there WERE presents underneath the Christmas tree, and who knows, perhaps there was a camera waiting for him. A camera he could use right that afternoon when he went out to play snowballs with friends.

January 7, 2010

Today I've written a short piece describing how I use discussions in the classroom. To get students talking I often use quotations with which they will either strongly agree or strongly disagree, and this helps to get a discussion rolling without risking to offend someone. At the same time this is a good reason to tell students more about some people and events from English-speaking countries and to provide background information in general. Hope you'll find these quotation useful. As a good source of quotations I use the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, which I heartily recommend:

1. Douglas Adams British writer: Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

2. Alfred Adler Austrian psychologist: It is always easier to fight for one's principles than live up to them.

3. Pamela Anderson Canadian actress: When you have nothing to live up to, you can't disappoint anybody... When you form a full sentence, you're a genius.

4. Eddie Arcaro US jockey: When a jockey retires he becomes just another little man.

5. Jacques Attali French economist: Machines are the new proletariat. The working class is being given its walking papers.

6. Margaret Atwood Canadian writer: To live without mirrors is to live without the self.

7. Alan Ball English footballer and member of the 1966 World Cup team: I shall tell you what made us what we were. We had this wonderful feeling that we were still part of the people.

8. Roland Barthes French writer: All domination begins by prohibiting language.

9. Buzzie Bavasi American baseball manager: We live by the Golden Rule. Those who have the gold make the rules.

10. Francis Biddle American lawyer: The American Constitution has never greatly bothered any wartime President.

11. Conrad Black Canadian-born British businessman: Since when was greed a criminal offence?

12. Tony Blair Former UK prime minister: I am a pretty straight sort of guy.

13. Boy George English pop singer: New York is so clean now you could eat your dinner off its streets. I'll do London next, but I'll charge this time.

14. Gordon Brown UK prime minister: It will not be a surprise to you to learn I'm more interested in the future of the Arctic Circle than the future of the Arctic Monkeys.

15. Warren Buffett US businessman: It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked.

16. George W. Bush US president: Yo, Blair. How are you doing?

17. David Cameron British politician: He was the future once. (of Tony Blair)

18. Jimmy Carr Irish comedian: On your way out, be aware of women and children - they tend to slow you down.

19. Joan Collins British actress: Older men treat women like possessions, which is why I like younger men.

20. Billy Connolly Scottish comedian: If you want to lose weight, don't eat anything out of a bucket.

21. Robin Cook Former Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons: I may not have succeeded in halting the war in Iraq, but I did secure the right of Parliament to decide on war.

22. Quentin Crisp English writer: Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.

23. The Dalai Lama Tibetan spiritual leader: We are a part of humanity, so we should take care of humanity. And if we can't do that, then we should at least do no harm.

24. Philip K. Dick US science fiction writer: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

25. George Eastman American businessman: The rich man never really gives anything, he only distributes part of the surplus. It is the person of moderate means who really gives.

26. Dawn French British actress: If I were alive in Rubens's time, I'd be celebrated as a model and Kate Moss would be used as a paint brush.

27. Bill Gates American businessman: The world has had a tendency to focus a disproportionate amount of attention on me.

28. John Paul Getty American businessman: The best form of charity I know is the art of meeting a payroll.

29. James Goldsmith British financier: When you marry your mistress you create a job vacancy.

30. Hubert Gregg English songwriter: I'm blessed with total recall, apart from where I left my umbrella.

31. Matt Groening American humorist: You tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try. (Homer Simpson) ...and: Kids are the best...You can teach them to hate the things you hate. And they practically raise themselves, what with the internet and all. (Homer Simpson)

32. Woody Guthrie American folksinger: I ain't a communist necessarily, but I been in the red all my life.

33. Robert Heinlein American novelist: More than three can't agree on when to have dinner, much less when to strike. More than six people cannot decide a thing.

34. David Hockney British artist: The reason you start painting yourself is that you are a model; a cheap model. I mean, you've always got yourself.

35. Peter Jay British journalist, economist and former diplomat: It makes one feel like the geography teacher who showed a map of the world to Genghis Khan. (claiming to have explained monetarism to Margaret Thatcher)

36. David Kay American weapons inspector: We have not yet found shiny, pointy things that I would call a weapon.

37. Peter Kay British comedian: Garlic bread - it's the future. I've tasted it.

38. John Kerry US politician: How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

39. Ann Landers US advice columnist: At every party there are two kinds of people - those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other.

40. Nigella Lawson British cookery writer: Diets are like boyfriends - it never really works to go back to them.

41. Jay Leno American comedian: The US finally came up with an exit strategy. Unfortunately it's for the World Cup. (after the US soccer team were knocked out in the early stages of the World Cup)

42. Gary Lineker English footballer: Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and, at the end, the Germans win.

43. Ken Livingstone British politician: This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful... It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. (On the suicide bombings in London, 7 July 2005)

44. Linda McCartney American photographer and animal rights activist: I don't eat anything with a face.

45. Denis MacShane British politician: I liken the French/British relationship to a very old married couple who often think of killing each other but would never dream of divorce.

46. Bill Maher American comedian: Suicide is our way of saying to God: "You can't fire me. I quit."

47. Warren Mitchell British actor: You don't retire in this business. You just notice the phone hasn't rung for 10 years.

48. Nick Park Animator and creator of Wallace & Gromit: I never thought that playing with plasticine would lead to such a glamorous life.

49. Philip Pullman British writer: I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn't any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway.

50. John Reid Labour MP and former Home Secretary: Our system is not fit for purpose.

51. Andy Roddick American tennis player: Maybe I'll just punch him or something. (On how he might beat Roger Federer)

52. Anita Roddick British businesswoman: I watch where the cosmetics industry is going and then walk in the opposite direction.

53. Nicholas Serota British art expert: This is a plea for patience. Your scepticism will gradually diminish and your fear will turn to love... All art was modern once.

54. Felipe Scolari Portuguese football coach: Now there is so much professionalism, we have to revert to urging players to like the game, love it, do it with joy.

55. O. J. Simpson American football player: Fame vaporises, money goes with the wind, and all that's left is character.

56. Upton Sinclair American novelist: It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

57. Linda Smith British comedian: I play all my country and western music backwards. Your lover returns, your dog comes back to life and you cease to be an alcoholic.

58. Lynne Truss British writer: Abuse is the currency of all reality shows.

59. Robin Williams US actor: There were a lot of doctors in rehab. It's rather like being in a fat farm with nutritionists.

60. Edward O. Wilson American sociobiologist: Wonderful theory, wrong species. (On Marxism, which he considered more suited to ants than to humans)

То, что произошло вчера в Домодедово, просто ужасно. Если вы не летали оттуда, то вряд ли представляете насколько это большой аэропорт. Конечно, он не так широко раскинулся как, скажем, Heathrow или Ronald Reagan airport в Вашингтоне, но оба этажа огромного здания заняты кафе, ресторанами, магазинами, среди которых почти теряются стойки регистрации на рейс, места продажи билетов и рамки металлоискателей. И в залах вылета, и в залах прилета всегда много людей. Они ждут рейс, пьют кофе, читают газеты, просто прогуливаются, делают покупки... Если бы не частые объявления по громкоговорителю, можно было бы подумать, что вы оказались в огромном торговом центре. В аэропорту Домодедово всегда есть чем заняться.Тем страшнее вчера было услышать новость о взрыве. В месте такого скопления людей это особенно ужасно.

Я много летаю по стране, в месяц у меня бывает минимум 4 перелета, а порой и гораздо больше, и в Домодедово я бываю очень часто. Поэтому вчера как только прошли новости о взрыве, мне начали звонить и писать друзья из разных мест нашей страны и из-за границы. Я хотел бы поделиться с вами одним письмом. Вот что написал друг-американец, который прожил в России два года:

"First, I hope and pray are that all of you are safe! I just read about the attack and I wanted to let you know each of you, and all Russian people, are on my mind and heart. The Russians are great people with a rich and deep culture and traditions that I am so proud I got to know and experience while living and working there. This is a terrible thing that has happened and please let me know that you are safe. Thank you for teaching me so much - I love each of you and my prayers are with you!"

Что касается мер безопасности, то они, действительно, применяются по-разному в разных аэропортах. Например, в Астрахани пару лет назад у меня не только проверили весь багаж, но попросили включить ноутбук, фотоаппарат, видеокамеру и оба сотовых телефона чтобы убедиться, что это действительно те устройства, какими они выглядят. Правда, этой осенью включать ничего уже не просили. В Ижевске никто не войдет в здание аэровокзала без проверки на металлодетекторе и проверки багажа. А в некоторых других городах войти в аэропорт можно спокойно. Я улетал из Сыктывкара рано утром, приехал на такси когда здание еще было закрыто. Его открыли и все спокойно вошли без каких бы то ни было проверок. Впрочем, вполне возможно, что в другое время проверяют пассажиров там не хуже, чем в других аэропортах.

