I think Russian Fashion Week is a great “exhibition” in Russia. Lots of people in our country shadow for fashion tendencies.
     We know that fashion weeks prosper a lot in Europe. And Russian people do not have a possibility to get there (by many reasons). Now we can visit such a fashion legislative measure in Moscow twice a year. Unfortunately, not every person can frequent the exhibition. Only if you have some friends of yours who work there or you are a press or work at a fashion magazine –, in some words, person, who connects with a fashion industry. In this case you “get on the runway”.
     When you come in a lounge you meet famous people such as singers, actors and actresses. You meet rich beautiful and fashion people. Famous designers from all over the world show you their collections and you understand that you are in a dream. It’s magnificent! It’s really so!
     I don’t know why but from a child to an adult people wear clothes of foreign firms. We don’t think much about it. But not supporting Russian designers we can lose Russian tendency in The World Fashion!

     I went with my aunt and her class to Italy last year. My aunt is teacher, she goes to different countries every holiday. It was a very interesting journey. We went there across all Europe. We went to Germany and visited Dresden Nationality Gallery, where we saw Rafael’s famous picture "Madonna". Than we visited the capital of Poland - Warsaw. On the fifth day of our travel we came in Italy. We visited many.
     Italian cities: Venetia, Florentia, Rimmini, Verona, San-Marino and Roma. We saw all the famous places in Roma: Coliseum, Vatican, where we listened to Pope’s speech at St. Peter’s cathedral and threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain. At night we ate a fantastic pasta and pizza in a hotel or in a restaurant.
     On the last day of the journey we went shopping. We bought a lot of interesting souvenirs and other things. We had a great time. Italy is full of history and has a special atmosphere, and Italian food is wonderful. We took a lot of pictures there to have a recollection in the future.

I would not like to criticize anything or anyone. I just would like to share my thoughts with colleagues. Here are my thoughts:
1. We want to make our “students’ life” easier and more efficient but we really make it more difficult and less productive. Education can not be separated from social environment but I would not like to stop at political or economical aspects here.
2. We still feel strong influence from the past when Teaching Methods of a foreign language meant reading some texts (knowing grammar) but not listening and speaking. We still pay a lot of attention to transcription but use audio materials little. Teaching transcription, when we want our students to pronounce properly, means adding more special signs to learning. That is quite confusing especially for students at a primary school. They should learn Latin and Cyrillic prints and a print of a transcription. Personal experience shows that the more students listen and speak the fewer mistakes they make in pronunciation (or even do not make any mistakes at all).
3. Motivation is an engine of progress. You can add more colors to your teaching (studying) using communication through internet (emails, ICQs, forums) through live discussion with native speakers. But some teachers prevent students from such an opportunity. We study grammar but our students’ vocabulary is poor and their communication skills are limited as well. Do we teach “dead” language?
4. Everything at school is strictly regulated. It is not an order yet but a tip to use textbooks adopted by Russian agency of education. I can see here more commercial side than political interest but it is still a limitation of teacher’s choice. There are quite a lot of experienced methodologists in Russia. On the other hand, we sometimes meet poor text books by native speakers on our market. However, I prefer books by foreign authors for their openness, more close life approach, slower speed in brining new materials, colorfulness, directions to international tests (Cambridge exams, TOEFL, etc.).
5. We should not deceive ourselves that every student can be taught a foreign language. It sounds trivial but we need broad-minded students with high IQ (especially talking about high school). But we do not have clear regulations allowing students to select subjects (Russian equivalents of A-levels) concentrating their efforts on three or four courses at a high school (now they have 15 to 20 subjects and 5 to 6 final exams). And we do not have а strict criteria for entering so called A-levels. Unfortunately, Russian standard EGE (unified state exam), which is very close to international requirements, does not work properly. If we can not standardize education in Russia that means we can not fit it into European (world) format of education.
6. A teacher is a psychologist trained in a specific area of teaching. You are a psychologist first because you work with children / adults (living creatures) and only then you are a teacher using special tools (textbooks, CDs, audio books, etc.) and your qualification. You have to feel students’ auras and apply tools depending on their characters and abilities.
7. I would appreciate to hear your opinions on this subject. Please, contact me through this website www.english-school.narod.ru
Sincerely yours,
Victoriya Ivanova,
Teacher of English, Moscow

