Conan Doyle vs Shakespeare. Round!

It is a widely known fact that RGL department is always in the public eye attracting attention of many students with its spectacular performances related to various events. As a matter of fact, this time RGL students pampered all the spectators with their amazing talents in the day of Arthur's Conan Doyle works which took place on the 19th of May. It was an unexpected turn of events as students broke a long-lasting tradition devoted to Shakespeare which had a significant impact on the cultural development of the department. Nevertheless, such innovation didn't spoil the impression but embellished the event and didn't leave anybody indifferent. 1st and 2nd-year students were singing songs, acting out a short dialogue, presenting a video - were making everything possible to turn this evening into a miracle. What's more, cookies and sweets provided by the organizers made the atmosphere even more homey  and friendly.

There is no doubt that after such a brilliant evening all the performers suffered from press intrusion and were not willing to talk their impressions up. However, our magazine has got a great chance to pry into the life of one celebrity and  take an exclusive interview from the amazing singer Viktoria Pedchenko. 

-Viktoria, it is needless to say that your performance has been highly praised by all the guests, but can you reveal the secret and keep our readers informed about your preparations and rehearsals? What was your life behind the scenes?

- Well, as I always feel elated when singing I didn't feel any discomfort during our rehearsals. We didn't have any mishaps as the event itself was perfectly organised. The only thing which bothered everybody was the trouble with microphones as they didn't work properly but the situation was instantly improved.

- Lets go back to your past: when did you realize your ambitions as a singer and how it affected your present life?

- I started to realize singing was my destiny at the age of 6 or 7 if I'm not mistaken. I need to give credit to my music teacher as he always urged me to develop my skills and did everything possible to help me with my singing career. He thought the word of me and once told me I was a real prodigy. And these words were the most crucial for me because they made me the person I am now. 

- Last but not least, as you have already won a lot of praise for your performance how are you going to celebrate your achievements? 

-Surely it won't be in the full glare of publicity as we deserve privacy, we decided to gather together and relax a bit after such a tiring but truly exciting evening. 

The only thing left to do is to wish all the participants good luck and inspiration for the future performances.

        The present of the past

       My blogpost is not going to be about the horrors of a war or about fierce fighting. I’m not going to tell you about sth that threatened world peace or caused civil unrests. I will not tell you about the person who declared a war or brought about peace. In fact, the thing which is going to be presented came in useful for many people living during those times. And this phenomenon is called Khrushchyovka. Why exactly Khrushchyovka – you’ll ask. Well, this is a part of 20th century history which exists till nowadays and we face with it every single time we visit our grandmas and grandpas as this kind of apartment had a huge effect on them (well, at least this thing affected my family in particular). Khrushchyovka is an unofficial name of type of low-cost, concrete-paneled or brick three- to five-storied apartment building which was developed in the USSR during the early 1960s, that sprang from Nikita Khrushchev who directed the Soviet government.  During 1947–1951 there was a severe housing shortage which caused a great anxiety among citizens. In fact, the situation was a perfect recipe for disaster. But soviet architects made useful contributions and evaluated various technologies attempting to reduce costs and completion time. During January 1950 an architects' convention, supervised by Khrushchev, declared low-cost, quick technologies the objective of Soviet architects. During 1954–1961, engineer Vitaly Lagutenko, chief planner of Moscow caused a sensation and designed and tested the mass-scale, industrialized construction process, relying on concrete panel plants and a quick assembly schedule. 64,000 units of this type were built in Moscow from 1961 to 1968 and brought about peculiar changes into people’s everyday lives.
       Planners regarded elevators as too costly and as too time-consuming to build, and Soviet health/safety standards specified five stories as the maximum height of a building without an elevator. The panel buildings called 'Khrushchyovka' are found in great numbers all over the former Soviet Union and still have a lot of influence on people living in the 21st century. They were originally considered to be temporary housing until the housing shortage could be alleviated by mature Communism. Khrushchev predicted the achievement of Communism in 20 years (by the 1980s). Later, Leonid Brezhnev promised each family an apartment "with a separate room for each person plus one room extra", but many people continue to live in Khrushchyovkas today. And as we see now for communists “temporary” means “forever”. Nevertheless, I consider K-s to be remarkable achievement as it brought about positive changes into the society.

