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Monday, September 21, 2020

Exam Topics. Education


 Education

Knowledge is power. It is one of the most valuable possessions a human can get in his life. We get our knowledge of this world and life through education. Many famous discoveries would have been impossible if people were not interested in learning something. Education develops different sides of human personality, reveals his abilities. Besides, it helps a person to understand himself, to choose the right way in this world. Moreover, knowledge is often associated with freedom, independence and confidence. By knowledge I mean not just any information but the level of education in general or even erudition. One with knowledge can make the better way in the world. That's why the role and importance of education can't be overestimated. 

The system of education in the Republic of Belarus is based on national traditions and global trends in education area. These guarantee equal access to all education stages, unification of the requirements, continuity of all training stages and state financial support. 

Today Belarusian educational system includes 4 stages of education: pre-school education, primary school education, secondary school education and higher education. Pre-school education is not compulsory in Belarus but around 70% of children attend nursery or kindergarten before they start school. These institutions are for children under six years. Children who attend kindergarten learn social skills when they play with other children and this helps to shape their personalities.  Such children are better prepared for primary school.The public nurseries and kindergartens are free of charge but parents should cover about 60% of the meal’s cost. 

In our country primary and secondary school education are compulsory. All in all it lasts 11 years.  Most children in Belarus start school at the age of 6. The school year begins on 1st September for all grades and lasts thirty-five weeks; holidays take up a total of thirty calendar days. Summer vacations are the longest. School-leaving examinations at Level II (grade 9) and at Level III (grades 10 and 11) are held in June.

The school day starts at 8 a.m. and finishes at 3 p.m. But the schedule can vary from school to school and in some establishments students can study in shifts. It's also required in many schools to wear a school uniform or at least follow formal style. Apart from schools children can get primary and secondary education in gymnasiums. The requirements of such establishments are higher as a rule and they can differ in specialization. Alongside with comprehensive schools there are private schools which charge tuition fee. State schools are free of charge.

The basic task of school is to provide students with knowledge of particular subjects.  The typical primary school curriculum includes the following subjects: the Russian and Belarusian Languages and Literature, a Foreign Language, Maths, Drawing, Music, P. E. lessons. From the 5th form Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Geography and IT technologies are added to the curriculum. Besides gaining knowledge of various subjects children learn to think critically, analyse different phenomena, view problems from different angles and find possible solutions.

  After the 9th grade basic school graduates can continue their studies  at lyceums and vocational colleges,  where they can  get vocational training and secondary general education and become more focused on the practical side of education.

Everyone remembers his or her school and the first school day. It’s an unforgettable event. When I think of my school some pictures come to my memory: I’m on my way to school, flowers in hand, my parents accompany me, saying some kind words and encouraging me, many children with bags and flowers. Happiness, sadness and other emotions, or even love sick, we all can find in our school time. That's why school life is the best time in human life. During this time, we develop many things like physical development, emotions, relationships, and especially knowledge. Various subjects are studied at school. So we have a great variety of things to choose for our future interest in our professional life.

My school is an ordinary building in an old residential area, a 3-storied building with a spacious gym. Most of our classrooms are quite good, light and spacious. When you enter this or that classroom you understand what subject is taught here as you see special devices or equipment in every room.

At school we work at many things like physical development, emotions, relationships, and which is the most important we get knowledge. I work hard so as to gain appropriate knowledge and to pass my future exams successfully. School provides children not only with knowledge. It’s also a place where children spend their free time. There are many amateur groups or circles and sport sections in my school. Special teachers help children to develop their creative abilities either in sport sections, a school choir or theatre, or to improve English after classes. 

Going to school also means you will have a lot of friends. There is nothing better than belonging to a great group of friends and nothing worse than feeling like an outcast. Friends are important. They are shoulders for you to cry on when you are sad or happy so your sadness will be less, and your happiness will be twice. Going to school also means you will have new family, new moms who teach you many things about life. School is our second home. No one can ever forget it.

At the end of grade 11 (general secondary education) students sit the final examinations: the Russian or Belarusian Language, Mathematics, History of Belarus and Foreign Language. If everything is successful you'll receive the certificate of (complete) general secondary education and can enter a university to get a higher education. The choice of the university is one of the main decisions a person makes in his life as it determines his or her future. Thus, it's necessary to evaluate your abilities correctly. You should set your priorities in the spheres which you want to connect your future life with. It's important to listen to the opinion of your parents, peers or teachers but the last word should be yours!

