English Literature Project

The time has come for the students of Group 34-H to finalize their English Literature projects. You should choose your favorite English author and his/her book. Then - tell the audience about the author's biography and about the book (the plot, main character(s) and messages). The actual time of speaking: 10 - 15 min followed by 5 - 10 min of comprehension questions (comprehension control tasks) and discussion. The project material is to be prepared in the form of a Powerpoint Presentation (to illustrate your lecture) and a Microsoft Word Document for handouts.

You can find the sample presentation of Jonathan Swift (my favorite author) HERE . Of course, your presentations do not have to be THAT BIG - 12 - 15 slides will be enough. As to the text document, you can see the sample HERE . In your case, make it 2 - 3 pages with illustrations. Your projects are to be READY by March 19. Good luck!

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!