How do they correspond to your personal opinion?

XVIII. Topical points for creative writing projects (essay, composition, article, verses, etc.):

a. My idea of an ideal teacher.

b. Your experience as a teacher.

c. Collective image of a teacher (from literature, films).

d. People attend college or University for many different reasons. Why do you think people attend college or University? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

e. Do you agree or disagree to the following statement? Parents are the best teachers. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

f. Some people think that they can learn better by themselves than with a teacher. Others think that it’s always better to have a teacher. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons to develop you essay.

g. Many teachers assign homework to students every day. Do you think that daily homework is necessary for students? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

h. Do you agree or disagree to the following statement? Grades encourage students to learn. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

i. Do you agree or disagree to the following statement? Children should begin learning a foreign language as soon as they start school. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

j. Do you agree or disagree to the following statement? Boys and girls should attend separate schools. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

k. Do you agree or disagree? Teachers should be paid according to how much their students learn. Give specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

l. Some students like classes where teachers lecture (do all of the talking) in class. Other students prefer classes where the students do some of the talking. Which type of class do you prefer? Give specific reasons and details to support your choice.

Project work

Choose among given topics for discussion the one you are interested in most of all. Prepare your report on it, paying special attention to its profound content and creative presentation (pair, group or individual work).

Topics for discussion

1. School of the future. A new type of school.

2. What could be introduced into the system of Russian education from abroad?

3. Code of Ethics for a Teacher.

Unit III.

Language and Culture

The sum of human wisdom is not contained
in any one language,
And no single language is capable of expressing
All forms and degrees of human comprehension
Erza Pound

HOW TO BE AN ALIEN

G. Mikes
(1912-1987)

A WARNING TO BEGINNERS

George Mikes was born in 1912 in Siklos, Hungary. He studied law and received his doctorate in Budapest University. He became a journalist and was sent to London as a correspondent to cover the Munich crisis. He came for a fortnight but stayed on and made England his home. During the Second World War he broadcast for the BBC Hungarian Service where he remained until 1951. He continued working as a freelance critic, broadcaster and writer until his death in 1987.

How to be an Alien was first published in 1946. It went into thirty editions and identified the author as a humorist, although he had not intended the book to be funny. His other books include Uber Alles, Little Cabbages, Shakespeare and Myself, Italy for Beginners, How to Unite Nations, How to be Inimitable How to Scrape Skies, How to Tango, The Land of the Rising Yen, How to Run a Stately Home (with the Duke of Bedford), Switzerland for Beginners, How to be Poor, How to be a Guru and how to be a Brit. He wrote a study of the Hungarian Revolution and is also the author of A Study of Infamy, an analysis of the Hungarian secret political police system, Arthur Koestler: The Story of a Friendship and The Riches of the Poor: A Journey round the world Health Organisation. On his seventieth birthday, in 1982, he published his autobiography, How to be Seventy.

In England everything is the other way round.

On Sundays on the Continent even the poorest person puts on his best suit, tries to look respectable, and at the same time the life of the country becomes gay and cheerful; in England even the richest peer or motor-manufacturer dresses in some peculiar rags, does not shave, and the country becomes dull and dreary. On the Continent there is one topic which should be avoided – the weather; in England, if you do not repeat the phrase “Lovely day, isn’t it?” at least two hundred times a day, you are considered a bit dull. On the Continent Sunday papers appear on Monday; in England – a country of exotic oddities –they appear on Sunday. On the Continent people use fork as though a fork were a shovel; in England they turn it upside down and push everything – including peas – on top of it.

On a continental bus approaching a request-stop the conductor rings the bell if he wants his bus to go on without stopping; in England you ring the bell if you want the bus to stop. On the Continent stray cats are judged individually on their merit some are loved, some are only respected; in England they are universally worshipped as in ancient Egypt. On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners.

On the Continent public orators try to learn to speak fluently and smoothly; in England they take a special course in Oxonian stuttering. On the Continent learned persons love to quote Aristotle, Horace, Montaigne and show off their knowledge, nobody quotes Latin and Greek authors in the course of a conversation, unless he has never read them.

On the Continent almost every nation whether little or great has openly declared at one time or another that it is superior to all nations; the English fight heroic wars to combat these dangerous ideas without ever mentioning which is really the most superior race in the world. Continental people are sensitive and touchy; the English take everything with an exquisite sense of humour – they are only offended if you tell them that they have no sense of humour. On the continent the population consists of a small percentage of honest people and the rest are a vague transition between the two; in England you find a small percentage of criminals and the rest are honest people. On the other hand, people on the Continent either tell you the truth or lie; in England they hardly ever lie, but they would not dream of telling you the truth.

Many continentals think life is a game; the English think cricket is a game.

(George Mikes “How to be an Alien”)

1. What type of texts does the very text belong to? What are its typical features?

2. What problem is it devoted to?

3. How does the author show the differences between the Continent and England?

4. Why is the opposition (not comparison) the main method of conveying the idea of the text? What effect is achieved by it?

5. Do you agree with the author’s statement that “…people on the Continent either tell you the truth or lie in England they hardly ever lie but they would not dream of telling you the truth” Do you believe that English people are hypocrites?

6. How will you interpret the last lines of the text: “Many continentals think life is a game; the English think cricket is a game?

7. What means make the text both ironical and humorous?

8. What is the author’s attitude towards England and Englishmen?