     Understanding how busy you could be now I still would like to ask you to do me a favor.
     My friend, a teacher of English from Moscow, has sent me some drafts of her further article (see above) asking for reviewing it.
     Could you take a look at her letter? I would really appreciate your expertise, knowing what a highly qualified teacher you are!
     You might want to share your thoughts with us. That would be great!
     Thank you!
Alexander Mayorov

     I have read the article written by Victoriya (see above). I would say that Victoriya makes some very good points about the approaches to teaching a foreign language. It is very necessary to have active student participation and involvement in the oral pronunciation and conversational skills. There must be aural comprehension and oral proficiency. This can happen only if there is much practice in both listening and speaking. Students need to be involved in games, role-playing, skits, jazz chants, dictation, rhymes, music (especially good for pronunciation), small group work, oral presentations, etc.. Any of these techniques can be adapted to all age levels and to all vocabulary and topics being taught.
     Certainly, there is the need for good textbooks, but these should be used only as resources that the teacher can build on to create ideas for getting the students actively involved in the language learning process.
     Yes, school systems and teachers need to have the freedom to choose the best materials and to try new and innovative methods of teaching. Educators are the ones who can make the best decisions about these matters; certainly not book publishing companies or government officials.
     In the US there is a National Education Administration that sets certain guidelines for education throughout the nation, but each state has an education bureau, then each county in each state has a school board of directors, then some cities have their own school systems. Most of the guidelines and decisions are made at the state and local levels. Local school officials and teachers (as well as parents) have a large degree of input about educational decisions in their area. Therefore, they can help make decisions about what is appropriate for their own school population, because there is much variation from rural areas, towns and big cities and one system is not suitable for everyone.
     We have many private schools in the US. These schools must be approved and meet the national and state standards. In recent years home schooling has become popular. This, too, must meet all required standards.
     In the 12th grade all students are required to take a national standard test of achievement and competency. If they do not score high enough then they must do some remedial work and take the test again until they make a passing score.
     I hope that I have said some things that are helpful or meaningful and appropriate to what you have asked me to do.
     Love to you and your family.
Mary E. Mery

     Hello! I’ve spent my summer holidays in a sport camp in BOLGARIA. Every day we did our morning exercises, than we had breakfast, after that we had training in a swimming pool, but on Sundays we played water polo, than we went to the seaside. At 1pm we had lunch, after lunch we had a quiet hour.
     At 4pm we went to a stadium and did evening exercises there (on Sundays we played football), than we went to the seaside, at 7pm we had dinner, and, in the end we had a lot of free time! (since 7.15pm till 11pm) ;)
     We didn’t always have such timetable. Sometimes, we spent all day at the seaside, went on excursions. During our free time we could go to the restaurant in a town, could dance at the DISCO. But we didn’t always keep the rules, for example after the time when we had to stay in bed we could go on a night DISCO, but if our teachers knew about that it would be terrible!! In the camp i met a lot of interesting boys ? girls. I’m planing to go to the camp next year.

     I like listening to Russian rock. Its founder is Victor Tsoy who created a group called Kino. His followers - Jury Shevchuk, Konstantin Kinchev, and Valery Kipelov created such groups as DDT, Alisa and Aria.
Their famous songs are: “Alisa”:
“The spindle”, “Road E95”, “The sky of the slaves”; ”DDT”: ”What the autumn is?”, “In the last autumn”, “Rain”; “Aria”: “1100”, “Careless angel”, “Ice splinter”, “Street of Roses”.
Alisa and DDT are still in the same format, but V. Kipelov has left Aria and created a group called “Kipelov”. He has also sung with Sergey Mavrin, who is a rock-singer as well.
Now each of these groups has recorded from 20 to 30 albums. My favorite song is “A spindle”.

