Topics for discussion: An early bird catches the worm. Elaborate on this idea.

The saying “An early bird catches the worm” is a well-known proverb that emphasizes the importance of acting early to achieve success. It suggests that people who start their day or work early tend to have more opportunities and better results than those who delay or procrastinate. This idea is relevant in many aspects of life, including studying, working, and pursuing personal goals.

Firstly, waking up early can give individuals a useful head start on their daily tasks. For example, students who wake up early often have more time to revise their lessons and plan their day. This extra time helps them to feel prepared and less stressed during exams or homework deadlines. Similarly, workers who start their workday early are often more productive because they have fewer distractions and can finish tasks more efficiently. In this way, being an “early bird” can lead to better performance and success.

Moreover, acting early allows people to take advantage of opportunities that may not be available later. For instance, many job openings or business deals are announced in the morning, and being ready to act quickly can make a difference. Entrepreneurs and investors who start their day early often spot potential opportunities before others do. This proactive approach helps them stay ahead of competitors and achieve their ambitions. Therefore, the proverb highlights that those who seize opportunities early are more likely to succeed.

Furthermore, getting up early is linked to positive habits such as better health and mental well-being. Early risers tend to have more time for exercise, healthy breakfasts, and planning their day. These routines contribute to increased energy levels, improved mood, and reduced stress. In contrast, people who sleep late or procrastinate may feel more tired and overwhelmed. Consequently, waking up early not only helps in achieving goals but also promotes overall well-being.

However, some people believe that success is mainly about working hard and being dedicated, regardless of the time they start. While this is true to some extent, the proverb reminds us that discipline and punctuality often play a crucial role. Being an early bird requires consistency and effort, which can develop good habits that benefit many areas of life.

In conclusion, the saying “An early bird catches the worm” encourages people to wake up early and take prompt action. By doing so, individuals can get a head start, seize opportunities, and develop healthy routines. Although everyone has their own most productive hours, waking up early remains a symbol of discipline, ambition, and a proactive attitude. Ultimately, adopting this mindset can lead to greater success and personal fulfillment.

1. Is time-management important in your everyday life?

Yes, time-management is very important in my everyday life. It helps me to organize my tasks and avoid feeling stressed. When I plan my day, I can finish my schoolwork, hobbies, and chores more efficiently. Good time-management also allows me to have some free time to relax and spend with friends or family. Without it, I might forget important deadlines or feel overwhelmed. By setting priorities and sticking to a schedule, I can balance my responsibilities and enjoy my leisure time. Overall, managing time well makes my life more productive and less stressful.

2. Are you satisfied with the way you spend your free time?

Overall, I am satisfied with the way I spend my free time. I try to balance relaxing activities with productive ones. I enjoy reading books, watching movies, or listening to music, which helps me relax and de-stress. I also like doing sports or going for walks outside, which keeps me active and healthy. Sometimes, I use my free time to learn new skills or hobbies, such as cooking or painting. However, I think I could spend more time helping others or volunteering. Overall, I believe my free time is well spent, and it helps me recharge for upcoming challenges.

3. How far ahead do you plan your future?

I try to plan my future a few years ahead, but not in every detail. For example, I have set goals for my education and career, such as finishing school and choosing a profession I enjoy. I also think about where I want to live and what kind of lifestyle I would like to have. However, I understand that life can be unpredictable, so I stay flexible and ready to adjust my plans if needed. While I believe planning is important for success, I also think it is good to leave some room for new opportunities and experiences.

10th grade Advanced. Unit 9. Lesson 6. Fairs and exhibitions.

👉Communicative area: speaking about visiting exhibitions

👉Active grammar: plurals of nouns

1. Do you often visit exhibitions?

2. What kind of exhibitions do you prefer? (art, books, animals…)

3. Do you read exhibition reviews in the press or on the Internet?

Read the article about Minsk International Book Fair and say:

1. What country did Theresa Suslov represent at the Minsk International Book Fair? 

2. What American writers were chosen to represent the country and why?

3. Have you read any of these books?

Annual Minsk International Book Fair

by Theresa Suslov

    For the last twenty years, the city of Minsk has held an international book fair. This event allows people in Minsk and surrounding areas to browse and purchase books, mingle with like-minded people, listen to poetry read by both Belarusian poets and those from abroad, and finally, meet with people from all around the world and learn about their cultures.

