How to conquer exam anxiety.Some advice for our students.

Examinations are coming. A very nervous and anxious period for our students.There are many different techniques to deal with exam anxiety and here are some of them.You may suggest them to your students.May be they'll help your students to get a success at the exams.

1.Downplay the exam.Instead of thinking of the day of the exam as the worst of your life and your own personal Waterloo, think about it as just one more hurdle to overcome.Be careful when you talk about it and don't let you friends, parents or teachers push your panic button.

2. Don't dismiss your fears.If you are trying to downplay the exam's importance, don't go to the opposite extreme by saying that the exam doesn't mean a thing.Recognise that exams do matter, some more than others. But no exam will ever be the sole measure of your qualification. And an exam has nothing to do with your worth as a human being.

3.Build familiarity.Study your notes in detail and be prepared.This will help you to feel more confident. It's also helpful to work on practice tests/ exams and memorise all the instructions.

4.Learn and use relaxation techniques.

a) Visualise or imagine yourself doing well- filling in the gaps in the text or writing an essay with confidence. Imagine your teacher handing back your exam with an excellent mark on top of it.Visualising success puts you in control.

b)Breathing techniques can help, especially during an exam.If you feel yourself losing confidence, take slow, deep breaths to calm yourself.If you have some time before the test, try to get in some exercise.

5. Be optimistic!Studies have clearly shown that people who approach tense situations with an optimistic attitude do better than those who think they will fail. Imagine yourself achieving success rather than failing.

Four days before the exam. Reread your notes and review the textbook.

Three days before the exam. Skim your notes and the textbook.Recite important points aloud.

Two days before the exam.Without looking at your notes or the textbook, recite the key points.Look back at your notes and the text to check your success.

The day before the exam. Take a sample exam and answer the questions or have someone quiz you.Skim your notes to find the most important and /or difficult points.

The day of exam.If the exam is in the morning you may not be able to study.But if you do have a few minutes, skim your notes once last time.Be sure to take a deep breath and relax before the exam.

Good luck!

An English lesson

An English lesson

Listening eading the text

Exersises:

* Sentence match          * Consonants

* Vowels

* Missing letters

* Initials only

* No letters

* Listen and spell            * Missing words

* No spaces

* Gap-fill

* Crossword

* Fill-in-the-blank

* Flash cards

* Matching

* Hangman        * Articles

* Tenses

* Prepositions

* Jumble

Learning Using Technology - Good or Bad?

Some of the best English teachers in the world have been taking part in an online conference to share their ideas about teaching and using technology in the classroom. They told reporters their opinions on whether or not they thought technology helped students to learn English. Some teachers were convinced it didn't. The biggest problem teachers had was that there were too many Internet connection problems. Rosa said that adult students may have the problem because they do not have the tech skills. Another teacher, Guadalupe believes students may prefer face-to-face lessons and not lessons over the Internet.

The majority of teachers thought computers, websites, iPads, smart phones, etc. were incredibly useful and helped people learn English more quickly. Claudia said technology facilitates teaching, while Tanya believes learning with technology allows students to learn at their own speed. Melissa pointed out that learning using technology is appropriate for today's younger generation. International teacher, trainer and vide expert Vicki Hollett is a big fan of technology. She is convinced it is useful in the classroom because there are no geographical barriers in using it. Catalina is another teacher who is enthusiastic about technology because students love working with it and motivates them to learn.

1. ONLINE LEARNING: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about online learning. Change partners often and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.                

best / online / conference / technology / convinced / Internet connection / tech skills / majority / useful / learning / younger generation / expert / barriers / enthusiastic

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. STUDYING ENGLISH: How can these things be better? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.       

Problems with it / them              

How to male it / them better

Teachers                           

Dictionaries                       

Websites                          

Course books                   

English classes 

Online learning                

4. REALLY HELPS: Students A strongly believe technology really helps students learn English; Students B strongly believe strongly believe studying without technology is better.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. BEST TOOL: Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best tool at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

  • an iPad

  • a bilingual dictionary

  • Google

  • grammar books         

  • an English study website

  • a pen and paper

  • vocabulary word cards

  • course books

Работа с текстом по теме "CLIMATE and WEATHER" (задание в формате ГИА/ЕГЭ)

Чтение с разной направленностью - одно из важных умений, которое мы, учителя английского языка, стараемся развить у ребенка в процессе изучения языка. 
Тексты могут содержать некоторое колическтво незнакомыз слов, что позволяет развивать дополнительно языковую догадку, исходя их контекста. Целесообразно предлагать намеренно тексты с некоторым количеством незнакомых слов, тем самым показывая ребенку необходимость аналитически подходить к грамматическому строю языка, в том числе... 

