CC BY
25. Conclusions
The use of digital technology for the restoration of portraits seems to be a possible alternative in the near future due to their low cost and affordability. The complexity is represented by the programs for computers themselves, acquiring over time more and more various add-ons. This problem can be solved by widespread computerization and the establishment of a network of universities offered the respective supplementary education.
REFERENCES
Winckelmann, J. J. (1873) History of Ancient Art. New York, F. Ungar Pub. Co.
Quatremere de Quincy, A. C. Le Jupiter olympien / A. C. Quatremere de Quincy. Paris. 1815.
Brinkmann V., Wünsche R. (2004) Bunte Götter. Die Farbigkeit antiker Skulptur. Ausstellungskatalog.
Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek München. Brinkmann V., Primavesi O., Hollein M. Circumlitio (2010). The Polychromy of Antique and Medieval Sculpture. München.
Roberta Panzanelli, Eike Schmidt, Kenneth Lapatin (eds.) (2008). The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
USING MODERN BLOGS TO ENHANCE READING SKILLS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
AT THE LESSONS OF ENGLISH
The article is aimed at describing the way of improving high school students' reading skills in English through the use of authentic blog materials. In the paper blogs types, their educational functions and linguistic features are demonstrated in detail. A set of exercises based on the material of the English blog texts is proposed and tested while conducting the classroom research. It is stated that net blogs not only develop language skills, but also acquaint students with socio-cultural peculiarities of English communication. Students become participants of a real foreign language communication in a virtual communicative environment created with the help of blogs.
Keywords
English lesson, teaching reading in high school, blog, authentic materials,
classroom research
AUTHORS
Tatiana S. Akhmad,
graduate student, Tula State Pedagogical University named after L.N. Tolstoy, Tula 7, Mendeleevskaya street, Tula, 300041 Russia panina.tatiana11@yandex.ru
Irina V. Shchukina,
Candidate of Pedagogic Sciences, Associate Professor, Tula State Pedagogical University
named after L.N. Tolstoy, Tula 7, Mendeleevskaya street, Tula, 300041 Russia irenevl@yandex.ru
1. Introduction
The development of reading skills is one of the most important goals in teaching and learning English. Moreover, reading acts as one of the main communicative and cognitive activities of high school students. Thanks to reading students receive new information, enlarge their active and passive vocabulary, develop analytical skills and the critical thinking abilities. As a rule, high school students are attracted by reading fiction, journalistic texts and texts which are professionally oriented. It is worth stressing that materials for reading should be actual, problematic, have a great discussion potential in order to contribute to the critical thinking development. Besides, extensive and critical reading with the follow-up analysis and discussion of the main idea become relevant in high school.
An important point is that a teacher faces the need to create an authentic language environment that helps students to master language norms and cultural peculiarities within the framework of educational conditions, approaching the real conditions of communication. The effective usage of new ICT-technologies, especially the Internet, helps to create such language environment, which in turn helps to raise students' internal motivation in learning English and to use this language as a real means of communication. In fact, the Internet is a source of various authentic materials, the use of which is necessary for the communicative competence development. In this paper blog will be considered as a nice and reliable source of authentic materials for studies on the net.
The main goal of the paper is to find out the correlation between the systematic use of authentic blogs with high school students and students' level of reading skills development in English.
The following hypothesis is put forward according to the identified goal: the use of the reading exercises based on authentic English blogs will contribute to the development of reading skills in the process of teaching English to high school students.
2. Literature review
The definition given in most scientific papers points out that a blog (a web diary or an event log) is a website that contains regularly updated author's notes on a specific topic, represented by textual, graphical information and multimedia files. The blog management is carried out by one person or a group of people. It should be noted that topics of these online diaries are quite diverse. For example, they can inform readers about fashion, sports, politics, history, environmental issues, education, travel, etc.
