Good bye, my Blogger! Meet another successors!

   Hello, my dear friend! Do you want to hear some pieces of advice before you take a course “Vocabulary of Modern English”? Frankly, I don`t prefer long and boring paragraphs that`s why I offer you 7 rules for successful studying. Do not anticipate reading something groundbreaking because everything is based on my gained during two trimesters of studying experience.

1.     Try to find this course important for you.  In order to be able to speak freely, understand articles in English and communicate with native speakers, you must realize that vocabulary is a first base to make a good progress in English.

2.     Ignore minor and major failures.  Sometimes it happens that you fail miserably, didn`t get a grade or your hopes were dashed and life seems to be a great dull paddle. However, it`s not to undermine your anticipations or to discourage, but to test your endurance.

3.     Work out your own strategy. You know better the features of your style of learning: when to start, finish and how to brush up on what you`ve learned.

4.     Be ready to work hard. It means not only to burn the midnight oil or cram, but also to divide your studying materials, flick through them regularly and then be the top of the class.

5.     Forget about cheating! On the module test you have 10-14 tasks that contain 5-20 items more, so writing off is impossible, as well as goofing off before a test and become a copycat.

6.     Do not wait when knowledge finds you, search for it yourself! Studying is not as boring as you can take it. There are various ways how to make it interesting and be absorbed with (the most boring, on the first sight) tasks. You will find writing blog posts, crating comics or posters and making videos rather exciting! How to pass everything with flying colours? Simply discover new ways of learning and do what YOU like.

7.     Learn for yourself, not for teachers. It`s extremely important to be determined when you give something a go. In my opinion, you should be not only self-confident, but also demonstrate persistence + discipline and remember that your knowledge is for your good.

   “Work hard! Play hard!” – this is the best motto that will help you not to surrender in critical situations and receive your success without excessive pride. Welcome to the course of Vocabulary of Modern English!

Green Ukraine - illusion or reality?

More and more people tend to subscribe to the theory that the future of our environment is hopeless. Global warming is on the go, wildlife suffers from extinction and deforestation is becoming more frequent. Ukraine is also in the list of countries that are concerned about water, light and soil pollution, having an environment under threat and pessimistic predictions. How to prevent this natural catastrophe in our country?

Be environmentally friendly. The connection between human and nature is simple: we want to take but not to give. Why not to plant just one tree a year? Why not to switch to energy conservation and turn the light off when it is possible? We can easily minimize our harmful influence and maximize natural sustainability.

Reduce pollution. Disposal of household wastes and ozone layer destruction lead to irreversible climate change. This thought forces me to understand that humanity must change its ways and prioritize the values. NOTE that paper decomposes in 2-10 years, cans in 80 and plastic bags - over 200 years.

Less deforestation. In order to prevent worldwide eco-disaster, we should reduce product consumption. For example, use less paper, print on both sides, recycle it for further using. Cutting down trees leads to air pollution and drug production because  trees (e. g rain forests) are main material for lots of medicines.

A symbiosis between a man and nature is built on the rule “to take benefits”. However, nobody would like to have a friend who takes advantages of your friendship and gives back nothing. That is why it is extremely vital question: “Are we going to prevent dire consequences  or wipe the surroundings out?”

Be healthy, think positively!

 Perhaps, nobody will want to believe if you say that you are a student and lead a healthy lifestyle at the same time. Unfortunately, students cannot combine eating nourishing meals with working out, avoiding junk food and overeating, having a restful sleep and no stresses. Let`s analyse main students` problems:

1) Lack of free time. Less meal taking, less fit keeping, less sleep and less time for taking care of health lead to the general health deterioration. Sometimes a sound judgment prompts that you should have a hearty breakfast in order to feel good during a working day, but plans are broken: studying waits for you. Then you are tired all the time, feel faint and not able to resist bad luck.

2) Unawareness. Let`s take an example. Going on diet creates various problems (eating disorders, dizziness). So when students want to change their eating lifestyle, they encounter problems. Moreover, usually they don`t know that roasted or fried meals often cause the kidneys and liver diseases.

3) Laziness. Oh, how it is difficult to wake up at 6 o`clock and take up exercises, jogging or pushing-up. The hardest thing is a first step. There is always a degree of uncertainty: is it really useful for me or is it a simple waste of time?

4) No determination. Why am I doing it? Healthy nutrition is boredom. Why not to spoil my appetite with one candy? The problem is that students do not have an insight into the way they live. We are given a chance what lifestyle to lead. Only awareness of the fact that life without bad habits, life with eating fresh food and keeping fit leads to longevity.

Arthur Schopenhauer said that 9/10 of our happiness depends on health. That is why who wants to be happy has to keep a healthy lifestyle.

All men are the same? (Connections)

This is a story about two chatterboxes who are always discussing their boyfriends, complaining about broken nails or telling stories how somebody fell madly in love with regular “hopeless” partner. I would not write about this, but it happens every Friday in our local restaurant where I try to unwind after a busy week. Those girls, if I`m not mistaken, Alice and Kate, looked pretty nice. Alice was an elegant woman with dark hair, pointed chin, a beautiful slim figure and small attractive freckles. Kate had the same striking appearance and (as it seemed to me) optimistic character traits. She was well-dressed girl, relaxed but so quarrelsome:

Girls had lasting friendship and couldn`t leave each other in the lurch. Kate noticed a young portly gentleman at the next table. He stared them in their eyes, trying to catch every detail from their dialogue. This round-faced man had a crew-cut, was immaculately groomed and at the first glance seemed to be trustworthy.

