Задания для самостоятельной работы обучающегося с указанием трудоемкости и методические рекомендации по их выполнению:

Неделя 1 – 6 часов

СРО: Education Systems in Great Britain, the USA and Russia

1. Translate the texts into your native language.

2. Find the information about the education in Kazakhstan and present it using slides.

3. Compare Education Systems in Great Britain, the USA, Kazakhstan and Russia and do the analysis.

4. Prepare a list of specific features of Education system.

Text1. If all good people were clever and all clever people were good, the world would be nicer than ever. I think that education is a key to a good future. And schools are the first step on the education-way. Schools help young people to choose their career, to prepare for their future life, they make pupils clever and well-educated. They give pupils the opportunity to fulfill their talent.

Education in Britain developed by steps. The first step was the introducing of two kinds of school: grammar schools and secondary modern schools. Grammar schools offered a predominantly academic education and in secondary modern schools education was more practical. The second step was the introducing of a new type of school, the comprehensive, a combination of grammar and secondary modern, so that all children could be continually assessed and given appropriate teaching. These school were co-educational and offered both academic and practical subjects. However, they lost the excellence of the old grammar schools. Then after 1979 were introduced the greatest reforms in schooling. They included the introduction of a National Curriculum making certain subjects, most notably science and one modern language, compulsory up to the age of 16. The National Curriculum aims to ensure that all children study essential subjects and have a better all-round education. Pupils' progress in subjects in National Curriculum is measured by written and practical tests. More ambitious pupils continue with very specialized studies in the sixth form. They remain at school for two years more. Pupils sit for exams leaving secondary school and sixth form. They sit for the General Certificate Secondary Education at the end of the 5th-years' course. A-level or AS-levels are taken after two years of study in the sixth form. They are the main standard for entrance to university or other higher education. Some parents prefer to pay for their children to be educated at independent schools. This private sector includes the so-called public schools, some of whose names are known all over the world, for example Eton. It provides exceptionally fine teaching facilities, for example in science, languages, computing and design. Its students are largely from aristocratic and upper-class families. The Government's vision for the education system of the 21st century is that it will neither be divisive nor based on some lowest denominator. Diversity, choice and excellence will be its hallmarks in this century.

Text 2. The public educational system in Russia includes pre-schools, general schools, specialised secondary and higher education. So-called pre-schools are kindergartens in fact. Children there learn reading, writing and maths. But pre-school education isn't compulsory - children can get it at home. Compulsory education is for children from 6(7) to 17 years of age. The main branch in the system of education is the general schools which prepare the younger generation for life and work. There are various types of schools: general secondary schools, schools specialising in a certain subject, high schools, gymnasiums and so on. The term of study in a general secondary school is 11 years and consists of primary, middle and upper stages. At the middle stage of a secondary school children learn the basic laws of nature and society at the lessons of history, algebra, literature, physics and many others. After 9th form pupils have to sit for examinations. Also they have a choice between entering the 10th grade of a general secondary school or going to professional school. Pupils who finish the general secondary school, receive a secondary education certificate, giving them the right to enter any higher educational establishment. One has to study in the institute for 5 years. Higher educational institutions train students in one or several specialisations.

Text 3. The American system of education differs from the systems of other countries. There are free public schools which the majority of American children attend. There are also a number or private schools where a fee is charged. Education is compulsory for every child from the age of 6 up to the age of 16 except in some states, where children must go to school until the age of 17 or 18. Elementary or primary and secondary or high schools are organized on one of two basis: 8 years of primary school and 4 years, or 6 years of primary, 3 years of junior high school and 3 years of senior high school. The junior high school is a sort of halfway between primary school and high school. The high school prepares young people either to work immediately after graduation or for more advanced study in a college or university. An important part of high school life is extra-curricular activities, they include band or school orchestra, sports and other social activities. There is no national system of higher education in the United States. Instead, there are separate institutions ranging from colleges to universities. They may be small or large, private or public, highly selective or open to all.

Неделя 2 – 6 часов

СРО: Discussion in mini-group

COLLEGE LIFE

Text 1

Classroom Note taking

How would you feel if you were forced to spend hours and hours sitting in a hard-backed chair, eyes wide open, listening to the sound of someone else's voice? You wouldn't be allowed to sleep, eat, or smoke. You couldn't leave the room. To make matters worse, you'd be expected to remember every point the speaker made, and you'd be punished for forgetting. And, to top it off, you'd have to pay thousands of dollars for the experience.