Money Talks

No, that doesn't mean that money has the natural ability all humans possess. The heading means that no matter where you are from, what nationality you are, the trick is that money will always make difference and the game I played proved it.

Being an adult turned out to be not a pleasant thing to experience. During the game I was on a shoestring budget while I needed to take care of my child and pay off all the debts. Well, at least I tried to save up as much money as possible as I tightened my belt and didn't use services that come at a price. The game showed that I wasn't a good granddaughter as I sacrificed my grandpa's memorial to make ends meet. Sorry,grandpa, you need to understand that money doesn't grow on trees and I'm not rolling in it to spend money like water. But at least I still tried to be a good mother and sometimes pampered my child but not that much as I wanted. Luckily my math knowledge allowed me to save some money and not to hire a tutor. At the end of the game I felt a bit miserable because as far as I'm concerned broke beggars never feel elated. Still I have 13$ in my pocket, and ambitions in my head, and much money I need to settle up with my friend.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100017552020207

HEALTH IS WEALTH

Being an average student is not only about fun and parties but also about making decisions concerning their health. And many of students opt for ignoring their body needs that may lead to various disorders causing serious problems. To analyze this burning issue I've made up a list of the most disruptive things which are the main obstacles for students to stick to a healthy lifestyle.

1. Nourishing meals are too expensive and time-consuming. Let's be honest-the lack of time and money is the main enemy for any student. Instead of cooking a hearty breakfast they would rather vote in favor of  junk food. Looking out for some reasonably priced products they usually choose ready meals which help them save time and money. Students choose dying of hunger but not devoting their precious hours to cooking slap-up meal. But then comes the moment when a student goes home and tries an elixir of longevity - home-cooked food which mom has prepared for a starving student. Such nutrition differences result in eating disorder and obesity as long as having quick snack every single day isn't a good option.
2. Sedentary way of life. It doesn't come as quite as surprise that the majority of students spend much time studying or surfing social networking sites without taking up any kind of exercises. The thing is that in order to stay healthy we need to rotate physical and mental workout to develop our endurance during the day. Judging from the personal experience I feel more energetic after my training in a gym, and feel tired all the time if I spend the whole day just studying. What's more I feel particularly bad at night when I don't work physically as spending your energy in a gym is the best way to have a good rest at the end of the day. 
3. Sleeping is for wimps - the most absurd fallacy for every student. Permanent splitting headache, heart disease, feeling dizzy are all the results of studying at night. So you had better think over before sacrificing your sleep.

Independence in your student means freedom in every life aspect, but consciousness is a good thing to consider. So eat fresh produce, take up exercises and sleep well and you will see that the key to your success is a healthy lifestyle.

MEMEonix

Production of high-quality memes

MEMEonix is a high-powered company which is responsible for making up memes and spreading them around the world in various forms. The company consists of a network of offices, each of which is in charge of a particular task. Here is the list of sections:

1. Production of memes. It is the most important and demanding job. This section is the basis of others as without our top-notch professionals that put forward ideas related to various memes the other offices won't function at all. As the demand for memes raises with the increase of consumers, we need more professionals who will do a groundbreaking work. A meme-maker must be good at using his own initiative, he must keep up with the latest changes in memes industry and master new skills. What is more important - he must have a great sense The hardest task of a first-rate professional  is to be able to meet tight deadlines as it is a nine-to-five job which requires you work hard and productively. But those who are capable of staying calm under pressure are rewarded with various perks. We also have a performance related bonus scheme which shows how effectively each worker performs his tasks. If you are ambitious enough you can also be transferred to the editing section which is a much more rewarding job.
2.  Editing memes. As any company which is aimed to satisfy mass market need there are people who supervise work and give their comments and advice. They estimate very meme made and then delegate duties to the PR section which is the final point of our enterprise. Editors must have a good knowledge of memes and also be good team players getting on well with their colleagues. 
3.  PR section actually promotes memes delivering them to the consumers through stakeholders. Advertisers must cooperate with the best web-pages to spread memes and make them popular among consumers. PR professional must be a people person as he communicates with a great deal of administrators running their own web-pages. 

