Английский язык в монологах (Темы для дифференцированного зачета по английскому языку)
учебно-методическое пособие по английскому языку по теме

Государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение

среднего профессионального образования

«Валуйский колледж»

Английский язык в монологах

Темы для дифференцированного зачета по английскому языку

(для студентов 1-х курсов)

Валуйки, 2013 г.

Составитель: ГБОУ СПО «Валуйский колледж», преподаватель иностранного языка Ю.Н. Колтыкова

     Настоящее учебно-методическое пособие по английскому языку предназначено для студентов первых курсов. Работа над пособием может производиться как под руководством педагога, так и самостоятельно.

     Пособие состоит из 17 разговорных тем, необходимых для развития навыков свободного общения на английском языке.

     Данное пособие рекомендовано студентам среднего профессионального образования, а так же всем изучающим английский язык.

Learn English with pleasure

and never be tired to go forward!

Contents

1. Myself

My Visit Card

     Let me introduce myself. My name is Helen. My last name is Nesterenko. I was born on the 18 th of May, 1996. I am 17 years old.

     I live in Russia. I live in Valuiky. Valuiky is my native town. It is small, but beautiful town.

     I am a student of a college. I am study on the first course. I go to college every day. I dream to become a teacher. I know that teaching is a very specific and difficult job. A teacher is a person who learns all his life. Teacher develops pupils’ views and characters, their attitudes to life and to other people. It’s a great responsibility and the teacher must be a model of competence himself.

     I take an active part in social life, attend sport sections and subject circles. My favourite subjects are Literature and English.

     I have a family. My family is not very large. There are three members in it – my mother, my father and me. I am the only child in the family.

     I am always very busy but when I am free I am fond of reading and walking with my friends. I have many friends. They are very good and we like to spend our time together.

     I am happy to have nice friends and a good family.

My Daily Routine

     Every morning I get up at 7 o’clock. Of course it’s difficult for me to get up so early. To tell the truth, I like sleeping. Then I make my bed and sometimes do my morning exercises. Then I go to the bathroom where I clean my teeth and wash myself. I dress myself and brush my hair. In 10 minutes I’m ready for breakfast. After breakfast I go to college.

     The lessons begin at 8 o’clock in the morning and they are over at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. After classes I go home and have dinner there. After dinner I have a short rest. Then I do my homework.

     As a rule I have no free time on my weekdays. Eight o’clock is supper time in our family. At about 12 at night I go to bed.

     Most people in our country work five days a week and have two days off, but students and pupils have only one day off. It’s Sunday. I like this day very much. You needn’t hurry anywhere and you may go wherever you like after your week’s work.

     On this day I wake up later than usual. After breakfast I go to my room and switch on TV. I can watch TV all day long. But my mother makes me help her around the house. After that I do my favourite things.

     In the evening I must do my homework. I try to go to bed later than usual but my parents are against it. I enjoy my day off very much.

My Future Career

     When you leave your school you understand that the time to choose your future profession has come. Choosing a career isn’t an easy thing. There are a lot of interesting professions in the world, so it is difficult to make the right choice. Some important jobs at the turn of the century are: nurse, photographer, editor, scientist, fireman, fashion designer and many other jobs.

     Your choice of a job can be influenced by your skills and experience, your interest, your talent, pressure from your parents. For example, if you have a talent at Maths and you want your profession to be connected with this subject, you should start studying it very seriously. The same is with other subjects.

     Jobs can be attractive or not attractive. Attractive jobs can be creative exciting, popular, prestigious, and rewarding. Unattractive jobs are dangerous, boring, messy, tiring and not respected. Different jobs can require travelling a lot, a good imagination physical strength, special training, working from home and so on.

As for me, I haven't yet decided which profession to choose. My father wants me to follow in his footsteps and become a businessman. This profession is very popular, so there are a lot of businessmen and I think it is not good for me, and I am not interested in business or economics. My mother says that I should choose my future occupation myself.

     Of course there are a lot of special books about different professions. I think I am good at Physics, so I think my job can be connected with this subject. I want to be a scientist. It is a very prestigious job. But it is very difficult to enter a university. If you do not have money and if you are not a genius, you will never enter a good university or an institute.

