Общее·количество·просмотров·страницы

воскресенье, 17 октября 2010 г.

Interview


Who are you?

I’m unique & I’m common. The Universe makes me unique, it gives me power to create, power to think, power to love… The fact that I belong to Homo sapiens makes me common: two legs, a pair of ears, a nose…Nobody will treat me as an extraterrestrial, so no one will give me special attention.
My name is Brodnikova Svetlana. From Greek it means Light. Well, perhaps I can give some light if I would rub myself with phosphorus.
I’m a student of foreign philology- I study English & German and really enjoy it because it makes my life multifaceted. The wise say you live as many lives as you know languages and it is perfectly true- new culture, new thinking, new personality.

How did you learn English?

But how did a girl from Kerch open for herself an English wonderland?
At school I was hiding myself from English. I avoided this school subject with all my childish persistency. The reason was pretty simple. I hated red tape of learning by heart at first ABC, then 1, 2, 3, then some alien words, then whole texts that seemed never to appear to be useful.
Yah, I remember butterflies in my stomach at hearing the teacher saying “ listening comprehension” So ten years at school were spent in vain. But now I don’t regret it because even a few words learnt by me were remembered wrong and it was difficult to retrain.
But there were two things I make use up till now: irregular verbs and Passive Voice.
I needed those things for my grade. Nice factor to booster a motivation, wasn’t it?
So I began to invent a bicycle, as Russian would say. For remembering verbs I adapted associations. To understand Passive Voice I analyzed sentences with such constructions. But now I know that such methods are used in teaching from time immemorial! In proper teaching, I would add.
But here the story begins. Once upon a time my mother brought a book of a certain Dragunkin (an inventor of New Russian method). The book had a long philosophical – psychological preface to make you believe that English is not beyond the reach, it is for us made of common clay.
But English became alive, became an open new world only at University. Here I got new my English self. I felt that every new lecture brought me one stair up to the realm of the language.
Don’t think that break through was easy for me. I recall my first year of studying, our group was watching an authentic film ”Amadeus”. For me it was inseparable flow of speech. Upon me dawned only one phrase “try it “(about cakes). So I decided to watch films in English only (with English subtitles of course). The results were on hand. Once I was enjoying a song on the radio, just relaxing, dreaming and words were making a nice picture in my curly head… But suddenly I realized that it is English lyrics. Unforgettable minute!
And one more important point, according to my profession it is not only important to know the subject but also the ways of teaching. Methodology contributed much & now I know how to make my students happy about English as I am.

What has English given you?

 Sure it will give. Without English it is impossible to build a successful career.
Hope my children will not have mentioned above butterflies in their stomachs as I had once.


Interview

Brodnikova Helen

Who are you?

My name is Helen and I'm a 22-year-old student at the Tavrichesky National University. I study English & German philology.
I am from Ukraine & I live in Kerch, a beautiful small town located on Crimean peninsular. I have been living here since I was born.
I have a wide range of interests, I adore travelling, sport, music. I love meeting new people & making friends. I am also a keen photographer.
I am fond of playing the guitar & writing poems in English.

How did you learn English?

I started learning English at primary school when I was around 7. As I was a conscientious child I listened to the teacher at the lessons & did all the home assignments. I understood very little of what was said at the lessons, I could hardly read English texts. But translation into Russian & vice versa was a far greater problem, ‘cause I used to translate word for word.
I had no idea why study English & did it only to get a good grade. It was not until some time later that I began to be interested in English as a language. I started to listen to songs in English. How extremely happy I was when I managed to understand some isolated words or even expressions! I realized that English classes at school were not sufficient for me but I had no opportunity to visit a tutor. Studying was entirely up to me.
So I finished school with excellent results. A new life lured me & it was pretty hard to choose the right way.
I have done the right choice, I am perfectly sure of it.
As soon as I entered the University I plunged into the all-embracing atmosphere of English Language & never wanted to leave it.
All the process of my studying can be divided into several steps. The first step was textbooks. Then authentic books & teaching video came.
After that I started watching films in English, subtitles were a great help for me, from time to time I looked up in the dictionary & wrote down some unknown words. My thirst for knowledge seemed to be unquenchable. So does it now :)
Next I began to listen to songs in English & sing them.
Finally I was advised to communicate with native speakers in English on italki.com. It was fantastic, at first I made friends with many people all over the world, I wrote & receiver letters in English. Then I got an excellent opportunity to improve my speech skills by talking to native speakers through skype – system. It is extremely interesting!
Now I am able to think in English, frankly speaking, I use it more often than my native tongue.
And I never stop, I go on improving my skills, plunging deeper & deeper into this Wonderland.

What has English given you?

So much! I see life differently now. I have an excellent opportunity to learn interesting things, to broaden horizons, to push forward my career. I fell in love with English & will keep breeding this love for the rest of my life. I read authentic books, I enjoy life socializing with people all over the world. Sure English will help me do what I really need in life.

вторник, 12 октября 2010 г.

Music is everywhere. All you have to do is to listen carefully...


 Hi, folks! I wanna tell you something interesting. Look at the picts. There is a guitar in my hands. From time to time I try to compose songs in English. Here you can see the lyrics of one of them. 
Remember, if you keep your ears open, you will hear the wind calling your name & whisper of rain...

Why did you leave me in such a way?
You’ll come back to me some day.
 I was proud but you’re so strong,
You’re meant to love me for long.
Tell me the reason, why don’t you believe me?
My heart’s in prison, do you have to leave me?
I will change my mind, I promise.
Listen how my story goes.
Love will heal my broken heart,
You will come back to me, but…
Outside’s wild, bitter thunder.
Do you miss me too, I wonder?
Go away, black depression.
There will be no concession…






среда, 6 октября 2010 г.

