IV. Take part in the discussion.

1. Do you start off every day with the best intentions?

2. What were your intentions for today?

3. What is your prime time?

4. What are your personal huge time wasters? Productivity destroyers?

5. Does your working day now when you are a student differ a lot from that, when

you went to school? In what way?

6. Do you manage to use your time efficiently?

7. What kind of work requires most of your time during the day?

8. Are you in the habit of putting off work till the last minute?

9. Can you say that you are a punctual person?

10. How many times have you been late for classes this week?

11. What's your attitude towards people who are late?

V. Explain each of the following proverbs. Find a proper equivalent in your native language. Give a situation from your own experience.

1. Knowledge is power.

2. A tree is known by its fruit.

3. Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.

4. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

5. Business before pleasure.

6. If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.

7. What we do willingly is easy.

8. Slow and steady wins the race.

9. Through hardship to the stars.

10. A little help is worth a deal of pity.

PART 2

Education in Great Britain

I. Look through the list of English words and their Russian equivalents before reading the text:

divide	разделять
compulsory	обязательный
cover	охватывать
infant	начальный
curriculum	учебный план
to transfer	переводить
shorthand	стенография
typing	машинопись
layer	слой (общества)
digestion	усвоение
Easter	Пасха

General Information about Education in Great Britain

The educational system of G.B. is class divided and selective. The first division is between those who pay and those who do not pay, the second between those selected for an intellectual training and those not selected.

State Schools

Primary Education

English children must go to school when they are 5. They go to infant schools where they learn the first steps in reading, writing and using numbers.

Infant schools are considered to be good, but young children are divided into 2 groups according to their mental ability. The curriculum for "strong" and " weak" groups is different. At 7 pupils are transferred to the junior school. Their school subjects are English, arithmetic, history, geography, nature study, swimming, music, art, religious instruction and organized games. Towards the end of the 4th year they write Eleven Plus examinations, on the results of which they will go to the secondary Modern, Technical, Grammar or Comprehensive school.

Secondary Education

Most children go to secondary modern schools, which don't provide complete secondary education. Study programmes are limited. The secondary technical school teaches practical subjects as woodwork, metalwork, needlework, shorthand, typing. The grammar school offers a full general theoretical secondary education including foreign languages, chemistry, physics and others. The majority of students leave the school after taking a 5-year course. The others continue their studies 2 or 3 years to obtain GCSF (General Certificate of Secondary Education) at the advanced level to enter university. The comprehensive school combines the courses of all 3 types of secondary schools. The pupils can study any subject which is taught in these schools. The comprehensive school is considered the most progressive, for pupils of all layers of society mix together in sports and out-of-school activities.

Private Schools

Public schools are for the sons of the aristocracy and the upper bourgeoisie. They charge high fees and train young people for political, diplomatic, military and religious service.

Higher Education

Higher education (very expensive) is given in Colleges of Education, Universities and Polytechnics which prepare their students for degrees or diplomas in their own fields.

The 3 terms into which the academic year is divided are 8-10 weeks. Each term is crowded with activity and the vacations between the terms—a month at Christmas, a month at Easter, and 3-4 months in summer are mainly periods of intellectual digestion and private study.

The students have to live in the hostel and the rent is very high, special fees are taken for books, laboratory work, teaching aids. It is not easy to get a higher education in Great Britain.