Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, dear visitor, and may your wishes come true!

WHY TWO CHRISTMASES?

Why do Roman Catholics and Protestants celebrate Christmas on December 25, and the members of the Russian Orthodox Church observe the holiday on January 7? Why different dates? Why December 25? Why january 7? Was Jesus Christ really born in winter? The answers to these questions are given in the article written by Kate Konstantinova of Group 43-E, which is published in the HYDE PARK, but can also be found HERE .

AMERICAN HOLIDAYS

Left: X-mas tree on the Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.

Thanksgiving Day has already been celebrated... However, it marks the beginning of another holiday season: CHRISTMAS is coming! It is accompanied by the end of the 1st semester and credits. So, the time has come to publish the sixth, and the last topic from Country Studies: USA to be presented by students - 'Holidays and Celebrations in the USA.' It is found HERE .
The essay covers Independence Day, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, St. Patrick's Day and Easter. Such prominent events as Veterans' Day, Columbus Day and New Year are not included. You can do it yourself: search for the information, organize it as a text, add illustrations, bring (or send) it to me, and get your EXCELLENT MARK. Happy holidays and good luck for your credits and tests!

PRIZE WINNERS!

SPEAKER'S CORNER did it again! The Lycee's Team proved to be the best in the traditional Mr. Know-All contest organized by the Kyiv International University. Our guys were really the best. Full information can be found in the Hyde Park bulletin board and by clicking HERE .

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Although we do not celebrate this ancient Celtic festival, many of you, visitors observe it this or that way. So, may it be merry, may the sweets be abundant, may nobody play any tricks on you, and may you be treated royally!



See what Dennis-the-Menace does at Halloween:

CANADA, Part 2.

ATTENTION 4th (AND 3rd) COURSE STUDENTS (AND TEACHERS)! The second part of my "Canada" is ready, and published. It covers such topics as "Population and Immigration", "Culture" (including "Education" and "Sports")and "Ukrainians in Canada". The only topic not covered there is "Provinces and Territories". Maybe I will complete it later and add to the previous two as "Part 3." To get your copy of CANADA, Part 2 click your mouse HERE .

P.S. It's so good to be able to keep promises.

The USA in Brief, Part 1.

ATTENTION 2nd COURSE STUDENTS (AND TEACHERS)! Here you can obtain the first part of material about the USA covering the following topics: "General information", "Geography, climate and wildlife", "US symbols" and "Population". It is based on Wikipedia articles but is easier to consume. In November I plan to finish the job publishing the rest of the required topics. To get your copy of "The USA in Brief" click HERE .

ALARM! "Scribd" are rebuilding their domain, so some problems may occur. If you haven't got direct access to the document do the following:
Step 1: click HERE - you will be directed to Scribd.
Step 2: type zabolotnyi61 in the "Search" window and click "Search".
Step 3: No documents but "People(1)" will be found. Click it.
Step 4: Click the blue "zabolotnyi61" and you will see all my documents. Choose by clicking - help yourself to some country studies.

CANADA, Part 1 - a topic to learn

ATTENTION STUDENTS OF THE 3rd AND 4th COURSES, AND TEACHERS! The first part of the Country Studies materials about Canada is ready for you. It covers the following issues: General Information, Symbols and Holidays, History and Etymology, Government and Politics, Geographical Position, Climate and Wildlife. Be my guests. Help yourself to some downloads. You can do that by clicking HERE .

P.S. I apologize for some "blue words" remaining in the text. I'll do my best to eliminate them later. I am learning.

School Health Risks

The 4th course students have submit some research works investigating and evaluated school health risks. Some of their opinions (with advice) were published in the Hyde Park bulletin as articles. If you haven't read them in the bulletin, you are welcome to enjoy them by clicking HERE .

Lycee's on the quest!

Something new and challenging is awaiting for every student and teacher of the NAUKOVA ZMINA lycee this academic year. If you haven't read the news in the Hyde Park bulletin, you can do it by clicking HP BREAKING NEWS .

Teachers' Day!!!

HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY, DEAR COLLEAGUES!
Just for a little encouragement I display an interesting document found in the Web.To see it click HERE . Compare your school life with your colleagues" from the past (nearly 100 years ago) and say: PRAISE THE LORD I WAS BORN ON MY BIRTHDAY!

Spanish-American War of 1898

For some unknown (or well-known) reasons official history curriculum in Ukraine practically ignores events of the Spanish-American War of 1898. This fact creates numerous opportunities to manipulate people's views on the events of modern history. What were US troops doing on the Philippines in 1941? Is Puerto Rico a colony or an independent state? Why were the USA so much concerned about Vietnam? How can a Communist regime of Cuba tolerate an imperialistic US naval base in Guantanamo? I am quite convince that one cannot understand America without learning about that "splendid little war", which brought the USA onto the global scene. To read the material I have prepared click HERE .

September 1

HAPPY NEW ACADEMIC YEAR!

I hope you will manage to keep your sound minds in your sound bodies and do your best to achieve highest possible academic results during this 2008 - 09 academic year.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day to all of you, folks! Stand tall and be proud of your native land! Unite and don't let anybody to deprive you of your identity. It's cool to be Ukrainian!

P.S. Hello, everybody. I am back after a long break. The first issue of the HYDE PARK wall periodical will include this editorial about the historic event we are celebrating today. You can find it HERE .

HAPPY EASTER!

Christ has risen!
Indeed He has!
Happy Easter and nice vacations, everybody!

