Dear Teacher!
So what can
I say… Five years have passed and I still feel that I have just graduated from
the 3-rd course. These years seemed to be long, but now I realize that the time
is running with the sport car speed, and the new life, the life without
classes, exams, credit-tests and crazy student parties is knocking at my door.
I don’t want to speak neither about my German classes nor about disciplines
like philosophy, psychology or lexicology that only taught us how to say
nothing in fact but many clever things at first sight! ;-) I will also refrain from talking
about my teaching methodology and pedagogic classes and school practices,
because by and large my primary aim was to learn English and all the things
concerning it – how to pronounce, to speak, to communicate and the most
important thing – how to think in English.
First of all I shall admit, that our English classes were absolutely different
from the classes that other groups had. We didn’t pay much attention at
drilling grammar patterns, at drilling the tasks of the first four links or scrutinizing
Lapidus from cover to cover. Practically since the first course, all the tasks
were of the 5-th and the 6-th links, and we never missed the opportunity to
express our own thoughts and opinions concerning a great variety of issues,
themes and phenomena. We learned how to learn in a creative way, how to make
our classes full of sense and advantage and at the same time to keep them
interactive and funny. But what can I say, sometimes we even ourselves
developed the exercises and did them! Practically every couple we had the right
to choose whether to do a task in a form of a dialogue, a monologue or a
general discussion.
I can also add, that I have become a real fan of British and American
literature. Our home reading classes taught us how to analyze, and to look deep
into the things, but a not at them. Now we are able to understand the correct
ideas and conflicts of any complicated literary work, and it makes us
intelligent and comprehensive.
Sometimes I felt frustrated and offended when I got bad marks at the exams, but
I believe that they didn’t reflect my language level. I’m sure it was made to
motivate me, in order to make my skills better and better. After all I can say
that it worked.
To conclude I must say that Your professional competence and personal English
teaching techniques and methods are undoubtedly beyond any praise, and I’m
sure, that together with Your positive attitude towards life and people around
You, they will help You to raise many generations of young professionals!
Besides Your professionalism, I want to thank You for your patience and
tolerance! We will miss You, and hope that it will be mutual.
Best regards, Alex Makhatajev, your graduate.
We’ve already spent 5 years in the University learning English. And our exams are already approaching. I think we can draw some conclusions now.
1. These 5 years were involving and entertaining.
2. We have learnt a plethora of new vocabulary items))
3. We have learnt to write essays and produce long monologues on-the-spot.
4. But that’s not so important. It is much more important that we have become a group. A group of 11. Ten of us and our English teacher.
5. It’s extremely important for one to have somebody on his/her side. To know that there is always support and feedback. We’ve always known that you’re ready to help. Thank you for that!
6. We have also understood that we are a "special” group. Maybe, we’re too ambitious at times. But we are better than the others, aren’t we? I know one thing for sure. We do stand out against the background of other students. No other group have their own web-site, right?
7. These are the last days of our studies. I realize it clearly that I will miss our classes. I will miss You, dear Teacher, and the atmosphere you manage to create…
Asya
A short diary of a diligent student
2007, August
I've just entered the University and... what am I to do now? Instead of enjoying my last days of freedom I have to water these flowers! The first practice. Oh, God, I haven't started to study here yet, but I'm already fed up with it! But on the other hand, it's a good chance to meet the people I'm going to study with.
2007, September
What am I doing here? Pete. Pete is ill. No, stop. Not so early. "Petya hochet kushat' – dai rebenku kashi”.
2007, October
Yes, Pete is ill.
2007, November
shishechki, chashechki.
The rest of 2007- the very beginning of 2008
Thanks God we are allowed to speak English!!!
2008-2009
The Second Year
Hey, where's V.A.?
Kate and Vera
It's all gone Pete Tong
Travelling – theme
V.A. is back!
What? Travelling again?
And.. the crucial point! What about an Internet site?
2009-2010
The Third Year
Project number 1
project number 2
project number 3
project number 1324163
other students are just students, we are actors and directors. "in Our Time” - the first short film by group A. And the last.
2010-2011
The Forth year
Time flies. Can't single out any moment. Except for the first school practice, I guess.
2011-2012
Unexpectedly: "Iran concealed its nuclear fuel programme for nearly 20 years before it was confirmed by US satellite pictures in 2002. Traces of highly enriched weapons-grade uranium were found at its Natanz plant a year later”.
5 years just pretend to last forever. If you sit down and try to recollect the things that have happened to you during these 5 years, you'll be overloaded with separate reminiscences. Flashes, images. Faces, words. Lessons. But you'll never be able to get the whole picture. Our memory picks out the most extraordinary events, the most fascinating and amazing things. 10 students with the words "reason for” written on their clothes. Homer's Iliad to practice intonation. "Godfather” for home reading. Video about iconography as a part of you exams. Sister Wendy as a way to study art.
5 years are just like pieces of a huge puzzle. Still the greatest difference is the following: with puzzles, you have to collect all the pieces in order to create a beautiful picture. With 5 years of reminiscences you are free to get rid of those pieces you dislike. Save your favourite ones.
