International Women's Day

Happy 8th of March, dear ladies!
Thank you for enabling us, men, to prove being not just men but gentleMEN. And may every day of your life you feel as special as on the 8th of March.

English Literature Course

In early September last year I was assigned to teach Group 34-H ("H" stands for "Humanities") a course of English Literature. I was teaching some in Consul Gymnasium, and in Intellect Lycee. However, when I first tried to teach it in Naukova Zmina four years ago, I found the available coursebooks not meeting the needs of our curriculum being either too shallow, too huge or not systematized. That is why I decided to create a sort of a coursebook myself compiling it from a number of sources and calling it A Glimpse of English Literature. You can get your own copy of its Part 1 by clicking HERE .


The general course plan is the following:
1. Teach Old English Literature from Celtic Sagas to Chaucer (see Part 1).
2. Teach Elizabethan Literature focusing on Marlowe and Shakespeare.
3. Present Jonathan Swift and his Gulliver's Travels in a format of a lecture with a Powerpoint Presentation thus setting an example for the students how to do THEIR projects.
4. Have the students present their projects on their favourite authors.

I hope we'll manage to complete it before the academic year ends.

Queen Mary University of London

On the first spring day (March 1, 2011), the Lycee was visited by Dr Stuart Perrin, Deputy Director, Language and learning Unit of Queen Mary University of London, UK, accompanied by Yulia Dmytryshyn, Program manager from DEC-Education, Kyiv.
Dr Perrin made a lively presentation of his university for the audience consisting of our students from Groups 22-E, 42-E and 43-E. Our students demonstrated impressive abilities not only to understand the presenter, but also to maintain dialogue. Dr Perrin liked the questions they asked, and eagerly answered them. Our guys were interested in the contents of studying at different faculties, the possibility to obtain a part-time job in London, details of accommodation, visa matters etc. In the final part of the meeting Ms Dmytryshyn checked if the audience has understood the presentation by asking a number of questions. The correct answers won our students some cute prizes including baseball caps, mugs, bags and badges. The most active participants were Vlad Chykivchuk, Sasha Barchuk, Vlad Kuzmenko, Ulyana Tkachenko, Artem Rudnytsky, Yaroslava Martsenyuk, Kate Martynyuk, Ivan Batrak (all of Group 42-E); Oleksandr Sikorsky and Ann Atamas (both of Group 43-E).

You can view the actual presentation HERE .
For further details contact Yulia Dmytryshyn at www.dec-edu.com

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

On this sweet holiday of love enjoy a smile or two from the leading cartoonists:

Good Results

On Saturday, February 12, I was a member of the Mala Akademiya Nauk (Junior Academy of Science, hence "MAN") jury. I listened to 24 9th-grade students from a number of prominent Kyiv schools who were orally presenting their research papers investigating different aspects of the English Language. Here are my conclusions:

1. None of the schools sent as many young researchers as Naukova Zmina (13!).
2. None of the schools had that percentage of Powerpoint presentations as Naukova
Zmina researchers.
3. Naukova Zmina students sounded second to no other establishment.
I was very pleased to receive other judges' comments about NZ achievements. I am proud to work here.

Happy Holidays

May the year 2011 be happy to all of you. May your achievements be appreciated. May your friends support you. May jolly smiles surround you. May phone numbers 101, 102 and 103 never be dialed. Wish you good luck!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!


P.S. My blog activities have recently been reduced. Sorry about that. I have been busy sorting out the new English Literature course which is being delivered to Group 34-H, and preparing for the Argo Winter Camp Programme, which hasn't materialized though. Hope to be more regular this semester!

ARGO Autumn-2010

In two weeks I will be among the oaks and pine-trees of Puscha-Vodytsya, so familiar to me. We are virtually family. This time ARGO enters the world of magic, wizardry and fairy tales. The current issue of the Hyde Park contains the following ad (sorry, it's mostly in Ukrainian):



Welcome to Wizards’ Country!
ARGO Camp Programme
Осіння зміна: з 23 по 31 жовтня 2010 року
Ставайте казкарями та чарівниками!

Англійський проект передбачає перегляд цікавих і популярних кінострічок та фільмовану інсценізацію казок, в тому числі власноруч написаних.
Місце розташування та інфраструктура: на базі санаторію Міністерства Оборони України «Пуща-Водиця», вул. Юнкерова, 60 (11-а лінія)

• екологічно чистий змішаний ліс з озером
• п’ятиповерховий корпус, що обігрівається
• 25-метровий закритий басейн з підігрівом
• спортивні майданчики та спортзал з тренажерами

Проживання: теплі 2-місні номери. В кожному номері є ліжка, тумбочки, гардероб, санвузол з душовою кабіною, балкон, металопластикові вікна.
Харчування: п’ятиразове.
Вартість путівки: 3200 грн.
У вартість путівки включені:
 Проживання
 Харчування
 Страхування
 Користування басейном та спортзалом
 Унікальна авторська програма розвитку дитини
 Проектна робота з англійської мови
 Анімаційні програми
 Медичне обслуговування
 Фото сесія
 Трансфер (Київ ст. М «Академмістечко» - Пуща-Водиця - ст. М «Академмістечко»)

БУДЕ ВЕСЕЛО І ЦІКАВО!

Звертатися до директора табору Олексія Олександровича ЗАБОЛОТНОГО, кім. С-214

And all that is true. What is not said is that there are going to be 3 separate age groups; no Foxhunt or boat trips (sorry, wrong season!); but the rest of traditional activities will happen. It does not say about two other 'vessels' proudly flying the ARGO flag: the ARGO-Dynamic and the ARGO-Creative (Looks like we've got grown into a flotilla!) More information about them you can get by clicking HERE .

Hope you'll join me in the Wizards' Forest!