As for the blog main features, it could be highlighted that blog notes have a reverse chronological order. All of them are clearly dated, which makes it easy to track all the events on the blog. Moreover, one can observe the presence of feedback or an actively developing system of reader comments, which perform the role of responses to the author's publication (Goroshko, 2009).
The communicative environment of the online diary is based on a combination of two forms of speech: monologue and dialogue due to the ability to leave comments. It is worth noting that the monologue of the blog is associated with the presence of a thoughtful, coherently designed, logical author's publication created on the topic of the blog. In its turn, such feature of the blog as dialogicity appears due to communicator-commentators who enter the discussion with the author of the online diary or with each other, following the author's theme.
So, we can conclude that the blog is a special communicative genre within the framework of Internet discourse, with the help of which Internet users can express their ideas, views, opinion. Due to this fact the blog is endowed with social functions to meet
the needs of a person in expressing oneself and in communication (Panyusheva, 2010). The interactive nature of the blog communication has contributed to the popularization of this Internet genre as a way of creative expression of one's personality.
G. M. Germasheva stresses that "a blog is distinguished from other forms of the Internet communication by the simplicity of its search and publication, high social prestige, and the possibility of establishing direct communication among bloggers (Germasheva, 2014). Being a popular and widespread form of communication in a virtual environment, blogs perform a number of functions in relation to authors and readers of blogs. The functions are as follows:
- Communicative function appears in the unlimited ability to communicate in a virtual environment;
- Self-presentation function implies the possibility to express your ideas, views, to realize creativity with the help of blogs;
- Entertaining function - the Internet communication on topics of interest gives users pleasure and joy, moreover, it is a way of spending free time;
- Function of rallying and maintaining social ties - the blog communication with both strangers and friends helps to find common ideas, views, forms new points of contact in people's relations;
- Memoirs function - blogs work like traditional diaries where the author keeps important events of his life, reflects his own life experience;
- Reflective function and self-development function - bloggers analyse, select information for their blogs, besides, many of them talk about interesting places, phenomena, events, thereby performing educational activities;
- Psychotherapeutic function - people analyze their feelings and emotions while transmitting them into blogs, thereby helping themselves to understand their own personality (Blog and vlog, 2019).
Today there are many papers describing various types of blogs that have certain characteristics and have their own target audience. As a rule, the classification of blogs is based on lots of criteria. The types of blogs according to the three most important criteria are presented in the table below (Table 1) (Blogs in learning, 2019).
TABLE 1. - The blogs typology
The criterion The blog type Key features
The number of authors Personal blog Supported by one person - the blog author
Shared blog Blogging is carried out by a group of people according to certain rules established by them.
Corporate blog It is supported by employees of a particular organization, company, and is used to enhance the image of the organization, as well as to rally a working team.
The type of content Text blog The content of the blog is mainly texts.
Photo blog Photographs are of primary importance here. They can also have headings or captions.
Music blog The main content is represented by music files.
Podcast or Blogcasting The content is presented by regularly updated audio recordings of lectures, talk shows, etc. There is an ability to download them to a computer.
Vlog The main content is video files.
The purpose of the creation Author's blog Authors share their personal experience, views, beliefs aiming in finding like-minded people, attracting a specific target audience.
Thematic Blog The blog notes are related to a specific, narrow topic: politics, sports, medicine, music, travel, etc.
Academic (Educational) Blog A blog with scientific or educational content created by educational institutions to inform the target audience about their activities.
Business blog Serves to promote goods, services of a particular company, enterprise.
Having analyzed different blogs, we can conclude that the mixed content blogs predominate at present. Nevertheless, a definite type of the blog is chosen for different purposes. For example, special attention should be paid to text blogs for educational purposes, as they are a source of authentic material for teaching reading in high school.