Altogether, if you possess all the qualities mentioned our company is waiting to take on top-notch professionals full of enthusiasm and desire to works hard and climb the career ladder.

The future of the world is in my classroom today

If you ask any random adult if he would ever like to go back to his school classes, I'm sure that even an ex-straight A student  would never expose himself to experience it again. So why reminiscing our studying at school is something that makes us feel revulsion rather than nostalgia? It seems that the primary aim of education is not actually to educate but to force and establish the frames that limit our possibilities. But still there are people who fight against the system and put forward some great ideas we should keep up with and take into consideration. So I'd like to give feedback on some amazing TED talkers who give a fresh view on the subject.

• The first speaker, Sugata Mitra, covers a lot of ground in his relevant speech.He starts with a brief background to the history and tells that the origin of today's schools dates back to the times of British Empire when education was aimed to create a bureaucratic administrative machine. The empire has gone, but the system remained the same. That is why to grasp the importance of education Sugata subscribes to the theory that the educational system today is obsolete. He also tells us about a very significant experiment he carried out during his researches. He went to remote areas of his country and gave computer to the kids that have never previously used it. He returned in a few months and found out that these eager beavers used the device as if they completed a course! He proves that practice makes perfect and our natural curiosity is something that pushes us to explore, to learn, to examine.
• I honestly think that the second speaker, Ken Robinson, has a natural talent for making up remarkable decisions about the topic of education. In his speech he puts forward 3 principles on which a human life flourishes, and they're contradicted by the culture of education when most of the teachers need to labor and most of the students - endure.
  The first principle - human being are different, so education must be based on diversity but not conformity.
  The second principle - curiosity is the engine of achievement. The process of giving lessons is not only about delivering received information. Great teachers actually do that but they also stimulate, provoke and engage.
  Finally, the third principle - a human life is inherently creative so education mustn't suppress but encourage this characteristic. 

It's my firm conviction that there's a room for improvement in the modern system of education, especially in our country. So here are some of my personal reflections:

• Student must have the right to choose the courses they want to do. Of course there must be compulsory ones but concerning secondary subjects it must be up to our personal choice. In this case the number of students skipping their classes will definitely decrease.
• Learning must be predominant but not testing. Students usually tend to cram, then scrape through an exam and forget everything previously learnt with the sigh of relief. Education mustn't function this way.
• The government must attribute a high status to the profession of the teacher and encourage them in all the ways possible. All of my group mates were asked whether they want to be translators or teachers, and the majority confidently stated - TRANSLATORS. The reason is that the profession of the teacher is not appreciated in our country.
• More space for creativity. It great when students have practice in different scientific aspects but apart from that student need to go beyond their boundaries and give freedom to their thoughts and ideas.

Friendzone

It was just an ordinary day for two of them. She had a lot of papers to examine, he had nothing to do but accomplish the tasks hіs boss obliged him to do. They were both conscientious characters as white collars never sleep and always work. Katherine was one of that girls with slim figure hiding it under costume. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover as despite her smart look she is a rather easy-going person. She didn't have striking appearance but always attracted attention with her razor-sharp mind and quick-witted personality. She was a rather extroverted person being a good company to everyone. Ban was a well-built man who was hiding his muscular body under a white office shirt. Comparing with his colleague he was a rather aloof character and had a hard time making new friends. But despite being so stand-offish, he still owned some virtues crucial for team spirit. He was considerate to others that created a good impression of him and everyone working in the office thought the word of him. The trick is that Ban has been madly in love with Kath since the time they first met a few years ago. And now he made a snap decision and decided to get that off his chest and tell Katherine about his feelings.