         The book fair was held inside the large BelExpo exhibition hall. Inside were over one hundred booths which housed representatives exhibiting and discussing literature from their native countries. Some of the larger booths were occupied by representatives from France, Iran, Russia, Germany and of course, Belarus. Other countries represented at the fair were Cuba, Poland, Italy, India and many more.

         I was honoured to have been asked to help represent the United States of America at the book fair. The theme and title of our exhibit was The Eighty Eight Books That Shaped America. These eighty eight books were chosen by the Library of Congress as having been influential in the shaping of American identity.

          Books at this exhibit spanned two centuries, offering literature from the birth of the nation through present day. The books chosen and exhibited were a combination of fiction and non-fiction. Some examples of the fiction represented were books by Mark Twain, such as Huckleberry Finn, John Steinbeck who wrote The Grapes of Wrath, and Zora Neale Hurston, the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

           The fiction transported readers to various times in the history of the United States. John Steinbeck wrote about the Depression Years of the 1930s. Ms Zora Neale Hurston also lived and wrote during that time, an era dubbed the Harlem Renaissance when black writers and artists in the United States were becoming recognised for their phenomenal talents.

        Non-fiction books allowed readers a window into many of the nation’s social issues and civil movements. For example, there was the writing of Frederick Douglass, a former slave who had taught himself to read and write. He wrote a moving chronicle of the daily horrendous struggles of those caught in the web of slavery.

            Other non-fiction works touched on timeless themes such as 

ways to effectively manage money, women’s health and ways to combat alcoholism.

           The book fair provided three wonderful days for book lovers to experience the world in one convenient place.

10th grade Advanced. Unit 9. Lesson 5. Housing in Belarus

👉Communicative area: speaking about different types of houses in Belarus

1. What type of house do you live in? 

2. What other types of houses can you find in the neighbouring area? 

3. Do you think it is more comfortable to live in a block of flats or a detached house?

Read the text and answer the questions: 

1. What kind of house does Thomas Warner, a British teacher, live in? What houses does he like most and why? 

2. What unexpected problems does Thomas have because he is not accustomed to living in a block of flats?

My worthless opinions about housing in Belarus

By Thomas Warner

         I arrived in Belarus at the end of August, and have since learnt many things about the place and its people. I have discovered these truths by exploring the city and by interacting with its inhabitants. But like you, dear reader, I must sometimes return home to rest. So I get on the bus, travel a few stops and at the appropriate moment I get off and walk the short distance to my front door. Perhaps also like you, I live in what is referred to as a “block”. My particular block has nine floors and twelve separate entrances. It (probably) contains hundreds of individual flats, which are (probably) all very similar to the one that I live in. There are two bedrooms, a hall, a bathroom and a kitchen. It is a comfortable and cosy arrangement, and serves my purposes very well. As a result of the concentration of people and of the lessons learnt over centuries of Belarusian winters, the flat is always very warm – to the extent that I often choose to sleep with the window open, even when the outside temperature seems intimidating (to my English eyes, at least).

         As I live on the 8th floor, it is necessary for me to use the lift when I leave or return to my flat. For me this is rather novel, as indeed is the experience of living in a flat more generally. Before coming to Minsk, I had lived almost exclusively in houses and used lifts very infrequently. For this reason, I sometimes worry that I am not following the proper lift etiquette on those occasions when I have to share the journey with a stranger. The questions; “Should I start a conversation?” “What should I be looking at?” and “Am I standing too close?” dance around my mind as me and my new companion stand awkwardly in our little box.