     From NEW YORK and Milan - everybody loves the new way of dancing -as Mrs. Queen of Pop Madonna has made the underworld rock and the steps of krumping the next big thing. Mix our hip-hop? Break-dance and disco moves from the 80-s, give us some attitude and you are on your new way.
     Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone (born August 16, 1958) is an American pop musician, singer, songwriter, dancer, actress and an author. She is noted for her innovative music videos, elaborately mounted stage performances, and controversial use of political and religious themes and imagery in her work.
     In 2000, The Guinness Book of Records credited Madonna as the most successful female recording artist of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of 120 million albums. Her record label, Warner Bros., reported in 2005 that she had achieved international sales in excess of 200 million albums. She is frequently referred to as the Queen of Pop as well as one of the greatest pop icons.
     She is a socialite on the international fashion scene, inspiring designers, models, artists and other entertainers around the globe. She's way ahead of the field when it comes to styling, music and moves. Madonna uses her creativity to reinvent herself after year which makes her vibrant and interesting. She never goes out of style. She has so much street credibility, yet she's a true glamourist, from her blond head to her krump-dancing toes.
     In 2000, Madonna married the younger moviemaker Guy Ritchie in a dream of a wedding gown designed by friend and star designer Stella McCartney. When Madonna is not in the studio recording or practicing new dance moves, working out doing her yoga or on tour with her album, she looks after her two children, Lourdes and Rocco. Today, the famous family lives in a house in the English countryside.      In summer of 2006 Madonna embarked on the Confessions Tour. It is expected to become the highest grossing world tour of all-time for a female recording artist.
     Of course I don't put her on a pedestal. But I admire her. I think she is the best artist in the world. In her 47 she does incredible things and this excites my respect of her. Go Madonna! Show us what you can do more! You are a hot rockin' mama!

     Hello! I went to Bulgaria last week. I went mounting skiing there. My travel started at the airport. Our plane took off at 9.45 am but we came to the hotel only at 5pm. The hotel was in a town called BANSKO (the name of the hotel was the LION). I met my friend NADIA there. We jumped on a springboard, played bowling and swam in the swimming pool…I had a good time there…

     I wouldn’t be interested in joining any of these groups (punks, Goths or hippies). I don’t think their lifestyle would be suitable for me. I don’t like their clothes, hairstyle and the music they listen to. I don’t want to join a group at all. I want to be free. When you join a group, you in some way become different. You can’t do what is not acceptable in a group. In my opinion, everybody must live how he wants.
     It’s difficult to join a group. You have to accept their rules, lifestyle. If you didn’t do that, you wouldn’t join a group. Moreover, you couldn’t leave the group without permission of the leader. And when you leave the group, other members could call you different names or humble you. Agree, this is not very pleasant.
     In the ideal group, people could do what they want. They could tell their ideas even if they are different from others. People could join this group without changing their lifestyle.
     Some people think that group is one of the most important thing in people’s life and it’s their right.

     I think that materialism can be seen in people’s attempt to buy the best and the most modern things for themselves.
     In our community teenagers are divided into two groups. In the first group, there are teenagers whose parents earn a lot of money and in the second, there are ones without rich parents.
     The first group is usually materialistic. They thought, I think, that they have to wear designer labels and if they don’t they are not “cool”. In my opinion, they are materialistic from the birth because their parents want to buy the best things for their child.
     Teenagers of the second group don’t have enough money to buy designer clothes. So they wear less expensive clothes or hand-made ones. And even if they want a well-paid job they do it just because they want better life for their parents.
     As for me I suppose I’m just a bit materialistic. I like good things but it isn’t the most important thing for me.

     I would be interested in joining of Goths or punks. Because Goths and punks like rock very much. Goths like metal, heavy-metal, hard-rock. Punks like loud and violent music, like lyrics witch frequently contain oppositional themes (anti-romantic love songs, anti parents, anti-police). And me, I love rock too. My favorite groups are metal groups (for example Metallica, Apocalyptica, Nirvana, Linkin park, Aria (Russian group) and punk rock groups (for example Green day).
     I hate pop music, romantic love songs, I hate materialism in the society like punks. And sometimes I am agree with goths that the world is a dark place. Because our life sometimes surprises us very badly and it is difficult to stay quiet, at norm. Goths overcome problems together. I like their style. It is cool to stand out in the crowd; I like punks’ strange clothing and their hair of unusual colors. And I like goths white make-up, black or purple hair, black lipstick. If I can, I will join a goths and punks.

     I think materialism means loving money. I think that I’m not a materialist. I like to eat tasty, to buy good thing, but it’s not too much materialistic. For me the soul and heart are more important than money. I don’t think that society now is more materialist than before. There are many materialistic people in every society, all the time. I don’t think that music develop materialism. Punks, Rockers, Goths, Rappers hate materialism and their mind is based on music, texts of their songs. Materialism is bad a feeling, but it develops economic.

     Success is a result of hard work. I think that success is a good job and a happy family. When you think that your life is good and you are happy, you get success. When you get success, you are respectable person.