Moreover, it should be noted that blogs have certain advantages thanks to which blogs have a positive effect on the learning process while teaching reading. According to E.S. Polat, the educational advantages of teaching aids are the natural, technical, technological qualities of an object used for teaching purposes in the teaching process (Polat, 1998). Applying this definition to blogs we can come up with the following educational advantages of them:
- openness - determined by the fact that all the Internet users can visit the blog
page;
- linearity - typical for the blog author's notes which are arranged and changed chronologically, thereby allowing users to keep abreast of the latest news;
- authorship and moderation - the blog is managed directly by the authors;
- multimedia features - the usage of multimedia files of different formats in the blog content: texts, graphics, photos, videos, audio materials (Sysoyev, 2012).
Besides, blogs can play certain educational roles along with their advantages for teaching language skills. E.S. Polat focuses on the following educational roles of a blog:
1) organization of research and project work of students;
2) creation of an authentic language environment;
3) creation of self-education conditions;
4) activation of students' cognitive abilities;
5) motivating students to work independently;
6) encouraging students to use a foreign language as means of communication (Polat, 1998).
It should be also highlighted that the motivation of students is increased while using blogs in teaching reading. Moreover, a favorable environment for developing students' creativity and autonomy is achieved thanks to their work with authentic blogs entries.
3. Materials and Methods
The classroom research has been conducted in order to identify how the use of English net blogs influences the development of high school students' reading skills. Therefore, the following objectives have been put forward to achieve this goal:
1) to determine the actual level of reading skills development in English of the 10-graders (the ascertaining stage);
2) to use the suggested set of reading exercises in the learning process (the formative stage);
3) to identify the final level of reading skills in English of the 10-graders (the control and evaluation stage).
While doing the classroom research, students were offered to work with authentic texts of English net blogs and to complete sets of exercises as an additional material at the English lessons. Students were asked to pay special attention to language means (grammatical and lexical) typical for any authentic net blog, which surely has a positive effect on the students' language competence.
The following methods have been used in the framework of classroom research:
1) theoretical:
- analysis of the literature on methodology, pedagogy, linguistics on the topic of the research;
- analysis of the teaching materials in English for grades 10-11;
- analysis, synthesis and generalization of basic research concepts;
2) empirical:
- the study of the products of the activities of schoolchildren and teachers;
- observation;
- tests / surveys.
Let us describe the classroom research in detail focusing on its stages. It was carried out on the basis of a comprehensive school in Tula, Russia, in grade 10a (intermediate level of learning English). 13 students took part in the classroom research. It comprises 3 stages: ascertaining, formative, evaluation stages.
The students were given a test at the ascertaining stage to determine their initial level of reading skills development (Appendix A).
The test consists of three reading assignments based on the texts of English blogs. Moreover, the suggested assignments are completed in the format of the State Exam in English. The test is aimed at revealing the level of reading skills development in skimming, scanning, intensive reading as well as in the level of the ability to identify structural-semantic relationships in the text. According to the test results of 13 people, 3 people received mark "5", "4" - 6 people, "3" - 4 people, "2"- 0. There are the following criteria: it is possible to get 22 points in total for the test: 20-22 points - "5", 15-19 - "4", 12-14 -"3", 0-11 - "2". The results show an average level of reading skills development that is quite low for high school learners, but some improvement can be achieved.
The exercises were based on 5 online texts of English blogs at the formative stage of the research, representing the following topics: education and career, healthy food, modern technologies, environmental problems, travelling. The exercises include 3 stages of work on the text and exercises for the development of different types of reading. Moreover, the communicative and creative tasks have been suggested.
Students carried out the exercises with interest, discovered new and interesting facts, and participated in all types of activities actively.
The following set of exercises is based on the blog "FANNEtastic food blog". The source: https: //www.fannetasticfood.com/. It is an example of the network texts of English blogs applying in the process of teaching reading.
The set of exercises is based on the text "7 Common Nutrition Myths" [Appendix B].
1) Look through the text quickly. Find 7 unknown words which can be key words for understanding the text.
