Haven't you got any motivation for learning English yet? If not, see Jay Walker's film.

View the video on education problems round the world to be ready for further discussion in class.

Quotation of the week:

No matter how much you think you hate school, you'll always miss it.

You have already got information on principle stages of education in Great Britain. See the videofilm to illustrate your knowledge.

My congratulations on  St. Valentine’s Day

Love quotations

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet (Plato)

He who wants to do good, knocks at the gate, he who loves, finds the door open (Rabindranath Tagore)

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies (Aristotel)

We don’t love to be loved; we love to love (Leo Buscaglia)

Love is the greatest refreshment in life (Picasso)

Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the gods (Plato)

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination (Voltaire)

Attention is the most basic form of love, through it we bless and are blessed (John Tarrant)

Do you know the history of this holiday? There are a lot of legends about St. Valentine and celebration of the holiday. Read one of them.

One of the most popular legend says, Valentine or Valentinus lived in Rome when  the country was under the reign of Emperor Claudius II. It is said that Claudius engaged Rome in several unpopular and bloody campaigns. To maintain a strong army, Claudius continuously needed to recruit soldiers. But to his disappointment Claudius found that most men were unwilling to join army because of their strong attachment with their wives and their families. To get rid of the problem, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements in Rome. A romantic at heart priest, Valentine, secretly arranged marriages of young boys and girls and defied this unjustified and callous order of Claudius. When the Emperor discovered this defiance, he put Valentine behind bars and he was finally executed on February 14, about 270 AD. For his great service, Valentine was named a saint after his death.

                                  Match English love idioms and their meaning

1. Love conquers all	a. the romantic part of your life
2. Love is blind	b. a cliff from where lovers jump into a canyon together
3.Love is where you find it	c. love is strong enough to overcome all problems
4. Lovelies	d. people do not see the faults in their lovers
5. Love life	e. ladies, women, girls
6. Lovers’ Leap	f. love happens, love is not planned

                                        Match Russian Equivalents

1. Above all, love all	a. Любовь побеждает всё
2. Love will find the way	b. Любить – значит дарить
3.Love makes the world go round	c. Превыше всего любви волшебство
4. Love conquers all	d. Без любви, как без солнца, нельзя прожить
5. Love is giving	e. Для любви нет преград

Tatiana's Day

My congratulations on Tatiana's Day and Student's Day

Back in 1755 year, when the Julian calendar was still on, on the 12-th of January according to the old calendar and on the 25-th of January according to the new one empress Elizabeth signed an order to establish the most popular and premium Moscow State University that soon afterwards became the center of Russian culture. Later on in a campus of the university there was built a church of martyr Tatiana and the saint herself was declared as a patroness of Russian studentship. And since then by the students themselves this day was considered as the day when all mid-term exams in most of Russian universities were over and days of heavy partying could be started. In 2005, the 25-th of January was recognized as official Day of Studentship across the Russian Federation.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

                                                          

                                                                 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

                                        A good time is coming, I wish it were here,          

                                        The very best time in the whole of the year;

I’m counting each day on my fingers and thumbs –

The weeks that must past before Santa Claus comes.

American Christmas

Christmas, the most joyous of American holidays, is celebrated on December 25 to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. Almost all workers have Christmas Day off, and students have a two to three week vacation for Christmas and New Year.

Early Puritans didn’t celebrate it. Celebrating Christmas became popular in the 19th century, after many German and Irish immigrants had come to America.

Street lights and store windows are decorated in the traditional Christmas colors of red and green Snowmen, Santa Clauses and Nativity scenes appear in many shop windows. Many people decorate their homes with colored lights and evergreens.

People send Christmas cards to their families, relatives, friends and business customers. They may put the received cards on the wall, the mantle or hang them on a string, as Christmas cards are very colorful and beautiful. During the Christmas season, Christmas carols are heard all over: on radio, on TV, in church and at school. Following an English tradition, many people walk from house to house singing traditional carols, such as “Joy to the World”, “Silent Night”, and “Oh Come, All Ye Faithful”.

Many people do Christmas shopping in December. It is said that stores make one quarter of all their sales during the Christmas season. Most shopping centers have huge crowds before Christmas. There is often a nice Christmas Tree, and usually a man dressed in a Santa Claus suit. Little children tell him what they want for Christmas.  Many people celebrate Christmas at home and in church. Usually children hang stockings near the fireplace, hoping that Santa will fill them with candy and toys. On Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, family members gather around the Christmas Tree and open the Christmas gifts that are piled under the Tree. Early Christmas afternoon they sit down for a traditional Christmas dinner. They enjoy turkey or ham, sweet potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce, nuts, fruitcake, plum pudding, and mince pie.