Hi.
My name is Andrew.
I am from Russia.
I am from Pushkino, 30 kilometers from Moscow.
I am ten.
I am in Class 4 Sport.
My number one music group is Faktor two.
My number one football team is Spartak, Moscow.
I play football.
What is you name?
Where are you from?
How old are you?
Bye.
Andrew.

Hi.
My name is Nikita.
I am from Russia.
I am from Pushkino, 30 kilometers from Moscow.
I am ten.
I am in Class 4 Sport.
My number one music group is Tee two.
My number one football team is Lokomotiv, Moscow.
I play football.
What is you name?
Where are you from?
How old are you?
Bye.
Nikita.

     In July, my sister and I went to the Black Sea . We lived in a wonderful place near Gelendgik. There was a rock Parus (Sail) near Gelendgik. One day we wanted to go to the rock. It was a hot day the sun was shining and seagulls were flying above the sea. We went along the beach and admired the sea. In a half an hour, we reached the rock. There was a hole in the rock Parus (Sail). We took pictures there. Then we came back. We were tired but happy. There was the best day of my summer holidays.

     Many people from other countries think that the happiest time of a person's life is when he or she is an adult. But I think otherwise. I think that the best time of a person's life is when he is a child. Why do I think that? I don't really know. Maybe, because a little child doesn't have any big problems. I'm a teenager. And I must go to school, do my homework and a lot of other boring things. I have little time for myself. So, a child can do almost everything he or she wants. He or she has a lot of free time. And I am jealous of him or her.

This a boy, He's name is Kan. He likes chocolate, He likes jam, He likes oranges, He likes juice And what mother always cooks. But he doesn't like to jump, But he doesn't like to play, But he doesn't like to run And he's very, very fat.

     Hi, people! My name is Kat and I'm very fun. I'm 14 years old. I'm in years 9. I'm good at writing and can write poems. What about you? Can you write? And what music do you like? My favorite music trends are heavy metal and rap. I think that it's fun. My favorite music groups are Limp Bizkit, Guano Apes, Many points and Souse . Write to mi what you like listening and what your favorite groups are. I like reading books and read a lot of books. I like going to the cinema very much! I see all popular films in the cinema. What is your favorite film? I can't draw but I like to watch how my friends draw. I collect their pictures with people. Can you draw?Please, write to mi! I have a lot of friends but I haven't pen pals . Do you want to have a good pen pal? Write to Kat!!!

My family and I went to Feodosia, Crimea this summer. We lived in a house by the sea. In the morning we went to the beach, in the evening we went for a walk. We swam in the sea and found a lot of seashells. When the wind was strong my parents went surfing. Sometimes, we went on the excursions all day. We climbed the mountain Karadag, we were in Mramornie caves, Aquapark, Bahchisaray palace and Lastochkino nest. I will never forget this holiday.

     I have a parrot. His name is Kesha. He is six. Kesha likes to play with my toys and a sharpener. He lives in my room. Kesha likes to eat with me. He has a green stomach, blue tail, black eyes and blue cheeks. Kesha is a very clever parrot. He can speak Russian and understand English. When I ask, 'What is your name?' He says, 'Kesha'. I love him very much.

     I'm eleven. I like playing sports. I go mountain skiing, windsurfing and skiing with a kite. I like listening to music, singing songs and writing a story about Allis. Here is a short passage from my story about Allis's adventures.
…Mortal danger threatens the world. Biologists clone vampires, but Allis saves all…
…Allis opened the door. Suddenly the fly changed into a raven, a wasp changed into a snake. The raven flew into the room and snake coiled round Allis's legs, but Allis could jump and snake let go her. Allis grasped a clock from the table and threw it at the raven, then she saw scissors and threw them at the snake. The raven fell down and the snake sneaked away. Allis ran away out of the house into the street…
…In the street Allis met professor Singh.
‘Allis, can you give me a key from the house?' asked professor.
‘Which key? I haven't any key.
'Professor thought for a second.
At this moment a vampire sat on professor's shoulder.
‘Search her,' he said.
‘Yes, we'll search you,' said professor.
‘First catch me,' said Allis and climbed a three. The vampire tried to shake Allis down but Allis hid in a hollow. Professor and vampire waited for Allis but fell asleep and Allis ran away…