2) Work in groups of four. Compare your lists and point out the common words. Look at the blackboard. There are key words for this text. Compare with your lists and highlight the same words on the blackboard. Match the words with the definition given on the blackboard. Try to translate them in Russian.
3) Read the text again. Retell the text in pairs, using the key words in appropriate context.
4) Imagine that you are participants of the talk show "Healthy food: truth and myths". We are to choose one talk show host and one nutritionist who is a guest of this
show. The other students are the audience. The host and the audience ask the questions and the nutritionist answers (questions and answers are based on the text).
Key words and definitions: "Nutrition - the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth; food or nourishment.
The yolk - the yellow internal part of a bird's egg, which is surrounded by the white, is rich in protein and fat.
The white - the outer part (white when cooked) which surrounds the yolk of an egg.
Soluble vitamins - able to be dissolved, especially in water.
Cholesterol - a compound of the sterol type found in most body tissues. Cholesterol and its derivatives are important constituents of cell membranes.
Consumption - the action of eating or drinking something.
Heart disease - disease which affects the heart.
Fat free - (of a food) not containing animal or vegetable fats.
Low fat - denoting or relating to food or a diet that is low or relatively low in fat.
Dairy products - a product containing or made from milk.
Full fat - designating foods from which no fat has been removed.
Frenzy - a state or period of uncontrolled excitement or wild behaviour. Artificially made - made by means of human intervention rather than naturally.
Fillers - a thing put in a space or container to fill it.
Satiety - the feeling or state of being sated.
Granola - a kind of breakfast cereal resembling muesli.
Dessert in disguise - make (dessert) unrecognizable by altering its taste or smell.
Multi-grain - (of bread) made from more than one kind of grain.
Wheat - a cereal which is the most important kind grown in temperate countries, the grain of which is ground to make flour for bread, pasta, pastry, etc.
Ingredient list - a number of items (ingredients) or printed consecutively, typically one below the other.
Sprouted grain bread - a type of bread made from whole grains that have been allowed to sprout, that is, to germinate, before being milled into flour.
Carbs - dietary carbohydrates.
Fiber - is only found in foods that come from plants.
Diet soda - a sweet carbonated drink without calories.
Weight loss - a decrease in body weight.
To maintain - keep (something) at the same level or rate.
Sweeteners - a substance used to sweeten food or drink, especially one other than sugar.
Weight gain - an increase in body weight.
Caloric intake - an amount of calories taken into the body.
Sugar-free - without sugar.
Coffee creamer - a cream or milk substitute for adding to coffee or tea" (Oxford dictionaries, 2019).
The set of exercises based on the authentic text "7 Common Nutrition Myths" is an additional material for the topic "Food and health". These exercises are aimed at developing reading for gist. Besides, exercises contribute to the development of the lexical skills on the topic. Moreover, speaking skills are improved, especially unprepared speech (an interview assignment). Pair and group forms of work proposed in the complex contribute to team building.
4. Results and discussions
The main goal of the evaluation stage is to determine the impact of using English blogs texts on the development of reading skills of high school students.
Students were asked to complete the same test as at the ascertaining stage. According to the test results of 13 people, 6 people received mark "5", "4" - 6 people, "3" - 1 person, "2" - no one. So, we can conclude that the test results were improved, which indicates the positive impact of the exercises based on authentic blog materials on reading skills development. A comparative histogram is shown in Figure 1:
Mark 5 Mark 4 Mark 3 Mark 2
The number of students on the ascertaining stage
The number of students on the control stage
FIGURE 1. - Reading test results
These results of classroom research lead us to the next question of explaining a great educational potential of net blogs for students' reading skills boost. It was found out that English blogs are characterized by lexical and grammatical features of modern English, which makes this authentic material highly relevant for improving reading skills of high school students.
