THE LEARNING CIRCLES IEARN PROJECT.
The Classroom Survey --Getting to Know You!
Circle Name: Computer Chronicles
Class Name: 11 form, Lyceum-school # 130, Novosibirsk, Russia
PART I. INTRODUCING THE CLASS
A. Name of teacher: Nina Koptyug
B. Grade level: 11
C. Class favorites (List your class top 5 favorites in each category):
1. Music groups: Muse, Avril Lavigne
2. Authors J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien
3. TV programs: Lost, How to Be a Millionnaire
4. Foods: pizza, pancakes
5. School subjects: English, ICT, math
6. Sports: tennis, football, skiing, skating, cycling
7. Video or computer games: Counter Stroke, the Sims
8. Other Class Favorites of your choice: walking around, having picnics in the Botanical Garden
PART II. INTRODUCING THE SCHOOL
A. School information
1. Name and address of class and school: 11 (final) year, specialization: economics and natural sciences (two classes)
2. Number of students in class and school: 16; 860
3. Size of school: 1600 square meters, four floors
4. School emblem, colors or mascot: white and green; green leaf
5. Type and number of computers: Pentium 1; there is an Internet-class at our school, with 12 computer stations for students, a master computer and a server; there are also two computer labs; students can use the computers at the school library too
6. School history: founded in 1959, in the Academic Research Community near Novosibirsk, the third largest city in Russia
B.. School program. 1. List 3 things about your school program that make it unique.
1) English is studied in grades 2-11
2) The last three years are called profile classes: all the students divide according to their interests into general education – for those who cannot chose a specialty yet,, economics, phys-math, humanities, natural sciences
3) many teachers at our school finished this same school!
2. List school calendar from the session dates (holidays and special
events that may affect your participation). March 22 – 31, Spring Break; May 22, end of the school year; June 1, final exams start
PART III. INTRODUCING THE COMMUNITY
A. Your community
1. Name of your community: Academic Town is one of the ten city districts
2. If not a city, name and size of nearest city: Novosibirsk
3. Location of your community: the South-West of Siberia (look above China to find Novosibirsk!)
4. The area of your community: the West-Siberian Plateau
5. The population of your community: 1,400,000 in Novosibirsk; 140,000 in town
B. Special characteristics
1. List 3 reasons why people come to visit your area.: there are many natural lakes, forests, the air is clean; 25 research institutes and the University of Novosirsk are situated in town; Siberia is an exotic place!
2. Describe any unusual land formation found in or near your community.
It’s a flat country, no hills or mountains, many lakes and forests
C. Industries: none in town
List major industries or occupations in your community. Most people work at research institutes, teach at schools and university
PART IV. OTHER INFORMATION
Please feel free to share any other information about yourself that you think would help us to know you better.
More than 100 nationalities peacefully co-exist in Siberia. The state language is Russian. The climate is called sharply continental, with long harsh winters and relatively short but very hot summers.
We have classes in the Internet-room every week.
Our main topics for the publication are:
Teen Problems.
Our Future.
Here is what our students think about juvenile delinquency:
1)It is a global problem, and it is not new, people spoke about juvenile delinquency several decades ago already.
2)One of the reasons for teen crime is ignorance. Many teens in Russia do not know that when they are 14, they become fully responsible for their actions. It is a shock to them to learn that in the UK, children may be taken to court when they are 8.
3)Children should be taught about crime and punishment when they are quite young. There should be some courses in all the schools, so that children know, for example, that if they break something or hurt someone, there may be punishment.
4)Another reason for teen crimes and misdemeanors is family problems. If parents are drug addicts, drunkards or criminals, children may not know any better. But it is Important to know that young criminals come from all kinds of families! Sometimes, a child from a rich family who has got everything may also commit a crime.
5)What teenagers need is attention and understanding. Very often, a kind word from an adult is enough to stop a youngster from a bad action.
6)Last but not least, if there is a system which helps young people get education and stay occupied, then they are engaged in useful activities and have no desire for crimes or hooliganism.
All of us want to continue our education after school, to enter a university or college.
Dmitri:
Why do I want to enter a university or college?
I want to study at university because I want to know more information that I learnt at school .
Also I want to get a Certificate with merit, it will help me in the future to find a good job.
In our country it is impossible to find a good job without a Certificate. And when people go to university they want to learn a new profession, but some of them go there to increase their qualification , and when they increase it, they can get a higher position at work.
Anna and Evgenia:
In Academgorodok it is common that every student wants to enter the University after they finished school. Especially in our school # 130. In many cases it is just a stereotype that a child from a respectable family should have a high education, so at first many applicants try to pass the exams just because it’s a must, and they don’t deeply understand how helpful and useful will be the knowledge, which they will get in the university in their future life. But also there are many other reasons. Some people want to enter the university because they realize that they are not ready to start working yet, and they have no possibility for both: not working and not studying.
But we think that the main reason is to get lots of knowledge and experience for our future job.
Kirill
There a lot of interesting and useful professions. I am going to become a teacher. I suppose my future profession to b one of the most important nowadays. My future speciality is History. I love children very much and to become a teacher has been my dream since my early childhood. To teach and to bring up children is the most important and noble thing, to my mind. I am eager to get the proper education to be able to do my best to teach my future pupils my favorite subject. I’ll try not only to help them to master it.I`ll try to help them to become good and clever people, to be honest, kind and noble. Children are our future and I want them to be really educated people. Of course, the profession of a teacher is not a easy one. It demands a lot of knowledge, a lot of tenderness of feeling and sometimes a lot of patience. But I hope, that I’ll be a good teacher and that my pupils will like me and my subject. My future plan
Svetlana:
My name is Sveta, I am 16 years old and I want to tell you about my future plans. First of all I want to pass my school exams and get a great certificate. I need to learn a lot of information, because I pass such exams, like math, literature, Russian language, English and History of Russia. It is very difficult and takes practically all my free time.
Also my next aim is to enter the University, because without an education you can’t get a good, well-paid job. And I must pass entrance exams. I want to enter the faculty of Journalism, so I have to learn history and to write different compositions.
I think it is very difficult, but I can do it.
To enter the faculty that I chose I must write some articles for the newspapers and I love it. It is so interesting and exciting that you just can’t imagine it!
I think life of a student is really hard and full of problems, but it’s also full of new possibilities.
After the University I want to work as a journalist in some newspaper or publishing house. I want to travel a lot all over the world and see different people and places and write about it.
Then I want to write a book and I want it to become a bestseller!
And I want to live in a big city, of course I want to meet my friends and spend time with them and my family.
And I hope that my dreams will come true.
Dmitri Chupyra:
I agree with my classmates that education is very important. My favorite subjects are English and IT. With the help of Internet, one can find all the information one needs, about anything. My favorite Rock-Band: 90’s was the time of Nirvana. This legendary grunge band was formed before my birth in the middle of 80’s. It was formed by Kurt Donald Cobain and Kris Novoselsic who was best friends since childhood. In the early 90’s Nirvana was band №1 in the world. First I heard about it in 2003 and since that time I’m seriously attend to music. I found something in this music that affects me. I have a collection of all released Nirvana albums and singles, and some rare concerts and demos. Every time I can find something new in their music. Translating and understanding their texts help me see the meanings of the songs and learn English.
We have learned a lot about other countries while doing Learning Circles. We are all different, but we can communicate, which gives us hope for a better future for our planet.