ENGLISH EXPRESS-2008

On Friday, April 11, we held a linguistic contest called ENGLISH EXPRESS in the Lycee. The teams representing each group but the fourth course traveled around the facility "calling" at 7 stations. The stations were: READING, WRITING, PUZZLE(vocabulary), LISTENING, POETS' CORNER, ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES and SPEAKING. Teachers prepared the tasks and performed the duties of the station masters. The fourth-course students assisted them.The results are the following:

The 1st PLACE was won by Grade 7-A (28 points), Group 13-E (29 points), Group 21-M (28 points) and Group 34-E (23 points).

The 2nd PLACE was won by Grade 7-C (26 points), Groups 11-E and 12-E (25 points each), Group 22-E (22 points), Group 31-M (20 points) and Group 32-E (19 points).

The 3rd PLACE was won by Grade 7-B (25 points), and Groups 23-E (21 points), 24-H (18 points), 35-H (17 points) & 33-H (16 points).

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!

The most active team members who contributed significantly to their teams' results were: DENYS GRYSHCHENKO (7-C), OKSANA SADOVENKO (21-M), MYKOLA BONDARENKO (21-M), KARINA SIZOVA (21-M) & OLHA BEDOVA (31-M).

GOOD JOB, FOLKS! WELL DONE!

I hope the ENGLISH EXPRESS contest will become a tradition in the Lycee.

Ukraine - NATO

Debates about Ukraine's potential joining the North Atlantic Treaty organization seem to cause discord among politicians. In a democratic society they are supposed to depend upon the citizens' opinion expressed through voting at free elections. by the time our country faces the alternative of joining NATO or not, our graduates will enjoy the rights of eligible voters. That is why THE HYDE PARK decided to study their attitude towards the NATO issue. The survey was conducted in March. You can see its results HERE . Three teachers were interviewed by the students. And you can read their interviews by clicking here: INTERVIEWS .

ENGLAND

Attention 1st course students! here you can find information about England as the largest part of the United Kingdom. To reach the document please click HERE .

Humanitarian Aid Project

At last I manage to publish the results of the project, main part of which (discussion) took place in January. Group 44-H was working on planning some humanitarian aid for an imaginary country devastated by every possible natural disaster. For the task itself refer to "Opportunities" Upper Intermediate coursebook, Module 8 "Global Issues", Communication Workshop. The initial discussion and the open democratic vote that followed gave this fictional territory the name: CHUKREN. In an hour three working groups presented their plans. Later, Dmytro Roy was given the working groups papers for further processing. He summarized their suggestions, and produced the paper, which can be seen by clicking HERE .

Learn about Native Americans

CHIEF SITTING BULL

Just as I promised - enjoy the research done by Irene Petrashchuk of Group 34-E. You can find her work HERE .

Pocahontas - True Story

After extra vacations caused by the flu epidemic menace (which tends to become traditional) we are back to school and working. I was extremely pleased with two dedicated learners of Group 34-E - Helen Mykhailenko and Irene Petrashchuk, who submitted their works on early American history. Today we publish Helen's product - the true (non-Disney) story of "Pocahontas". (Actually it was NOT her real name.) Enjoy, comment, learn and retell it to others (including teachers) and get your good marks. The original text can be found by clicking HERE .

Happy St.Valentine's Day!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO IS ABLE TO LOVE ON THE OCCASION OF THE MOST ROMANTIC HOLIDAY OF THE YEAR! BE ROMANTIC!

COOPERATION WITH THE SENATE

In cooperation with the Senate (not the US one, but the Lycee's one) I am publishing the article from the STATUS QUO newspaper about such a well-known celebrity as Anya RIZNICHENKO. It was written in December 2007 by Anya T. (Group 43-E), submitted by Dima Roy (Group 44-H), and translated by Irene Petrashchuk (Group 34-E) under my humble supervision. I hope to enhance the Senate's work on selecting new Persons-of-the-Month, and students' practicing as translators. Enjoy the full-color article by clicking HERE .

Now I am ready to show you something so very much demanded by some students, particularly Miss Boiko of Group 13-E. The topic FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE UK can be viewed (and also printed and downloaded from HERE . Enjoy full-color version, copy and learn. It'll definitely be in the May credit tests.

Northern Ireland materials

Attention 1st course students! Here is some new information for you to study. To see it click HERE

New Anecdotes

Some more anecdotes are retold by the students of Group 34-E. Helen Mykhailenko presents her version of car theft HERE . Yaroslav Mishankov has submitted another one about archery. It is found HERE . Enjoy!

Group 12-E Leisure Profile

This is the project done last autumn by the students of Group 12-E. Here are the results of the survey, compiled and edited by Sasha Barchuk and Anna Moroz. There still are some mistakes, but the first try is not bad at all. Well done, young ladies!

My Favorite Anecdote

Wild, very wild West. Frontier. Afternoon. Siesta. A bored trigger-happy cowboy gunman is walking along Main Street, Dodge City (Nevada? Arizona? New Mexico? Whatever.)Dust is coming from under his high heels. His spurs clink-clank. A small boy is sitting on a sidewalk, playing in the dust. The cowboy stops, produces a lolly-pop out of the pocket and says: "Hey, orphan, wanna candy?"
"I'm not an orphan," replies the kid.
"Why?" the cowboy seems slightly puzzled.
"There my mom and dad're comin'" shows the boy.
The Main Street buildings' walls throb with the double thunder of the cowboy's 0.45 Peacemakers. The gunman holsters his weapons and produces the lolly-pop once again. "Hey, orphan, have a candy."
Frontier. Afternoon. Siesta. Dust.