Sounds like the torture scene from the latest spy thriller? Actu­ally, it's nothing of the kind. It's what all college students do who take a full load of courses.

Unfortunately, many students do regard these hours as tor­ture, and they do all sorts of things to deaden the pain. Some of them sit through class with glared eyes, minds wandering some­where. Others hide in the back of the room, sneaking glances at the newspaper or the book. Still others reduce the pain to zero: they simply don't come to class. These students do not realize that they are missing out on one of the most important aspects of their edu­cation.

One reason you should take lecture notes is that lectures add to what you read in textbooks. Lecturers combine the material and ap­proaches of many texts, saving you the trouble of researching an en­tire field. They keep up to date with their subjects and can include the latest studies or discoveries in their presentations. The best lec­turers combine knowledge with expert showmanship. Both infor­mative and entertaining speakers, they can make any subject leap wildly to life.

But isn't it good enough just to listen to these wonderful people without writing down what they say? Studies have shown that after two weeks you'll forget 80% of it. And you didn't come to the lec­ture room just to be entertained. You came to learn. The only way to keep the material in your head is to get it down in permanent form — in the form of lecture notes.

There are three steps to mastering the art of taking good lecture notes: the preparation, the note-taking process itself, and the post-lecture review.

Preparation.

First, mentally prepare yourself to take good notes. Examine your attitude. Remember, you're not going to the lecture room to be bored, tortured, or entertained; you're going there to learn. Also, examine the material the lecture will cover. Read the textbook chapter in advance.

Second, prepare yourself physically. Get a good night's sleep, and get to class — on time. Even better, get to class early, so you can get a good seat near the front of the room. You'll hear better there and be less tempted to let your mind wander. You'll also have time to open your notebook to a new page, find your pen, and write the date and topic of the lecture at the top. This way, you won't still be groping under your chair or flipping through pages when the lec­turer begins to speak.

Process.

Be prepared to do a good deal of writing in class. A good role of thumb for taking notes is, "when in doubt, write it down". After class, you will have time to go over your notes and make decisions about what is important enough to study and what is not. But in the midst of a lecture, you don't always have time to decide what is really important and what is quite secondary. You don't want to miss getting down a valuable idea.

Be sure to always write down what the lecturer puts on the board. If he or she takes the time to write something on the board, it is generally safe to assume that such material is important. And don't fall into the trap that some students make. They write down what is on the board but nothing more. They just sit and listen while the instructor explains all the connections between those words that have been chalked on the board. Everything may be perfectly clear to a student then, but several days later, chances are that all the connecting materials will be forgotten. If you write down the expla­nations in class, it will be much easier for you to make sense of the material and to study it later.

Here are some other hints for taking good classroom notes:

If you miss something, don't panic. Leave space for it in your notes and keep going. Later, get the missing information from a classmate or your textbook

Don't ignore the very beginning and end of class, often lecturers devote the first five minutes of their lectures to a review of material already covered or a preview of the next day's lecture. The last five minutes of a lecture can contain a clear summary of the class. Don't spend the first five minutes of class getting your materials out and the last five minutes putting them away. If you do, you'll probably miss something important.

Post-Lecture Review.

The real learning takes place after class. As soon as you have time, sit down and reread your notes. Fill in anything unclear or missing while it's still fresh in your mind. Then write a few key words and phrases that summarise the points of the lecture.

Cover your notes, and, using only these key words, try to recon­struct as much of the lecture as you can. This review will cement the major points in your memory and will save significant time when you study for the exam.

To sum all this up, be prepared to go into class and be not just an active listener but an active notetaker as well. Being in class and taking good notes while you are there are the most valuable steps you can take to succeed in college.

Answer the questions.

1. What do you do during a classroom lecture?

2. Do you sit and stare at the lecturer, wondering if he or she will ever stop?

3. Do you try to write everything which is said, but can't keep up?

4. Why take lecture notes? Isn't it good enough just to listen to the lecturer without writing down what he or she says?

5. What are the three steps to mastering the art of taking good lecture notes? Discuss in class each step.

6. Could you think of some more hints for taking good class­room notes?

7. Have you got your own tips on how to make the best use of class time?

Text 2

Examination

Then, for months, there was nothing in life save work: a careful planning out of day and night in order that sleeping and eating and exercise might encroach as little as possible on the working hours.