          From my observations, it seems that most Minskers live in a similar style of accommodation to mine. All over the city there are blocks: tall ones, short ones, pink ones, green ones, ones instrange shapes, blocks that look like they were finished yesterday and ones that look ancient. And so much construction! In every direction, Minsk seems to be expanding. I’m told that certain parts of the city, ones with higher concentrations of blocks, are known as “sleeping areas”, though it seems to me like a curious term for these places. I believe that the expression is something similar to a commuter suburb in English, but referring to them as “sleeping areas” seems to relegate the importance of some of the pleasant things in life, like taking one’s children to school or eating some delicious kasha for breakfast. Perhaps it is a reflection of the planned nature of Minsk, that there are specific working and sleeping areas. 

           There are areas of Minsk however, which are not “planned” in that sense. I am referring to the charming, colourful little houses which can be found clustered in small groups all around the city. I have been told by friends that these houses are rather more attractive from the outside, than they are from the inside. They have antiquated heating systems, are difficult to maintain and are even more difficult to sell at a profit. Nonetheless, I feel a great sense of comfort on those occasions that I find myself walking through a patch of these delightful old relics. Blocks may be necessary to fulfil the city’s housing shortage, and they’re certainly more economical – but the sight of smoking chimneys on an old cottage surely does more to warm the heart on a cold winter’s morning. 

           Well, reader, its time for me to stop telling you about housing in your own country, but I do hope I haven’t bored or annoyed you with anything I’ve written. If for some reason you are annoyed, you already have some clues about where I live – I shall expect a visit! It’s not a bad area of the city, there’s a big Rublyovski and there are beautiful, icicled old houses sitting harmoniously next to the apartment blocks. I sincerely hope that even in the future, when the city is covered in these blocks, that there are still some areas where people can see real houses and can feel as jolly as I do when I’m strolling past a row of them on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  

10th grade Advanced. Unit 9. Lesson 3. Dream big. Go global. Stay local

👉Communicative area: discussing the role of youth in modern society

Quiz created by Veronika Bebekh with GoConqr

10th grade Advanced. Unit 9. Lesson 1. The Portrait of the country

👉Communicative area: giving general information  about Belarus

Look at the map. Tell a foreigner about the geographical position of Belarus.

10th grade Advanced. Unit 9. Vocabulary

10th grade Advanced. Unit 8. Lesson 4. Talk to an editor (Grammar: Reported speech)

👉Communicative area: reporting questions and statements about newspaper content

👉Active grammar: Reported questions and statements

Reported (Indirect) Speech 
Косвенная речь

Прямая речь – это дословное цитирование говорящего или пишущего, его высказывание, которое в предложении заключается в кавычки. 

Вводная часть предложения с прямой речью поясняет, чья речь передается: 

Tom said: “I’m going to award myself with a cup of leisurely coffee after this hard work”. – Том сказал: «Я собираюсь наградить себя чашечкой неспешного кофе после этой тяжелой работы».

Косвенная речь – это передача говорящим или пишущим чужой речи с сохранением ее основного содержания. 

Синтаксически косвенная речь представляет собой придаточное предложение [subordinate clause], которое передает чужую речь – повествование, вопросы, просьбы / приказы – в составе сложноподчиненного предложения. 

Главное предложение [main clause] поясняет, чью речь, чье высказывание передает говорящий: 

Tom said (говорящий цитирует речь Тома – то, что сказал Том) that he was going to award himself with a cup of leisurely coffee after that hard work (содержание речи Тома).

 

Главное и придаточное предложения соединяются с помощью различных союзов и союзных слов. Схема сложно подчиненного предложения выглядит следующим образом: 

(Main clause) Conj. [subordinate clause]. 

(She asked me) why [I hadn’t come in time]. 

Чтобы передать чье-либо высказывание, выраженное утвердительным или отрицательным повествовательным предложением: 

• необходимо ввести косвенную речь, используя в главном предложении один из следующих глаголов: 
  

  say (says, said), answer(-s, -ed), add(-s, -ed), report(-s, -ed), stress(-es, -ed), write (writes, wrote) that / why / where …

  tell (tells, told) smb, inform(-s, -ed) smb that / why / where …

  let (lets, let) smb know that / why / where …

  explain(-s, -ed) to smb, wrote to smb that / why / where … 

    
• если в главном предложении используется глагол, вводящий косвенную речь, в настоящем времени – Present Simple, то в придаточном предложении времена, использованные в прямой речи, необходимо оставить без изменения в косвенной речи, например: 

Mary always says: “I do my homework every day, but yesterday was an exception. I didn’t have any free time at all”. Mary always says that she does her homework every day, but yesterday was an exception. She didn’t have any free time at all. 