Понятно, что любое большое скопление людей потенциально опасно и в нем трудно защитить всех вместе и каждого по отдельности. Но я очень надеюсь, что все-таки такие трагедии больше не повторятся.

Знаете, я очень люблю когда мне задают вопросы. По вопросам многое можно понять: что было полезно из того, что рассказал, о чем не рассказал, а стоило бы, чем еще можно помочь коллегам в повседневной работе. Бывают и вопросы, уже не очень относящиеся к работе. Вот на днях только был такой вопрос. Подошла ко мне коллега, благодарит за семинар. Говорит. что было интересно, и вот это полезно, и то, а это так вообще вовремя пришлось. И добавляет, что ей импонирует моя манера вести семинар эти два дня: с видимым энтузиазмом, и в то же время очень спокойно, с улыбкой. И спрашивает: у Вас, наверное, в жизни все всегда ровно, никаких проблем не было и не бывает, все всегда удается?

Ну как на такой вопрос ответить? Пришлось сознаться, что я ничем не отличаюсь от остальных людей, и не все всегда ровно и гладко, а только стараюсь не вносить настроение и вообще себя в аудиторию. Послушала мой ответ коллега и отошла удовлетворенная.

А я в поезде продолжал думать. Действительно, наверное, мы все стараемся оставить свое настроение и состояние за дверью классной комнаты. Насколько удобнее и полезнее заниматься с учителем, у которого всегда в классе ровное и одинаково благожелательное настроение, чем пусть с увлеченным человеком, энтузиастом, но который приносит в класс свои спады и подъемы, свои не только достижения, но и печали. Да, в таких случаях ярче видна человеческая личность, но, может, сейчас важнее, чтобы перед учениками представала не личность со всеми своими достоинствами и недостатками, а педагог, учитель. который готов научить и поддержать и всегда ровно ко всем относится? Несколько лет назад в американском университете я писал свою Teaching philosophy. Где-то до сих пор этот файл лежит. Если кому-то интересно - найду и поделюсь.

В этом году я попал только на последний, третий день семинара. В первый и второй я вел семинар в Петербурге и постоянно говорил слушателям: "В это самое время в Обнинске выступает Мерем Забатовна Биболетова" или же "А в это время идет мастеркласс авторов курса Millie". И все равно, даже один только день позволил погрузиться в совершенно особую атмосферу семинара. Думаю, каждый, кто хоть раз побывал на одном из Всероссийских семинаров, подтвердит: атмосфера всегда не только рабочая, но и очень дружеская, так как на семинарах встречаются многие коллеги из разных городов и регионов, которые видят друг друга раз в год в Обнинске, но переписываются в течение года, общаются на форуме и держат связь. Мне было особенно приятно пообщаться во время перерывов с теми, кого давно знаю по форуму, по совместным разработкам, с кем и раньше встречался на семинарах. Успели сфотографироваться с Еленой Юрьевной Замотаевой и Яниной Михайловной Банбан, поговорить с Татьяной Геннадьевной Митюгиной, обсудить онлайн-мастеркласс с Татьяной Михайловной Капрановой, увидеть Маргариту Константиновну Захарову из Ярославля... Где еще могут собраться столько профессионалов и Учителей из таких отдаленных регионов? Всегда приятно увидеть лица друзей, познакомиться с новыми людьми и понять, что вместе мы все делаем одно большое и важное общее дело - помогаем детям открыть для себя дверь в мир английского языка, культуры и огромного количества интересной и важной информации. Уверен, что каждому участнику найдется что рассказать о любимых моментах семинара, о тех людях, с которыми удалось познакомиться или встретиться снова, и, самое важное, о том, чему удалось научиться. Могу сказать за себя - после таких встреч возвращаешься к работе с особенным удовольствием и интересом. Спасибо огромное всем тем, кто подошел поговорить, кто задавал вопросы, спасибо за добрые пожелания. Надеюсь, что все добрались домой благополучно и еще не раз будут вспоминать добрым словом творческую атмосферу и дни, проведенные на семинаре.

В начале сентября я был, как обычно, на Московской международной книжной выставке-ярмарке на ВВЦ. Выставка хороша тем. что позволяет послушать выступления различных авторов, увидеть что нового появилось за год, куда движутся различные издательства, одним словом - что вообще происходит в мире книг. Второй год подряд ММКВЯ проходит в новом павильоне, где и места много, и светло и воздуха хватает (раньше - сразу в двух старых павильонах поменьше), что особенно важно на выходных, когда многие приходят чтобы купить книги подешевле.

В этом году удивило большое количество электронных книг. При этом представляли электронные книги как их производители, так и дилерские компании.

На стенде компании Ксерокс видел интересную машину, которая сканирует, сама перелистывая страницы, толстые книги и сразу может либо напечатать нужное количество экземпляров, либо просто сохранить текст в памяти в виде файла.

Интересная идея есть и у другой, на этот раз российской компании - продажа книг через электронные платежные терминалы. Вы выбираете книгу, оплачиваете ее точно так же, как платите за телефон, и либо вам высылают книгу оп почте, либо в виде электронного файла, вы сами выбираете нужный вам формат. Впрочем, у той фирмы, что я видел, книги таким образом получаются дороже, чем в магазине (сравнивал по нескольким книгам с ценами в "Молодой Гвардии", то, что в МГ стоит 230-250 рублей, у этой фирмы стоило 300. разница существенная).

Начинают (хотя и только-только) появляться в России и аппараты для print-on-demand, то есть вы выбираете нужную вам книгу и аппарат тут же ее печатает и переплетает. такие аппараты стоят на некоторых крупных вокзалах в Германии, читал, что есть и в США, когда пассажир может напечатать себе книгу в дорогу. Вот такой способ покупки книг мне бы точно подошел. О цене в России пока не могу ничего сказать, не знаю.

И, наконец, сразу несколько компании запускают в производство и в продажу собственные устройства для чтения книг - e-readers. Эти устройства сделаны по принципу "электронной бумаги". Экраны у них не светятся сами, а отражают падающий на них свет точно так же, как это делает бумага с напечатанными на ней буквами. такая технология еще называется "электронные чернила", e-ink, и используется сразу в нескольких "читалках" различных фирм. Пока большинство таких устройств черно-белые, но хранить в них можно целую библиотеку и глаза не устают от чтения. Стоят они от 6000 (самые дешевые) и до безобразия (уже цветные экраны), практически как небольшая библиотека. Книги. естественно. можно покупать через интернет. Технология интересная и становится все более популярной, но в таком количестве на ВВЦ впервые их видел. Видимо, скоро начнется активное продвижение на российский рынок.

Что касается книг традиционных, печатных, то, естественно, первым делом смотрел на учебники английского языка. Для школ широко представлены были только учебники "Титула" (Enjoy English, Happy English.ru, Millie, new Millennium English, а также дополнительные пособия), учебники Афанасьевой (те, что в "Дрофе" издаются) и видел еще учебник Вербицкой для 2 класса. Все остальное, что было - это несколько пособий для вузов.

В последние годы и другие издательства подхватили направление, которое в свое время активно начал продвигать "Белый город" - богато иллюстрированные книги для детей с очень высоким полиграфическим качеством. Меня очень порадовала серия классических детских книг "Издательства Мещерякова" - они напечатаны на искусственно "состаренной" бумаге и выглядят так, словно их читало уже не одно поколение. Иллюстрированы они отличными старыми рисунками (Билибина, других выдающихся иллюстраторов) и в целом похожи на сокровище. Даже на выставке стоили по 800 рублей за книгу, в магазинах, знаю, цена около тысячи. В этом издательстве я купил пару книг из серии "занимательное..." (помните "Занимательную физику" Перельмана? Подобные книги и купил, только на этот раз о растениях, птицах и языке).

Традиционно много было кулинарных книг, от самых простых и дешевых сборников рецептов до толстых и ярко иллюстрированных кулинарных томов. Очень много детективов, как всегда, выступала Дарья Донцова, которая внешне с годами совершенно не меняется.

Не смог пройти мимо книг на английском, благо было из чего выбрать. Из книг о языке были книги и Д. Кристала, и Б. Брайсона, да и художественных немало привез домой.

Ну а вообще в этом году выставка показалась "беднее", чем в прошлом, все больше кулинарных книг и детективов, все меньше художественных новинок или новых изданий хорошей классики. Похоже, печатные книги все больше начинают вытесняться книгами электронными.