The fact is that the authors and readers of blogs use various lexical and grammatical means to attract users' attention, as well as to maintain contact and create a communication environment. This question seemed to be less developed in the existing papers on the topic of blogs for teaching purposes, so we decided to conduct a further research in this direction and here are the results of the analysis of the main lexical and grammatical features of net blogs (on the example of the travelling blog "The poor traveller") (The poor traveller blog, 2019).
The typical grammatical features of net blogs include:
1) The usage of exclamatory sentences that help to create a communicative environment in the blog in order to establish an emotional contact with readers:
"But we'll be updating this post after the trip to add more tips based on first-hand experience so don't forget to check back soon!". "Because of its proximity to the Acropolis, it is dubbed the Village of the Gods. My curiosity is definitely piqued!";
2) The usage of direct questions for involving readers in the communication process and creating an intra-blog dialogue. Thus, the author shows that he/she is not indifferent to readers' opinions: "Do you think we should finally try skydiving?". "Do you really need to go to these hard-to-reach countries soon soon soon? Can it wait? Maybe we need more time to prepare? ";
3) An active inclusion of the imperative sentences in the texts for urging readers to take any action. Such sentences are often used in headings: "Get a Certificate of Employment from your clients". "Open a bank account and save up!". "Beef up your travel history";
4) The applying of ellipsis in order to express modality/evaluation of events: "Depends on what?". "Anything more than that can spell disaster for me." "Was, let's get that straight";
5) The usage of nominative sentences (primarily in the notes headings): "Chill Hilltop Views". "Skydiving in Athens". "Greek Food Trip";
6) The inclusion of direct speech in the texts to express the emotional state and to involve readers in the events described by the author: "Then I thought," Holy eff, what am I doing here? ". "This is my Narnia," I mumbled to myself, thinking that the many years I had spent in the closet finally paid off.
So, we have described the most frequent grammatical phenomena used in the texts of English blogs. However, it is worth noting that a lot of authors apply quite diversified grammatical tools when creating their notes, for instance: passive voice, conditional sentences, subjunctive mood, direct and indirect speech.
Having considered the lexical features of the texts of English blogs, we identified the following aspects:
1) the active usage of expressive and evaluative vocabulary to convey emotions, mood by verbal means: "I wasn't too thrilled to visit Venice in the beginning." "There was a time when Venice was the most powerful city in the world". "Several reasons are behind the staggering cost." "Ouch, my tummy shrieked";
2) the use of interjections for expressing the emotional state of the authors and readers of the blog: "True story! Haha". "Unfortunately, we might be too early for skiing because the resort opens December 15-ish (ugh!)". "Ouch, my tummy shrieked. My wallet said the exact same thing";
3) various abbreviations are also a typical feature of Internet communication: "I'm lucky to be part of the TV industry in my past life (LOL)". "I will never forget that once in our life I was a' jackass. 'LMAO!".
4) the usage of informal vocabulary: "I will never forget that once in our life I was a' jackass. '" "7 THINGS I WISH I KNEW when I was a Newbie". "Many of us won't give a damn if we miss a get-together with friends".
To sum up, such lexical tools help to attract readers' attention and serve as a way of expressing emotions and feelings by linguistic means.
So, based on the analysis of the features of blog texts, we can conclude that they are valuable linguistic materials that can be used in the process of improving reading skills in high school because they contain a variety of modern English linguistic features, actual topics and problems, especially relevant for children of senior school age. Moreover, blogs will help to develop not only reading skills, but exam reading strategies.
5. Conclusion
The practical value of the classroom research described lies in the fact that the analysis of the linguistic and extralinguistic features of English blogs was conducted and the set of exercises on the basis of authentic net texts of English blogs was created and successfully tested during the experimental learning.
To sum up, the developed set of reading exercises contribute to the development of reading skills according to the results of the experimental learning. So, the presented exercises set is a valuable authentic practical material in teaching reading in high school, as it has a great potential for developing skills in different types of reading.
The prospects of the usage of English blogs texts in the learning process in high school include the analysis of the possibilities for using blogs to develop students' writing skills focusing on the imitation of the formal style of the blog as a special genre of discourse.