The higher education system in Belarus is seen as prestigious due to its high quality and affordability. Everybody can find something to their liking. However, to enter a university one needs to take 3 tests. The subjects and the entrance level vary depending on the university. If the applicant's score is enough he or she will be enrolled in the establishment they have chosen. According to the score they will be  studying either for free receiving scholarships or a tuition fee will be charged from them. Most courses run for 5 years and students can choose to study full time, at evening classes or by correspondence. Grants are available for full-time students and scholarships are awarded to very gifted students.

We can say that Belarus has a developed system of education. Scientific and intellectual potential is the main strategic resource of Belarus. The republic guarantees its citizens the right to universal secondary education and creates means for further professional education. It tries to pay much attention to common human values, developing independent critical thinking instead of simple perception of information. The main principles of the educational system in Belarus are the priority of human values, national culture as the basis of education, humanism, sense of ecological purpose, scientific basis, support of gifted children and others.

Generally speaking, I should say that children have got opportunities to get good knowledge. The programmes of Belarusian secondary school comprise all the subjects necessary for basic knowledge so as to have a chance to choose any profession. Students may be involved in different educational activities which provide not only theoretical base but also practical skills: such as making different projects and presentations, research work, making speeches. The aim of our secondary education is also to learn social skills, to develop critical thinking, to develop understanding of other people, to prepare for life in the workplace and many others. Thus, those people who have got determination, persistence, self motivation will succeed in their future life.


Let’s talk about education.

1. What can you tell me about your school?

2. Does our system of education differ greatly from the British one?

3. Ask me about the school I went to when I was young.

4. Give advice to your friend on how to make school life more interesting and enjoyable.

5. Some people think that education is the key to success. Do you agree with it?

Let’s talk about education.

1. Tell me about the system of education in Belarus.

2. Do you like your school? Why (not)?

3. Your British friend has just entered college. What questions will you ask them?

4. What advice can you give me on how to prepare for exams well?

5. If you were to write an article about school problems, what would you write about?

Answer the questions in comments (at least 3-4 sentences to every question), if you are not signed up on Google, write your name and surname. Answers will be graded.

17 comments:

  1. 1) I've been studying at school 4 for 11 years. So, most of all I like the location of school cause the way from home to school usually takes 5 minutes. Also I'm quite pleased with school facilities and equipment. I have everything I need to study.
    2)I think that the quality depends on different reasons. Firstly, it depends on a person cause if he or she is a lazy person unable and unwilling to do smth how we could discuss the quality? Bit on the other hand some schools might not have all necessary facilities to provide students with. So, I can't agree or disagree.
    3) 1.Did you go to secondary school or to a different one?
    2. What is the brightest remembrance from the school years?
    3. Could you tell me about your favourite subjects?
    4. Did you get on well with your classmates?
    5. Was it difficult for you to study?
    4) To my mind to speak a foreign language and to do it clear, without any mistakes you should listen to natives at first. Just a quick video or audio in a day could improve your language. The second thing is speaking. Just try to speak as much as u can everyday. Those two easy actions could help u a lot.
    5) Life is full of problem. Always has been, always will because it's life. The school is not an exclusion. The only thing which can differ is a character of problems. For example someone may have problems connected with studying while others may have some issues with relationship between classmates.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awesome! You've got a ten!
      ✔But on the other hand
      Life is full of ✔problems

      Delete
  2. 1. I study at school No. 4 in the city of Soligorsk. I like my school because it has all the modern facilities and responsive teachers. My school also cooperates with a school from Denmark, which is also a huge plus.
    2. I agree that Belarusian secondary school education gives a person good knowledge. Our country has a well-developed education system. Of course, it depends on the student, whether he wants to get knowledge or not. It also depends on the teacher.
    3. What was your favorite subject in school?
    Did you ever skip your classes?
    How many people were there in your class?
    What exams did you take?
    Was your school well equipped?
    4. I would recommend watching videos and films with subtitles in a foreign language. Also communicate with foreigners, no matter where, on the Internet or in life. And just try to learn, ask for help from a teacher, classmates, tutor.
    5. I agree with them. In school, pupils have many different problems. One of them is academic failure and poor grades, because each student is worried about his future. Another problem is relationships with classmates, students often face incomprehensibility and bullying from classmates. Another problem is the relationship with the teachers, sometimes it is very easy to quarrel with the teacher because of the grade or something else, and it is difficult to make up.

