My reflection on the writing class this semester

One more semester in this university is almost passed. I cannot tell whether this year was very hard or not. However, this semester was harder than the first one for sure. I feel that I improved my English language skills. Writing lectures this semester were interesting as usual. It is very good that we continue blogging and commenting on each other’s essays, it is also very comfortable that we can write our essays at home.

                To start with, blogging is very useful thing, it helps to improve writing skills and provides more courage. When you write blog, you know that someone will read it, at first it was quite weird and uncomfortable, but now it is normal. I like reading my group mate’s blogs, some of them inspire me to think and give some ideas. What is more, I think that all of us have to learn how to criticize and correct each other mistakes. Blog is a perfect item to do that. In my opinion blogging during writing lectures helped me a lot and I want to continue that next year.

                What is more, it is very convenient that we are allowed to write our essays at home. When you write at home you can think more and you are more relaxed. After you wrote your essay you can read it few times and change some details. You can also read your old essays and see what mistakes you have made and try to not do that this time.

                To sum up, I want to say that I am satisfied with our writing lectures and I hope that next year it will be similar. The only gap which I would point out would be the time of our lectures, it was too late for me,I expect our writing lectures to be earlier next year.

                

In Time

“In Time” is an action film released in 2011. It is a movie about genetic alteration which has allowed humanity to stop aging at 25 but people are required to earn more time after turning 25 or die when their accumulated time runs out. Time – most precious thing in this Andrew Nichol’s film.  Living time can be transferred on body-contact, has replaced money and its availability is displayed on an implant on people's arm. When that clock reaches zero, person dies. One day, Will Salas – main character finds himself accused of murder. He runs with a hostage, Sylvia Weis, who is the spoiled daughter of the millionaire Philippe Weis. Sylvia feels how despicable her father is and together with Will, they steal a large quantity of time to fight against the system. 

What does it mean to be a good teacher ?

As you may know there are a lot of people in the world who want to become teachers. This is one of the most important professions because it grows our future societies. If you are planning to become a teacher you have to think a lot before doing this because it requires a lot of responsibility.It is not one of the easiest professions. Qualified teacher has to feel a passion for teaching, also he has to have many good qualities such as self-confidence, patience, kindness, good communicational skills and creativity, what is more it requests a lot of knowdedge on the subject which are you going to teach.

First of all, a real experienced teachers can become only those who  are very passionate about teaching, who can work this kind of job with love and devotion. If you want to be a perfect teacher you have to feel at school like a fish in the sea. If you adore your job then you will love everything what is connected with it, you also have to be prepared for all kinds of problems. I am sure that good teachers must love their pupils and  behave with them very nicely.

Second thing which is very important while being a teacher is your personal values. You have to be very patient and ready to repeat some things for a few times, because not all children will be so smart and they will need more attention than the others. However, a good teacher has to be familiar with child‘s psichology, he has to know how to speak and behave in certain situations. A good teacher has to be interested in his pupils lifes. Communication between teacher and child is very important. Moreover, this profession requires you to be creative, teacher has to know how to pay teenagers attention and make them to be interested about the things you tell.

Finally, it is not a secret that teachers have to have a lot of knowledge on the subject they are going to teach. Teacher has to be prepared to answer a lot of different questions. You have know how to explain things easily and correctly. Teacher‘s mission is to prepare childeren for their lifes and put a lot of useful information into their heads. If you want to do that you have to be fully educated and know what are you talking about and not just make kids learn everything by heart.

To sum up,  I would like to say that the most important thing is to know that you really want to be a teacher, you have to feel that you chose the right way to go. If you are already a teacher, you have to remember that teaching requires a lot of things to be done. All teachers have to be very intelligent and self-confident. Of course you have to love those little creatures with all your heart. If you think you are ready to be a teacher I wish you good luck and sucess in the future.

Did my expectations which I had at the beginning of my studies at this university come true?

            Almost a year has passed since I am here, at Lithuanian university of educational sciences. A lot of things had happened, most of them were positive. Of course there were some difficult days and especially nights. Life at university is very different from the one that I had at school. I have become more mature and independent. University teaches not only for vocational subjects but it is like a life school full of adventures. When I first got here I thought that everything will be easier than it is now, I was hoping to have more free time than I had at school and finally I had no idea that university provides so many opportunities to experience such a wide range of activities.

            First of all, I did not know that philology is such a difficult subject. Now I know that it has a lot of different branches. I have never heard before about such thing as phonetics and now I even know how write a transcription. It was very difficult to get used to such a big amount of new information and atmosphere. However, the most difficult thing for me are grammar lectures, it is a lot deeper than it was at school. Although, now I am quite satisfied with everything, I have no doubts that I chose the right way to go.

            Secondly, I did not expect that university will provide such a big lack of time. I had a hope that I will have enough time for parties and even to find a job. Now I cannot even find time to go to the dentist. I have learned one very good thing; the thing is that there is nothing what student could not do in one night! It is a total true. There were some nights when I thought that I will not manage to do things in time, especially during our observation practices. However, I have also realized that the more you do the more you manage.

