Merry Christmas!

5 Christmas Traditions to Celebrate With Your Family

Create holiday memories that last a lifetime—and beyond.

It's hard to believe, but there once was a time when the holiday season was about more than the presents under the tree. With all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, it can be easy to forget to dedicate precious moments to the ones you love. This year, think about starting or continuing one of these Christmas traditions—you’ll make memories your family will cherish for years and years to come.

1Count down with   an advent calendar

The very first advent calendar was produced by Gerhard Lang way back in the early 1900s, according to Mental Floss, and it's been a holiday staple ever since. If you don't already own one, or if you've never used one before, try DIYing your own this year and turning it into a memorableChristmas activity. Your kids will have fun creating their own calendar—and of course, receiving a treat each day of December!

2 Listen to classic Christmas musicYou don't have to own a record player to listen to all the holiday hits from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin. The best part about this activity is everyone will know the words to the music—even kids—so all can join in and sing along.

3 Plan a cookie exchangeThere's nothing more delicious than a fresh batch of Christmas cookies. Knock on your neighbors' doors and invite everyone face-to-face—with nearly everyone communicating through a cell phone, a personal request will make your friends feel oh-so-welcome. Then, get baking! For the kids, whip up some sugar cookies that will be super fun to decorate. And for the adults, try a decadent thumbprint recipe that everyone will be talking about.

4 Get your craft onChristmas has become so commercial, it's easy to forget the real reason for the season. This year, try DIYing almost everything. Start with the festive decor, then take on your ornaments. Next up are the Christmas cards, and of course, a welcoming wreath! You could even give homemade presents for some truly thoughtful gifts. Everything you make will be extra special (and you'll save some money in the process).

GETTY IMIt's hard to believe, but there once was a time when the holiday season was about more than the presents under the tree. With all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, it can be easy to forget to dedicate precious moments to the ones you love. This year, think about starting or continuing one of these Christmas traditions—you’ll make memories your family will cherish for years and years to come.

5Watch quintessential Christmas moviesEverybody is probably excited to see the new Grinch, but before youhead to the theater, take a weekend to watch some of the most classic Christmas movies. Some of our favorites are: It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Holiday Inn, and A Christmas Carole. We also suggest Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, of course!
© Taken from CountryLiving

Якісна підготовка до ЗНО

Виступ на методичному об'єднанні вчителів суспільно-гуманітарного циклу "Якісна підготовка до ЗНО з англійської мови"

School olympiad for 9th-grade students

Here are olympiad tasks for 9th-grade students. Click to Download 

Let's talk about...

Music

Who are your favorite bands or artists?

How often do you listen to music?

When was the last time you bought a song or album?

Do you usually buy albums online or CD’s from the store?

Have you ever illegally downloaded music? Do you think it is okay or not okay to download music illegally?

What kind of music do you listen to when you want to dance?

What kind of music do you listen to when you are sad?

Is there a certain song or type of music that makes you really energetic?

Do you think music is getting better or worse?

What kind of music will your kids listen to?

What music did your parents listen to?

How do you feel about your country’s traditional music?

Should people try to modernize traditional music?

How is your country’s traditional music different from other countries’ traditional music? 

Let's talk about...

Natural Disasters

How many types of natural disaster can you name? Which is the worst?

What natural disasters are common in your country?

Have you ever been through a natural disaster? Tell your group about your experience if it isn’t too traumatic.

What is the best / worst natural disaster movie you have seen?

Think of three natural disasters. What can you do to stay safe during and after those natural disasters?

Do you know that difference between a hurricane, a typhoon, and a cyclone?

Which country has the most natural disasters?

Would you ever volunteer to help after a natural disaster hit? If yes, What would you like to volunteer to do? If no, why not?

How can technology lessen the damage caused by natural disasters?

Can natural disasters ever be a good thing?

What do you think about people who follow tornadoes around to get data, video and photographs?

Can you think of any country that doesn’t have natural disasters?

Let's talk about....

Shopping

Where is your favorite place to shop for clothes?