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  3. 1)I like our school. There are very good and understanding teachers here. they also installed computers in the English office, that's cool.
    2)Good knowledge - I'm not sure, but a secondary school is quite enough for passing CT and admission to a university. In principle, the secondary school gives knowledge only for admission to the university, and in the university they already teach things that are related to the profession.
    3)What can you say about your school life?
    4)If you are bad at languages, you should try yourself in mathematics, chemistry, etc. Or study languages ​​harder. You can also study with a tutor if it possible.
    5)Yes, I agree. In addition to studying at school, you have to do your homework, and if you do not understand any subject, you need to hire a tutor, which will take away your free time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Good! You've got an eight! The third question requires asking questions.

      Delete


  4. 1) I study at school number 4 in the Soligorsk. There are a lot of kind and hardworking teachers, so that is the reason I like it. Also our school has a lot of electronic equipment in comparsion to other schools. There are computers in each classrom and 3 computer classes. (In addition, we have nice rolls in buffet��☝️)

    2) Yes, I agree. Of course, our education system isn't perfect, but it still not so bad. I'm already used to this type of education. The assimilation of knowledge depends not only on the education system, but also on the student. If student don't want to learn smth, it will be hard to make him do it. Teachers influence education too. If teacher not intrested in his subject, students won't get the material.

    3) What are your favourite subjects? Do you live far from school? How many lessons did you miss? Do your school have all the modern conveniences?

    4) I think he must try again. If the student didn't understand material he should ask a help either from teacher or friends. He needs to put in this more energy and maybe then it will work.

    5) Yes, I agree with them. It's hard to find a student who have no such problems. And this problems depends not only on students. They may not have enough time for homework or don't understand some lessons. Communication problems still exist, so other ones may even deal with bulling, do I need to say that this is very serious problem and it can influence mental health.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well-done! You've got a nine!What ✔were your favourite subjects? ✔Did you live far from school? Did your school have all the modern conveniences?

      Delete
  5. 1. I’ve been studying in school number 4 for 11 years and I like it. We have a very amazing repair and the location of the classes. We have convenient prices in the dining room and the lesson schedule is also convenient. I’ll never forget my school.
    2. I can’t say about other schools and their education, because everyone has their own methods for transferring knowledge. I believe that the level of education at our school is very high. Our teachers carefully select the materials for our lessons. We love and respect our teachers very much.
    3. 1) What level of studying did you have? 2)Did you like your school? 3)Did you have school uniform? 4)What were your favourite lessons?
    4. I would advise the student to turn to the teacher for help. I also think it’s necessary to read books and watch movies in the original in a foreign language. I think he/she should do his/her homework carefully, listen in class and look for additional materials.
    5. I can't say that students now have a lot of problems. I think students have some difficulties. However, I think it's much easier for our generation to learn, because we have access to the Internet, which makes life very easy.

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  6. 1. I have been studying at school No. 4 for almost 11 years. The location of the school building is very convenient for me, so it isn't takes much time to get there. In many classes there are special devices to make learning more fascinating.
    2.I agree to some extent. It all depends on the person's desire to study. But school provides all students with the same conditions and opportunities for learning.
    3.What subjects do you like /dislike the most? Who is your favorite teacher? How many classmates did you have? Have you ever missed a class for no good reason? Do you follow the business style of clothing at school?
    4.Be very careful in language lessons, listen to the teacher and mark what you don't understand, then work on it, read more, and practice at every opportunity. If you can't solve the problem yourself, ask your classmate or teacher to explain the topic again
    5.Yes, I agree with them. I know that many people have problems in planning their time. Also, a person may be afraid to communicate with other people. I think that it is impossible to do everything without support and help from relatives.

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  7. 1)Our school has advantages and disadvantages.The biggest plus is its location. It takes me about 5 minutes to get there on time. Minuse it is the fact that we are constantly annoyed by being late, even if we are 2 seconds late
    2)In my opinion, rather 50/50. Education often depends on the student, on his interest in the subject. But also from the teacher. If the teacher is bored and sluggishly explains strictly according to the textbook, and then each lesson asks to learn something by heart. Then it discourages any desire to study this subject. So I have no consensus about secondary education.
    3)
    1.What's your favorite subject at school?
    2.What exams did you take after school?
    3.Have you had any memorable moments of your school life?
    4.What's your worst teacher?
    4)Speaking specifically about English, I would advise you to communicate in English with real people. And for writing, learn the rules. For example, I used to speak with foreigners in games in English, by the way, it's quite fun to chat with them.
    5)In some points I can agree. Unfortunately, it happens that the grades may not depend on you. The teacher might not like you and he will low your grade.
    Many people get hysterical about exams after 11 grade.