Сurtain.

Emotions make us human. Denying them makes us beasts

It goes without saying that emotions and feelings is an inevitable part of our existence. Every single day bring enormous moods for us, as now we jump for joy, but after an hour somebody fills us with dread or makes us feel apprehensive. Wearing your heart on your sleeve is much more better than bottling up your emotions that may lead to feeling down in the dumps. Lets be honest-nobody wants to feel depressed because of the lack of emotions in your everyday routine. In order not to make it homogeneous but versatile, we need to derive pleasure from being emotional. We must be grateful that we have such a splendid opportunity to express our feeling and emotions whenever and wherever we want. Such a priceless gift. 

Here are some pics of my life that display various feelings and emotion the face could ever "produce". Enjoy:)

There are so few songs in the world I get goose bumps from. And this song is actually that one-of-a-kind. In fact, I feel truly ecstatic listening to all of the compositions by Coldplay, and I'm in high spirits listening to this one. What's more, the video itself urges everyone to be in a state of euphoria as it provokes so many thoughts in your head. In love with this masterpiece.

Communication and no violation

God blesses my ability to make good memes. Here are some from my golden collection with the phrases from the Wordlist:)

Word Families. Word formation

Upstream Upper-Intermediate B2+ Unit 5 

THE MAGIC OF PANTOMIME 

Word families representation

Noun	Verb	Adjective	Adverb
Combination Entertainment Exaggeration Impression Establishment Expense Competition Survival Difference Success	Combine Entertain Exaggerate Impress Establish Expend Compete Survive Differ Succeed	Combined Entertaining Exaggerated Impressive Established Expensive Competitive Surviving Different Successful	- Entertainingly  Exaggeratedly Impressively - Expensively Competitively - Differently Successfully

It may sound a bit weird but words also need love, that is why they form word families. And it doesn't come as quite as surprise that many of them trace back to the ancient times. In fact, we must give credits to those Roman and Latin guys who actually contributed greatly to the lexicon of the English language we have now. 

Why do we need to know all that roots? Well, if you come across some article, for example, and see unknown word but the prefix is truly familiar, then you can generate some ideas about what that word could theoretically mean.

What's more, such prefixes may help you in the learning process, as you can automatically recognize the word if you know what its root means. Thus, you dispose all your words in the groups with the same root and similar meanings that decreases your suppression. The advantage of learning these roots is transparent because it gives you many opportunities to build up your vocabulary.

English is boring? Ne, ne slyshal!

Dear Mr Who, 

I understand it's quite strange you receive an e-mail from the girl living in the XXI century, but you need to deal with it because I'm here to make your English learning process much easier instead of everyday struggle. Are you sick and tired of looking the words up in the paper dictionaries? Is the learning of English a frustrating activity for you? Do you think you're out of practice in expanding your vocabulary? I have an alternative option that will help you to make the most of learning the language with remarkable ease. So I have prepared a complex of online tools so that you could brush up on your English.

1.FRAZE.IT

If you want to explore the word in the context this tool will definitely work for you. It is an effective way of building up your vocabulary as the context always helps to clarify unknown meaning.

2.JUST THE WORD

The tool provides you with a wide range of collocations to a particular word. It's a terrible thing to waste if you want to make progress in the learning process.

3.SYNONYM FINDER

 It is obvious that finding synonyms to different words is an essential part of expanding your lexicon. That is why SYNONYM FINDER will become a good friend of you.

4.WORD BUSTER

Games will always be the funniest and the easiest way of studying. You just concentrate your mind on one particular goal and not being disturbed by other factors.

5.WORD MACHINE

Another extremely useful game which helps you to recall the words you already know. 

