Some facts of the history of education in Russia

Between the 10th and 13th centuries Russia developed a high civilization, which formed the foundation of the Russian culture in the following centuries. During this period numerous cultural treasures were accumulated. The written works of the time show that the level of knowledge on most natural phenomena was as high as that of Ancient Greece.

Monasteries were cultural and educational centers. They had large libraries and well-equipped book-making shops, in which not only church manuscripts were copied and translated but original books were written. Today we can confidently say that Ancient Rus was a state of high culture and knowledge.

In pre-revolutionary Russia there was a network of primary schools for common people. Nevertheless illiteracy among common people was very high. Well-off people taught their children in grammar schools, commercial schools or secondary schools teaching no classics.

The history of higher education begins from 1755 when the first University was founded in Moscow on the initiative of M.V. Lomonosov.

UNIT 7

TAPESCRIPT 7A

Wales

Wales has been united with England for hundreds of years, and for centuries England and Wales have formed one single political and administrative unit. The son and heir of the monarch are given the title “Prince of Wales”, but his title has no political significance.

If you look at the bottom of the map you’ll see Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Financially and industrially, Cardiff is the most important city in Wales. Most of the inhabitants of Wales live and work in this city and the adjoining area. Apart from the docks Cardiff is a beautiful city.

If you go to Wales, and can’t understand what people are saying, don’t worry! They are not speaking English, they are speaking Welsh. Quite a lot of people speak Welsh, and children learn it at school. The Welsh language is a Celtic language and is very different from English. In general, this is the only distinctive national feature left in Wales.

The Welsh are famous for their singing. A lot of Welsh people play musical instruments, too. The Welsh national costume is still worn by some girls for folk dancing and music festivals. Wales has a very strong folk culture and many people still learn Welsh as their first language.

TAPESCRIPT 7B

William Shakespeare’s birthplace

William Shakespeare was born in the centre of England in Stratford-on-Avon. It is situated on the quiet river Avon. There are no mountains there but beautiful green fields and woods. A small house with small rooms in the centre of Stratford is Shakespeare's birthplace. There is a wooden desk that Shakespeare sat at when he was a pupil of the grammar school in Stratford.

Behind the house one can see the garden where all trees and flowers that Shakespeare mentioned in his plays are growing.

Shakespeare's parents were country people.

At twenty-eight Shakespeare was in London as an actor. Some years later he became a playwright. His plays were staged at a London theatre “The Globe”.

In the church where Shakespeare was buried there is a bust of Shakespeare made by a Dutch sculptor who lived near Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and saw Shakespeare many times.

Shakespeare is known as a writer of historical dramas and comedies, among them “Romeo and Juliet” and “Hamlet”.

The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford has the best stage in England. One can see Shakespeare's plays there with best actors and actresses of England.

UNIT 8

TAPESCRIPT 8A

Trafalgar Square

This famous square is so named in honour of Brit­ain's great victory over the combined French and Spanish fleets at Cape Trafalgar of the coast of Spain in 1805 during the Napoleonic war. The national hero of this battle was Lord Horatio Nelson, admiral of the British fleet. A column 185 feet high with a 17 foot statue of Nelson on top was erected in 1843. The bronze reliefs are on sides of the pedestal: the battle of the Nile in 1798 (North); Nelson's death at Trafalgar in 1805 (South); the battle of Copenhagen in 1801 (East); the battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797 (West).

Admiral Nelson lost an eye in one battle, an arm – in another, a leg – in the third, and his life in Trafalgar. His laconic command "England expects every man to do his duty" is carved in the granite on the southern side of the pedestal.

The four lions by Landseer (English painter and sculptor, 1802 – 1873) were added in 1867. When the sculptures were unveiled over a hundred years ago, they were des­cribed as being badly modeled and badly cast. The only consolation was that they could not last more than a few years. But, a hundred years later, the lions are still there. They have seen the passing of coronation processions and royal funerals, and have been in the midst of political demonstrations too.

TAPESCRIPT 8B

Big Ben

Big Ben is the name of the huge clock on the Clock Tower of the Houses of Parliament. One can get a good view of the Tower from Westminster Bridge. The Clock Tower is 313 feet high and 41 feet square. The present clock was made by Mr. Dent. It first came into service in 1859, and, except for a few stoppages, it has run continuously ever since.

When the great bell was cast in a London foundry in 1858, the question of its name was discussed in Parliament. One member said, “Why not call it Big Ben?” There was much laughter among the members because the Chief Commissioner of Works at that time was Sir Benjamin Hall, a very tall stout man, whose nickname was 'Big Ben’. From that time, the bell has been known as Big Ben.