 Kate thought that it was love at first sight. Her head was in the clouds and a few minutes later she couldn`t turn his offer down leaving Alice alone. I was sitting near the window, trying to relax and forget about the people around me. An hour later, Kate came, sat down and burst into tears.

   In the front of their table Kate saw … Peter!

Peter came with a great bunch of flowers, apologies and explanations about being on a business trip. Kate`s heart was melting. She wiped away tears from her face and thought: “All men are the same?”

ATO or “Hell is empty. All the devils are here”

I`ve heard about the horror of war only from the books of Ukrainian history and documentaries watching TV. Unfortunately, now war is as never close to me – merely 1000 kilometres from the east of Ukraine.

“Hell is empty. All the devils are here”, William Shakespeare wrote. It seems that such situation has been existing since the war broke out in Luhansk and Donetsk regions. It wasn`t declared and has caused havoc where just two years ago EURO 2012 was held. In order to avoid the situation with the Crimean peninsula our government took the situation seriously and decided to send peacekeeping forces there. Men, bound to military service, were mobilized and started a piece campaign in the east.

The fundamental part of the military was made up of 30-40-year-old men. Still, all defenders keep an opened fire in order not to lose a war. It is said that if the separatists lay down their guns, the war will be finished, if we stop a fire, Ukraine will come to the end. Besides the fierce fighting with weapons and military operations a great number of voluntary organizations continue providing their volunteer assistance.

I am convinced that we must stand up for the Ukrainian independence and tolerate all diverse provocations. A good example of such power is cyborgs from the Donetsk airport taken prisoners. Despite the “march of shame”, their brothers are ready to put up a heroic fight against the terrorists.

Ukrainians believe that the war will have a huge effect on their lives, it should connect them into one flourishing nation. In the meantime, our heroes continue to defend all residents even those who chanted “Donbass is Russia”…

A letter to Victoria

Dear Victoria,

How are you? How are your brother and parents? I hope you remember me, a boy from Austria-Hungary in 1916. I`m writing to you to give a lot of thanks.

I really appreciate everything you did because it helped me to get accustomed to life in America. My family has to flee from the ruined life in our native country and get away from Vienna in order not to be discriminated and seek refuge overseas. We found a ship and a few days later docked in New York.

Before it we disembarked on Ellis Island to be examined for different illnesses. As you had said, it was a simple checking whether migrants were healthy. Frankly speaking, I had no desire to have the examination and I felt some animosity towards a doctor called “eye man”.

A few days later, as I`ve mentioned, we came to New York. My life was considerably changed and I had nostalgia to my home. Moving to another place was an enormous culture shock for me. One thing that helped to overcome my fear was that we met a lot of people of different ethnic groups that were uprooted during the World War I.

We wanted to find a budget accommodation but for the first time it was a dream. However, your advice helped us and we got an apartment in the Lower East Side (an immigrant neighborhood in New Your City) that had only kitchen, bedroom and parlor. It seemed that we were able to live at peace with other people but there was a social competition.  We needed to buy chairs, stove, bed and mattress, but everything cost a lot. That is why instead of admiring cobbled streets and stunning parks our family worked a lot. Sometimes I played stickball as your brother did. We restored our kitchen a bit and divide the household chores (laundry, getting a coal, cooking, sweeping and mopping). I wanted to get away from it all and live off the beaten track, but diverse and rich life wasn`t for us.

My family retained some photos of that period of my life. If you are reading this letter, know that I am very grateful to you for your help.

Best wishes,

Marcus

News travels fast

Created fake profile:
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Wisdom comes during the pleasure, not suffering

Is the self-organization a force for behaving a thirst for knowledge? Why is it effective to individualize teaching and learning? This and other questions I would like to discuss with you in today`s post.

The issue about education appears every time when we meet amateurs in the positions of professionals. Sometimes natural talent is the most remarkable and helpful thing that makes somebody a quick learner. However, if you want to achieve a success during the educational process, get full marks, pass exams with flying colours or become graduated from the university with “full head” but have a lack of abilities, you need to have an individualized approach when you are completing the course. Sirken Robinson takes the view that attributing a very high status to the teaching profession and individualizing learning we can force student`s creativity and help them to put their thinking cap on.  He subscribes to the theory that the arts, humanities and physical education should receive equal quality of time to be learned. Giving an example of a Finland educational system Robinson points out that disciplines that are in the process of learning must not be obsessive. I honestly think that it is better to give freedom in the choice of subjects for the students than to stifle their desire for studying by excessive study load.

Let`s imagine one situation. You are having a crash course that demands to hit the books and burn the midnight oil. You are not a teacher`s pet, but you want to pass all exams and take a diploma.  This is obviously the ideal time to show your self-organization. As Saguta Mitra says collaboration and encouragement are extremely important for learning. He emphasizes that learning at the same time is “a product of educational self-organization”. My firm conviction is that if we are able to organize our educational process, find the source of self-motivation, we can easily learn vocabulary by heart, brainstorm new ideas or even open our own mental agility.

Finally, I take the view that leading authorities in the field of educational system will improve the way that students are taught especially increasing the level of self-motivation. We should bear in mind that studying is for us, not for teachers: wisdom comes during the pleasure, not suffering.