     To sum up I would like to say that choosing my future career is a very important step in my life. I suppose that my facilities combined with knowledge will be quite enough to succeed in my work.

My Profession is Teacher

     Finishing school is the beginning of the independent life for millions of school leavers. Many roads are opened before them: colleges and technical schools, institutes and universities.

     But it is not an easy thing to choose a profession out of more than 2,000 existing in the world. Some pupils follow the advice of their parents, others can't decide even after leaving school.

     As for me, I made my choice long ago. I want to become a teacher. My choice of this occupation didn't come as a sudden flash.

     I would like to teach my pupils to enjoy reading, to encourage them to learn our language and literature, which is the source of national culture. It is known that teaching is a very specific and difficult job. It shouldn't be taken easily. The teacher is a person who is learning as well as teaching all his life.

     Most jobs can be done within the usual office hours from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m., but teacher's work is never done and evenings are usually spent in marking exercise-books and preparing for the next lesson.

     Teachers do not only teach their subjects. They develop their pupils' intellect, form their views and characters, their attitudes to life and to other people. It's a great responsibility and the teacher must be a model of competence himself.

     It's not as easy as it may seem at first. But I think that love for children combined with the knowledge I'll get at college would be quite enough to succeed in my work.

The Profession of Sociologist

     Generally it's so not easy for a school-leaver to decide on his future career. There are some frivolous people who enter to college or universities thinking whether they like the profession they had chosen or not. But occupation you want to devote your life has  to bring you satisfaction. So it should be something you can do and you really want to.

      I decided to enter the department of sociology and qualify as a sociologist. This is rather new profession in our country. And I think it is very interesting profession. Sociologists are supposed to work with people, to render them real help in difficult situations.

     Our country is going through a difficult period now. Economic restructuring doesn't lead everyone to success. A lot of people are unemployed. There are winners and losers. There are social workers who have to relieve the burden off people's shoulders and to help them to solve their problems.

     I understand the difficulties of this profession. But I believe this profession is really needed and hope that I can help a lot of people. Isn't that enough to be satisfied with your job?

My Future Profession is Programmer

     What I would like to become? This question puzzles me greatly. Every job has its difficulties and challenges. I think that nearly all the professions are very important in life. But to choose the right occupation is very difficult, because we must take in to consideration many factors. We must consider our personal taste and our kind of mind. At the same time we must satisfy the requirements of our society and peoples needs in one profession or another.

      I want to become a computer programmer. I am interested in computers. It is a whole new world. Many people continue careers of their parents or grand parents but it is not the case with me. My mother is a teacher and my father is a doctor. But I don't want to be neither a teacher nor a doctor.

     My favourite subjects in college are mathematics, physics, and, of course, computer science. I am not interested in such subjects as geography, biology or chemistry. My hobby is computer games and computer programming.

     I have a computer at home and can spend hours working at it. It is much easier to do things on computer, for example to write a composition. You can change the text as many times as you want and you don't need to rewrite everything if you changed something.

     I think that the profession of programmer can give many opportunities. Computers are the most rapidly changing sphere of modern technology. We are living in the age of information. And I think that the future is just filled with computers.

     Today, in England or in the US people can work, go shopping or even go on dates sitting at their computers. In our country, computers have been used just for a short time. So after I finish college I want to enter the university and study computer science.

2. Countries

Great Britain

     The official name of Great Britain is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The UK lies to the west of the continent of Europe. The UK consists of the island Great Britain and the north-eastern part of Ireland and a great number of small islands.

     Great Britain is separated from the continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. Great Britain is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the west and is separated from Ireland by the Irish Sea. There are many rivers in Britain: the Thames, the Severn, but they are not very long. The longest river is the Severn. It is 350 kilometers long.

     Great Britain has a mild climate: cooler in summer and warmer in winter than in other countries of Northern Europe. Winter is mild, the temperature seldom falls below zero, and the grass remains green all the year round. The weather is very changeable even during a day. Rains and fogs are very often.