The Clock has four dials each 22 feet in diameter. The Bell weighs 13.5 tons. It has four little Bens round him. Big Ben strikes only once an hour but the other four tell the quarters and the half hours. At the side of Big Ben there is a huge hammer weighing over 200 kilograms. The faces of the clock are very large. The minute hands are 14 feet long, the hour hands 9 feet, and the figures are 2 feet long.

People are allowed to get inside the tower if they wish to see the work of Big Ben. There is no lift in the Tower and there are three hundred and forty steps up to Big Ben.

Above the clock is an iron lantern, which is lit after sunset when the House is sitting.

UNIT 9

TAPESCRIPT 9A

Universities

British universities are not open to everyone. To get a place, you normally apply in your last year at school, before you have taken your A levels. The university makes you an offer; for example, it will give you a place if you get at least one grade A and two Bs in your A levels. The offer depends on market forces; for popular, high-prestige courses, the university will ask for very good A level results.

The number of students on a particular course (for example, Economics at Cardiff University) is strictly limited. The system does not allow students to follow full-time courses in a casual way, having a job or living in another town as they study. Students are quite closely monitored, and have to see their teachers regularly. Consequently, drop-out and failure rates are low.

The negative side of the system was that, compared with other countries, a rather small percentage of British school-leavers actually went on to university. But there has been a dramatic improvement; the numbers have doubled over the last 20 years. One explanation of this is that in the 1980s many polytechnics and higher education colleges were given university status. As a result, many cities now have two universities – an old one and a new one. For example, in Bristol there is Bristol University and the University of the West of England; in Oxford there is Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University.

Officially, all universities in the country are equal in status. But they differ greatly in reputation and public image. In general, the older a university is, the higher its status. So the most prestigious are the ancient ones – Oxford and Cambridge – followed by long-established ones such as London, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Some of this is just based on tradition and snobbery. In fact, each university has strengths and weaknesses, and sensible students make their choices according to their own particular needs and priorities.

About half of British students go away to university, rather than attend the one closest to home. This is an expensive thing to do; the government used to give grants (money to live on during studies), whereas now students have to borrow money or get their parents to pay. But still many students find that combining study and family life is impossible.

British universities are very popular with overseas students. There are about 70,000 – mostly from Africa, the Arab world and Far Eastern countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. The Erasmus programme arranges exchanges (from three months to one year) for students and teachers between universities in 24 countries including all the members of the European Union. In fact, the UK is the most popular destination, receiving over 25 per cent of all Erasmus students.

TAPESCRIPT 9B

MODERN UNIVERSITIES

With the advance of industrialization in the nineteenth cen­tury and the growth of manufacture the government needed tech­nicians and scientists. The older universities did not produce them. Therefore, the government organized science classes in in­dustrial centres and they developed into either technical colleges or the “Modern Universities”, e.g. London, Durham, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, etc.

Every university is autonomous and responsible only to its governing body. The regulations differ from university to university. While there are similarities between them, they all differ considerably from Oxford or Cambridge, where there is a number of separate colleges, each with their own regulations and courses of study. The new, so-called “redbrick” universities which have various faculties, e. g. Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Social and Economic Studies, etc., differ from university to university. In each faculty there may be a number of departments dealing with separate subjects.

The University of Stirling is the first new university built in Scotland. There are more eight new universities that appeared in Britain after the war.

The University of Sussex at Brighton is probably the best known modern one. The University of York, in contrast, is conser­vative and adopted many of the traditions of older universities.

Among professional educationalists the new Universities pro­vide an opportunity for a wide experiment in teaching methods, and an outlet for the energies and enthusiasms of young and revolutionary teachers: Sussex, East Anglia, and Essex experi­ment with multi-subject schools of studies instead of the tradi­tional single-subject departments. At Sussex, for example, all students take a preliminary course in philosophy and history as well as their major subject. York, on the other hand, believes that most students will still want single-subject courses, but it intro­duces a completely new way of studying music at the university.

They also experiment with the social side of university life. At Sussex, for instance, tutors follow students at meals and live in a common room with the students. At most of the universities the students are themselves largely responsible for discipline.

The British government does not think to build more new universities. There is a tendency to expand the older ones and make colleges of technology into universities. An old university can take 3,000 more students by adding staff and laboratories whereas a completely new university for 3,000 students costs up to 15 million pounds. Even at Stirling where the Government al­ready owns the site, the buildings alone cost about 8 million pounds, not including halls of residence. There are thir­teen subject departments not to mention the cost of building libraries and buying other equipment. One must mention that many educationalists say that it is better to enlarge the older universities.

We know that the entrance examinations at British universi­ties are very strict. However, at the University of Sussex and some others one can see some relaxation at entrance exams, for the British government needs a large number of capable scien­tists.

UNIT 10

TAPESCRIPT 10A

New Orleans

New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, is the largest city in Louisiana and second most important seaport after New York City. At different times in its history, the area was occupied by the Spanish and the French.