Десять лет назад жизнь во многих деталях поменялась для всего мира. Я помню, как поздним вечером меня позвали знакомые, сказали. что в новостях что-то странное показывают. У них в то время гостил студент из США, Точнее, сам студент был родом из Южной Кореи, но он к тому времени уже несколько лет учился в США и работал там полицейским. Все сидели перед телевизором. На экране был виден пылающий небоскреб, а ко второму как раз подлетал маленький на фоне громады здания самолетик. Подлетал ближе, ближе и врезался в здание. Оттуда сразу посыпались обломки и повалил дым, а диктор в прямом эфире говорил, что это второй самолет, а третий подлетает к Пентагону. Смотреть на все это было жутко, потому что дым из первого здания уже застилал второе и было видно, как с верхних этажей начали спрыгивать крошечные фигурки людей. Кореец спросил правда ли это прямая трансляция, и вдруг начал аплодировать и кричать нечто вроде "Так, так, правильно!". Я никак не мог понять как человек, учащийся и зарабатывающий на жизнь в США так радуется гибели людей, происходящей на его глазах. Да и в сам теракт очень трудно было поверить, хотя все шло в прямом эфире. Из-за теракта многое поменялось. В аэропортах очереди стали длиннее, нужно теперь разуваться, а когда я летел из Вашингтона в Россию несколько лет назад, служащий в аэропорту сказал мне, что я обязан оставить чемодан незапертым на замок, потому что в противном случае замок сломают для досмотра. В США ввели в действие Patriot Act, по которому правительственные агентства получили право читать почту (в том числе и электронную) любого, кого они хоть в малейшей степени заподозрят в помощи террористам, а также получили возможность арестовывать таких людей. Появились инструкции, допускающие и регламентирующие проведение пыток... жить стало если не страшнее, то намного печальнее.Я впервые попал в США через несколько дней после того, как в Москве освободили заложников в театре на Дубровке (и так много людей погибло...). Помню, что больше всего меня поразило то, как эти события подавались в средствах массовой информации в США. На канале Fox News (как и на многих других каналах) ведущий прямо-таки кричал, что спецслужбы России совершили преступление, и что (цитирую) "если мистер Путин хочет. чтобы Америка и дальше продолжала позволять ему помогать ей бороться с терроризмом, он обязан сообщить какой газ использовался, иначе вся вина за гибель террористов и заложников ляжет на него персонально". Меня поразил контраст в отношении к своей трагедии и к нашей, в ожиданиях того, что все страны обязаны помогать США, но если что-то происходит в России, что Россия обязана каяться вне зависимости от того, что происходило. Сказать. что было неприятно смотреть такие передачи и читать похожие статьи в газетах - это значит почти ничего не сказать.С тех пор прошло много времени. В свое время я провел год в американском университете, я знаком с замечательными людьми - преподавателями, писателями,студентами, и знаю, как много среди них таких, кто искренне сочувствует неурядицам в любой точке мира, стремится помочь, интересуется тем, как живут повседневной жизнью люди в других странах (например, одна моя подруга-американка очень переживает за людей в Судане, тогда как большинство моих русских знакомых вряд ли вспомнят что там такое происходит). Для меня сейчас США - это не просто абстрактная страна, а конкретные люди, много хороших, людей, много умных, и несколько не очень. И все же когда речь идет об 11 сентября, я вспоминаю не столько кадры горящих зданий, сколько аплодисменты корейца, который до сих пор живет и работает в США - вспоминаю и не могу понять как такое было возможно. И как бы там ни было, но даже если мы не осознаем этого, события десятилетней давности повлияли и на нашу с вами жизнь, которая стала неустроеннее, более хрупкой и тем более ценнее.

Те, кто часто летают, некоторые вещи знают как азбучные истины. Например, демонстрацию спасательного оборудования (надувные жилеты, кислородные маски, расположение аварийных выходов) я вижу минимум 4 раза в месяц. Знаю и то, что пока самолет не остановился полностью, нет смысла вставать с кресел и доставать вещи с багажной полки, так как самолет еще может тряхнуть даже на земле и вещи могут просто упасть на стоящего под ними человека. Нет смысла вставать с кресла и стоять в проходе пока не открыт еще люк, так как в разных аэропортах трап подают по-разному, иногда приходится ждать довольно долго. И уж конечно требование выключать сотовые телефоны, так как они могут помешать работе навигационного оборудования, мне известно отлично. Известно и то, что около 70 % аварий происходит именно во время взлета или посадки. Вот цитата из одной статьи 2007 года: " ...ситуация была в Цюрихе в январе 2000 года, - рассказывает Александр МИРОШНИЧЕНКО, пилот-инструктор Аэробуса-320. - Одна из причин катастрофы - отказ системы спутниковой навигации (ориентация самолета. - Прим. ред.). И точно установлено, что во время посадки пришла SMS одному из пассажиров и сразу после этого был исходящий звонок от него."Впрочем по интернету активно гуляют рассказы о том, что влияние сотовых на оборудование самолетов - это миф. И большинство людей предпочитают верить в то, что делает их жизнь комфортнее, чем постараться позаботиться о безопасности своей и окружающих, выполняя требования экипажа самолета.Три дня назад я летел в Астрахань. Красивый полуторачасовой полет в безоблачном небе. Наконец идем на посадку. Стюард проходит по салону, смотрит все ли пристегнуты. Останавливается за мной и просит выключить компьютер. Не вижу кто там сидит, но компьютер выключает. Стюард идет дальше и уходит. Самолет идет вниз красиво, плавно, до земли еще километра полтора, если упадем, то даже мелких кусков не останется. И вдруг за спиной девичий голос: "Да, еще не приземлились. Но скоро буду. Это я телефон включила и решила вам позвонить." Голос раздается именно оттуда, где стюард требовал выключить все приборы. Девица замолкает. Слава богу, трубку повесила, - думаю я. Вдруг снова голос: "Привет, я почти дома. Нет, еще только приземляемся. Да нет, все хорошо, так весело, шоппинг еще ничего так...". Поворачиваюсь - девушка лет 22 отвернулась и прижалась к иллюминатору так, чтобы ее стюард не заметил, и весело болтает по сотовому. Пока я думаю как попросить ее выключить телефон, она уже говорит "Ну ладно, пока" и вешает трубку. Я снова отворачиваюсь. И вдруг опять сзади ее голос:"Алло! Ты что, не слышишь меня? Перезвони мне. Я еще в воздухе. Перезвони сейчас. Совсем плохо слышно!". Земля уже рядом, стюарда звать нет смысла. Приземлились благополучно. В автобусе, везшем нас от самолета к аэровокзалу, девица стояла рядом со мной и щебетала в трубку:"А почему ты не перезвонил? Я же просила... Ты цветы мне купил? Нет, такие мне не нравятся, я хочу белые, да. У тебя к десяти буду, поменяй."А во время обратного перелета сидевшая за мной женщина довольно громко выясняла у стюардессы: "А коньяк у вас есть? Такой, в маленьких бутылочках. Сколько? Четыреста рублей? А водка? Что, совсем водки никакой нет? А вино? Белое по 200 рублей? Ну давайте тогда вина" - и жаловалась соседям: "Три дня в поездке, кроме чая и выпить нечего!". В общем, в самолетах много чего запоминающегося происходит порой.

Since I give seminars and workshops quite often, I have to be prepared for all sorts of questions. Most questions are related to ELT methodology and textbook features, but sometimes there are questions which do not seem to be connected with the topic of the seminar at all. Sometimes people need advice, sometimes theyt ask me if I could render assistance with something. Last week in Surgut a lady-participant asked me first how old I was, then why I was not wearing a wedding ring, and finally she proposed to find me a wife. It was really sweet of her to be taking such a personal interest in my well-being, even if it was hardly related to the topic of the workshop. Just as I said earlier: some questions are really unpredictable and I think I need to start collecting the most interesting or the funniest ones. So far the weirdest question asked was in Stavropol. Since it was asked in Russian, I'll write about it in Russian to preserve all the flavour of it.

A very middle-aged lady stood up during the seminar and said: - Я не одобряю всех этих тестов в учебниках. Какая у них воспитательная ценность? Вот скажите мне, как может воспитывать тест на выбор ответа?

Когда я пояснил, что задача тестов - контроль степени усвоения материала учениками или уровня сформированности знаний и умений у школьников, женщина осталась недовольна. "Нет!"- сказала она, - "тесты должны воспитывать! И еще у меня вопрос. А какая развивающая ценность у картинок в учебниках для 10 класса? Как они помогут развивать ученика?" И тут начался запланированный перерыв в программе семинара, и мы погрузились в дискуссию о том, что такое воспитание, что такое развивающее обучение и что именно нужно воспитывать и развивать в 10 классе. Интересно, а у кого-нибудь на заседаниях МО такие вопросы бывают? Я почему-то вспомнил, как защищалась моя первая диссертантка. После того, как она успешно и спокойно ответила на множество вопросов комиссии, поднялся один профессор из соседнего города и сказал: "Вот Вы являетесь соискателем степени кандидата педагогических наук. А каков лично Ваш вклад в педагогику как в науку?"

