Oscar - 2016

2015 was full of interesting and exciting movies which entertained us a lot. And all of us were looking forward to Oscar 2016 to find out who would become the winners. 

So on February 28 the 88th ceremony of Oscar 2016 took place in Los Angeles, California. The host of the ceremony of the Oscars was a comedian Chris Rock.

To my mind all the actors and film crews have already become the winners. They have done a great work because we recognize them, we like watching these movies. Nevertheless we've got the winners:

I am very happy to say that at last one of my favourite actors Leonardo DiCaprio has got his Oscar. He really deserves it. And I'm sure you'll agree with me. Because Leo was very convincing in The Revenant: 

This is the story about a real fighter who is ready to face the fate. And the problem of racism has been raised in this film, too. One of the characters says "They don't see you, they only see the colour of your skin". We should learn to judge people by their actions and not by their appearance. It's very important for our modern world. And many thanks to the creators and actors of the movie for their great work!

In autumn I watched a lovely movie for kids from Disney "Inside Out" ( the best animation movie). It's a simple story about main senses that live in our head and try to find out which of them is more important. We think that joy is the most important feeling, but without sadness we can't really appreciate happy moments:

And the best soundtrack became "Writing's on the wall" by Sam Smith from Spectre 007:

I've been here before

But always hit the floor
I've spent a lifetime running
And I always get away
But with you I'm feeling something
That makes me want to stay

I'm prepared for this
I never shoot to miss
But I feel like a storm is coming
If I'm gonna make it through the day
Then there's no more use in running
This is something I gotta face

If I risk it all
Could you break my fall?
How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here I'm suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood
Tell me is this where I give it all up?
For you I have to risk it all
Cause the writing's on the wall

A million shards of glass
That haunt me from my past
As the stars begin to gather
And the light begins to fade
When all hope begins to shatter
Know that I won't be afraid

If I risk it all
Could you break my fall?

How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here I'm suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood
Tell me is this where I give it all up?
For you I have to risk it all
Cause the writing's on the wall

The writing's on the wall

How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here I'm suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood
Tell me is this where I give it all up?
How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here I'm suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood
Tell me is this where I give it all up?
For you I have to risk it all
Cause the writing's on the wall

A great song, isn't it? Like all theme songs from 007.

So these are my impressions from Oscar 2016. I want to congratulate all the winners and say my great thanks to all of them for the entertainment they create for us. They are really the best!

Events in our school: "English week - 2016"

Hello dear friends! I want to tell you about English week that I  have arranged for my students during this week. I tried to show my students that English is cool. That's why I have prepared interesting and funny contests for them which could help them to develop their skills and creativity.
We started our week on February 15 with an exhibition devoted to St.Valentine's Day. My youngest learners created amazing valentine cards:

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

On February 16 my students could practise their skills at BritishCouncil LearnEnglishKids site and watch films about Great Britain and the USA

On February 17 my students of the second grade had a funny lesson-game "In the zoo". They  drew and described their favourite animals and solved riddles:

On the same day my youngest learners also took part in "English is Fun" competition. They revised the words with the help of crosswords:

And on February 18 my senior students took part in the quiz " In the world of words"

On the last day of the week my first grade students had fun at "Merry Alphabet" lesson. My little students revised the English letters:

and practised in reading:

My students presented their projects that had been created during the first semester. The motto of their presentation was "English is easy!".

All my students were very active and creative during the "English week - 2016". And I'm very happy that they have learnt a lot. All the teams were presented with diplomas:

Table of results

Grade	Place
5	I
6	II
7	III
8	II
9	II
10	III
11	I

Congratulations, my dear students! I'm proud of you!;)

Wish you good luck in learning English!

Happy Valentine's Day!;)

Whoever said Valentine's Day is only for lovers? I want to send my best wishes to all my loving friends from all over the world. Happy Valentine's Day!;)

I want to share with you a little piece of romance:

Enlarge your vocabulary on the topic "St Valentine's Day" with the help of this site My English Pages

and create interesting projects with your children.

Events: The International Radio Day

Hello, dear friends! Do you like listening to the radio? As for me I start all my days with the radio. I started talking with you about radio not in vain. Today is the International Radio Day.

On September 2011, UNESCO's Executive Board approved item 13 of its provisional agenda "Proclamation of a World Radio Day"

 On 20 September 2010 Spain proposed that the UNESCO Executive Board include an agenda item on the proclamation of a World Radio Day. The Executive's decision is as follows:

Recommends to the UNESCO General Conference that it proclaim a World Radio Day and that this Day be celebrated on 13 February, the day the United Nations established the concept of United Nations Radio;

Invites all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system and other international and regional organizations, professional associations and broadcasting unions, as well as civil society, including non-governmental organizations and individuals, to duly celebrate the World Radio Day, in the way that each considers most adequate;

Requests the Director-General, subject to the final resolution of the General Conference, to bring this resolution to the attention of the Secretary-General of the United Nations so that World Radio Day may be endorsed by the General Assembly. ( the information was taken from Wikipedia)

I consider that listening to the English programmes on the radio is  a wonderful way to develop your listening skills and to improve your pronunciation. 
So I offer you the following radio stations:
  listen to live BBC Radio or catch up on the last 7 days of BBC programmes from across the UK and World Service
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio

 is the leading internet talk radio network with talk radio stationsincluding business talk radio,sports talk radio,health radio, and more.

http://www.voiceamerica.com/channel/250/voiceamerica-7th-wave 

is a lovely radio station  with lovely music. Just choose your country and enjoy your listening.
 http://www.disneyinternational.com/
So combine pleasure with useful things, listen to your favourite radio stations and broaden your horizons.
And at the end of my post I'd like to share with you a real anthem devoted to the radio. 
Radio from Beyonce:

