Teachers open the door but you must enter by yourself

All teenagers think about their future. They want to be successful and happy in their grown-up life. But unfortunately not all of them understand that “you cannot climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets”. If you want to achieve something in your life you are to work hard and to learn a lot.

The famous quote “Knowledge is Power” belongs to an Englishman who lived in the times of William Shakespeare. His mane was Francis Bacon. In many ways he is the father of scientific research.

The most important thing in every knowledge is blowing the mind and molding our personality. The way of thinking of every person and his way of life strongly depends on his knowledge. The reason for it is that all in all every knowledge develops our horizons, makes every person think and analyze the world around us. The result is that your mind can be changed under the influence of the new information. If you don’t know anything about usual life your outlook is limited.

When you develop your knowledge you have more alternative of thinking, your life becomes more interesting

аnd bright. That’s why “Knowledge is Power” It’s the power of changing and developing.

Good education is with no doubt very important nowadays. It gives people the best chance of getting a good job and a better chance of promotion. Besides it helps to develop a personality and find a place in society.

Students are so busy nowadays. We are given many assignments at school. Not all study assignments are pleasant and it is human to want to put off dull or difficult ones. If you really want to be a good pupil the best thing to do is to do the school assignments first and devote the time left over to other enjoyable but less important activities. Of course it is difficult to start with study, but then you will have more fun after your work is done. My life motto is “ Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today.” I always budget my time. First I list all the activities in which I am engaged. Then I set priorities, that is put a number beside each one: “1”- for the most important, “2”- for the next most important and so on. Of course it’s quite easy to make a plan, but it’s much more difficult to stick to it. You should be industrious and persistent to do that. I personally always make plans so that I can accomplish them, as a result I always reach my goal. And I never feel disappointed in myself, and never look for someone to blame

Ask me whether I liked school when I was a pupil?

- Did you like school when you were a pupil? - How many lessons a day did you have?

– What were your favorite subjects? - What subjects were you good at?

– Did you take an active part in out-of-class activities? – What school tradition did you like most of all?

What would you advise a British student to do to prepare for an exam well?

First of all you should organize your work properly. It’s not a bad idea to make a schedule. It will help you to organize your time and your thoughts. I believe that that the best way to memorize the information is to use your imagination. The absolutely worst way to study is by cramming. Remember that cramming stores information in your memory for a short period of time. If you want to remember things better you can use mind maps, charts. Making notes is also very helpful. Personally I like to record my reading aloud of my text. Then I walk around listening over and over until I know it.

You should set a short time limit, like half an hour- then take a ten minute break. During the break you can walk around and relax and then get back to studying.

What can you advise a student who is not very good at languages to do to achieve better results?

Many students find it difficult to learn English.. You have to memorize a lot of words and expressions and for this a great degree of patience is required. Of course it’s better to start at an early age. But they say it’s never too late to learn. I think it’s very important to learn grammar because you can’t build a house without foundations. But you need to practice grammar together with vocabulary. You should definitely use every opportunity to practice English in real situations that is to make conversations with any native speaker you meet. You should also try to watch English language films in the original versions, it will help you to get used to listening to speech at a natural speed. Actually there are a lot of ways to master the language

But the main thing for you to remember is that learning a language needs a lot of enthusiasm.

Practice makes perfect.

A better saying is “Perfect practice makes perfect”. If one doesn’t practice the right way one doesn’t get better. When people say “practice makes perfect” they mean that through practice a person can reach their full potential. I absolutely agree with the proverb. To become a good specialist in any field you need to practice a lot. You can’t imagine a good surgeon or a good teacher with no practice. Of course, different people have different abilities and potential. But at the same time it often happens that successful primary pupils with good natural abilities have no achievements in secondary school and vice versa. To my mind a hard-working child has more chances to get good knowledge and develop practical skills than a lazy child with lots of talents. The secret of his success is simple. He should follow a wise proverb that practice makes perfect.

A good example to prove the idea that practice makes perfect is learning a foreign language. I started learning English at the age of 7. So I’ve been learning it for…years already. At our English lessons we have a lot of grammar and vocabulary drills. I think grammar is important in any language because you can’t build a house without foundations, but you need to practice grammar together with vocabulary. Every day I try to memories some English words and practice them. I have no problem learning words connected with my hobby and related to my interests.

I personally think that English is not an easy language to learn. One of the problems for those who learn English is phrasal verbs and, of course, idioms. And you have to keep yourself up-to date with them and not to use the old-fashioned ones. Besides English intonation is the most difficult part of pronunciation, because if you get it wrong people may think you are rude. But the most difficult part in any language is, perhaps, learning the elements for which there are no written rules, that is ‘social English”. This means learning about some expected ways of behavior, knowing what sort of English to use in different situations (formal or informal). So you have to learn to think in English. It’s rather difficult. But I like it. In my opinion learning English needs a lot of enthusiasm. It happens that I forget words, phrases or rules when I don’t use them for some time. The only way out is to revise the things I have already studied. It proves that practice makes perfect.

In my view if I practice English every day, I will be able to master it. I read books, newspapers, magazines and other periodicals, it allows me to enlarge my vocabulary, learn up-to-date idioms and phrasal verbs, learn to guess the meaning of the words from the context and brush up my knowledge. Watching videos and TV programmers helps me learn informal English and practice listening.

Can you think of an example when practice and hard work helped a person to achieve his ambition?

Take a famous British admiral Horatio Nelson for example. Because of his physical weakness he seemed very unlikely to become a seaman. But he impressed his fellow students by his great will. He did much physical exercise to achieve his aim. At the age of 14 he was allowed to join an expedition to the North Pole and later became famous.

Can you do without revision?

I think it’s impossible. Because it’s quite human to forget things. And the best way to remember them is to revise.

What kind of people achieve better results in learning; those who have natural abilities or those who work hard?

To my mind a hard-working child has more chances to get good knowledge and develop practical skills than a lazy child with lots of talents.

What part of language requires a great deal of practice?

To my mind learning English vocabulary requires a great deal of practice. If you don’t use the words you forget them very quickly.