From early morning till late at night the desperate meek untidy heads of girls were bowed over tables in the library, their faces when they lifted them were feverish and blurred with work.

Pages rustled; pencils whispered; squeaking shoes tiptoed in and out. Somebody tapped out a dreary tune on her teeth; somebody had a running cold; somebody giggled beneath her breath; some­body sighed and sighed.

Examination week.

This week there was nothing in your mind save the machine which obeyed you smoothly, turning but dates and biographies, contrasting, discussing, theorizing.

Judith walked in a dream among the pale examination faces that flowed to their doom. Already at nine o'clock the heat struck up from the streets, rolled downwards from the roofs. By midday it would by extremely unpleasant in Cambridge.

This was the great examination hall. Girls were filing in, each carrying a glass of water, and searching in a sort of panic for her place. Here was a white ticket labelled Earle, J. So Judith Earte really was expected, an integral part of this grotesque organized un­reality. No hope now.

The bench was hard.

All over the room girls' heads turned, nodding and winking at friends, whispering, giggling and grimacing with desperate bravery. One simulated suicide by leaning her bosom on her fountain pen.

Then panic descended suddenly upon Judith. Her head was like a floating bubble; there was nothing in it at all. She caught at threads of knowledge and they broke, withered and dissolved like cobwebs in the hand. She struggled to throw off a crowding confu­sion of half remembered words.

A headful of useless scraps rattling about in emptiness — The clock struck nine.

'You can begin now', said a thin voice from the dais.

There was an enormous sigh, a rustling of paper, then silence.

The questions had, nearly all, at first glance a familiar reassuring look. It was all right. Panic vanished, the mind assembled its ener­gies coolly, precisely, the pen flew.

After an hour the first pause to cool her forehead with a stick of frozen Eau de Cologne and to sip some water.

Girls were wriggling and biting their pens. Somewhere the toothtapper was playing her dreary tune.

Another hour fled. The trouble was having too much to say, rather than too little. The room was rigid, dark with concentration now.

Three hours. It was over. You could not remember what you had written; but you had never felt more firm and sure of mind. Three hours nearer to life.

A troop of undergraduates passed on the way from their exami­nation room. They looked amused and exhilarated. They stuffed their papers into their pockets, lit pipes, straightened their shoulders and went cheerfully to lunch.

The girls crept out in twos and threes, earnestly talking, com­paring the white slips they carried.

'Did you do this one?'

'What did you put for that?'

'Oh, I say! Will they take off marks do you think?'

'It was a beast.'

'Oh, it might have been worse.'

Girls really should be trained to be less obviously female stu­dents. It only needed a little discipline.

'Of course I see now I shan't pass — It seems a pity, after all that work — My memory is practically gone —'

Back to the vault now for another three hours.

That day passed smoothly; and the next.

Suddenly there were no answers to be written from nine till twelve, from two till five — no lectures, no coachings, no notes, no fixed working hours. Instead, a great idleness under whose burden you felt lost and oppressed. The academic years were gone for ever.

(Extract from "Dusty Answer" by R. Lehman)

Неделя 3 – 6 часов

СРО: Individual work

1. Write an essay on one of the following topics.

- Our University Life Needs Changes.

- Some Advice for Students.

- I Would Put Myself in the Group of (Diligent/Lazy/...) Students.

- Education Reform. To Be or Not to Be?

2. The world is changing, and many people feel that university will have to change to keep up. Make a list of the ways university may be different in re­sponse to these changes in the year 2025. Use these ideas to write a letter from a student in the year 2025, telling a grandparent about his or her first day at college. Begin it like this:

Note:

Letters may be personal or business. We will consider the lay­out of a personal letter. It consists of the date, the greeting, the opening paragraph, the middle paragraphs, the closing para­graph, the closing proper and signature, and sometimes a post­script. Below is a sample outline of a letter to a friend.

1 September, 2011

Неделя 4 – 6 часов

СРО: 1. Prepare the presentation on “Education for national minorities. The problem of bilinguism in the USA and Kazakhstan…”