There is still a French-speaking community – the Cajuns. They are descended from French Canadians who went from another French colony called Acadia to Louisiana in the eighteenth century. They became known as Acadians, and the word was shortened to Cajuns.

The music and food of the area is a combination of many influences. Jazz originated in New Orleans as a blend of French and Spanish music, blues, brass-band music, and African slave songs. Cajun music is played on a guitar, accordion, and washboard, and blends French dance tunes, Caribbean music, and the blues.

A typical Louisiana dish, jambalaya, is made of rice and shrimp or chicken, something like a Spanish paella but spicier. Gumbo, a soup or stew, takes its name from a West African word for okra, one of its ingredients.

TAPESCRIPT 10B

American English

Nearly 265 million people live in the USA and speak English. There are more native speakers of English there than any other country.

American English is very flexible and has absorbed many words from the languages of immigrants. Words like liaison and rendezvous (from French), and rodeo and tornado (from Spanish) came into the language because France and Spain once controlled parts of North America. Dutch and German settlers gave words such as waffle and cookies, and hamburger and noodles to American English.

The first English speakers to arrive met Native Americans who spoke many different languages. To trade with them, the Europeans learned words from the local languages, and some of these words became part of American English. Native Americans also worked as guides, leading the European traders around the country. The Europeans learned the Native American names for the places they were passing through. Over half the states now have Native American names.

American English has different dialects. People in the southern states speak with a drawl – they tend to speak slowly and lengthen the last sound of each word. They use expressions like “Howdy, y'all” for “Hello, everybody”. Ex-president Clinton, from Arkansas, has a southern accent.

In New York City, especially in the boroughs outside Manhattan, many people have a way of speaking English that is called New Yorkese. Speakers of New Yorkese often speak very fast. They tend not to pronounce the "r" in words that end in “er”. A word like “water” sounds like “wata”.

Teenagers often like to use a lot of slang, along with expressions such as “like” and “you know”, which can make their way of talking seem vague. The words they choose are strongly influenced by popular music and fashion.

Today, there are some differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling between American and British English. Sometimes, the difference in spelling is because Americans wanted to make things simpler, so that a word would be spelled the way it is pronounced. As far back as the 1780s, Noah Webster, founder of one of the most famous American English dictionaries, decided to eliminate from a word any letters that were not pronounced.

UNIT 11

TAPESCRIPT 11A

Position of the city

Washington, D. C., is one of the few capitals in the world that was simply ordered to exist to house the nation's government. President George Washington, in whose honour the city was named, picked out the spot that included the old tobacco-trading Potomac River port of Georgetown, not far from George Washington's own home of Mount Vernon. The Congress approved the choice. The city belongs neither to the North nor to the South. It is too far north to escape the snows and too far south ever to be prepared for them, a neutral, in-between place of mixed styles and uncertain tastes, where the magnolias bloom in the slush.

Washington is humid year round because it sits between two rivers, the Potomac and Anacostia. During summer hot spells, the combination of heat and humidity can occasionally be almost overpowering. By contrast, Washington's winters are not severe, although they can be damply chill. Washington shares the sweaty summers of Louisiana and the windy cold of the Northwest.

One season, however, has to be seen is Washington’s cherry-blossom time. Several thousand of these cherry-trees were given to Washington in 1912 by the City of Tokyo. When they flower in early April, the whole city draws its breath and drinks them in for almost exactly 12 days. It is indeed Washington's wonderful season, possibly because it is the one occasion in the natural cycle of this city that has nothing to do with its politics and politicians.

TAPESCRIPT 11B

Different Washingtons

As you walk along the streets of the USA's capital, you will see different cities within the city. There is a Washington of politics and lobbyists. Its inhabitants move from the Capitol to House and Senate office buildings nearby, down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, to the cocktail lounge of the Mayflower Hotel for a conference with a V.I.P. (very im­portant person), then by taxicab swiftly back to the Capitol.

There is a Washington of government girls. It is centred at office buildings on Constitution Avenue or 15th Street, and is dedicated to the "great god paperwork". It is a Washington of hurried lunches in soda-fountains, of packed trolley cars, of bus rides to house developments across the Potomac River in Arlington, of Sunday afternoons at the zoo adjoining Rock Creek Park. There is a Washington of "Society" in George­town and along Massachusetts Avenue.

The newspaper man's Washington is a composite of all these cities. Hundreds of reporters are continually visiting the Capitol and White House, the court-rooms, the offices of department heads, the national headquarters of labour unions and business associations, the social haunts of "People Who Know" ("haunt" is an Americanism for a place which one often visits). Washington has a beautiful setting and an atrocious climate. It has a fine collection of first-rate minds as can be found in the United States, but lacks a first-rate secular university. It is a place where big money is made, but it is not a centre of commerce and industry.

UNIT 12

TAPESCRIPT 12A