Так что вопросы бывают разными, и вполне непредсказуемыми. И сразу же начинает работать русская поговорка: "Каков вопрос - таков ответ".

I do not remember the first time I travelled on the metro in Moscow, but I've always thought that this is what an underground train system should be like. My opinion changed only when I got to travel on underground transport in other countries. The Tube in London is the oldest in the world, the first trains ran there in January 1863 and the first electric trains ran there in 1890. With this long history, it still looks a lot like it used to a hundred years ago. Many lines go long distances on the ground, and very often you can see trains going along different lines on one and the same platform. For someone who is used to the Moscow system of having one platform for one line, it can be quite confusing. even more confusing is the fact that some trains do not go to the end of the line, or if they do and the line splits into two different directions (anyone who went to Heathrow by the Tube knows that), you have to be very careful and read what the sign on the train says, otherwise you may end up somewhere totally different from your destination point.

Trains are comfortable, however. The seats are soft and there is enough standing room for the rush hour. By the end of the day the seats are often littered with the free newspapers you can get at the station entrances.

While in Moscow each station is individually designed, and many of them are decorated with marble, granite, bronze and mosaics, Tube stations in London look rather unimpressive. The walls are tiled at Victoria Station, you can pictures of Sherlock Holmes at Baker Street station, but many other stations have just red brick walls and look gloomy.

Not every station has an escalator. For example, in Covent Garden you have to use a huge lift, but when there are many people travelling, it if very far from being efficient and comfortable. You can also walk up the emergency steps, but there staircase is somewhat narrow and winding and all in all there are 193 steps. A walk up takes time and a lot of effort, so if you are at Covent Garden and want to go up, use the lifts by all means.

Lifts are often used to go up from the underground in the UK. I remember using a lift in Liverpool underground, although I do not remember which station that was.

Sometimes trains stop between stations. I've seen that happen in London and once I missed the bus to Liverpool from Newcastle-upon-Tyne because of the train. It stopped between two stations in Newcastle Underground and stayed there for about 15 minutes. When I arrived at the coach station, I saw the back of my bus and had to buy another ticket.

Underground (or Subway) in the USA is much more modern-looking that that in the UK. Escalators take you down to the station in Washington DC, there is plenty of information about everything on the electronic panels and on the walls, air conditioning is just fine, trains are comfortable, but the light at the stations is not as bright as in Moscow. If you do not like darkish spaces, then you feel better on the train than at the station.

As I said, I used to think that Moscow metro is nothing special, just something what it should be. But now I realise that underground train systems can be very diffferent. The Metro in Moscow is not as hi-tech as that in Washington DC, it is not as old as that in London, the trains are not as comfortable, but it is often more reliable than in some countries and the stations are more like underground palaces and are far more beautiful than what you would normally see under ground. All said, there is something to enjoy everywhere, and my advice is to keep looking for it, because it is always there.

I was recently searching for some interesting material to use in class when we talk about professional qualities and future jobs, and came across a number of jobs that are really strange. Here's a short list which you may want to use too:

1. Elephant tender - someone who takes care of elephants in the zoo

2. Hot Walker - a person that walks the racehorses around after a race.

3. Dinosaur hunter - a person who searches for fossilized dinosaurs

4. Cereal box author - the author of advertising on cereal boxes

5. Dog walker - someone who walks dogs professionally

6. Odor Tester - someone who checks if deodorants and anti-perspirants really work as planned

7. Citrus Fruit Dyer - a person who dyes (colours) citrus fruits to make them look better in shops

8. Fortune Cookie Writer - someone who writes predictions to be put inside fortune cookies

9. Fountain Pen Repairer - someone who, well, repairs fountain pens 9some of those pens are very expensive)

10. Wrinkle Chasers - someone who makes sure that new leather shoes have no wrinkles

11. Chicken Sexer - someone who sorts baby chicken into male and female ones

12. Oyster Floater - a person who floats oysters on a barge in running water until they are completely free of impurities.

13. Dog Food Tester - in some countries testing dog food on dogs is prohibited, so there is a professional dog food tester who actually inspects dog food to see if it is good.

14. Whiskey Ambassador - someone who is responsible for choosing only the finest whiskeys and teaching clients the proper way to taste and admire them.

15. Weed Farmer - someone who grows weeds to sell them to horticulture schools and labs so various people can do research and studies in them.

And, talking about weird job titles: in the 19th century there was a position in Royal palaces in the UK that was called a Necessary woman. Can you guess what job it was and what it is called now? the first person to guess correctly will get an audiobook and tasks for it from me via e-mail. The audiobook is in public domain, but I've designed the tasks myself so hopefully you'll be able to use it directly as a listening exercise for your pupils.

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.

Probably the most unexpected aspect of travelling abroad is culture shock. even when th eculture of the country you're travelling to is rather familiar to you, the chances still are that you are going to have a bit of a culture shock. And the less familiar the country is, the stronger the shock will be.

There are 4 stages(some people say there're 5) in any culture shock: the honeymoon stage, when you enjoy the difference and love every single moment of it. This stage normally lasts from several days to a couple of weeks, but then the excitement begins to subside. This is when the honeymoon stage gives way to rejection/withdrawal stage. What you loved at first - the different foods, the gestures, the customs - now begins to irritate you, because you now feel a bit like an outsider. The differences become more noticeable and less intriguing, whereas since you are not an insider, you are more likely to do something which will be offensive to insiders of the local culture or something which will be ineffective at best. This may lead to frustration and, in severe cases, a self-isolation from the frustrating experience.

If the rejcetion and misunderstanding is too strong, you can enter the next stage of the culture shock. At this stage (the depression and isolation stage) some people get so depressed that they decide to leave the country.

Fortunately, for those who do overcome the rejection stage, a new stage arrives sooner or later. This is the adjustment stage when you learn the intrinsic cultural issues and cease making blunders, and gradually begin to feel like at home in this new country. In a way it is a bit like the honeymoon stage because you enjoy the new culture again, but this time the enjoyment is not because the culture is new and different, but because you are becoming an insider, you do not make mistakes and you know your way about. Ideally, while teaching a foreign language AND culture we should be able to help our students learn to adjust, help them to see deeper and not judge a culture by only external, outward appearances, but rather understand why people do things in the way they do them.

When I was spending a year at an American university, I had excellent opportunities to observe culture shock and the adjustment process in different people. Since this was not my first time in the USA and I had had a lot of experience of daily communication with representatives of that culture, I was relatively free of culture shock. made quite a few friends among both the teachers and the students and could compare the first-time experience of my fellow-grantees without having to get distracted by myt own cultural struggles.

The two people I observed on a daily business was a young Russian woman from Uzbekistan and a young Azeri man from Azerbaidjan. To cut an otherwise long story short, I'll tell about the cultural shock and problems that the Azeri guy went through during that year. I will not name him to protect his provacy, though, and will refer to him as "the Azeri guy". Personally, we were friends and rented a flat together, but I have lost contact with him since that time and therefore cannot obtain his permission to give out his name in a comparative 'study".

1. Proxemics. The distance at which you stand from another person is culturally-dependent and differes in different countries. While Americans in smaller cities prefer to stand at least approximately 1.5 metres aways from each other while talking, the comfortable distance for Azeri guy was much shorter. He tried to stand closer, people would step back, so conversations often turned into a sort of a slow tango. Consequently, before he learned about distances and proxemics in general, Americans seemed very remote and cold to him. He, on the other hand, seemed to be constantly intruding on their personal space.

2. Dress code. Large university campuses are probably the most democratic and diverse places you can find when it comes to clothes. People wear what they like. I had a professor who is a big name in language testing, he used to wear shorts and a T-shirt to most of his classes, whereas some other professors would try to dress more elegantly than most of their students. An indispensable rule, however, is to wear something different every day, for example, if you're wearing jeans and a T-shirt one day, the next day you ought to wear a different T-shirt or different jeans/trousers/whatever. The Azeri guy, on the contrary, was used to dressing very conservatively and with little variation, so he wore the same suit and shirt for three or more days, although he did have enough other clothes.

3. Attitude to children. At a very early stage the Azeri guy was told to never touch other people's children. He was indignant, because in Azerbaidjan, according to him, when a man shows that he cares for children, it means that he is a sensitive and kind person. So in Azerbaidjan a man can pat someone else's child on the head or even give the child a kiss on the head, and this wins the man respect. In the USA such actions can lead to legal prosecution.