Weather can affect the people's lives greatly.  The article below describes an extreme natural event.

EUROPE

Deep Freeze

The harshest winter weather in a decade lashes Europe, disrupting travel by air, land and sea — and claims the lives of hundreds.

By David Gordon                                                                  

The new year made a stormy entrance last week, lashing the  Continent with  the severest cold snap in a decade. Snow, ice and subfreezing   temperatures   spelled chaos, and sometimes deaths, from the Mediterranean to the Urals. More  than  220 deaths mostly among the home-less and the elderly,  were reported as far south as Valencia, Spain.

Travel became a Homeric task. In the Caucasus, an avalanche  (лавина) sealed  (окру жить кольцом) 300 people in a mountain tunnel connecting Russia and Georgia for days. Air  traffic  was  disrupted  as was   train   travel.    A   Paris bound Eurostar train carrying some 500 passengers got stuck in the Chunnel for more than two  hours,  its  engine stalled(останавливать) by snow.  Ice clogged river traffic   on   the   Loire,   Elbe, Main  and Danube.  Even Eng land's Thames* froze in plac­es  for   the   first   time   since 1963.                                      The   brutal   weather   put   a damper on New Year celebrations. Those who booked holiday trips to resorts on the Adriatic found snow,    not   sun,    on   beaches. Parisians ice-skated in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower early in the  week,  but  by  New  Year's   Day the city was a ghost town as its citizens hid from the chill.    In    London,    the freeze even muzzled the chimes of Big Ben for a few hours on New Year's Eve. cold  snap didn't spoil all the fun.  In London, brave bathers  still  took  the  annual New Year's Day dip in   Hyde  Park's  Serpentine. 

And in the   Netherlands, some 16,000   Dutch   donned   (надевать) ice skates Saturday for a 200-kilometer race  across  the frozen   lakes   and   canals   in Friesland. That's marking the best of a bitter situation.

Deep Freeze

I. Choose - A. True                B. False               C. Not stated

1.    Winter weather became destructive for Europe.

2.    There were many deaths due to winter storm, ice, and subfreezing temperatures.

3.    The catastrophe came just before spring.

4.    People celebrated New Year merrily and happily

5.    The Thames froze and workers had to struggle with the ice on the London River.

6.     Big Ben stopped working on New Year Eve because of the weather problems

7.    Some people tried to have fun and usual life, skating and dipping

II

1.       Find the Superlative degree of the adjectives

2.       Find the sentences with Participle I

3.       Find the sentences with Passive Voice

4.       Find the sentence with cause and effect relation, point cause and effect, replace the linking word with its equivalent

III Speaking

1.                            What facts are interesting for you?

2.                            What facts are you surprised with (shocked about)?

Состоялся творческий вечер поэта-песенника, композитора Зои Спиридоновой-Хатти

      Во всей образовательных учреждениях города проводятся мероприятия, посвящённые  году культуры в России. Педагоги являются вдохновителями и организаторами этих мероприятий. Благодаря отделу культуры г. Шумерля группе учителей представилась возможность посетить столицу Республики и отдохнуть от насущных проблем на одном из культурных мероприятии. 20 марта во Дворце Культуры имени Якова  Ухсая в г. Чебоксары состоялся творческий вечер поэта-песенника, композитора, победителя регионального эстрадного фестиваля "Вирьял шевлисем", лауреата Всечувашской национальной премии "Эмине", заслуженного деятеля искусств  Чувашской Республики Зои Спиридоновой-Хатти. Весь вечер в ее исполнении звучали чувашские песни эстрадного жанра. Бурные аплодисменты долго не утихали после каждого номера. А любимые в народе песни исполняли всем залом. Концертную программу украсили выступления заслуженного работника культуры Чувашской Республики Александра Самсонова, звезд чувашской эстрады Екатерины Семеновой, Ларисы Кандейкиной - Тивлет, группы "Азамат" и участники танцевального ансамбля "Колибри" с танцевальной композицией "Цыганский танец" (руководитель Наталья Храмова).