REFERENCES
Bulletin of the Adyghe State University, 36-40. https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/virtualnaya-yazykovaya-lichnost-v-prostranstve-blog-diskursa.
Goroshko, E. I. (2009). Internet genre and functioning of language on the Internet: an attempt of reflection. Saratov: publishing center "Science". Genres of speech, 6 (111 -127).
Panyusheva, M.M. (2010). Blogosphere: traditional media vs non-traditional. Bulletin of Moscow University, 4 (106-122).
Polat, E.S. (1998). Distance Learning: Study Guide. Moscow.
Sysoyev, P.V. (2012) Modern information and communication technologies: didactic characteristics and functions. Language and culture, 120-133.
Blog and Vlog. (2019, November 23). From https://rn.vuzlit.ru/830320/blog videoblog
Blogs in learning. (2019, November 14), from http://study-english.info/it-blogs.php
FANNEtastic food blog. (2019, November 20), from https: / /www.fannetasticfood.com/
Oxford Dictionaries (2019, October 30), from https://www.lexico.com/en
The poor traveler blog. (2019, November 19), from https://www.thepoortraveler.net/
Appendix A
The test based on the texts of English blogs for determination of the reading skills level of students in grades 10-11
Exercise 1. Match the headlines with the paragraphs. One headline is extra.
1. THE WHISPERING GALLERY
2. LONDON'S WEST END
3. GO FURTHER
4. PARIS'S OLDEST RESTAURANT
5. AFTERNOON TEA
6. TOUR DE MONTPARNASSE
7. NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL
8. BANK OF ENGLAND
From London to Paris - The Inexpensive Way
So, you're considering a trip to London and whether you want to head to the Olympics or have a touristy trip to see Buckingham Palace there are numerous ways to add a new twist. Whether you head to the Mad Hatter's for afternoon tea or jump on the Eurostar and take a nice trip to the city of love, the possibilities are wide and varied. We'll take you through a couple of activities you can enjoy in London and then consider heading over the Channel to Paris for a beautiful addition to your trip. The beauty of this is that you can take in two capitals in one, relatively inexpensively as well.
A. Chicago may be closing in September but there are a number of other top performances to enjoy at the theatres here. Shakespeare's Globe continues to engage with Henry V, the Phoenix Theatre boasts Blood Brothers and the Shaftesbury has Rock of Ages continually selling out - widely believed to be better than the film brought out this year.
B. You've probably heard that the acoustics of some places are spectacular. For example, the Chichen Itza in Mexico was built in such a way that if you clap at the bottom the noise at the summit sounds like an eagle after reverberating around the inside. Well, you can go one better than that by whispering sweet nothings in your loved one's ear by standing at either side of this gallery found inside the dome at St Paul's Cathedral.
C. When you're spending a lot of time on your feet at Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, you need to know that there is a break coming. Booking somewhere to have afternoon tea is popular these days and consider these three:
- Tradition - Claridge's
- Fashionistas - Berkeley's Pret-a-Portea
- Value - Dean Street Townhouse
D. You might think that London is far enough, but when you can get to Paris for a day trip you'd be missing a trick not going. Not only is it the quickest and easiest but the cheapest way to get from London to Paris is on the train. You might feel that you've got enough trains to deal with in the English capital but why not go and take a look at the Eiffel Tower?
E. We know that you've clocked the River Seine and the Eiffel Tower already, but where should you eat? Well, off the beaten track, you can come across Le Procope which was opened back in 1686. This three-storey townhouse has been frequented by many, Benjamin Franklin to name one and now it offers classic dinner service. You need to book but it is one to get in your diary.
F. You would think that the top of the Eiffel Tower would give you the best view of Paris, but some mavericks believe that this is the place to go. You cannot even see the building itself from the 210-metre summit and the ninth biggest skyscraper in the whole European Union. Frequented by more and more people these days, the exterior isn't much to look at but from the inside you get to see a 360-degree vista.