My friend immediately says to me: “I am going to the cinema with you tomorrow”. My friend immediately tells me (that) he is going to the cinema with me tomorrow. 

• необходимо обратить внимание на личные и притяжательные место имения и заменить их по смыслу: 

I (do) my (homework) – she (does) her (homework), I (didn’t have) – She (didn’t have), I (am going) – he (is going), (with) you – (with) me. 

• необходимо обратить внимание на согласование подле жащего со сказуемым в косвенной речи, что требует измене ния форм глаголов: I do – she does, I am going – he is going. 
• если в главном предложении используется глагол, вводящий косвенную речь, в прошедшем времени – Past Simple, то в придаточном предложении, т.е. в косвенной речи, необходимо осуществить сдвиг времен в прошлое в соответствии с правилом согласования времен Sequence of Tenses: 

Present Simple 👉 Past Simple                                                      

Present Continuous 👉 Past Continuous

Present Perfect 👉   Past Perfect 

Future Simple (will V) 👉  Future Simple-in-the-Past (would V)

can 👉 could

may 👉 might

must / had to 👉 had to

Past Simple 👉 Past Perfect

Past Continuous 👉Past Perfect Continuous

• необходимо изменить наречия времени и места, а также указательные местоимения: 

today / tonight 👉 that day / that night

now 👉 then, at that moment

this (morning) 👉 that (morning)

tomorrow 👉 the next day

yesterday 👉 the day before

(three days) ago 👉 (three days) before

last (week) 👉 the (week) before

next (week) 👉  the following (week)

here 👉 there

this / these 👉 that / those 

I regularly repair my garage. – He said (that) he regularly repaired his garage. 

I am repairing my garage now. – He said (that) he was repairing his garage. 

I have already repaired my garage. – He said (that) he had already repaired his garage. 

I repaired my garage yesterday. – He said (that) he had repaired his garage the day before. 

I have to do this job. – He said (that) he had to do that job. 

I won’t have time to do the work tomorrow. – He said (that) he wouldn’t have time to do the work the next day. 

Не всегда нужно изменять время глагола, когда он используется в косвенной речи: 

• если сообщается о какой-либо ситуации и предполагается, что она все еще существует, например: 

Mark said: “Rome is more beautiful than Paris”. – Mark said that Rome is more beautiful than Paris. (Он все еще так думает.) 

Diana said: “I want to be a movie star”. – Diana said that she wants to be a movie star. (Она до сих пор хочет стать кино звездой.) Diana said that she wanted to be a movie star. 

Изменение глагола на прошедшее время будет тоже правильным. Но использовать прошедшее время необходимо, если к моменту разговора ситуация изменилась. 

Чтобы задать косвенный вопрос, необходимо: 

• определить: 
• в каком времени стоит вопрос в прямой речи; 
• какой это тип вопроса – общий, альтернативный или специальный: 
• ввести косвенный вопрос, используя в главном предложении один из следующих глаголов: 

• ask(-s, -ed), wonder(-s, -ed) 
• want(-s, -ed) to know / to learn / to hear / find out 
• am (is, are) / was (were) interested to know / to learn / to hear / find out  

•  поставить союз: 
•  if, whether – для общих и альтернативных вопросов; 
• what, who, when, why, where, how, и т.д. – для специальных вопросов; 
• изменить порядок слов в прямом вопросе, чтобы превратить его в повествовательное предложение, одновременно правильно согласовывая подлежащее и сказуемое (если глагол в главном предложении стоит в Present Simple) или изменяя его время в соответствии с правилом согласования времен (если глагол в главном предложении стоит в Past Simple). 

Например: 

 “Do you love me?” the girl asks her boyfriend. (Это общий вопрос в Present Simple.) 

The girl asks her boyfriend / The girl wants to know. (Выбирается глагол и его время в главном предложении – Present Simple): 

The girl wants to know if (Выбирается союз if / whether для общего вопроса.) 

