10th form

1. My Virtual Exercise Book                      

2. "My online activities" test

3. Test for your parents

NEW! Dear pupils, I'm very interested in your opinion on using Internet technologies and social network technologies in learning English. Will you answer the questions?The Poll

Conversation Questions
Home

A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom.

Related: Accidents at Home, House Renovation,

• Can you describe each room of your house?
• What does the outside of your house look like?
• Where do you park your car at your house
• Do you like the place where you are living? Why or why not?
• What is your favorite room in your house? Why?
• How are homes different in your home country and in this country?
• How have you changed your home since you've started living there?
• How long have you lived where you are living now?
• How many different homes have you lived in?
  • Which one did you like the best? Why?
  • Which one did you like the least? Why?
• How many rooms are there in your house?
• How much is your rent? (Some people may not consider this to be a polite question.)
• If you could change anything about your present home, what would it be?
• Is your home in a convenient location?
• What changes would you like to make to your home?
• What do you like about your home? What don't you like?
• What do you think is the worst color for a living room?
• What is in your bedroom?
• What things in your home couldn't you live without?
• What things in your house could you easily live without?
• Where would your dream home be?
  • What would it be like inside and out?
• Which room do you spend the least time in?
• Which room do you spend the most time in?
• Who are your neighbors?
  • Do you get along well with your neighbors?
  • How well do you know them?
  • What have you done with your neighbors?
• Who lives with you? / Who do you live with?
• Would you prefer to live in a house or an apartment? Why?
• Is every house a home?
• What makes 'a house' into 'a home'?
• Have you ever been homesick?have you changed anything in your house recently? If so, what was that?
• What would you like to change in your house?
• What is the color of your front door?
• What kind of housing would you prefer?
• What is your dream house?
• Do you like to keep pets in your home?
• Are there any parks near your home?
• What strange materials do you know of that have been used to make houses?
• Could you build a house for yourself? How would you do it? (you cannot have a builder help you)
• How could you live without electricity? Could you make your own electricity? How?
• How can houses be made more environmentally friendly?
• Describe how you go about buying a house in your country. Can you borrow money from a bank? Is it easy to buy and sell houses?
• What would be important to consider when designing a city? Was your city planned? Describe a perfect city
• Draw/describe your dream house (money is no problem) where, materials, design, interior, landscaping etc
• Imagine you have arrived in a country where they don't speak your language. You have no money or friends there. What would you do for accommodation?
• Give some reasons why people become homeless.
• What problems do home owners have? What can they do about them?
• Is it better to rent or buy? Give reasons for your answer.
• What do you think houses in the future will be like?
• How important is security? How do you make a house secure?
• Make a list of the 10 most important things you would look for when choosing a house to live in.
• Some people say houses are too much like boxes or cages. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of a home stay?
• List alternatives to a house or apartment. (e.g. igloo)
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of these alternatives? Which alternative would you prefer to live in?
• Which are the advantages and disadvantages of living in a small house/flat/apartment? And living in a big one?
• Do you have a nice garden at your home? Do you plant flowers and trees in your garden? Do you help your mother/father to water those plants/flowers?
• Do you raise fish in your home? If so, what type of fish?
• Which do you like better, a home with a nice garden or a home without one?
• Do you have a mini swimming pool in your home?
  • A basket ball court
  • A ping pong table?
• Do you help to mow the lawn in your garden?

Homeless

• What do you know about being homeless?
• Does your city have a large homeless population?
• Have someone you know been homeless?
• Does your country have many homeless people?
• What do you think can done to help homeless people?
• Have you done volunteer work in your community?
• Do you think it's acceptable for children to work late at night selling flowers and singing?
  • Do you think these children need to be out doing this, or are they just earning extra money?
  • What do you think will happen to these children in the future? Do they have a future?
• Do you think there should be more help for beggars, homeless and poor people in your town or city?
  • How about in your country?
• Do you think your town or city should make a place for beggars and homeless people to go, like a homeless shelter?
  • Do you think it would reduce the amount of beggars and homeless people on the street?
  • Do you think it would encourage people to be lazy?
  • What are some reasons that these people would not want to use such a shelter?
• If your town or city was to have a homeless shelter, who should run this place?
  • Who should pay for this place?
  • Should anybody be allowed to go to this place?
• Do you think the government should give money to homeless people?
• How about jobless people?
• If you think the government should give money, about how much money do you think should be given?

