minats_zone

On this bright April day I want to share with you my joy and happiness that I feel on this occasion. Eventually, I can say "Christ the Savor is alive!!!" I think my feelings and joy about this can be shared by many of you who believe in God, our Savor! After a long period of fasting (not completely, but avoiding meat, butter and chicken), I have reached this Big Day, but more importantly, now I can say again and again: "God bless us all!!!"

The question is - why should I write about Tanya if she graduated from RSSU in 2007 and now other new students are due to finish? The answer is very simple - she passed CPE in June 2007 with the 'B' and eventually e-mailed me her scanned CPE certificate. This fact in itself is really outstanding and I decided to write about it and tell you more about this very special girl. However, first of all,let us have a look at her certificate and at Tanya herself among other fellow students (she is the first on the left) in her class of would-be-teachers of group 1, graduation 2007. I'm also among them, the one on the very right (sure, you can't mistaken me for some of my students!!!). She came from a small Russian town of 'STH', I don't remember its name. But her motivation and ambition have always been incredible. These qualities drove Tanya through all three levels of the ESOL Main Suit Exams: FCE (A) in 2005, CAE (B) in 2006 and CPE(B) in 2007. And it was the girl

I'm reflecting on the way I can help my students with speaking. I noticed that both advanced and lower level students experience the same problems - they don't structure their speaking and neglect the sounds and intonation. Very often this results in producing something monotonous and flat with the only links used 'and'/'but'/'because'. Today I've been examining my final year students and many of them really disappointed me by making such mistakes. Perhaps, I failed to explain to them that speaking fluently suggests not only fluency in itself, but ability to choose the appropriate vocabulary and structures so as to communicate ideas effectively. The pictures illustrate what they produce and what the'ups' and 'downs' of natural English look like. Sorry for that!

Look at these two guys from England an a baby lion. They reared it for some time at home, in England, then, when it reached maturuty, they were forced by the authorities to send it back to Africa and set it free in a wildlife sanctuary. They did exactly so and in a year time they returned to the wild to see what happened to their ex-friend. The African scientists warned them that the lion would not remember them, but when it noticed the two guys, it behaved like a sweet pussycatjumping on each guy in a cat's manner!!! This event, in my opinion, dismisses the common notion that grown up lions have short memories and are always agressive and dangerous. Good news!!! P.S. Sorry, but I am unable to attach the video showing this exceptionally unusual reunion in the African jungle as it takes a lot of time to download. It's a pity!