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  8. 1. I have been studying at school 4 for almost 5 years. Our school provides us with everything we need to get a good education. It is equipped with modern devices to make learning not boring.
    2. I agree that Belarusian secondary school education provides students with good knowledge to pass the school exams and the CT exams. It helps to get higher education. From my point of view the quality of the education is also depends on students' intentions.
    3. Could you tell me about the brightest moment of your school life?
    What were your favourite subjects?
    What can you say about the quality of the education you got?
    Do you keep in touch with any of your classmates?
    4. I can give a student who is not very good at languages just general advice - to speak, listen and read more, devote more tome to languages. But don't forget if you are not interested in learning languages you will never achieve great results.
    5. I agree that some young people have lots of problems at school. They can face with bullying from classmates, misunderstanding with teachers or bad marks. As students spend a considerable part of their lives at school, these problems can greatly affect them.

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  9. Agatha Berezovskaya
    1. All schools provide as with basic information that all people must know to pass exams and live happily. What about our school it is regular place for getting the knowledge and going on to learn further. I consider my school .. more or less comfortable (for 11 years I got used to it) for studing. Our principal do her best for making our school more improved and convenient. Most of all i like our english class and library. Calm and beautiful!

    2. No, it is not. Or.. may be? Sometimes we have a lot of useless information in books but we do not have nessesary. We go through many topics, and it is good, but sometimes a minimum of time is given to study one of the most difficult topics. That's why to have a really good exams' results we need to either study by ourselves or with tutors. Of course, our schools are not bad at all. But sometimes there is such a mess in the educational process that you just have to sit and think about who offered it and why do I need it. That's it.

    3.
    Do you like your school?

    Is it hard for you to study all over the time?

    Could you tell me something about your favorite subjects? Subjects you hate?

    How many time it takes to you to do the homework?

    How many people do you have in your class?

    4. Just trying to read something and put the effort on studing English. Watch the videos, films without subtitles and trying to find friends who can help you to learn the English with you. Ideally, it should be a person who also learns English like you..because it's a little embracing to make mistakes while speaking with native speakers.

    5. Of course, I agree. We have a lot of problems. The most awful problem is a problem with society. Some people are too shy or too noisy and and society doesn't accept them. Some people are very aggressive, uncontrollable or just not like everyone else.. Welll, what about children who just don't understand the topic and require a special approach to them? Sometimes teachers don't understand that their that their explanations are not clear to everyone. Some childrens are trying to do their best but teachers bo not see it. So, there are a lot of problems and we must deal with it.

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  10. 1)
    I have been studying at school number 4 for 11 years, this school is with an English bias. All classrooms are equipped with good facilities, all teachers explain clearly in the lessons. For me the journey from home to school takes 3 minutes, it's advantages for me.
    2)
    I think that in Belarus there is could be better secondary education. Because at school they give a lot of knowledge that will not be useful in life.Вut in general we have a good education system.
    3)Do you have a good relationship with teachers?
    What was your favorite subject in school?
    Do you like your school?
    4)
    I would advise you to read more, watch various TV shows with subtitles, ask for help from a teacher or friends, try to communicate with native speakers of a foreign language.
    5)
    I think yes, many have problems with their studies, some have bad relationships with classmates or teachers, but these problems need to be dealt with

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well-done! You've got a nine!
      there ✔could be
      ✔Did you have a good relationship with teachers?
      ✔Did you like your school?

      Delete
  11. 1) I have been studying at this school for 11 years. My school is located near my house and it is very convenient. I have very kind and qualified teachers in my school. The school is full of various amenities.
    2) Yes, I agree with that. Belarusian secondary education fully gives knowledge to continue higher education. But everyone has the right to decide whether to continue to study in order to achieve something more or not.
    3) Do you like studying at this school? Why? What grade are you in? What is the main plus of this school.
    4) You need to try harder, sort out your problems in learning a language with a teacher. For additional education, you can do additional training on the Internet.
    5) There may be problems for everyone at school. I agree that they are. Not everyone can understand all school lessons, difficulties may arise.

    ReplyDelete