4. Visiting people. Once the Azeri guy was invited to an American family to Thanksgiving dinner. He asked me what would be a good present to take along, so I suggested he should take a bottle of wine or even some national dish that he could make himself so that the host family would be able to try something new and unusual. He made some dolma and when he returned, he was amazed and even shocked at how well the dish was received and how much attention was drawn to it. He explained to me, that in his country bringing food to other people's home can be taken as an insult to their hospitality, and if a man cooks something, this can be taken as an insult to his gender role.

The Azeri guy's honeymoon stage last for approximately two weeks, the frustration and adjustment stages took about 9 months and the "feeling at home" stage last only 2 months, which was way too short for such a long stay. At the end of the year he told me that he had only began enjoying himself and really learning something, because he had been struggling with culture shock all the time, seeing how people reacted in totally different ways from what he expected and how his best intentions were often misinterpreted.

Therefore I believe that having the potential culture shock in view while teaching, telling students how to overcome it can be an important part of language teaching and can help propel students' progress on their trips abroad, while culture shock can hamper it greatly. If you're interested, I could tell in more detail about some causes of culture shock in different cultures.

Несколько лет назад, кажется, в 2004 году, я был членом оргкомитета международного семинара по методике, который проводил в Тамбове Радислав Петрович Мильруд. Однажды потребовалось помочь аспиранту кафедры забронировать несколько номеров в гостинице для участников семинара. Пошли мы с ним в ближайшую гостиницу. Подходим к администратору, говорю ей: "Мы хотели бы забронировать шесть номеров одноместных и два люкса на такие-то даты (через полтора месяца). у вас будут свободные номера?" Администратор смотрит на меня растерянно и говорит: "Вы знаете, я такие вопросы не решаю, это вам в директору надо". "А могу я сейчас с директором поговорить или лучше по телефону?" - спрашиваю. "Она обедает, вон в той комнате. Вы зайдите, лучше сейчас, пока она никуда не ушла".Стучимся, заходим. Невысокая, но очень крупная женщина пьет чай с бутербродами. Извиняюсь что беспокою, но вопрос свой все-таки задаю: "Мы хотели бы забронировать шесть одноместных номеров и два люкса на такие-то даты. У вас будут в это время свободные номера?". Директриса смотрит на меня удивленно и говорит: "Как же я могу сказать, будут ли номера свободные? Еще же полтора месяца до этого срока". Начинаю объяснять: "Если у вас сейчас эти номера не забронированы, то мы их хотели бы забронировать сейчас, готовы оплатить по безналичному расчету или внести аванс наличными. Мы можем это сегодня сделать?". Женщина мне снова говорит: "Как же я аванс приму, а вдруг у нас приедет кто-то? Вдруг они не будут свободными?". Вижу, что дело заходит в тупик и концепция бронирования номеров явно директрисе гостиницы незнакома. Пытаюсь переформулировать вопрос, как поступаю с непонятливыми студентами: "Скажите, а сейчас на эти даты у вас предварительных заказов нет? Можете Вы отметить у себя, что в эти дни мы заселим в эти номера столько-то человек? А мы внесем предоплату или сразу оплатим по безналичному расчету, уже сегодня или завтра". Женщина опять на меня смотрит с растущим недоумением: "Нет, как же можно так сказать. за полтора месяца, будут эти номера свободными или нет? Вы приходите дня за два, если будут свободные номера - поселим". "А если они уже будут заняты?" - спрашиваю. Женщина разводит руками: "Ну тогда не поселим". Делаю последнюю отчаянную попытку, пытаясь не улыбаться: "А не могли бы мы сейчас на эти даты вот столько-то номеров забронировать? А если кто-то еще к этим датам приедет, вы им скажете, что номера на эти числа уже заняты.". Директриса снова смотрит с недоумением: "Как же так заранее сказать, приедет к нам кто-то еще или нет? Вы приходите за два дня, если будут свободные номера, то поселим". Видя, что у нас начинается то, что в музыке называется "рондо", понимаю, что не силах я объяснить даме идею бронирования номеров. Благодарю за уделенное нам время, женщина впивается зубами в остатки бутерброда, а мы едем в другую гостиницу.Там, кстати, номера нам забронировали без проблем.

Do you ever feel nervous before speaking in public? Of course by the virtue of our profession we have to do it every day, but still I've met many excellent teachers who are extremely reluctant to speak at a conference or address an audience outside their classroom. I remember a couple of years ago at a conference in Murmansk a wonderful teacher who had taken part in an experiment to improve the quality of textbooks and who had done an excellent job, got so nervous just before she was to speak, that her blood pressure level rose dramatically and she had to stop in mid-sentence and go and take her medicine. I called her in the end of the day just to make sure she had got home safely and did not need any help, and she was upset that she had not made her speech as intended.

So why do we fail to speak in public sometimes? The reason is simple, it is called "stage fright". Speaking in class is different from speaking to general public or a professional audience because in these cases we are outside our habitual environment.

Although I give lectures and workshops in many different regions to lots of teachers, I get stage fright as well. So let me share some ways of overcoming it, perhaps you will find some of them useful.

First of all, you can never know if you will go down with the audience well. This idea makes many people extremely worried, although, in fact, the solution is quite simple. Any audience is there to listen to something new. Therefore if when you only begin your lecture/presentation/speech ask the people what they know what what they feel will be interesting for them to hear, it will help you a lot. In this way you'll be able to make your information relevant for the audience and ensure that people listen to you. In this way there is no need to fear that you will not be interesting to the audience.

Which brings up another point. Sometimes, no matter how interesting the speech is, it becomes boring very quickly. The reason, again, is simple: the speech is too quiet and monotonous. If you cannot speek loudly, why not come closer to the people? And intonations should not be too "academic": after all, the whole thing is about people enjoying listening to you, not about you enjoying speaking. I've heard several very clever and interesting people who, when they address an audience, immediately "put on an academic hat" and begin speaking as if they were addressing students, and not very clever students at that. They tend to forget that they are talking to professionals who can either help them by sharing their own experience, answering questions, agreeing or disagreeing with the speaker, but it will be a lively talk. Hardly anyone needs lecturing these days, but a conversation always works. Your lecture is worth only as much as how interesting it is for the people and how easy it is to hear you. So there i sno need to fear that you will lose the audience in the middle of your speech.

Some speakers get stage fright because they feel that they are not experienced enough or they don't feel that what they have to say has much value for the audience. Again, we have two simple solutions fo rthis problem. Solution 1: if you feel that you don't know what to say on this topic, choose another topic where you do know what to say. Solution 2: if you are sharing your own experience, it is always interesting. Just remember that your experience and ideas are worth no less than someone else's, and no one can tell about your experience better than you. I remember one of the times when I was working as an interpreter at a big economic forum. Most of th eforum perticipants were governors from different regions of Russia, including the mayor of moscow and I needed to translate what was being said to a British millionnaire and then translate his speech to the entire audience. Although this was by far not my first experience of simultaneous translation at important events, for some reason I felt nervous before going on the stage. But then I said to myself that although it's very likely that there are people in the hall who speak excellent English, I am still a professional interpreter and no one among those present would be able to do my job better than myself. To remind myself of my qualification was enough to drive away the stage fright.

Also, some of us have a fear that something will go wrong with the technical equipment, that the computer won't start, or the data projector will break down or there will be no sound from the speakers. Well, such things do happen. Therefore it is always a good idea to have some alternative variants of delivering a presentation. You can print out the handouts, you can ask the public to share their ideas and experience, you can do all sorts of content-related activities that we do in our classrooms every day. If you are prepared to be flexible, you needn't fear failures of technical equipment.

And finally, some people are afraid of not being able to answer some of the questions at once. In fact, there is nothing wrong with not knowing answers to each and every questions. Some questions do not have an answer. The answer to some questions is the short and simple "no". And when someone asks a question which you cannot even understand there is nothing wrong with asking this person to paraphrase the question, with asking experienced teachers among the audience if they have ever encountered similar problems and how they deal with them. You'll be surprised to see how many solutions will be offered immediately, and there is really no need to be afriad of questions because there are always many people around who want to help you.

These are just a few simple things, but I hope that they will help you to deal with stage fright if ever you get any.

Here's another story I wrote in the USA. It was really interesting to see the reactions of those Americans who read it as it gave them a totally different perspective on the place from what they were so used to having.