(by Rina)
6 Years have passed and today is my last lecture day in my life. Unfortunately I can’t speak about 5 years with my group mates and my English guru Viktor Alexandrovich, we’ve spend together only 3 unforgettable years, but in fact this 3 years gave me much more than the previous 3. When I started to attend English classes in this University, I soon realized that I know nothing, to tell the truth now I have similar feelings, but they are not so strong. The first thing that struck me much was lesson plans, they were so detailed, structured and thought-out, that even now I can’t imagine how much time it requires to make something of this kind. The second thing – phonetics. Before we answer we pronounce it half-whisperingly. It is very useful and it improved my pronunciation level, but I still confuse the word and the world. The third thing to mention is our site. We talked much about it during the 3rd year of studying, maybe we are bored with it, but it is much better than exercise books for writing. I mean we do not appreciate what we have. Our website forces me to read news in English, to watch youtube videos in English and so on. I am absolutely sure that other groups do not work with multimedia at all in comparison with our group. And of course, thank you, my teacher, coach and adviser. Because I have changed the University, I am always asked, whether the level her is different or not. And I answer, that of course it is different, here it is higher. Then they ask "Who is your teacher?” And when they receive the answer they say "You are lucky, if you were taken in another group, you wouldn’t say that”. I wish you the most brilliant and diligent students in the world, every success and cheerful mood!(by Ayayulia)
What can I say about 5 years spent in the University… Looking back now and remembering myself 5 years ago I can’t but think how different I was. I did not know what would expect me, whether things would go ok or not. I remember my first impression when I saw my group-mates during the first days – I did not know them but I knew for sure that they would become my best friends for the next 5 years and now I also hope they will remain my friends for many years. That time I could not imagine how great things would finally turn to be. I think that I was just a bit scared because everything was very new to me: people who surrounded me, new friends, new teachers, new subjects. Even that fact that I’d have to study during the second half of the day was unusual. But after some time, we all got accustomed to things and now I can’t even imagine my life without the university. I understand that next year will be crucial time in my life because I will have to face the same things I did 5 years ago: new places, new people, new things. And I can’t say now whether things will go ok again or there will be certain difficulties. But I want to say, I’ll never forget my group-mates and my favorite teacher of English who for sure played a huge and important role in my life and whom I will always be thankful to.
(by Luck)
I can with certainly say that my English education was very intensive, effective and productive. To tell the truth within a few years we learned a lot. Our English lessons gave us a great opportunity to become more comfortable conversational English rather than imparting our knowledge of the English language. We learned that it is more interesting and natural to use so to say inventive language rather than learning rigid sentence structures and rules. We developed our language skills in practice rather than with the help of books’ rules. It was really necessary for us to talk about different interesting and at the same time educational things such as theater, movie, art, global problems, and even politics. It was important for us to take English information concerning our interests and then of course to express our opinions and more than that all our ideas and thoughts were very important. For us our English education was an example of an experiment which helped us to be advanced in many aspects of our life. We achieved a great progress in our English level. It is also important to mention about our innovative work. It is not a secret that we created the first English-speaking portal for free communication. And first of all it is a merit of our teacher. He can motivate us to be more creative and interested in many things. He could open our potential and see our uniqueness. And I would like to say that it was the best 5 years!
(by Tanya)
Five years passed and i didn’t notice it. It seems to me that we saw each other just yesterday. But do you remember the beginning of our study?
Our first meeting was in a university assembly hall and i knew only three people from our group that is why I was a bit nervous and curious to know people with whom i would study and spend about 6 hours a day.
Then we have our classes. Thank you, Victor Aleksandrovich, that You didn’t use Lapidus a lot and we didn’t degrade. To Have A New Year’s party became our good tradition that repeated every year except our third course.
The first course ended by our trip in Sel’ci. It was incredible!!!!!! I wont describe it in detail, i think that everybody knows what kind of adventures we had. I just want to say that it’s a pity, that we didn’t celebrate the beginning of our summer vacations every year.
To conclude i must say that my uni group became my second family, where i feel cosy. I always dreamed about my graduate and now i i think that i’m ready to have an extra years with that company, with that collective that i have now.
I would like to say THANK YOU to our teacher, for these
interesting classes and your unique methods of teaching.
(by Megastarosta)
I don’t want to entitle
this essay, because can’t realize which word or word-combination will suit its
content better. In any case I’m almost a graduate. Five years of my university
life have gone. There were a variety of both positive and negative moments in
this long period. But is it really long?
Sometimes I think that it was
yesterday when I came to Your class for the first time. I’d learnt about You
before that moment. My aunt had told me about You and Your teaching style. But
it is said, that seeing once is better than hearing twice. I really adored Your
classes. They were unusual and interesting. I was very proud of You being my
and my groupmates’ teacher.
Five years has passed. You’ve been
teaching me, punishing me, bringing me up, tutoring me and even scolding me. My
temper was not good. Sometimes I was impatient, sometimes Your words stroke
home.
I will never forget that all these
five years You have been correcting my pronunciation (all my groupmates say,
I’m the only one whom You are still trying to teach pronunciation). I will
never forget Your jokes. Your teaching style will forever stay in my brain.
Thank You for teaching me and
bringing me up. That’s really valuable for me. Mostly thanks to You I’m "tale
quale”. I still make mistakes, my pronunciation is still far from being
perfect, and I still have some buggers muddle in my mind, but for sure I can
say that I’m a globally educated person. And this is only Your merit.
I’ll try to do my best to make You be
proud of me as Your student.
After these five years of studying I have a plethora of knowledge and
life experience. I can do things I haven’t ever thought I would manage to do. I
can teach others, share my knowledge with them. I can understand and interpret
every literary work I will meet in life. I know dozens of ways to make lessons
interactive. I appreciate everything that You’ve given me.
I know I was a lazy student, but I’ve never disrespect You or Your
classes. You haven’t been only a teacher for me. You have been my mentor.