             Finally, it was a big surprise for me that university suggests so many activities such as traveling, belonging for different associations and groups. After I entered this university I became a member of our faculty student council, it is very interesting and useful thing. What is more I am going to participate in an international student exchange program Work and Travel USA. What is more after a year I plan to participate in another student exchange program called Erasmus.
In conclusion, I can tell that university approved my entire expectations and it is even better than I expected. I like it a lot. It brings me a lot of beneficial things starting with knowledge and ending with incredible life experience. Of course it is not easy; it requires a lot of time strength and patience but it is worth that.

Cheating in our schools

One student looks at his neighbor’s exam paper and quickly copies the answers. Another student finds out the questions on a test before her class takes it and her friends. Still another student sneaks a sheet of paper with formulas written on it into the test room. What about you? Would you be tempted to cheat on an exam if you knew you wouldn’t get caught? According to a recent national survey, 40 percent of American teenagers would cheat under that condition. What is causing this epidemic of cheating in our schools? Most students cheat on tests because they feel pressure to get into a good college, because they want to avoid the hours of studying they need in order to get high grades, or simply because they are not concerned with honesty.

First of all, most parents want that their children would graduate school well. They keep them under pressure all the time. Adults are even threatening their kids that if they do not learn well they will be grounded and their cell phones, computers and other things will be taken for a while. Teenagers are being told that if they do not study, they will not get into college and if they will not get there they will live in very poor conditions. Most of kids are scared of those things and they are forced to cheat, they cannot see another way. Cheating seems the best solution for such problems.

Another problem that causes cheating during the test is laziness. Children choose to hang out with their friends instead of studying. They spend their time outside playing, chatting, browsing the internet or doing other things except learning. It is very boring to sit and learn when friends are calling you to go out. When they get home, in the evening, they sit and try to concentrate on their homework but usually young bodies are too tired after daily adventures. However, they pack their bags and go to sleep. They do not think about consequences which they will face in school during the test. Kids hope that someone will save them during the exam by telling the answers.

Lastly, nowadays children are not taught of such personal values as responsibility and honesty. They do not appreciate such things because they do not see any good examples. They do not feel guilty when cheating. Most kids do not know how to gain something by themselves, the reason is that they watch TV and see other people cheating, lieing and getting everything they want. What is more, they think that real life runs by getting everything easily and fraudulently.

All things considered, I think that society is the guiltiest of this epidemic of cheating in our schools, because it shows a lot of bad examples how to behave. Kids need to be shown and taught that only they take responsibility of their actions. They need to be told that cheating is not the only way to get better grades. Teenagers must be encouraged by their parents and a teacher, not threatened that if they get bad grades their life’s are over. 

Upper class people are more likely to behave selfishly

I have  just read an article in “ The Guardian”  where scientists claim that rich people are  more selfish and mean than poor ones. It was mentioned that privileged people behave consistently worse than others , with a greater tendency to lie, cheat, take things meant for others, cut up other road users, not stop for pedestrians on crossings, and endorse unethical behavior. However, I believe that it is truth in the most of the cases. Of course it depends on a certain personality. Although, upper class people usually think that no one can stop them from doing what they want. They believe that money can buy everything. These people feel more confident because they know that their lawyers will get them out of any trouble without any consequences. What is more privileged people are terribly greedy, the more they have the more they want.To conclude, it would be not very smart to stick the labels to all rich people because there are a lot of different people in the world, but just lets face it, these propositions have  some sort of true.

Why do people emigrate from Lithuania?

It is not a secret that economical situation in Lithuania is very poor. A significant number of people emigrate each year.  Exact number is unknown, but one thing is very clear, the “brain drain” and emigration is a growing issue in Lithuania. There are few reasons for that. People emigrate because of better work opportunities. They wish to broaden their horizons. What is more we have a lack of love for our country.

To start with, the main motive of emigration in Lithuania is the desire to make more money. Usually here we do not have many opportunities to climb the career ladder. People, especially young, do not see any perspectives to earn money in our country. After finishing university they cannot find a good well- paid job. However, people are forced to leave Lithuania if they want to provide themselves and their families with more comfortable life’s. Lithuanians better prefer working in the factory in Ireland than being a teacher in Lithuania. The reason for that is very simple- extremely small income.

Second reason of emigration in Lithuania is willingness to taste life in another space. Almost every Lithuanian dreams to explore other country. They are curious about different cultures and traditions. What is more they look forward to make new friends. All these things became very easy to turn into reality because now we belong to the EU. Partially, it is EU’s fault that we can easily emigrate. There is no borders and people can go wherever they want.

And the last but not least thing worth mentioning is that we can clearly say that after going abroad Lithuanians settle there and do not return. As a result they forget their homeland. The reason for that is a lack of family values. A big number of Lithuanians do not care about their homeland and family. They are interested in how to make their life’s more comfortable and rich. Is that wrong? Every person has a right to be happy. If he cannot be successful in his own country he will try to do that somewhere else. We can blame our government for that. It cannot provide its people with better opportunities.

To sum up all, despite all those disadvantages which emigration provides us there is one very big advantage. It makes our people happy. They are glad that they can travel freely, live and work where they want.  If our government wants to reduce emigration they should use their brain to improve economical situation in our country. Not just sit, complain about everything and raise fees. People are disappointed of Lithuania and they have no other choice except emigration.