Beggars

• Do you give money to beggars or homeless people? Why or why not?
  • How do you know if a beggar is a real beggar?
  • If you give money to beggars or homeless people, about how much do you give?
  • Do you think beggars should work on their own?
  • Would you offer a beggar a job to help you around you house?
• Would you rather give money to beggars or buskers? (Buskers are people who entertain you on the street for money, e.g. musicians)
• Would you rather give money to beggars who have a disability, older beggars, beggars with babies or child beggars? Why?
• Does your country have rich beggars?
• Have you heard of stories where people beg for money but in fact they are rich? Tell us about it?
• Does it make you feel good to give money to beggars?
• Do you give money to beggars to help or to make you feel good about yourself?
• Do you give money or do you give things: e.g. clothes, food, etc.?
• Do you choose the kind of beggars you give money or things to? e.g. old men playing musical instruments, small children roaming around, adults carrying a child.
• In your country, is there a syndicate behind beggars?

House Renovation

A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom.

Related: Home, Accidents at Home

• Has your house been renovated?
• Why do people renovate their house?
• How much money can you save if you renovate yourself?
• Have you ever painted a room?
• Have you ever put in a new floor in a house?
• Have you ever worked with wallpaper?
• Have you ever torn down a wall?
• Have you ever chose new colors for your flat or house?
• Do you watch home reconstruction programs? Why or why not?
• How do people pay for fixing up their house?
• Have you ever taken out a home improvement loan?
• What is a house mortages?
• What is a home improvement mortgage?

Fine Arts.

Answer the questions before reading the text.

1. What's art?
2.  What are the forms of art?
3. Is there a size limit to art?
4. Does art have to be understandable?
5. What do you think of abstract art?
6. Does art have to say something?

Read the text and say if you have changed your opinion?

In every nation art reflects its spirits, its past and present life, its hopes for the future. Art is international, it has no barriers. It brings people of different nationalities together and helps them to understand one another better. That's why it is no wonder that we are interested in art of different nations. Through learning art of other peoples we can understand them better. In addition, works of art are constant subjects for discussion, because every person has his own perception of every kind of art. 

Art.

Painting, sculpture and wood carving are these of what we call arts. There are many more, sculpture for example. Nobody knows which of the arts is the oldest.

We know that cave men drew pictures on the walls of their caves. They carved the handles of some of their bone knives into the figures of animals. We know that the Egyptians and Babylonians planned and built beautiful buildings several thousand years ago. They decorated their pottery and beautiful cloth. The peoples of the North carve beautiful figures out of the ivory from walrus tusks. The Indians of the American South-West make lovely silver jewellery  set with turquoise.

Sculpture.

Sculpture is very old. Even the cave men carved the shapes of the animals they hunted on the handles of some of their tools. Some of the statues made by the ancient Egyptians were very large. The Sphinx is one of them. It had the body of a lion to stand for strength and the head of a man to stand for intelligence. Some statues were portraits of pharaohs.  These great statues were carved in stone.

The Greeks made wonderful statues of white marble and painted them with bright colours such as red and blue. The ruins of the Parthenon are good  example of their relief sculpture. The Romans made very life-like portraits in stone.

The Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages had continuous stories carved on their walls.  People can stand  in front of a cathedral and read Bible stories, not in words but in carved pictures. Many of the statues on cathedrals are architectural, that is, they are part of the sculpture of the building , and they often serve as columns to support arches over the doors.

Some sculptors especially liked to design fountains. A beautiful fountain seem so alive. The sculpture in it shines with water on it.  Some sculptors are especially interested in modelling animals.  Some make portrait statues just as did the Egyptians of long ago.

A sculptor is always interested in how his work is placed and lighted. A piece of sculpture should always be put on a pedestal so that it can be seen from every direction. Poor lighting may make even a good piece of sculpture look uninteresting.

Some artists say that they like to feel a piece of sculpture with their fingers before they see it with their eyes. They say that a good piece of sculpture should always make you want to feel it, not just look at it. Certainly feeling a statue may help you to get the message that the sculptor is trying to give you.

Painting.