Famous people about Christmas

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.                                                                                                                                                  Charles Dickens

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.                                                                     Agnes M.Pharo

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas.                                                                                       

                                                                                                  W.C. Jones

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

                                                                    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.                                                                                                  Hamilton Wright Mabie

Love came down at Christmas,

Love all lovely, Love Divine;

Love was born at Christmas;

Star and angels gave the sign.

                                                                 Christina Rossetti

It's interesting to know

Christmas tree lights

In 1917, when Albert Sadacca was 15, there was a terrible fire in New York City, it had been caused by a Christmas tree catching fire, for in those days Christmas trees were still lit by placing candles on the branches. Now it just so happened that Albert's family, who had come from Spain, had a novelty business selling wicker (плетенные) cages with imitation birds in them that lit up. Albert suggested to his parents that they begin making eletric lights for Christmas trees. They had lots of bulbs on hand, and it would be much safer then using candles. The Sadaccas thought Albert had a good idea, but only one hundred strings of electric Christmas tree lights were sold in the first year. After Albert thought of painting the bulbs red, green, and other colors instead of using plain glass, business picked up sharply. Albert became the head of a multi-million dollar company.

Quotation of the Week

An education isn't how much you have committed to memory. Or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't.
                                                                                                                 Anatole France
Translate and use these sayings:
1. If you want to kill time, why not try working it to death.
2. Experience is what prevents you from making the same mistake again right away.

We continue studying English idioms with the word "line":
To line - to put lining in clothes.
E.g. This coat is lined with silk.
To drop a line to - to write to ...
E.g. I must drop a line to my uncle to thank him for having us.
To draw the line - to insist upon a certain limit somewhere.
E.g. I'll allow him to come here. I've said so before, and I mean it. One must draw the line somewhere.
To underline - to stress.
E.g. - His tones underlined his meaning so that no one could mistake what he meant.
To get a line on - to get a clue to ...
E.g. You must investigate this development. You may quite easily get a line on the man you want.
Hold the line - wait with the receiver to your ear (telephone).
E.g. The line is bad. The voice is not clear because of (telephone) interference or noise.

Quotation of the Week
The more we come to know, the more we realize how little we know. The more we understand, the more clear it is that everything we have learned is nothing compared to what we have yet to learn. Behind each locked door we have managed to open are still more doors and more locks, and so on ad infinitum. So science is not an arrival, but a journey. It is not a fixed body of knowledge or growing shelf of facts and theories, but an infinite series of questions. The most brilliant of scientists have been those who have sought not the right answers to give, but the right questions to ask.
Whom does this quotation belong to?
What mathematical symbol will you use instead of the Latin ad infinitum?

Learn and use these provebs and sayings:
An idle brain is the devil's workshop - Праздность - мать всех пороков
It is never too late to learn - Учиться никогда не поздно

Study some English idioms with the word "line":
To toe the line - to do as you are told
E.g.: The master soon made his class toe the line.
The line - the railway
E.g. There's fog on the line this morning, and we shall be late for the office.
The line - the Equator
E.g. Sailors initiate novices crossing the line with humorous ceremonial.
To come into line - to agree
E.g. It is hoped that the small remaining minority will soon be convinced and come into line with overwhelming majority.
To line up - to stand in a queue.
E.g. At 10 sharp on the night before, people began to line up for the first nihgt of "Cairo" at His Majesty's Theatre.

English practice

Master your skills in formation of the possessive case of nouns: Model: My grandmather (cup)- It's my grandmother's cup; The students (pens)- They're the students' pens. 1.Julie (books);2.John (skateboard);3.the children (bedroom);4.my parents (bed);5.the teacher (racket);6.Sophie (CDs);7.Brian(cassettes);8.the boys (bicycles);9.Brenda (baby);10.Kathy (teacher);11.Emma (doll);12.the girls (watches); 13.the policeman (car); 14.the team (football); 15.my uncle (camera); 16.my mother (keys); 17.my parents (car);18.my sister (mobile);19.my neighbours (cat);20.Daniel(dog);21.Rosemary (school bag);22.the boys (classroom)