The girl wants to know if her boyfriend loves her. (Вопрос Do you love me? заменяется повествовательным предложением.) 

The girl asked her boyfriend whether he loved her. (Здесь глагол главного предложения стоит в Past Simple.) 

He asked her: “What is your favourite colour?” – He asked her what her favourite colour was. 

 
 Команда или просьба в косвенной речи выражается инфинитивом с частицей to: tell / ask / order somebody (not) to do something: 

The teacher says / said: “Don’t miss your classes!” – 

The teacher tells / told her students not to miss their classes.

Reported Questions Exercise 1

Reported Questions Exercise 2

Reported Questions Exercise 3

10th grade Advanced. Unit 8. Lesson 3. What kind of news do you prefer?

👉Communicative area: listening to people who speak about reading newspapers and explaining one’s own reading habits and preferences; giving advice about (on) reading newspapers

👉Active vocabulary: look through, tend to do something, scan (scan through), find out, go on, check, keep (somebody) up to date with, bring somebody up to date with, go through something, turn to something, focus on, pick up, put off, there and then

Is it important to read news? Why (not)? 

Is it interesting and exciting to learn what is going on in the world? Why (not)?

10th grade Advanced. Unit 8. Lesson 1. What is mass media?

👉Communicative area: exploring and explaining what mass media is

👉Active vocabulary:  the (mass) media, multimedia, reach, 

outreach, influence, credibility

1. Can you name different types of mass media around you?

2. Which media do you use most?

3. What do you mainly get from these media?

4. How do media affect your daily activities?

5. Which media do you find most influential or interesting?

6. How media has changed your way of communicating?

 

Quiz created by Veronika Bebekh with GoConqr

Read the text about mass media and explain the meaning of the words in italics. 

Mass media is used to communicate ideas, thoughts, or to inform people about different events and news in all spheres of life. Transmitting information is possible with the use of modern means of communication. Throughout history means of communication appeared as a result of advancing technologies, from pigeon post thousands of years ago to print and to the greatest inventions of the 19th – 21st centuries, such as the telegraph and the telephone, the radio and TV, text messaging and the Internet. 

The Internet revolutionised our life. It appeared in the 1970s in the United States, and it became known and available to general public in the early 1990s. At the beginning of 2020, about 4.5 billion, which is more than a half of the world’s population, were Internet users. The Internet gave rise to the development of new forms of distance communication: LinkedIn – 2002, MySpace – 2003, Facebook – 2004, YouTube – 2005, Twitter – 2006, Instagram – 2010, Zoom Video Communications – 2011. In 2020 Zoom’s daily online meetings participants were over 300 million. 

It’s obvious that the 21st century saw a real boom in developing various social networks, podcasts, blogs and vlogs, and a variety of platforms for distance learning, both national and international. These new forms of communication make it 127 possible for any person in the world to create their own content and place it on different websites, including their own. 

Despite huge amounts of information on the Internet, the role of traditional mass media is still significant in influencing people’s minds and behaviour. At the same time, the mass media have adapted to the requirements of the new reality and every newspaper, radio station or TV channel have moved their presence to the Internet to increase their outreach through web sites, apps and podcasts. Online newspapers take advantage of multimedia possibilities, including not only images, but audios and videos as well. 

At the core of the media is storytelling. Stories are told by correspondents, journalists, writers, show masters and show guests, scientists, podcast hosts, etc. Though mass media has interactive formats, such as interviews, talk shows, commenting on pieces of news, videos, social network posts, it is the author of the story who influences the minds of readers or listeners most of all. So, credibility becomes issue number one in mass media, which is two-sided: credibility of the source of information, and credibility of the storyteller.