What products do you prefer to shop online for?

What products do you prefer to shop in stores for?

How do you feel about sales people following you and helping you when you shop?

What makes a pleasant shopping experience?

How do you feel about shopping at department stores or malls?

What is your favorite ecommerce site? Why?

Do you know anyone who is addicted to shopping? Are you addicted to shopping?

Have you ever bought any counterfeit products like fake designer bags, clothing, or jewelry?

Do you enjoy shopping for other people?

Let's talk about....

The topic of the day is Success and Failure. Useful questions to talk about it.

Success

Describe a successful person.

Is your idea of success the same as your parents’ idea of success?

Do you think people focus too much on appearing to be successful?

Why is money the most common way of judging success?

Can money buy happiness?

How much pressure do your parents put on you to be successful?

How much pressure will you put on your children to be successful?

Failure

Have there been any failures that made your life better?

Is there a right time to give up and stop trying? Or should you never give up?

Can you think of any famous people who failed spectacularly at something?

Talk about a time you failed at something you tried. Don’t talk about anything that will make you uncomfortable or embarrassed.

Can you think of any famous quotes or idioms about success or failure?

Learn English with songs

Today's song is Firework by Katy Perry

This activity is really useful. Gap filling acitivity

Did you know about that?

 For example, the sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is a pangram.

 This means that all pilots have to identify themselves and speak in English while flying, regardless of their origin.

 Between now and your next meal, a new word will be put into the dictionary. During the course of the year, almost 4,000 new words are added! So, the next time you try to catch the attention of the dissertation committee, try adding some new words to your project.

 The word “girl” was not initially used to refer to a specific gender. It used to mean “child” or “young person” regardless of the gender.

 Words we always use even though they add no meaning or value to a sentence are called crutch words. For example, in the sentence “Then I was like, OMG, then like, he went there, and like…” it is pretty obvious that “like” is the crutch word. “Actually,” “honestly,” and “basically” are also commonly used as crutch words.

 Medieval manuscripts reveal that some of the oldest words in English are “I,” “we,” “two,” and “three.” This makes “I” one of the shortest and oldest words in the English language. It is also the most commonly used word in English conversations.

Believe it or not, there are some words that appeared in the dictionary because of printing errors. The nonexistent word “dord” appeared in the dictionary for eight years in the mid-20th century. It became known as a “ghost word.”

Family relationships (Test 3, 11th grade)

This is an example of theme test for 11th grade. The tasks were taken from different variants. There will be 4 variants.

1. Listen to the following speakers and read the questions; choose and circle the letter of the correct answer.

1) Speaker 1...

A) wants her children to have a busy childhood.

B) doesn’t have to clean the house.

C) is 12 years old.

D) has lots of work caring for her brothers and sisters.

2) Speaker 2 says that his parents...

A) criticize him a lot.                         C) need to see a doctor.

B) are lawyers.                                  D) approve of the career he chose.

3) According to Speaker 3’s words...

A) his mom is rarely busy.                 C) he has a younger brother.

B) his parents are always at home.     D) his dad doesn’t pay any attention

to him.

4) Speaker 4...

A) lives with her father and mother.

B) gets along well with her mom.

C) thinks her mom is very selfish.

D) is very close to her parents.

5) What is true about Speaker 5?

A) She spends every morning in the kitchen.

B) She cares about her mom very much.

C) She often forgets things.

D) She thinks she deserves so much more than she has been given.

2. Write the word to the definition

A feature which means that you don’t agree with society’s opinion ________________________________

     An action when you finish something ____________________________

   An action when you do physical and emotional harmless to another person with her permission ______________________

  A state when you can go back, when you can’t do anything with  a situation ________________________

        An action when you do what you have been told __________________________

    A situation in which you are arrested _________________________________

     3.     Make up 3rd Conditional sentences

       He to study harder/he to pass the test

       Her parents to have the money/ they to buy a new Ipad

       He to drive more carefully/he (not) to have an accident 

       A team to play a little better/ they to win the game

          4. Write a letter to the editor or authorities

    You can choose one of these topics

1) Nearly 100 teenagers are made homeless each day in the UK as a result of alcohol abuse by their parents, research shows.

