Английский язык. Higher education

ACTIVITY C

VOCABULARY STUDY

PART 1

DIRECTIONS:

Match the synonymous pairs:

board

provide

academic success

an entrant

to participate

render to assistance

competition

teaching staff

council

supply

progress in studies

a school-leaver

to take part

to help

contest

educational specialists

PART II

DIRECTIONS:

Which word doesn’t suit the group?

stuff, team, classroom, collective

training, education, assistance, up-bringing

university, school, academy, institute

a lecture, an activity, a seminar, an exam

ACTIVITY D

READING COMPREHENSION

PART 1

DIRECTIONS:

Mark the statements below as ‘ True ‘ (T) or ‘ False ‘ (F)

The Belarusian specialists are much in demand in the world.

Classical and profile universities provide a three level system of higher education.

Evening form of learning is the most widespread in our country.

Belarusian teams take first places at various international competitions.

After graduation all students are provided with the first workplaces.

T

F

PART II

DIRECTIONS:

Ask 5 questions of different types to different sentences.

ACTIVITY E

ORGANIZING YOUR THOUGHTS

PART I

DIRECTIONS:

Working with a partner make some decisions about the following situation:

You are invited to the international conference concerning the development of higher education in different countries. You need to decide what to say about the system of higher education in the Republic of Belarus.

PART II

DIRECTIONS:

Working in groups discuss possible answers:

Is it easy to become a student in our Republic?

Are the Belarusian specialists really much in demand in the world? Do you think it is a positive or a negative tendency? Prepare arguments for and against.

ACTIVITY F

WRITE AND SPEAK

PART I

DIRECTIONS:

Give a summary of the text.

PART II

DIRECTIONS:

Express your opinion:

The quality of higher education in our Republic.

Only the very best students can study at budget cost.

ACTIVITY G

LISTENING COMPREHENSION:

PART I

DIRECTIONS:

Listen to the passage that will be read to you and choose the correct answers from those given below. Choose one letter only, А , В , C, or D, for each of your answers. The passage will be read to you twice with pauses on the second reading for you to select your answers.

Education has acquired a kind of snob value in modern times. We are no longer content to be honest craftsmen, skilled at our work through years of patient practice. Nowadays if we want to get a decent job, we have to have a piece of paper. If we want promotion in even the humblest job, we have to obtain a certificate or a diploma first. We may know that we would be better at the job than the man with the paper qualifications, but our experience and practical skills are regarded as relatively unimportant. 'Johnson would have been Manager by now if he'd taken the trouble to get a degree,' his colleagues say, 'he's a clever man. He could have done anything if he'd had a proper education.'

I wonder if, as time goes on, we shall discover that many people whose practical experience and ability would have been enormously useful to their employers, have been rejected on the grounds that they are insufficiently qualified. Would it not be better to allow people to become expert in the way most suited to them, rather than oblige them to follow a set course of instruction which may offer no opportunity for them to develop skills in which they would have become expert if left to themselves?

1The writer says that education

A is only valued by snobs

В is only acquired by snobs

С has become a modern form of snobbery

D has become a sign of snobbery

2If we want to get promotion nowadays we have to

A produce proof of our qualifications

В write a paper about our qualifications

С apply to take a certificate

D apply to take a diploma

3From the passage we understand that his colleagues think that Johnson

A should have been given a degree

В would have been able to get a degree

С couldn't have done anything without a degree

D wouldn't have become manager without a degree

4The writer fears that without paper qualifications many people

A won't be able to get a job

В will prove useless in their job

С will be dismissed from their job

D won't be considered for a job

5In the writer's opinion it would be better if people

A were obliged to educate themselves in their own way

В were free to become educated in their own way

С attended more practical courses

D attended courses intended for experts

ACTIVITY H

SELF-WORK:

TEXT 2

PART I

DIRECTIONS:

Translate the topical vocabulary using a dictionary:

a scholar –

capacity –

illiteracy –

campus –

significant –

to contribute –

foundation –

elimination –

ordeal –

landmark –

to sacrifice –

evidence –

creative –

facility –

to plunder –

to participate –

prominent –

staff –

PART II

DIRECTIONS: Now read .

HISTORY OF THE BELARUSIAN STATE UNIVERSITY

October 30, 1921 is the foundation date of the main educational establishment in our country – the Belarusian State University.

Academician Vladimir Ivanovich Picheta – the outstanding historian and slavist – headed the University. The first Rector united the staff consisting of scholars from Moscow, Kazan, and Kiev universities.

Rapid development of the University played a significant role in the creation of the educational system of the republic. The University’s educational and research capacity gave birth to a number of independent higher educational establishments, such as Minsk Medicine Institute, Minsk Law Institute, Minsk Pedagogical Institute, the Belarusian Institute of National Economy, Minsk Chemical and Technological Institute, which later became a part of the Polytechnic Institute. The Belarusian State University contributed much to the foundation and development of the Academy of Sciences, the Republic’s State Library and a number of large research institutions.