1. What is the main purpose of mass media?

2. How has the means of communication evolved throughout history?

3. Name some of the major inventions of the 19th to 21st centuries that improved communication.

4. When did the Internet appear, and when did it become accessible to the general public?

5. Approximately how many people were Internet users worldwide at the beginning of 2020?

6. Can you list some online platforms that emerged in the early 2000s?

7. How many people participated in Zoom’s daily online meetings in 2020?

8. What new forms of communication have developed in the 21st century?

9. How do social networks and online platforms affect content creation?

10. Despite the abundance of information on the Internet, why does traditional mass media still hold significance?

11. How have traditional mass media adapted to the digital age?

12. What multimedia possibilities do online newspapers use?

13. Who are the main storytellers in the media according to the text?

14. What formats of interaction are mentioned as part of mass media?

15. Why is credibility considered the most important issue in mass media?

What is your favourite media? Why? Say 10–12 sentences to answer this question.

Quiz created by Veronika Bebekh with GoConqr

10th grade Advanced. Unit 7. Lesson 9. Maxims

👉Communicative area: reading for detail, planning for a project

10th grade Advanced. Unit 7. Lesson 8. The great people of Belarus

👉Communicative area: listening for detail, talking about the great people of Belarus

👉Active vocabulary: ancestor, descendant, prominent, to endure, hardship, legacy, to have an impact

What do these people have in common?

10th grade Advanced. Unit 7. Lesson 7. Business geniuses

👉Communicative area: discussing business geniuses; reading and listening for gist and detail

👉Active vocabulary: entrepreneur, conventional

👉Active grammar: Conditional III

 Read the article on the topic. What qualities should a business genius possess? 

What is a genius? A 17th century English poet wrote: “Genius is above correctness”. A genius is able to ignore conventional ideas about what’s possible and to … dream. By realising their dreams, geniuses succeed in redefining of what’s possible. In 17 December, 1903, the Wright brothers made their first flight. It lasted 12 seconds. On 12 April, 1961, Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth. If it hadn’t been for the Wright Brothers, Gagarin probably wouldn’t have made his flight. Within less than six decades, humanity had gone from never having flown, to sending a man into space. 

So, what does a business genius look like? Steve Jobs, the Apple founder seems to be the best example. Mr Jobs wasn’t conventionally smart. His success highlights an interesting difference between intelligence and genius. His imagination was instinctive, unexpected, and, at times, magical. It was brought about by intuition, not analytical powers. For him, experience was more important than analysis. He didn’t study data or numbers, he could guess what lay ahead. 

How is the genius different from the dreamer? It is not enough to have new ideas. They have to be put into practice. Steve Jobs didn’t have the idea for the PC, but he realised that the PC needed to be much more user-friendly than his competitors’ computers were. The Macintosh was small, cute and easy to use. Just as Apple’s music players, phones and tablet computers. Apple wasn’t the first into these markets, but its product seemed to be the best one out, embodying the unity of perfect form and easy function. 

So, a genius isn’t necessarily the smartest person in the room, but the one with the imagination and persistence to translate a smart idea into the best product. It’s someone who believes they are right when everyone around them is calling them a fool. A successful entrepreneur doesn’t have to get a million-dollar small business idea, but they have to turn the idea into a million dollars. 

To become a successful entrepreneur, you need to believe in yourself even when the so-called experts tell you you’re doomed to fail. You need the ability to think “What if?” and be smart enough to know how to achieve your dream. A good entrepreneur, like a genius, is a dreamer who’s prepared to get things done.

1. How did a 17th-century English poet define genius?

2. What are some notable achievements mentioned in the text that demonstrate human progress?

3. According to the text, what is a key difference between intelligence and genius?

4. Why does the text suggest that Steve Jobs was a business genius?

5. What qualities did Steve Jobs rely on instead of analytical powers?

6. What example does the text give to show that having new ideas isn’t enough?

7. How did Apple’s products embody the idea of genius in business?

8. According to the text, what is the main characteristic that distinguishes a genius from a dreamer?

9. What does the text say about the importance of belief in oneself for entrepreneurs?

10. How does the text define a successful entrepreneur?

1. What kind of prize has been set up? 

2. How big is the prize? How does it compare with the Nobel Prize? 3. Why was the prize established? 

4. What made Yuri Milner decide to set up the prize? 

5. Who sponsors the prize together with him? 

6. What was the recipients’ reaction to getting the prize? 

7. What would you do if you received such a prize? 

8. What is the attitude of the news item’s author to business geniuses?