Alcohol abuse among adults is damaging the lives of an estimated 700,000 teenagers across the UK, with one in four of these having been homeless in the last five years as a result – amounting to 96 per day, according to a study by The Children's Society.

2) Researchers from the UCL (University College London) Institute of Education and the University of Liverpool found that nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of 14-year-old girls and nine per cent of boys the same age are depressed.

3) Teenagers in England and Scotland are now more likely to go to university than ever before, official figures show.

One in three English 18-year-olds have been placed on degree courses through Ucas this year, according to new data published by the admissions service, along with around one in four Scottish youngsters of the same age.

4) A recent report from the Education Policy Institute, for example, studied children’s use of the internet and their mental health. The report found that teenagers value social networks as a way of connecting with friends and family, maintaining their networks of friends, and long distance connections. Teenagers see social networking as a comfortable medium for sharing their issues and finding solutions to problems such as social isolation and loneliness. They are also more likely to seek help in areas such as health advice, unknown experiences, and help with exams and study techniques.

On the other hand the report was able to list a substantial list of negative influences stemming from social media use, ranging from time wasting and addictive, compulsive use, to cyber-bullying, radicalisation, stress and sexual grooming to name just a few.

Fiction in English: determine the level and select a book

Know the foreign languages ​​in our time is necessary. Everyone understands this, but not everyone likes to sit down on textbooks and learn grammatical rules. Of course, reading a novel or a detective is much more interesting than a Ukrainian-English dictionary. And what do you say about the idea of ​​reading fiction, but in English?

This will not only extend your vocabulary, but also helps you to master the pronunciation and  build sentences correctly!

What feature books to read depends on your level of language proficiency.

The most popular system that evaluates English language is CEF (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages):

A1 (Beginner / Beginner) - A2 (Elementary / Basics):
You understand the interlocutor, but if he speaks slowly and clearly, you can also tell a little about yourself. At this level you will come up with stories with a small set of words, tales. A large selection of children's literature in English can be found at: http://www.kidsworldfun.com/ebooks.php

B1 (Intermediate) - B2 (Upper Intermediate):
It`s better now! You know the basics of English, you can discuss common themes (such as hobbies, or dreams), but for the time being you allow grammatical errors and have a small vocabulary. But children's books are too simple, you need to go to something more serious:
Ernest Hemingway "The Old and the Sea" - https://www.slideshare.net/JenrySaiparudin/the-old-manandtheseabyhemingway
John Fowles Collector - http://www.kkoworld.com/kitablar/con_faulz_kolleksiyach-eng.pdf
George Orwell "1984" - http://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/1984.pdf

C1 (Advanced) - C2 (Proficiency):
You speak English very well, everyone understands and sometimes even uses dialect dialect, or slang. For you it will not be difficult to read complex works in the original language, therefore links to a large online library, and the choice of a book for you: http://digilibraries.com/

You can study a foreign language all the life, so read, develop and you will lose any language barriers!

Яким буде ЗНО з іноземної мови у 2018 році?

Наразі відомо, як буде виглядати ЗНО з іноземної мови, тому що УЦОЯО вже затвердив характеристики цього тестування. (Ще раніше було повідомлено про включення окремої частини «Розуміння мови на слух (аудіювання)», що вказувалось у програмі)

Погляньмо та запам'ятаймо:

Тривалість тестування: 150 хв. (збільшено на 30 хвилин)

Кількість завдань: 59 (збільшено на 16)
Максимальна кількість балів: 72 (раніше - 56)

Тим, хто вивчав мову на профільному рівні, потрібно виконати всі завдання. Тим, хто не вивчав мову на профільному рівні потрібно виконати завдання 1–32 і 49–59, результат якого зарахується як результат ДПА.

Зверніть увагу!!! Для вступу до ВНЗ потрібно виконати ВСІ завдання тестування!

