School life

Speaking activity:

Number these reasons of going to school in their order of importance from 1 (most important reason) to 12 (least important reason).

• To acquire general knowledge

• To prepare for a job

• To meet other young people

• To train one's memory

• To learn something about subjects one will not deal with again later

• To find out what one is interested in

• To give one's parents some peace and quiet

• To test one's intelligence

• To learn how to study and work with books

• To have a good time

• To be kept dependent

• To learn discipline and order

Give a talk on the topic School.

Remember to say:

• about the key role of school in educational process;

• some words about the school you study at;

• your favourite and least favourite subjects;

• some words about the out-of-class activities which school offers.

"Knowledge is power" as a proverb says. If you are a well-educated person, you will be able to get a good job and achieve success in life. School plays a key role in our education. It introduces us to academic subjects and gives us practical skills.

I am proud of the school where I am studying. It was founded in 1937 before die Great Patriotic War. During the war there was a hospital for soldiers and officers there. After the war, it was restored. At that time, there were only 7 forms there and is was only for boys at first. In 1950, the school greeted 17 graduates of the 10^{th form}. In 1954, co-education for boys and girls was introduced. In 1965, our school became the school with the profound knowledge of the English language and recently it has been called Gymnasia №397 named after G.V. Starovoytova.

You can easily find your way around our school. There are 4 floors in it. On the ground floor, you can see a cloak-room, a medical room, several classrooms of Russian and History and a canteen. It is very convenient to have a canteen at school, because we can have a snack or lunch there. The prices are reasonable and the range of food is rather good. Cakes and buns baked at school are tasty. On the first floor, you can see the English and the Russian libraries. Physics lab and the primary school classrooms. The headmaster's office and the teachers' room are on the second floor. Here you can also see the Assembly flail, the classrooms of Mathematics and English. There are two Information technology classrooms on the third floor.

To my mind our school is very well-equipped all the classrooms are supplied with computers. Most classrooms have TV sets, smart boards and CD-players, so our teachers can use modem information technologies in the teaching process. There are a lot of cosy and home-like classrooms in our school with lots of flowers on window sills and picturesque posters on the walls.

We help keep our school clean and tidy. The teachers of our school are good professionals. They do their best to help us study. They explain the most difficult things in a simple way, find very good and vivid examples to illustrate the new material, answer our questions. I think that knowledge I get from my teachers will help me to become an educated person. My favourite school subject is.......................................... . It is useful and interesting. I love and respect the teacher of............................. . I suppose the knowledge of …………. is essential for an educated person who expects to find an interesting and a well-paid job in the future. However, I'm not very good at…………. . For me this is a hard nut to crack. Our school offers us many out-of-class activities including sports, extra English classes, and several clubs. We like to participate in different performances and parties. Our senior pupils take part in district and city Olympiads and in the District Scientific Conference for pupils, where many of them are awarded with diplomas of the winners. We often go on excursions and trips to many interesting places with our form master. (Give examples). I have got many friends at school. I feel that I can rely on my friends in difficult circumstances. During the breaks we speak about everything and share our secrets. It is great to have so many friends. I think school gives me not only knowledge but also good and reliable friends.