     The capital of Great Britain is London. Great Britain includes Scotland (the capital is Edinburgh) in the north, England (the capital is London) in the south-east and Wales (the capital is Cardiff) in the south-west. The capital of Northern Ireland is Belfast.

     The UK is a parliamentary monarchy. Officially the head of the state is the Queen, but her power is not absolute. She acts only on the advice of the Ministers and Parliament. The British Parliament consists of two Houses: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Prime Minister is the head of the Government.

Russia

     Russia is one of the largest countries in the world. It covers an area of over 5.6 million square miles. Russia has eleven time zones; its population is 149 million people, 80 of which are ethnic Russians. Russian is multinational state; over 100 nationalities live in it, each with its own language, culture and traditions.

     The capital of Russian is Moscow, its political, administrative, cultural and scientific centre.

     The vast territory of the Russian Federative Republic lies in the Eastern part of Europe and in the Northern part of Asia. Russia is washed by the seas of the Pasific, the Artic Oceans, as well as by the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Asov. On land Russia borders Finland, Latvia, Byelorussia, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and other countries.

     The climate of Russia is different in different parts. In the central European part it is continental, with frosts and snow in winter and hot summers. To the west of the centre and in the northwest the climate is raw and mild. In the southern areas there is hardly any snow in winter and summer may be very hot. The coldest areas are in the extreme North and in the northern part of Siberia.

     Russia is a unique country; it has a lot to be proud of, first of all – its people, famous scientists, musicians, artists, ballet school, its folk songs and dances. That’s why thousands of tourists from different parts of the world visit this country every year.  

     Russia has always played an important role in the world. It is one of the leading powers.

3. Education

Education in Great Britain

     In Great Britain education is compulsory for all children from 5 to 16 years of age. Before 5 some children attend Nursery Schools, while most children start their basic education in an Infant School which is the first stage of Primary Education. From 7 to 11 they attend Junior Schools, the second stage of Primary Education. In Primary School children are taught the so-called 3 R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as elementary science and information technology. They also have music, physical training and art classes.

     At the age of eleven children transfer to Comprehensive Schools. These schools give general education and a wide range of academic courses leading to the public examinations taken at 16. They also provide some vocational courses.

     Before the 1960s there were two main kinds of state schools in Britain: grammar schools and modern schools. The grammar schools were for the most intelligent children and the secondary modern schools were for the less intelligent children. Children were selected for secondary education by means of an examination known as “eleven-plus” which they took at the age of 11.

     Along with the state schools, there are about 500 private schools in Britain. Most of these Independent or Public Schools charge fees and there are boarding schools, where the children actually live in the school.

     Any child may leave school at 16 when all children take the school-leaving examinations and get a certificate of secondary education. Thos who want to continue their education at a University have to stay on at school for two more years and take another exam. The leading Universities in England are Oxford, Cambridge and London.

Education in Russia

     Everyone in our country has the right for education. But it is not only right; it is a duty, too. Every boy and every girl in Russia must go to school, that is they must get full secondary education. So, when they are 6 or 7 years old they begin to go to school.

     There are thousands of schools in Russia. There are schools of general education, where the pupils study Russian, Literature, Mathematics, History, Biology, Geography, Music, Foreign Languages. There is also number of specialized schools, where the pupils get profound knowledge of foreign languages, or Maths, or Physics.

     After finishing 9 classes of the secondary school the young people can continue their education at different kinds of vocational or technical schools, or colleges. They not only learn general subjects, but receive a speciality there.

     Having finished a secondary or technical school, or college, young people can start working, or they may enter an Institute or a University. By the way, some people think, that professional training makes it easier to get a higher education.

     As for high schools, there are a lot of them in our country. Some of them train teachers, others-doctors, actors and so on. Many institutes have evening and extra-mural departments. That gives the students an opportunity to study at without leaving their jobs.

4. Entertainment

Music in Our Life

     People cannot live without music. Music accompanies us everywhere. Small children hear their mothers’ songs when they put them to bed. We hear the music of the birds in the gardens and woods. We listen to music on the radio and TV. When we grow up, we prefer to listen to music we like.