A bit of Romance...


 I find it kinda funny but still I adore writing verses of my own in English)

Don’t tell me nonsense – I will not believe,
Don’t tell the truth – I knew it all along.
I have to stay & you will have to leave
‘cause one of us was wrong.


Although it is sweet-
Be careful with love.
You can’t get rid of it
Just like an old glove.

As light as a butterfly,
As colorful as world around us,
As free as a bird in the sky,
As shining as the dewy grass
Our love was just like flower,
Our love was just like flower,
So beautiful, mysterious & so fragile…

понедельник, 4 октября 2010 г.

Overcoming the Fear of Getting Started

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. -- Dale Carnegie

There are a few people who don't work out because of their false beliefs about working out. Some teenagers don't start because they are scared that their growth will be stunted. Some adults don't start because they are scared that it will give them massive injuries. They bring up excuses about people who got injured for life by lifting weights. These initial fears arise because of the feelings of uncertainty in life. The person who is about to start going to the gym and has never been there before is very uncertain about what is going to happen and therefore creates momentary excuses so that they don't have to start. It's all a way of putting it off. A very famous word we are now familiar with to describe this condition is procrastination.
In the same way, people in life who want to become successful, are also misinformed and use these very excuses. They say "Why should I start a new business? Nine of out ten new startups fail all the time, how can I expect to be successful?" These people come up with multiple excuses instead of just getting started. Some people want to write books but never get started because the statistics show a slim chance for new authors making it to the bestseller list.
We have to realize that failures are also exceptions to the rule as much as success is! The people who got seriously injured while exercising in the gym were exercising inappropriately and over-strained themselves. How can you use them as an example of what will happen to you? How can you take someone else's failure in business and apply the conclusion that you will fail because they failed? Does it make any sense? Doesn't it make more sense to learn from other people's failures and then using that knowledge to create the business to make sure it will work out well rather than imagining how you are going to ruin?
You should always remember that the fears that the person holds before going to the gym are as false as the person who fears to start on any venture. The reason that it's false is because it is based on speculation. You haven't done it yet so how would you know? Why would you predict failure for yourself in the gym or in achieving success? Nothing is holding you back but your prejudices on getting started. Eliminate those fears by taking action. Just sitting there and doing nothing about it is not going to get you anywhere faster.
The only advice for you to get you to start something is to JUST GET STARTED. The person who sees that promise about what getting fit and lean will bring them, as well as the person who envisions success for him/herself should get started and then continue with their best efforts. You might fail if you start, but at least you will get somewhere, the chance to succeed is still there. You can always "correct your course" because now you know where you are going and you can get some feedback as to how you are doing.
Public speaking is a common source of stress for everyone. Many of us would like to avoid this problem entirely, but this is hard to do. Whether we work alone or with large numbers of people, eventually we will need to speak in public to get certain tasks accomplished. And if we want to be leaders or achieve anything meaningful in our lives, we will often need to speak to groups, large and small, to be successful.
These are the hidden causes of public speaking stress:
Thinking that public speaking is inherently stressful (it's not).
Thinking you need to be brilliant or perfect to succeed (you don't).
Trying to impart too much information or cover too many points in a short presentation.
Having the wrong purpose in mind (to get rather than to contribute).
Trying to please everyone (this is unrealistic).
Trying to emulate other speakers (very difficult) rather than simply being yourself (very easy).
Failing to be personally revealing and humble.
Being fearful of potential negative outcomes (they almost never occur and even when they do, you can use them to your advantage).
Trying to control the wrong things (e.g., the behavior of your audience).
Spending too much time overpreparing (instead of developing confidence and trust in your natural ability to succeed).
Thinking your audience will be as critical of your performance as you might be.
But what about getting started on your writing? Perhaps you wish to be a keen writer, yet you're having problems deciding on the greatest way to start out? There can be a number of measures to becoming a successful author and producing an effective piece of writing. The very first step is to pick the topic that you will be composing about. What is it that you will write about? Precisely why have you selected that issue and precisely what may be the focus?
One good notion is to just compose a list of critical subject areas in your mind - elements you are good at, issues in the news, things people are talking about. The more popular the topic is, the more likely someone will want to read about it or distribute it. Before you start writing, you need to decide three things. What are you writing about? Who do you imagine will be reading it? What do you want to tell them? You can write by starting off with a plan. The key to doing it successfully is to break the writing down into short, simple steps.
Perform your appropriate investigation - you ought to make sure that you comprehend your details before you write. Discussing good and accurate information is important if you are to become viewed as an authority in the specific discipline. Your status depends on it. Investigation may seem to be wearying but it allows you to become precise in your content material and will often reveal aspects of the topic you may not have pondered.
Try to summarize in your mind (or written down) specifically what it is you are writing about and find out the composition of your written work. You will require a brief introduction, a main body of subject matter and a conclusion.
However you are guaranteed to not get anywhere if you don't start. Your fear that stops you from starting has no truth in reality. Realize this and get going on making your dreams real. It's your duty to your highest self to do this. It is a sin to not live up to your highest potential. Fear is just a test of how badly you want it. Are you willing to pay the price of overcoming the fear? Are you going to take on the challenge of greatness that is facing everyone in this word but which only a few conquer? I dare you to make the most of yourself. Take me up on my offer and see your life dramatically change for the best since that is all you have inside yourself-- the best!