I be on the hotline like err'day
Makin' sure the DJ know what I want him to play
You know I got my top back and my beat low
Rockin' my stunna shades and turnin' up my radio

Turn up my radio

I think I'm in love with my radio
'Cause it never lets me down
And I fall in love with my stereo
Whenever I hear that sound
Whenever I hear that sound
Whenever I hear that sound

I'm the only one that papa allowed to hang out in my room
With the door closed we'd be alone
And mama never freaked out when she heard it go boom
'Cause she knew we were in the zone

Hold him in my arms and look out of my window
Under the moonlight
And he'd be keepin' me close so I never let him go
He's got a place in my heart

I think I'm in love with my radio
'Cause it never lets me down
And I fall in love with my stereo
Whenever I hear that sound
Whenever I hear that sound
Whenever I hear that sound

When I get into my car, turn it up
Then I hear vibrations all up in my trunk
And the bass all be rattlin' through my seats
Then that crazy feeling starts happening

I get butterflies when I hear the DJ
Playing the stuff I like
And I fall deeper in love with every song he plays
He's got a place in my heart

I think I'm in love with my radio
'Cause it never lets me down
And I fall in love with my stereo
Whenever I hear that sound
Whenever I hear that sound
Whenever I hear that sound

I be on the hotline like err'day
Makin' sure the DJ know what I want him to play
You know I got my top back and my beat low
Rockin' my stunna shades and turnin' up my radio
Turn up my radio

I think I'm in love with my radio
'Cause it never lets me down
And I fall in love with my stereo
Whenever I hear that sound
Whenever I hear that sound
Whenever I hear that sound

How to spend the weekend?

 It's finally Friday! It's my favourite day of the week because I don't have to prepare for my lessons and the weekend is ahead. You may say that you like Saturday or Sunday but I'm pretty sure that  we all don't like the working days;)

 But how to spend the weekend? That is the question!

 Do you expect me to give you advice? No, I just want to share with you how I usually spend my weekend. 

 So at the beginning I always plan to do a lot of things. But as a rule it never works.

 I hope that I'm not alone :)
 There are a lot of ways of spending the weekend and first of all it depends on people's characters. So if you are an active person, you'll have an active rest. And if you are a homebody it's quite obvious that you'll prefer a quiet rest. 
But my weekend rest depends on my mood. Sometimes I really need a quiet rest and do nothing at the weekend. And it looks like this:

When I'm in a good mood I'm looking forward to my weekend because this is the only time which you can spend on yourself.

And I usually do the following things:

1)I like watching films or cartoons and always choose the positive ones:

2) I like to play RPG

3) I like to read. I read a lot and I can read different kinds of literature. For example now I'm reading  

4) And I never mind cleaning the rooms:

5) I also like to take care of my flowers:

6) And I never mind cooking:

No matter what you do at your weekend, if you do it with pleasure, it means that you have a fantastic weekend. And you'll start a new week in a good mood, and with a new strength.
So, my dear friends, enjoy your weekend!;)

Tongue Twisters

Ok guys, continue breaking our tongues:) How about trying this little collection of tongue twisters?
 
Good luck!;)

Art for heart's sake

This week my students of the 10th grade have started to learn a very interesting topic "Art".
What is art? It's a very difficult question because this notion has many meanings.

The fine arts

The fine arts are what most people mean when they just say “art”. These include artistic disciplines such as painting and sculpture. Typically, they are objects created to be “beautiful”.

 Arts and crafts

A craft is a similar, related concept and we do use the term arts and crafts. In arts and crafts, objects are created by hand. A good example would be tapestry.

 The visual arts

These are the ones we look at and include paintings, drawings and photographs. Does cinema count? For some people, yes

So I have made an educational presentation for my students.

 They learnt different art styles and practised describing pictures according to the plan:

Here is the useful material of the topic "Art" from Quizlet

and my educational presentation:

Presentation Art

View more presentations or Upload your own.

My new experience: "Teacher of the Year 2016"

On January,12 2016 "Teacher of the Year 2016" contest took place in Kharkiv and I participated in it.

So I want to share with you, my dear friends, my new experience, feelings and expectations which I had during that contest and after it.

The first stage of the contest was a proficiency level test which I passed successfully and went to the next stage

The second stage was a lesson which I had to conduct in an unknown school for unknown students.I am an English teacher of a secondary school and I have been working for 11 years, but to conduct a lesson in a specialized school with a deep study of foreign languages was a really new experience for me. My task was to explain my new students of the sixth grade why all people in the world were different. I mean the topic of my lesson was "Personality. Traits of character". 

We learnt new words, played games, watched the video about children's likes and dislikes, read about music tastes and found out what the real friendship was like.

At the end of the lesson my new students and I became real friends and sang a lovely song by Bruno Mars about friendship:

I really like this song! Isn't it lovely?

Though I was a little bit nervous ( and who wouldn't have been ?!), I coped with my task and went to another one level. 

So here we are - the finalists of the contest, those 4 teachers out of 26 who have survived :)

And the last third stage of our contest was so called master class. It's a way of presentation of teacher's experience. I decided to represent the way of developing students' critical thinking skills with the help of strategy of six thinking hats, invented by Edward de Bono.

The result of the contest made me happy - I became a laureate of  "Teacher of the Year -2016" contest.

I want to thanks my dearest and nearest - my family, my friends who supported me all that time and believed in me.

This contest was an amazing opportunity for me to develop my skills, to practise my knowledge, to find out something new and important for a teacher. I met amazing people devoted to their work who shared their experience with others.

I'm very glad to have such an amazing experience in my life.