     Music can be classical and modern. Classical music is performed by symphonic orchestras in the great halls. Some people are fond of classical music and attend opera houses and concert halls. There are a lot of famous composers whose music are serious and require good understanding or it may seem to be boring and dull.

     Most of people prefer modern music. Especially young people, are more interested in light and pop music. Modern music is performed by TV and radio. Modern music has different kinds: pop, rock, disco, rap, techno and others.

     Many young people, especially students, compose music and write lyric themselves, they take part in the contests of amateur singers which are very popular.

     There are a lot of music schools and children’s choirs in small and big town, where children learn to play different musical instruments, to sing and to appreciate music.

     Young people in bigger cities like to spend their free time in disco clubs, where they listen to their favourite music and dance.

     Today everybody has an opportunity to enjoy the kind of music he or she likes best. I’m fond of music and like to listen to for it help me to have good relaxation.

My Favourite Composer

     Music is an essential part of everyone’s life. I can’t imagine a person living without music. We can listen to it at home, at work, in the car or even while walking along the street.

     If to speak about classical music I have always liked the works of Peter I. Tschaikovskyi. I like his works because they are deeply Slavonic in their spirit. In his creative work Tschaikovskyi used folklore melodies. He also created a musical language, organically connected with the music life of common people.

     He taught music at Moscow Conservatory and his students always appreciated him deeply. Tschaikovskyi worked hard at different programmes of musical education. He also created the first textbook on harmony of music, which was later translated into German and French.

     I like his First Symphony “Winter Dreams” most of all. Tschaikovskyi reflected his impressions of the trip to Lake Ladoga and Valaam in it. There one can see winter nature, fields with glimmering snow and bright sun. It is very tender, and at the same time solemn and grand.

5. Literature

Books in Our Life

     Books are one of the greatest wonders in the world. They follow us during all our life. When you read a book you enrich your mind with knowledge. This knowledge will help you in different subjects. People who read many books are very clever. If you read many books you will get a lot of information on many subjects and situations.

     Some of young people don’t like reading books. They prefer watching TV, playing computer games, and other kinds of entertainment.

    Some books help us in self-education, and also to imagine the future, to look into the past.

 Books develop our intellect, our soul, but of course, except of some modern crime or love novels, which you can find in any bookshop and which are printed only for entertain. I don’t like this kind of literature and in my opinion, reading such books is only waste of time.

     Everybody has his favourite books. They can be novels, detective stories, science literature and many others. All of them distinguish and form some individual traits of character in everybody.

     As for me, I like to read books in my free time. Books help me to go away from life problems, to get into another world. I like various literature directions and authors. It depends on my mood which book I take to read. There is no definite author which I like most of all. Also I like novels, written by Nabokov, Tolstoy, Mopassan and Remark. From their books you can learn more about people’s feelings, about life; you can even begin to see the world from another angle after reading these books.

     Every book gives birth to special inner world in my mind and in my soul. I like to imagine main characters of my favourite books, their clothes and faces. In conclusion, I think books help us in self-education and in solving problems of life.

My Favourite Writer Agatha Christie

     For every person it’s a real problem to name a favourite writer. I quite agree with it. There are several favourite writers in different genres of literature, foreign and Russian as well. But Agatha Christie, “the Queen of crime stories” is loved almost by everybody.

     She was born in England in 1890. Her father was an American and died very early. Her mother was an English woman. Agatha (Miller in her childhood) and her sister got a home education. Later, she was sent to Paris to take classes in singing. Then she got a primary medical education. In 1914 she got married A. Christie but, unfortunately, they divorced soon.

     She was 25 when she won a bet writing her first crime story. After her first successful experience she continued writing stories. She became popular.

     Agatha Christie wrote 78 crime stories but she also wrote plays and novels. The Mousetrap, Ten Little Niggers, Sleeping Murder, The Body in the Library are among the well-known works of the writer.

     There are some peculiar features in her stories. As usual, the number of characters is limited and all of them gather in a small place which they can’t leave. And it’s difficult to guess who the real murderer is till the end of the book.