We know much more about early painting — than about early painters. No one knows the names of the cave men who painted pictures on the caves. We don't know of any famous painters in Egypt or Crete. The names of a few Greek painters have come down to us, but we know of no famous Roman painters. But the story changed when the Renaissance began.

A revival of art began in Italy and spread to other countries.

During the Renaissance there were more great artists than the world had ever had before. The painters of the Renaissance tried to make things look real. Some were noted for beautiful line, some for form, some for perspective. The painters of Venice became noted for their brilliant colours.

Great painting did not end with the Renaissance. There have been many great painters since. Some of these artists have painted in fresco and tempera. Some have used water-colours or oils. A water-colour picture must be painted very quickly so that the paint will not dry before the picture is finished. Water-colour is one of the  most difficult kinds of paint to handle. If a water-colour picture still looks wet after it is dry, then it is good.

Oil paint gets its name because the colours are mixed with oil. Oil paint dries slowly. Many of the old masters put lacquer on their finished oil paintings. The pictures are as beautiful today as they were long ago.

Painters have worked out many ways of painting. Some paintings are done with free brush strokes. When you look at the picture you can see where the brush stroke started and where it ended. Some artists paint by cutting the colour on the canvas in tiny dots. Others make little shake lines.

Some paintings are realistic. Others are painted like designs. They are abstract paintings. Some show much imagination. Others are more like photographs. But they all have a message for those who see them.

And now let's review modern arts.

Nowadays there are many trends of modern art, for example avant-garde. There are many opinions concerning our modern artists and their works. Modern artists have their own vision of life and they express their feelings and thoughts through their works.   But some characters are unconvincing(неубедительный) in certain paintings. And it makes a vague(смутный, неопределенный) impression to a visitor. That’s why we can say that some paintings are depressing and hard for perception(восприятие), that imagination of such authors is very poor and vague.  But on the other hand  some people like such paintings just because of generality of these works. Some people like to think over paintings, to imagine what the artist wanted to express. Even if you don't understand the painting you may like it because of interesting combination of colours. So, the good feature of abstract works is that everyone can receive such works in his own way and no one can change his opinion.  To say in one word  an artist gives free play to your imagination.

One of the representatives of modern art is Kazimir Malevich. He developed a new trend in art, which he called “suprematism”. The new artistic principles were manifested in his famous picture ‘Black Square’, in which the artist, as he put it, “transformed the forms into nought”. Malevich was interested in different arts, experimented with supremacist forms of tableware, made posters, textile designs. His art had a profound influence on contemporary painting, architecture, stenography and design. Malevich’s concepts of art and teaching were far ahead of his time.

There are many prominent names in Russian avant-garde such as Rembrandt, Reynolds and others. But it isn’t easy  for many talented artists to become famous, because the only way to get to the museum is to find  a  way to one’s paintings or any pieces of art  into private collections. If the works were established in galleries they could be watched and appreciated by many critics and talented people. One of the biggest art galleries in the world is the  National Gallery of Art in London. It gives visitors an opportunity to meet contemporary artists, discuss their methods and objectives, their views and opinions, their dreams and imagination.

So we can’t determine correctly the importance of modern trends in the life of modern men, because the trends are contradictory, but we can’t controvert (отрицать) fine arts and its trends.

The meaning of art for the mankind is very big. Art helps us to express our feelings and thoughts, to communicate with other people. Art cultivates some ideas, makes people think, develops their imagination. Art is a piece of culture and men can't live without art. Sometimes it is a hard thing to understand some kind of art  but every person must develop his taste for art.

Music.

Music affects emotions in different ways. It helps a person to get good emotions and energy. In a dramatic situation music can express your mood and support you or it may just calm you and make you think of something more pleasant. One enjoys music because it fills his mind with new ideas and arouses deep emotions. In one or another way, different kinds of music can cater for the tastes of any listener.

 So lets discuss them.

Millions of people like music and can't imagine their life without it. Why music is so important for them? People expect different things from music and everyone can find something useful for himself in it. You can relax and express your mood or you can dip in emotions and give thought to(çàäóìàòüñÿ) your life.

  There are many kinds of music such as classical, folk, pop, rock, punk and many others.