G. Before you go back, take in arguably the most stunning piece of Gothic architecture in the world with this cathedral. Completed in the 14th century, some two centuries after it was conceived, this building was the heartbeat of Paris before it was immortalized by Victor Hugo with his tale of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".
(You can get 8 points maximum)
f * p @
Hello, I'm Raphael Alexander and my goal in life is to inspire the
Exercise 2. Fill in the blanks with suggested fragments of sentences. One fragment is extra.
My Braveheart Experience At The Highlands Of Scotland
Ever since I was a wee kid, I was always a big fan of Mel Gibson's Braveheart, A______ (which were actually kind of bad) or the acting (which was even worse) but
because of the central message of freedom that the movie advocated.
When contemplating the Highlands of Scotland, it isn't hard to understand why William Wallace valued freedom above everything else: From snow-caped mountains B______ , the highlands of Scotland are the living embodiment of freedom.
Here's my Braveheart experiences in the Scottish Highlands. Are you ready to shout "freedom" with me?
The Highlands of Scotland refers to the region north of Stirling (considered as the gate of the Highlands but more on that later) which is known for its breath-taking nature and which serves for a nice contrast to the mostly plain lands C__.
In times before our own, these lands were inhabited by different Clans (from the Gaelic word "clann" which means "progeny") ruled by different chiefs. If you have watched Pixar's Brave, you will probably be familiar with the way the clan system worked in the Highlands of Scotland.
Things in the Highland were relatively peaceful D___(the same guy who
conquered Wales). The key to controlling the Highlands of Scotland was the city of Stirling since that was the neck that connected them from the rest of the island of Great Britain.
It was at the battle of Stirling Bridge (in the movie, said bridge was edited out since it was considered impractical. Hollywood, uh?) that William Wallace defeated the English and E__, inspiring other Scots to join his fight for freedom.
Ever since, the region has suffered some highs and lows, including the Jacobite
rebellion and the introduction of farming which changed the local economy F___, the
nature still remained. Today you can explore the breath-taking landscapes of the Highlands of Scotland at your own pace. The region is vastly large that it would probably take you weeks to explore every single landscape and climb every single mountain.
My favorite part of the Highlands? Glencoe (Gaelic for "weeping valley"), which is mostly known in modern times as the filming spot for James Bond's Skyfall. If it's good enough for James Bond, it's good enough for anyone.
"So how about Loch Ness, Raphael?" Well, the highland is home to many Lochs (Gaelic word for "Lakes"), of which Loch Ness is the most famous one without doubt. It is said that an ancient monster inhabits it and the loch is deep enough to remain unexplored,
G__. If you ask me, it's just a Marketing ploy to encourage people to visit it but hey
who cares? Loch Ness (and frankly, all the lochs of the Highlands) are some of the most beautiful lakes that you'll ever see in your lifetime. What are you waiting for? Book those tickets and go to the Highlands right now!
1. to mighty lakes where ancient creatures roam
2. not because of the battle scenes
3. until the English invasion led by King Edward I
4. but no matter the changes that the people endured
5. located south of them (known as the Lowlands)
6. proved himself to be a fierce warrior
7. because there are some legends about it.
8. fueling myths and legends among locals and foreigners alike
(You can get 7 points maximum)
Exercise 3. Read the text and answer the questions. Choose only one variant 1, 2, 3, or 4.
6 Signs You've Survived a Trip to Scotland
Scotland is one of those unique places that offers a great place to go on a walk. This beautiful countryside is home to beautiful, crumbling ruins, amazing geological phenomena. Spend a week here, and you're likely to go home with some larger than life stories.