The headache was growing stronger, and everything looked fuzzy in the whirls of the hot air. We walked on, trying to find a free bench under a tree to hide away from the sun. But all the seats had long been taken. The old fortress rose nearby, intimidating, with its turrets and thick walls, and beautiful, with the gold cathedral domes peering from behind it. The Kremlin seemed to be soaked in blood, and the sun was gleaming on the red paint of the walls and shining on the cupolas. My younger cousin kept whining about how tired he was. After all, he was only seven years old. I was already twelve, and, being the “grown up” that I was, kept silent. I did not want to tell my aunt about the headache so as not to make her worry.

We were traveling to Kirov, a large city in the North of Russia, where my aunt lived, and we had to change trains in Moscow. We had the whole day to spend there, and she decided to take her son and me to the Kremlin.

I remember how excited I was. I had been in Moscow several times by then, but I had never ever happened to actually walk into the fortress. But by the time we got to the walls, I was ready to give up the idea. After all, we had spent the night on the train, and arrived in Moscow at 6 in the morning.

Finally, we found a tiny café, where, thank God, there was a free table. We sat down, and my cousin stopped complaining immediately. I sat stooping in the chair, waiting for the ‘expedition” to be over.

As it turned out, all the tickets to the Kremlin had been sold out for the day. They were never easy to get, and aunt looked really disappointed. Silent, quiet joy began to fill me. I was just a tired kid, after all. “Aren’t we going to see anything, mummy?” - the little brat was going to start sobbing. Sometimes cousins are harder to put up with than younger brothers, especially when the age gap is that big. Six years make a lot of difference when you are only twelve. “Not again!” thought I, as another arrow of pain shot through my head. But it was too late. Aunt has always loved me no less than her own children, and she was set on doing something enjoyable for us. “I know!” she said, - “we can go and see Lenin!”

The idea fascinated me. Lenin was the leader and the mastermind of the Bolshevik revolution, and also the founder of the Soviet Union. When he died in 1924, people loved him so, as I was told at school, that they preserved his body and built a mausoleum for him. A tired excitement began to grow. It was like going to a museum, and I always loved museums! “Yes, auntie,” said I, - “can we go?”

We rose from the bench and stepped out into the heat. The garden near the Kremlin wall is a popular place, and there were many people there. But at one end of it there was a huge crowd. It was only when we came up to the crowd that I realized that all those people were waiting to see Lenin too. It was only the beginning of the queue, which, like a huge live serpent, encircled half of the Kremlin, and went all the way from behind up to Red Square.

The queue was motionless. There were different people there – old ladies with grandchildren, young men, pensioners and tourists. For many years they had heard stories about Lenin, and it felt now that they knew him as if he were a close relative. Few people were chatting. Most of them kept a revered silence, obviously preparing to see the “founding father” of the state.

Soon a policeman motioned to the queue to move on. We started to walk – ever so slowly, every step like the ones you would take at a funeral, except that the dead person was already in his grave We walked past the garden… slowly we moved on, past the Egyptian obelisk with the names of famous socialist revolutionaries on it, and on and on, past the eternal flame and the tomb of a soldier killed during WW2. There, at least, was something to see! There was a guard, standing in the blazing sun, holding a rifle. He did not move, and his face was stern and motionless, like that of some strange automaton.

The queue was still moving on. We were turning into Red Square now. We walked by the three hundred-year old building of Moscow University, now a museum, and stepped on the cobbles of the square. There was shade. To the right there were blue pines growing along the wall. Above the huge gates of an ancient tower there was a white square indicating the place where an icon used to be for centuries. “Every tower is named after a saint” quickly whispered aunt into our ears.

We were now coming closer. From Red Square you do not see quite as many cathedrals as from behind the Kremlin, but you can see the Grand Palace of Catherine the Great, who ruled Russia two centuries ago. At that time the red Soviet flag was floating on top of it, and I remember thinking that the ancient name really suited the square.

The mausoleum seemed to slowly grow in front of us. Dark granite and polished marble sent sparkles on the cobbles. Two sentinels were guarding the entrance. The small black gates were open, and people were slowly pouring in. By then the sun had risen high in the sky, and it felt as if melted lead was pouring on my head. I was feeling almost sick and longed for the darkness behind the doors.

We stepped in. What looked dark from the outside was a dimly lit hall with steps leading down, underground. Except for the same dark granite of the walls, it looked very much like some of the palatial stations of Moscow underground, so it did not feel like anything special at all. My cousin, who until then was preoccupied with staring at other people, wanted to say something, but my aunt pulled his hand quickly. “You are not supposed to talk here!” she whispered, and even that was enough to make one of the guards inside turn and look at us. Obviously, we were showing bad manners.

It was growing slightly cooler. We very soon reached the bottom of the stairs, and turned a corner. And there… I almost gasped. The huge hall was dark. On the reddish-brown granite walls there were zigzags of black marble. Several guards were lined along the walls, and their white gloves seemed to shine in the darkness. The place was silent, but it looked as though some solemn music ought to sound there.

There was reddish light in the centre of the hall. As we were approaching it, I saw a cube of transparent glass. Inside the crystal sarcophagus, on the bier, lay a short man, dressed in a dark suit. One of his hands was lying on his chest, the other was stretched along his body. He looked so small, and yet so important, all alone there, on the pedestal. A wreath of reddish hair set off his huge bald head, and I just had time to notice his polka-dotted, old-fashioned tie, the likes of which you could see in old photos and books.

People were moving on. If someone tried to slow down, one of the guards would say in a quiet but strict voice “Do move on”. I wanted to better see the person who changed the whole empire, but we were already emerging from the mausoleum into the blaze of the sun, near the Kremlin wall.

I did not feel much, neither did I think much. For some reason, the image of the great person, imprinted into us in the school, seemed utterly out of touch with this short man, lying there, under the ground, as if asleep. I was still thinking about it when we passed Stalin’s tomb and the tombs of other people who once led the country.

It was only when we walked back into the square when my cousin suddenly said: “I need the lavatory”. I realized that he had been silent all that time, and it amazed me more than the dead person we had just walked by. I looked around. Whether the cold of the underground, or the sensation of seeing history come true, but something melted the headache away, and the weak traces of it did not really bother me. I recalled the steps that led on top of the Mausoleum, the ones that the government members used to go up during demonstrations – and suddenly I shuddered. How could they do it, thought I, just go and stand above a dead person like that, and look happy, and smile, and wave their hands? I turned and looked at the Kremlin. The empirial glory still seemed to shine on the gold decorations of Catherine’s palace, but the Soviet flag was harder to see. Without the wind it was powerless. Some non-conventional thoughts began to form in my head, but my cousin demanded to be taken to the toilet, and we hurried along. The ancient fortress looked smug and arrogant, with the small tomb at her feet. These were the last years of the Soviet Union.

Almost every British city has a High street. Every High street is the main shopping and often tourist area. Some High streets are longer, some are shorter, but only one such street is in fact a whole succession of several streets and is exactly one mile long, albeit a Scottish mile. This street is called "The Royal mile", you can find it in edinburgh, and it goest from the Castle Rock, on which Edinburgh Castle stands, all the way down to the palace of Holyrood House and the remains of Holyrood Abbey.

The Royal Mile is exactly one Scottish mile long. A Scottish mile is 1.8 km long, and such miles were used in Scotland until 1824. The buildings in the Royal Mile are old. Some of them are only slightly younger than the castle itself, so you can drop in a 300 years old shop or dine in a pub which dates back to 1500-s. You can tell the age of the buildings not only by their architectural styles, but also by the dark, sometimes black stones, some of them only roughly hewn, and by the narrow, winding passages that lead to the Royal Mile.

The Royal Mile is not all shops and pubs (by the way, do remind me to tell you about Deacon Brody's tavern, the gallows and the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). To the right of the Royal Mile, if you're standing with your back to the castle, in a broad street, there is "The Elephant", the pub in which JK Rowling wrote large portions of her harry Potter books. Right on the Royal Mile, looking majestic, is St. Giles High Kirk (cathedral), where the knights of the Order of the Thistle gather, presided by the Queen, in the oak-panelled Thistle Chapel. Facing the palace of Holyrood House is the Scottish Parliament, and although it is only a 300-metres walk from the palace, this year the Queen was driven there in a State limousine to make a speech on the occasion of the parliament''s 10th anniversary. I do not know whether the drive was due to the Queen's desire to show respect to the Scottish parliament, or because she was having a heavy cold in early July.

As I said earlier, the Royal Mile is comprised of several streets, which are Castle Esplanade, Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Canongate and Abbey Strand. Castle Hill, Castle Esplanade, lawnmarket together with the lower-lying Grassmarket are all parts of the Old Town of Edinburgh. As the name suggests, there is also a New Town, with beautiful Georgian houses. The New Town was built in the 18th century, so perhaps it is not quite so brand-new after all.