First of all, let’s discuss classical music. The compositions of this kind of music were created by the sensitive and talented composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Bah, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and many others. Classical music is based on deep feelings and thoughts and it appeals to our intellect and creates a special spiritual world. Classical music also has great influence on inner state of the listener.  It has an ethical effect: it changes the listener for the better, develops  imagination, gives a keen delight. Some people say that classic music is a complicated art because it’s difficult to be understood. Sure, it's not an easy thing to understand classical music, it requires concentration and distraction from other things except listening.  By the way, I had played  the piano for seven years. I played rather difficult things but it was a real pleasure.  The last compositions I played were written by Rachmaninov and Mozart.The styles of these compositions were different. The play  of Mozart was light, melodious and fast  The play of Rachmaninov was hard and expressive. This play was rather hard to perform because it had very big chords and rather fast rate. But I liked it better because it was full of deep emotions and moods and it is very close to my soul.

Some people consider classical music too serious and dull. And personally I think that classical music is maybe the only one that remains without serious changing in its beauty and deepness. I think  that classical music is "universal" in making mood: it can make you think or help to relax, it can liven you up or make you cry...

Personally, I think that classical music will live forever because it has reached its perfection, to some extent.

Besides there are many modern kinds of music. It's impossible to mention all the styles existing in modern music. Among them there are hard styles such as hard rock and punk. I'm against aggressive music. It creates taut  atmosphere and arouses gloomy thoughts. There is a so called disco style - music for dancing. 

What concerns me I can't determine exactly what sort of music I like. What I listen depends on my mood And there is no singer or group whose all songs I like. I mean that I like only some songs I like to listen in different periods of time. Of course, here are songs which I like to listen at any time. But I must say that the main part of songs is boring  in some time. So, My favourite singers and groups are "Scorpions", "Pet Shop Boys", Elton John, Michael Jackson, Annie Lennox, Sting and some others.

Music plays a important role in life of many people, especially in life of youth. Young people listen to various kinds of music. And some of them like to play an sing themselves. Music is a means of self-expression for young people. They can copy the style of playing and fashion of their favourite singers,  collect all their records, gather in different places to discuss the latest news about their pippins, argue and sometimes even fight with the admirers of other groups. Some of teenagers spend most of their free time learning to play the guitar or other instruments like their pippins. The parents of young people sometimes can't understand modern trends of music, copying of player's fashion and spending all the time for listening records or meeting with other fans. And teeners often argue with their parents and think that they want to limit their freedom. Someone can say that music is a better means of amusement than drugs and violence, but to my mind everything must have its limits, because sometimes teenagers dip in music so, that they don't want to do and see anything except listening to music or watching their pippens.  

 So we can say that music plays an  important role in  life of all the  people. And in spite of the fact that there are so many trends of music, every person can choose the trends to his liking.

Listening Comprehension Activities

Task 1. Six people share the qualities that they think make a good student.      

 Task 2.Study the vocabulary       

Task 3. Improve your vocabulary and listening  skills with the quizzes below. 

Word List on Agreeing and Disagreeing

Agreement

There are many reasons for …

There is no doubt about it that …

I simply must agree with that.

I am of the same opinion.

I am of the same opinion as …

I completely/absolutely agree with …

Qualified Disagreement

It is only partly true that...

I can agree with that only with reservations.

That seems obvious, but …

That is not necessarily so.

It is not as simple as it seems.

Under certain circumstances …

Disagreement

There is more to it than that.

The problem is that …

I (very much) doubt whether …

This is in complete contradiction to …

What is even worse, …

I am of a different opinion because …

I cannot share this / that / the view.

I cannot agree with this idea.

What I object to is …

Unlike … I think

Unit 7 "Great People"

 1. Read the articles and be ready to speak about famous international awards: 

Top 10 famous awards in the world 

International Awards

2. Great People of Britain

Unit 8 "NEWS"

1. Read people's opinions about mass media and agree or disagree with them 

(3-2-1) 

      2. Video 

      3. Video "Types of Video"    

  4. Video "What's Media and Types of Media

Answer the questions:

1) What formats do modern media come? 

2) Does each type of media involve both content  and device or object through which that content is delivered?

3) Media (communication) tools are used to store and deliver information or data, aren't they?
4)Why are digital and electronic media so widespread nowadays? What are their functions? 

1) Work in groups here:

I . What' Media . Print Media


II. Electronic Media

III. Aims of Media

IV. Effects on People

2) Watch the videos and speak about the advantages and disadvantages of Mass media