     People read Agatha Christie’s books with great pleasure and that’s why her stories have been translated into more than one hundred languages. Everybody knows her famous characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Agatha Christie’s stories and plays are shown on TV, broadcasted over the radio. There are also movie and theatre versions of her books.

6.  Social and Cultural Life of People

Art, Museums and Galleries

     People reflect their lives in art. Real, live art appeals to the heart and mind of every person, to their feelings and ideals, it proclaims life. Art is truthful only when it serves life, only when the artist hopes to arouse a warm response in the heart of a person. That was the case in the days of Giotto and Raphael, that was the case in the subsequent stages of the world's artistic development, and that was the truthful relationship of art and life in the days of Renato Guttuso and Rockwell Kent. Art belongs to people.

     The history of art from the Renaissance to our days confirms this. It is close contact with the life of the nation that gives artists' work its power.

     One can see masterpieces of old and modern art in various picture galleries and museums. There are nearly a thousand museums in Russia; many of them are world famous. The largest collection of Russian art is the Tretyakov Art Gallery in Moscow. It is a real treasury of canvases by prominent Russian painters. It contains priceless collections of icons, 17—20th century paintings and sculptures and contemporary Russian paintings and sculpture.

     One of the largest and most remarkable museums of the world is the Hermitage, more than three hundred halls housing its exhibitions of articles of the greatest artistic value. The museum's collections now comprise works of various periods in the development of art, from ancient times up to the present day. Famous painters from different countries are represented there.

     The Russian Museum in St. Petersburg is another picture gallery which contains the richest collection of Russian paintings of 18-19th centuries and the best collection of Russian sculpture.

     In the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow the art of the Ancient East and Western Europe is represented. This museum possesses a unique collection of copies of the finest sculptures of the old time. It is in this museum that many famous foreign expositions of fine art are displayed almost every year.

Travelling

     Almost all people are fond of travelling. It is very interesting to see new places, another towns and countries. People may travel either for pleasure or on business. There are various methods of travelling. For me there is nothing like travel by air; it is more comfortable, more convenient and, of course, far quicker than any other method. There is none of the dust and dirt of a railway or car journey, none of the trouble of changing from train to steamer and then to another train.

     With a train you have speed, comfort and pleasure combined. From the comfortable seat of a railway carriage you have a splendid view of the whole country-side. If you are hungry, you can have a meal in the dining-car; and if a journey is a long one you can have a wonderful bed in a sleeper.

     Travelling by ship is also very popular now. It is very pleasant to feel the deck of the ship under the feet, to see the rise and fall of the waves, to feel the fresh sea wind blowing in the face and hear the cry of the seagulls.

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

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

My Favourite Kind of Travelling

     I like to travel. First of all, the members of our family usually have long walks in the country. Such walks are called hikes.

     If we want to see countryside we have to spend a part of our summer holidays on hikes. During such hikes we see a lot of interesting places, sometimes we meet interesting people.

     It's useful for all members of our family. We take our rucksacks. We don't think about tickets and there is no need to hurry up.

    As for me, it's more comfortable to travel by train and by plane. But it's difficult to buy tickets for the plane. That's why we buy our tickets beforehand.

     When I travel by plane, I don't spend a lot of time going from one place to another, I like to fly. If I travel by train or by plane my friends see me off at the railway station or in the airport.

     I like to travel by car. It's interesting too, because you can see many things in a short time. When we go by car, we don't take tickets. We put all things we need in a car. We don't carry them. Sometimes we go to the seaside for a few days. As usual the weather is warm and we can swim. It's a pleasure to watch white ships.

     So I can say that I enjoy all kinds of travelling very much.

Использованная литература

1. Выборова Г.Е., Мельчина О.П. 70 устных тем по английскому языку: Пособие к базовому курсу. «Easy English». – М.: АСТ-ПРЕСС КНИГА, 2005. – 160 с.

2. Занина Е.Л. 95 устных тем по английскому языку. – 8-е изд. М.: Айрис-пресс, 2008. – 320 с.

3. Фенина Н.Г., Пузанова Т.С. Английский в монологах: темы для устного экзамена по английскому языку. – Ростов н/Д.: Феникс, 2008. 154 с.