Visitors are admitted daily to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, when the Queen is not there. I will tell about this palace tomorrow, as, although it is part of the Royal Mile, it is a sight in its own right.

Помню, опубликовал я где-то небольшую статью по методике. Тогда я еще работал в университете. И оказалось, что тема статьи интересовала коллегу с факультета журналистики и эта коллега попросила статью почитать. Прочитав, сказала: "О, а почему у тебя так просто написано? Нам наоборот говорят, что статья должна звучать научно, а у тебя всего несколько терминов и то ты их с самого начала определяешь". Вопрос, честно говоря, тогда поставил меня в тупик. Еще когда я писал диссертацию, Радислав Петрович всегда говорил мне, что текст должен быть "прозрачным", таким, чтобы его смог понять даже человек, не специализирующийся именно в этом направлении. Так обычно пишутся и профессиональные статьи в журналах по методике. Преподавание в школе и в вузе тоже убедило меня в том, что надо говорить и писать понятно для учеников, иначе вместо того. чтобы тратить силы на восприятие информации, они будут тратить время и силы на ее расшифровку. Мне доводилось и рецензировать научные работы, и оппонировать на защитах диссертаций. И нередко получалось так, что текст работы казался неудобоваримым, запутанным и перенасыщенным научными терминами. а стоило спросить что, собственно, автор имел в виду, и оказывалось, что то же самое можно было сказать несколькими словами. Иногда за таким многословием стояло желание "звучать научнее, солиднее", а иногда - просто не настолько хорошее знакомство с той или иной темой, чтобы можно было говорить о ней простым языком. И крайне редко бывало так, что человек просто с детства не научен был выражаться просто и понятно и не умеет говорить по-другому. Есть у меня один хороший знакомый, преподаватель философии - к его манере говорить нужно привыкнуть. Но сейчас речь не совсем об этом.Наверное, нужно еще со школы, в том числе и на уроках английского языка, объяснять детям, что в любом разговоре важно ставить себя на место собеседника. Прежде, чем говорить что-то стоит подумать: а удобно ли будет собеседнику это понять? Как сказать так, чтобы было понятнее? Какие слова выбрать? Что надо объяснить, но так, чтобы не перегружать лишней информацией или не повторять то, что и так уже знает собеседник? Если надо говорить долго (например, читать лекцию, выступать на публику), то как говорить так, чтобы люди не заскучали? Вопросов много, но практически на каждый есть ответы. Самый общий ответ - это так называемые коммуникативные максимы Грайса: качества (говори правду); количества (говори не больше, но и не меньше того, чем это нужно для понимания, т.е. делай свой вклад в разговор настолько информативным, насколько необходимо); отношения (не отклоняйся от темы); манеры, или способа (говори ясно, последовательно, точно, вежливо).Но это только теория. А на практике есть немало приемов чтобы этому обучить. Отдельно можно учить адресованности высказывания, отдельно - краткости и умению перефразировать, отдельно - умению общаться с публикой (есть там и ряд "технических" аспектов речи) и отдельно - умению сделать речь интересной. Все вместе стало бы курсом риторики, но и без отдельного курса можно обучать таким вещам на уроке английского языка. Всё можно. Одна беда остается только - у некоторых людей все ещё сохраняется ощущение, что научно =-- это когда сложно и длинно, а если сказано просто и понятно, то это и ненаучно вовсе. Но мы-то, учителя, знаем что это не совсем так, мягко говоря.

Every time I think of a good teacher (and I am lucky to have known such teachers personally), I cannot help noticing that although they are all very different, they have one thing in common: they all do research. The research I mean is not always formal, in fact, many of them have problems trying to formalise their research or to describe its results, but they keep doing it anyway. For some of them research means a constant search for new words and meanings, new ways of putting things in English. This helps them to keep up their proficiency in English, although very often this is not enough for any serious development as teachers. Other teachers, apart from brushing up their English, try to learn as much as possible about new things they read in new textbooks, like what is zorbing ("Enjoy English" 10) or who Squanto was ("Happy English.ru" 9) etc. This is also a kind of research because to do it you need to find some internet sites or books with the information, you need to compare the information you've got from different sources and put it together to be able to explain it to the pupils, so just using a dictionary will not be enough. Some teachers try to do formal research. There are teachers who do it because their methodological unit requires it, and there are those who do it because they are truly interested. Something tells me that the majority of our forum members belong to the latter group.

A frequent problem that such researchers encounter is that they just read whatever they can find on a certain topic and then put the information together. This is what makes it difficult for them to formalise the results of their research. In fact, such an approach would make it difficult to achieve significant results as well.

So how could a teacher work if she/he wants to do some true research, in the academic sence of the word, something that could be formalised, described and published or presented at conferences?

The first step would be to formulate a hypothesis. Of course, to be able to do that a researcher should already have substantial background knowledge of the field she/he is going to research, but since we are talking about professional teachers and research in methodology, this should not be a big problem. A hypothesis is usually formulated around a "what if" idea. That is, what happens if I use this method? Will my teaching become more effective if I use ICT? What will happen if I combine ICT and the process-oriented approach to teaching personal letter writing in grade 8? You may have noticed that with every sentence the idea becomes more concrete, more down-to-earth and manageable. In fact, if we turn the last question into a statement, we will already get a hypothesis, namely: "Teaching 8th-graders to write personal letters will be more effective if we use ICT and the process-oriented approach." This is a research that can be carried out during one academic year, and now it is time to further break it down into smaller, easily identifiable and manageable chunks.

Breaking the work down is necessary because there are stages to go through, with an identifiable result for every stage. Now that you've got your hypothesis, you need to see what other people have done in this area. As likely as not, you will find that noone else has tackled this topic yet. This means that what you do will be very interesting for those who will follow in your footsteps. But if you do find that someone has already done something fairly similar (for example, used ICT and the process-oriented approach to teach essay-writing to 10th-graders), you will be able to see how that person's findings work in your particular classroom and what you can do to apply them to teaching personal letter writing to younger students. In fact, the result of this preparatory stage would be your knowledge of what has been done in this area and what other researchers think about this problem. If no research has been done in this area yet, you will have to find what other researchers mean by ICT, how the process-oriented approach to teaching writing is different from other approaches and how it can be used to teach personal letter writing. With this done, you are ready to plan practical action.

Practical preparation for action. The main aim of every research is to see if your hypothesis works, if it is correct. In our example it would mean to make sure that the use of ICT and the process-oriented approach to teaching writing will enable you to effectively teach your 8th-graders to write personal letters. You will have learnt from your previous background information study that ICT here may mean anything from specially designed learning software to the use of e-mail and blogs. Also, you will have read about the stages of the process-oriented approach to teaching writing. Now it's your job to decide how and when the ICT will come into your teaching in your 8th grade. For example, you may choose to teach students the process-oriented approach first and then introduce ICT, or you may combine the two things and use them simultaneously. You may prefer to go along with the logic of the learning software, or you may decide for yourself on the stages in teaching. You will also see what your students already know about writing personal letters (you can always give them a task and see how well they do it - and in the end you'll give them a similar task and see what has changed during the year). In any case, this is your planning stage. After the plans are laid, the next stage is the practical testing of your hypothesis, that is, the teaching.

Testing your hypothesis. Teaching is teaching. This is what teachers are for, this is what they are supposed to be good it. The only difference between your everyday teaching and teaching as part of your experiment is that here you pay a special attention to what makes your teaching more (or less, as the case may be) effective while using ICT and the process-oriented approach to teaching writing. And also you make notes, you describe what and how your students have learnt about writing personal letters. At the end of the year you should be able to see what progress your students have made and, based on your previous teaching experience you can tell what part of the progress can be attributed to new methods and approaches. So all you have to do now is describe your experiment.

Describing the outcomes. should not be too hard to do. First, you already have your hypothesis. You have tested it in your classroom. You have been taking notes about how the teaching was going and writing down your observations. Now you have a large part of the job done, some of it is already in writing and some is in your head. All you need to do now is write it down on paper, attach examples of students' work from all stages of the experiment, and prepare areport on what and how you have done and what you think will be effective in any other classroom, and what you would not recommend other teachers to do because it is not effective.

Hopefully, this will help some young teachers to begin to do research on a regular basis. By the way, what are you planning to study/research this year?