Now you see that sticking to paper dictionaries only isn't a viable option. So many opportunities are waiting for you in the future, so don't hesitate to use them. See you soon! 

QUISLET:

https://quizlet.com/191437926/appearance-character-relationships-flash-cards/?new

Dazed But Not Confused

Dictionaries in use

     Using a dictionary turns out to be not that easy thing we all expected. Previously we didn't take it seriously when we looked up a word in a dictionary because that was just the usual process. However, now I know it was only the tip of the iceberg as dictionaries hide a lot of secrets that may come in handy. To make the most of using the dictionary here are some useful pieces of advice that will help you to build your vocabulary: 

1. KNOW YOUR DICTIONARY. Prior to this tip it's essential to understand what your level of English is. If you learn ESL descriptive dictionary will effectively improve your knowledge. However, advanced learners more get down to the prescriptive ones as they speak the language fluently. 
2. MONOLINGUAL VS BILINGUAL. Using monolingual dictionary will definitely work for everyone who wants to expand his/her vocabulary. It makes the language fluent and more natural in comparison with the bilingual one that contains only a word and its translation. 
3. GIVE A REST TO THE DICTIONARY. You mustn't concentrate your mind only on what that word means. You can omit the word by guessing the meaning from the context. Depending on your dictionary all the time makes no sense. 
4. DICTIONARY IS NOT A TEACHER. It is obvious that a dictionary is not a teacher, it only provides you with what a particular word means but not with the usage of the word. 
5. NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE TRANSLATED. There are some phrases in different languages that cannot be accurately translated so to make yourself understood you need to use monolingual dictionary that will clarify the word or phrase. 

The word I regularly mispronounce is 
COOPERATIVE /kəʊˈɒp.ər.ə.tɪv/ - willing to help or do what people ask. 
The words I often confuse: 
MANAGE /ˈmæn.ɪdʒ/ : 

1. to succeed in doing or dealing with something, especially something difficult: I only just managed to finish on time. 
2. to succeed in living on a small amount of money: After she lost her job, they had to manage on his salary. 

AMBIGUOUS /æmˈbɪɡ.ju.əs/ - having or expressing more than one possible meaning, sometimes intentionally: His reply to my question was somewhat ambiguous. 
The words that entered the dictionary in 2016: 
FINGERTIP - the end of a finger. 
TROUT POUT - very big lips that women get if they have too much collagen put in their lips in an operation to make them look bigger. 
ANTE - an amount of money that each person must risk in order to be part of a game that involves gambling.

How to build a friendship with your vocabulary

    
     All the avid English learners know for sure that memorizing new words can be extremely hard and tiring task. But at least you don't need to learn those Nile-long words the German language can sometimes surprise you with(actually I do need to, but this story is not about that). It comes as quiet as surprise that the English language is also mischievous enough to make you feel baffled. Still, only the real cowards give up on the way of progress, but the real enthusiasts(like me, of course) work out the best ways to learn the language and make this process enjoyable. 

     It goes without saying that the ways of comprehending English are truly individual and there are no universal ones that will be suitable for everyone. What's more, there is an enormous amount of tips to choose from. As I have my own demons inside my head, here are some tips which I basically use in organizing my vocabulary.

• Writing down definitions to all the unfamiliar words doesn't work. If the translation of the word is clear enough I just don't have to cram the information I don't actually need. Another thing is when you have an idiom, collocation, or the word that cannot be understood just with the help of translation. In this case the
  
  
  definition is a terrible thing to waste. 
• Finding the synonyms can also be beneficial as your vocabulary will be much more colorful.
• Dividing your notebook into sections:words, phrasals, collocations, idioms. In this case you won't be puzzled with what you learn.
• Supporting your definitions with the relevant examples. Sometimes the definition doesn't express the whole meaning but examples can clarify the situation.

     Now it's time to show you how my tips actually work in practice. 

file:///C:/Users/angel/Desktop/Fellowship%20of%20the%20Ring.pdf