Scotland is a treasure trove of hole-in-the-wall restaurants and favorite shopping areas. For everything from eccentric knickknacks to world-class fashion, stroll around Edinburgh or the Lothians. Hoof it down the world famous and historic Royal Mile, where shops line the streets and beautiful architecture towers over the hustle and bustle below. Sip wine in one of the fine restaurants in the area while you watch the sunset behind the spires lining the horizon.
This beautiful country is home to some stunning national parks. If you're feeling a little stir crazy, take a drive out to CairnGorm National Park. Depending on the time of year you're visiting, there are a whole mess of things you can do out here. In the winter, CairnGorm Mountain is home to some of the finest powder in the country, attracting snowboarders and skiers alike to its smooth white slopes.
In the warmer months, do some hiking, or try your hand at the nearby archery range. Not too keen on traversing the countryside yourself? Nearby Alvie Stables offers guided trail rides and lessons to travelers.
There's a lot of what's called "wild swimming" in Scotland, which is swimming in natural bodies of water. This country's unique water features make it an amazing place to go for a dip. Check out the Fairy Pools, just west of Skye. These unique pools are full of crystal clear, blue water enclosed with rock walls. Though the water is cool, the waterfalls and general magic of the experience draw thousands of swimmers every year.
Scotland has more historical landmarks than you can shake your kilt at. With beautiful castles dotting open countryside and old architecture lining their city streets,
you can hardly walk a mile without running into something beautiful and historically significant. Be sure to check out Stirling Castle. This amazing piece of history was constructed in the 12th century, and has seen countless bloody sieges and power struggles. The architecture and gardens are awe-inspiring, and the detail within the castle walls themselves is breathtaking.
A. Why is Scotland a good touristic destination?
1) It is the largest country in the world.
2) There are a lot of places worth visiting.
3) It is rich for festivals.
B. The word "knickknacks" (the second paragraph) refers to
1) small worthless objects, especially household ornaments.
2) expensive clothes.
3) places of interest.
C. Why does the author advise to visit Royal Mile?
1) It is an ancient castle.
2) It is a succession of streets with many shops and beautiful pieces of architecture.
3) It is a shopping mall.
D. What types of tourists does CairnGorm National Park engage?
1) food lovers.
2) painters.
3) skiers, hikers and snowboarders.
E. What does "wild swimming" mean?
1) rafting.
2) open water swimming.
3) swimming near waterfalls.
F. Fairy Pools are famous...
1) swimming pools.
2) lakes.
3) water parks.
G. What is "amazing piece of history" in paragraph 6?
1) the opera house.
2) the monument.
3) the castle.
(You can get 7 points maximum)
Answer keys for teachers
Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3
A-2, B-1, C-5, D-3, E-4, F-6, G-7. A-2, B-1, C-5, D-3, E-6, F-4, G-8. A-2, B-1, C-2, D-3, E-2, F-2, G-3.
Blog text. 7 Common Nutrition Myths. The source: https://www.fannetasticfood.com/
Appendix B
7 Common Nutrition Myths
January 13, 2016 by Anne S3 Comments
Now that it's the new year, I thought it was timely to share a blog post about some of the biggest nutrition myths floating around out there - and why you shouldn't believe them.
Mytli #i: "It's healthier to eat egg whites rather than whole eggs."
Actually, the yolk is where a lot of the nutrition is! Most people don't know that the yolk contains over 40% of the protein in a whole egg - and more than 90% of the calcium, iron, and B vitamins. It also contains all of the egg's fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K). Plus, that extra fat will help to keep you full and satisfied for longer than you would he with just the whites! But what about cholesterol? Research is showing that cholesterol in food has a much smaller effect 011 blood levels of total cholesterol and harmful LDL cholesterol than we thought. In fact, moderate egg consumption (defined as 1 per day) has not been found to increase heart disease risk in healthy individuals, (sources: 1,2) The 2015 Dietary Guidelines (which finally just came out last week) have also dropped the recommendation to limit cholesterol, which I was happy to see.
(to be continued on the blog site: https://www.fannetasticfood.com/)