Allis woke up early today, because it was her grandfather’s birthday. He was one hundred twenty one years old. He had told Allis about ice-cream he had eaten when he was young. He said it was much tastier in 1955. Allis loved her Grandpa so much and she decided to go into the past to buy some ice-cream for him.
At nine o’clock Allis went to the Institute OF Time. She got into a car of time and pushed the button START...
When Allis got out of it she was in 1955. At this moment Allis saw a sign ICE-CREAM. She bought an ice-cream for her Grandpa and got back into the car of time and flew home. She had stayed in the car for three minutes only…
At 9:10 a.m. Allis got to the school.
When Allis went into the classroom all children looked at her with astonishment. The teacher said,
‘Allis where did you go?’
‘I went into the past.’
‘For half a year?’
‘No,’ said Allis. ‘For three minutes only’
‘Allis, you’ll have to stay on this level for the second year,’ the teacher said.
‘Why?’ asked Allis’s friend. ‘I’ll stay with Allis too.’
‘And I, and I, and I too…’ said her classmates.
All class stayed with Allis for the second year on the same level because it was not her fault that the time was passing differently in the past. And she missed only 10 minutes of her school lessons…

My favorite book is “The Lord of the Rings”. The author of the book is J.R.R. Tolkien. The main characters of book “The lord of the rings” are hobbits, and there are other characters: good and evil magicians, elves, people and ugly creatures – goblins and orcks. The name of the first part is “The friendship of the ring”, the name of the second part is “Two towers” and the third part is called “Return of the king”. This story is about fighting between good and evil, about friendship. The book tells us about fairy ring which was made to rule the world. The main character of the book is Frodo, with his friends starts on a long journey to destroy this cruel ring. This story has a good end because the good wins. I like this book very much.

     I think that childhood is the happiest time in people's life. Child's life is very interesting. A child lives in his small world full of dreams and adventures. He believes that Father Christmas with Snow Maiden bring presents in New Year. Heroes from favorite stories become his best friends. In childhood we don't realize what problems we could meet in maturity. But in childhood we don't understand that this time is happiest. When we are children we want to be adults. And when we are adults we want to come back in that carefree time although for a day. I think that we can be happy at any age particularly when we remember our childhood.

Everyone has her / his idea about happiness. I don’t agree with the opinion that the childhood is the happiest time in our life. Of course, children are loved by all adults. They are light-hearted and they haven’t global problems. But they have their little problems that are very important for them. These are bad marks at school, quarrels with their friends. And children have few rights.
In youth we become more independent. We have more rights but more duties. At this age a person chooses her / his way in life. She / her acquaints with the world of adults. It is a very interesting and merry time. A person doesn’t think about family problems she / he has a lot of friends and meets them at free time.
Adults have already achieved their goals in their lives and they can be proud of that. They become independent and can use the results of their labour. But they have a lot of problems with their work, their children and other things.
At an old age people live more quite life. They are happy, if their children and their grandchildren are happy.
I think that each age has its charm, and a man can be a happy at any age.
If you want to be a happy, be a happy!

     My name is Anastasia Starigina. I’m twenty. I am a student of Moscow State Teacher’s Training University. Our University is rather old - it is more than one hundred and thirty years old and it is known as one of the best pedagogical universities in Russia. Besides, our “alma mater” takes the fifth place on the list of the most prestigious universities of the Russian Federation. It is not a surprise: our diploma values all over the world (in other words we shouldn’t pass any additional exams if we are going to work abroad). I am trained as a teacher of English and Geography. I am going to study Spanish (may be French or German - I haven’t decided yet) and it’s going to be my second higher education. Unfortunately, because of many disadvantages (primarily low salary) only the smallest part of students work as teachers after graduation from our university - only three per cent. For example, some graduates work for tourism, advertising, on TV( such channels as STS, Kultura, NTV). As for me, I really don’t exactly know what I want to be. Well, some years ago there was no any doubt - I was sure I would be a teacher. I have been dreaming of becoming a teacher since I was ten. I know to be a teacher is my vocation. I have a huge love for children, children love me. I have a necessity in teaching: I am well educated and I can train a person well. But there is a good opportunity for me to work as an interpreter and it promises to be a well-paid job. I am eager to have scientific activity as well. It will clear in some years what way I’ll choose.

     I suppose childhood isn't the happiest time of a person's life because you depend on your parents’ capacity for help at this period. But real happiness includes free selection of life ways.