Стоя в очередях, можно увидеть совершенно поразительных людей. Мне нередко приходится стоять в очереди за билетами на поезд-экспресс. Времени остается очень немного, всегда есть те, кому билетов не хватает и кто просто не успевает купить, даже отстояв длинную очередь. Я и сам однажды не успел купить и едва не опоздал на запланированную встречу. Иногда поражает меня поведение людей в таких очередях. Стоят, нервничают, вздыхают, с тоской поглядывают на часы. Озираются по сторонам, подсчитывают сколько еще перед ними стоит народу, а потом оглядываются на длинный хвост из людей сзади. Ворчат. что кассиры медленно работают. Наконец перед ними стоит всего один или два человека. С лица постепенно уходит тревога, назад оглядываются уже с победным видом, словно победившие в невиданной конкурентной борьбе. Не слышат и не видят уже никого. Добираются до заветного окошка, и тут... тут начинаются вопросы. Сначала подробно выяснят какого класса билеты остались. Потом не менее подробно - чем вагон одного класса отличается от другого. После этого спрашивают сколько в какой класс билет стоит. Думают. Снова думают (вчера одна женщина, покупая билеты в последние минуты на экспресс Москва-Калуга на Киевском вокзале спросила: а) какой класс бывает, б) есть ли льготы для детей (прямо под табличкой "ЛЬГОТ НЕТ" спрашивала), в) а экспресс Москва-Калуга идет только до Калуги, или дальше тоже? После этого напряглась и взяла, кажется, один билет. Если в среднем кассир тратила на одного человека по 2 минуты (я тоже своей очереди ждал, смотрел на часы и успел подсчитать среднюю скорость и вероятность того, успею ли на поезд), то на эту женщину ушло минут 6. Получила она билет и давай пересчитывать деньги, совершенно не спеша, хотя уже надо было бы очень быстрым шагом идти на перрон. И почему-то таких пассажиров попадаются несколько каждый раз, как пытаюсь купить билет. К чему я это? Да к тому, что у таких людей в свое время явно не были сформированы метапредметные результаты ФГОС, то есть не даны в школе умения, необходимые для жизни. Стоя минут двадцать в очереди, обычно успеваешь не только увидеть и выучить наизусть таблицу "Льгот нет", но и услышать как покупают билеты стоящие впереди тебя, сколько билеты стоят, какого класса вагоны и сколько билетов осталось. К окну подходишь уже с паспортом наготове, а также в паспорт уже вкладываешь нужную сумму денег - или примерно нужную, чтобы очень быстро можно было взять сдачу, билет и посторониться, дав несколько дополнительных секунд стоящему сзади человеку, который уже спешит назвать свою станцию. Видя некоторых пассажиров, с тоской вспоминаешь всё то, чему стараешься учить школьников и студентов: прочитать объявления, посмотреть на расписание и вывещенные рядом цены, услышать и понять из беседы с кассиром стоимость билета и так далее. Мы всему этому учим на своих уроках. И каждый раз, каждый раз находятся те, кто полученные знания совершенно не относит к повседневной жизни - и мешают другим, и опаздывают сами, и винят в этом кого угодно, но только не себя. К чему я это? К тому, что есть множество приемов для того, чтобы научить человека быть если не более успешным, то более внимательным в жизни. Один из приемов - это active listening. Active listening - это не просто безучастное выслушивание информации, это реагирование на нее, запоминание и соотнесение с жизнью. Одно исследованеи показало. что мы запоминаем процентов 25 - 50 % полученной на слух информации. Это примерно означает, что из беседы в двадцать минут наш собеседник половину времени совершенно не обращает внимания на то что мы говорим. Можно ли с этим бороться? Наверное да. Можно попробовать использовать на уроках приемы active listening. Для этого при аудировании помимо заданий на собственно извлечение фактической информации можно давать попутные задания на понимание ситуации и чувств собеседника и степени собственного знакомства с предметом общения, например: Is the speaker experienced? Is the speaker nervous? What frame of mind is he/she in? What goal is the speaker trying to achieve through this conversation? Are you familiar with the sunject of the conversation? How can you show your understanding? Do you have any related experience? и так далее. Такие вопросы помогают не только более полно понять собеседника и запомнить содержание разговора, но также и более внимательно относиться к окружающему и, соответственно, более быстро и эффективно решать свои коммуникативные задачи.

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!

This is something you can ask your children or students to make. Bread-and-butter pudding is a very traditional dish, it's cheap, easy to make and you don't have to supervise the entire process. I tried it in a small restaurant in Scotland and decided that this is a dessert I was going to make now and then.

To make bread-and-butter pudding you'll need:

White bread (what you call "baton" in Russian) - and if it's a couple of days old, it's the best

Butter (surprise-surprise!) - about 50 grams

Two eggs

1/2 litre of milk

a handful of raisins

sugar (brown sugar is traditionsl, although white would do too)

some vanilla essence, either liquid or powder

Procedure:

Slice the bread. The bread should be a couple of days old as it will create teh right texture. Butter each slice thinly.

Put the slices into an oven-proof dish in one layer.

In a bowl mix together the milk and the eggs, whisk them with a fork or a mixer, add vanilla essence and half a glass of sugar (or more to taste).

Sprinkle the buttered bread slices with raisins. Pour some sugar onto them. If your custard is already very sweet, do not put extra sugar on the bread. Pour the custard onto the bread. Sprinkle with sugar on top for icing.

Put the dish into a preheated oven, bake at 180 C until golden on top but still soft and fluffy in the middle. Serve hot.

All in all, I spent only 3 days and a half in Krasnoyarsk, and it is not at all enough to fully enjoy the city and see everything there is to see.

The airport is some 40 km away from the city, so as you fly in in the evening, it is already getting dark and all you can see is the mountains. The mountains are not very tall, they look more like tallish hills, but these are the famous Sayany that go through Hakassia and to Tibet. The famous "poles" ("stolby") - very tall stones - can be seen from the city too.

The river Yenisey runs through the city. The Yenisey was the only one of the great rivers of Russia that I had not seen before, so it was especially interesting to see its leaden-grey waters and the lots of ducks that stay there all winter as the river does not freeze over in Krasnoyarsk.

The city lies on both sides of tyhe river, one bank being more business/trading/university/administrative area and the other one a more industrial/residential one.

One of the most beautiful streets in Krasnoyarsk is Prospekt Mira. As you walk along it, you feel like you are travelling in time. The end of the street which is closest to the Yenisey starts with a monument to Ryazanov and a concert hall, and as you walk through a tall arch, you find yourself in between two rows of wonderfully preserved late 19-th - early 20th century buildings. Most of these buildings were owned by local merchants, so they are large and built and decorated according to the fashions of St Petersburgh. On every such building you can now see a plaque which tells you whose house it used to be, who the architect was and whether this was a house in which someone lived or whether it was built as a school. Uncharacteristically of Russia of those times, many buildings in this street belonged no to men, but to women, who ran their businesses themselves.

The old houses go about halfway along the street, and then, afte a few more steps, you reach Stalin-era architecture. Massive Empire-style buildings with columns and Soviet symbols look stunningly different from what you have seen just a few minutes ago. Some of the buildings look gloomy, if imposing, but the people of Krasnoyarsk have found a wonderful solution to fight the darkness and gloom. Many of those period pieces are painted in bright colours. You will see a bright-green hospital with white columns which does not look like a typical hospital at all. The Federal Railway has several huge office buildings there too.

The street ends with some of the 1980-s and 1990-s buildings which hardly fit the overall looks and atmosphere of ythe street, but fortunately, there are not so many such buildings there.

Next to this street you can see several beautiful old churches, so when you are still in the 19-th centruy part, you feel like you are visiting a different era.

But what makes the streets of Krasnoyarsk special, is not the architecture, no matter how beautiful it is. What really stands out in the streets is a multitude of fountains, sculptures, artificial trees and small clock towers. Of course, the fountains are now covered for the winter, but as you walk past them, you can imagine how great they must look in the summer when it is hot. The sculptures are very diverse: you can see Alexander pushkin reading poems to Natalie Goncharova, a statue of a local artist in a battered sweater with his study album, figures of a nude woman and man, holding hands, and many other things.

All the clock mini-towers are not tall, they seem to be about 2 meters tall at best. They all look a bit like Big ben, but in fact they resemble the clock tower on the city administration building. Apart from those towers you can also see a couple of very special clocks, with huge round faces with a lot of dials that show time, holidays and jubilees of historic events.

And probably the most special thing about the streets of Krasnoyarsk is the artificial trees. They look like sakura trees, bonsai trees or laurels and cherries. For leaves and blossom they have tiny lightbulbs and in the evenings, when all is dark, they shine with different colours: green, yellow, violet, purple... They really make you feel as if it was Christmas.

I was in Krasnoyarsk only last week, but they already had snow. Last Friday was a sunny day, a bit chilly because of the wind, but the snow was shining brightly in the day, and in the evening everything was filled witht hlight of the trees. And if you have a chance to go to Krasnoyarsk, a walk along its streets in the evening is a must if you want to enjoy the city as much as it deserves.

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?