Пояснення: 

- Учні, які вивчають іноземну мову на академічному або стандартному рівні, (тобто В1) отримають результат ДПА (оцінку за шкалою 1-12) на основі 43 завдань (завдання 1–32 і 49–59), але для вступу результат буде обраховуватись за 200-бальною шкалою на основі 59 завдань.

- Учні, які вивчають іноземну мову на профільному рівні, (тобто В2) отримають результат ДПА (оцінку за шкалою 1-12), а також результат ЗНО для вступу на основі усіх 59 завдань. 

!!! Всі учасники ЗНО виконуватимуть однакові завдання (робота буде одна для всіх). Різниця лише в ДПА: для обрахування результату ДПА для учнів не профільного рівня будуть братись легші 43 завдання. А вже для вступу і для ДПА учнів профільного рівня - результат вираховуватиметься на основі всіх 59 завдань.Таким чином, усі, для кого ЗНО з іноземної потрібне для вступу, складатимуть однакові 59 завдань, незалежно від того, на якому рівні вивчалась іноземна.

Щодо аудіювання. Це будуть Tasks 1–3, усього 16 завдань.Буде запропоновано прослухати кілька аудіофрагментів (двічі)тривалістю від 10 секунд до 3 хвилин, а потім відповісти на різнопланові завдання до них. 

На їх виконання розраховано 30 хвилин, 10 з яких - на перенесення відповідей до бланку А.

Також дуже радимо гарно ознайомитись з критеріями оцінювання завдання з розгорнутою відповіддю.

Матеріали взято з сайту ZNOclub

Trial ZNO-2018

UCEQA issued an order for a Trial ZNO in 2018.

The registration will be possible from January 9 to January 31, 2018.

And to pass - on March 24 and 31.

March 24 - on Ukrainian language and literature;

March 31 - on the history of Ukraine, mathematics, biology, geography, physics, chemistry, English, Spanish, German, French.

The cost of one trial testing will be determined by December 11th for each RCEQA and posted on their sites. By December 13, there will also be a detailed registration procedure for the TZNO.

As always, Trial ZNO is the ability to go through all stages of testing, to test yourself.

UCEQA also reports that those who register with the special service and enter the correct answers to the TZNO
will be able to find out their results in language and literature by March 30, and from other subjects by April 6.

Modal verbs

8th grade, this interactive exercise is for you.

The difference between Ukraine and Britain

Today I want to tell a few words about UK and Ukraine. These two countries are totally different. With different culture, politics, religion, mentality of people, education system.

 UK is one of the most well-developed country with stable economy in the world, however UK keeping strong their traditions and protect their own culture, and do not want to be influenced by any of large countries or communities.

 In this way Ukraine is not such powerful country, I guess that's because it gained an independency only in 1991. In connect to this point Ukraine still did a great improvement in last 10 years. The development in Ukrainian politics, business, level of life etc, was recognized by a lot of world organisation, but there is still too much work should be done.

 As I told before, there are too many differences between these countries. Ukraine is a -parliamentary-presidential republic, whether UK has limited monarchy, but PM is the main person in UK parliament. Religion is different as well, UK – catholic, Ukraine – orthodoxy country. The culture and people's mentality are opposite different, and everybody connects just in one, everybody wants to be happy. People in the UK and Ukraine have different priorities and gains, it all based on timing and history. Because Ukrainians havebeen treating by different larger countries, in case the UK was free. 

 Also, education process is not the same. In Ukraine children go to school at 6-years old, and finish it at 16’s. Then they pass final exams. There are two part of it, nation exam around all Ukraine; it’s called “ZNO” and exams inside the school. With these results they apply to Universities, and in September enter there. The higher education consists of 4-5 year bachelor’s degree + 1-2 years for master degree. When, in the UK people entry to University only when they get 18 year old, and finish in 3-4 years.

 In conclusion, I can say that even if UK and Ukraine are really different, I am still in love with both of them. Each country has its good and bad sides, each nation has its own culture and traditions, but I guess, that everybody wants to be happy and satisfied with their needs and lives without wars and crises.