Moscow Pedagogical State University Today

1. Fundamental pedagogical education along with training professional 21^st century school teachers in a variety of disciplines are the key missions of Moscow Pedagogical State University, otherwise known as Moscow State University of Education. The University combines the tradition and innovation in pedagogical education, teachers of older and younger generations joining their effort to meet the challenges of the 21^st century.

2. The University offers a wide range of opportunities for students of undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels. Currently the University includes 17 Departments and Schools, providing training in the following areas:

· Biology and Chemistry;

· Geography;

· Foreign Languages;

· History and Politics;

· Journalism;

· Liberal Arts;

· Mathematics;

· Physics, Technology and Information Systems;

· Philology;

· Physical Culture and Sports;

· Pre-school Pedagogy and Psychology;

· International Education

and a number of others. 

3. All in all, there are 110 chairs*, 12 educational and research centres, 50 scientific schools, the library with over 2 million volumes.

4. Thousands of Russian and foreign citizens graduated from MPSU to become leading specialists in their fields of science and education. The core of MPSU is made of an academic community of teachers, researchers, students and postgraduate students. Currently, MPSU has about 2000 teaching staff members occupying full-time teaching positions within University's major Departments and Schools. MPSU students’ community consists of more than 23000 undergraduate and graduate (master degree) students and 2000 postgraduate students. Full-time students, who successfully pass exams, receive scholarships and study free of charge, at the expense of the Russian budget.MPSU occupies a high position in the hierarchy of Russian Universities, being an attractive place to study in for many international students. Today, more than 1000 international students from 40 countries are receiving their education in MPSU.

5. Though the main focus of MPSU is to prepare school teachers, it also boasts a number of state-of-the-art scientific centres. Among them is The Centre of Ecology and Biodiversity, The Centre of Physical and Chemical research methods on the basis of Institute of Biology and Chemistry; Laboratory of Quantum Detectors led by a Dutch scientist T.M. Klapwik; The Centre of Spectroscopy, based in the Institute of Physics, Technology and Information systems; an interdisciplinary Research Centre “Nanotechnologies”.

6. Besides pedagogical programmes, MPSU also trains scientists and scholars for research centres and laboratories, psychologists, journalists, and economists, providing for them educational programmes at all three levels. Among the most successful scientific bachelor degree programmes is Fundamental Physics in English, launched by the Chair of General and Experimental Physics (headed by prof. G.N. Goltsman) in 2015.

7. Each of the University study buildings is equipped with lecture halls, seminar rooms, reading lounges and computer classes. There are a lot of laboratories and media classrooms.

8. MPSU teachers are increasingly involving technologies of distant education, such as Moodle and eLearning systems, to supplement their classroom lectures and seminars and thus extending the range and variety of tasks and activities. Computer-Aided Network Information System «University» enables effective administrative procedures for staff and students through electronic registration.

9. The University offers several dormitories for students coming from other cities and countries. Normally, each compartment consists of two twin rooms. In every apartment, there is a bathroom and a refrigerator, while a TV-set and a phone are extra charge. Some compartments are equipped with individual kitchens, however more often they are shared by all the inhabitants of one floor. There are shops, cafes, hair-dressers and phones on the ground floors of every building. The dormitories near the Humanities building have a few computer classes with free access to the Internet.

10. MPSU has sport and recreation facilities for students and staff: training complexes, swimming pools, gyms and sport grounds are available for both students and teachers. Over 2000 students attend specialized sports sections on a regular basis. About 50 of them are members of National teams participating in Olympic games, World and European Championships. The students of MPSU are often prize-winners in different competitions.

11. Cultural life of the University is rich and diverse. Concerts, disco parties, other cultural and entertaining events are organized both at the University departments and in students’ hostels.

12. Every department has a number of student societies, some of them being professionally oriented (i.e. Society for Vertebrate Zoology at the Institute of Biology and Chemistry), and some being hobby clubs (such as Student Theatre “Auditorium 42”, based in the Institute of Physics, Technology and Information Systems).

13. The University branches are located in eight cities of the Russian Federation. MPSU productively collaborates with 64 universities from Europe, North and South America and Asia. Among its partners are the University of Teacher Education and life in Vienna, University of Barcelona, Charles University in Prague, Durham University, Beijing Normal University, Nanjing Normal University, Research Institute of Konkuk University, Aichi University of Education and many others.

 

* Note: Though the word “Department” can be translated into Russian as either “факультет” or “ кафедра”, in this textbook “Department” always stands for “факультет”, while for “кафедра” stands another word, “chair”.

v Task 1.4. Vocabulary work. Match these definitions to the words and expressions in paragraphs:

1. To exist since a particular time in the past (para 1 Text 1)

2. To officially stop smth. from continuing for a period (para 1 Text 1)

3. To start smth. (para 1 in Text 1 and para 6 in Text 2)

4. To appear (para 2 in Text 1)

5. Scientific methods related to investigating crimes (para 3 in Text 1)

6. Substances that living organisms need to live and grow (para 3 in Text 1)

7. To transform smth. into smth. (para 4 in Text 1)

8. Distinguished, very great (para 5 in Text 1)

9. An action to remove one’s opponents from an organization (para 5 in Text 1)

10. A product of iron’s oxidizing having reddish colour (para 8 in Text 1)

11. To join smth, together to form one thing (para 9 in Text 1)

12. Related to the organism’s individual development (para 10 in Text 1)

13. Related to some important discovery (para 10 in Text 1)

14.  Paid by (para 4 Text 2)

15. A system of division into levels of importance (para 4 in Text 2)

16.  Is proud to offer (para 5 in Text 2)

17. Very modern (para 5 in Text 2)

18. Provided with things necessary in one’s work (para 7 in Text 2)

19. To add smth. to smth to increase its level (para 8 in Text 2)

20. A building at a college for students to live in (para 9 in Text 2)

v Task 1.5. Vocabulary work. Match buildings and facilities with their definitions. Guess the meaning of the following words. Write their Russian equivalents if necessary.

1. premises	A. the room(s) where students leave their top clothes;
2. entrance hall	B. the room where head of Department works
3. cloakroom(s)	C. this is where students go if they feel ill and where medical examination may take place
4. classroom (room)/ lecture classroom	D. a room with equipment for physical exercise
5. laboratory	E. activities such as athletics, dances, clubs, etc.
6. reading launge/room/hall	F. the room where the dean works
7. staff room	G. the usual word for the place where students have their meals. It is a specifically university/college word, and is little used elsewhere dining
8. common room	H. the office of the person who runs the college
9. Head of Department’s office	I. The place where you find yourself on entering the building;
10. the Dean’s Office	J. the room where the staff spend their free time. Occasionally “Teaching room” is used instead.
11. the Rector’s (Director’s) office/The Principal’s office	K. a room where research and experiments are carried out
12. refectory	L. the room for the academic staff to work
13. dining room/hall (cafeteria, snack bar, coffee bar);	M. the room or hall where students do library research (do the reading)
14. Medical Office (sick room — coll.)	N. the same as refectory;
15. gymnasium (gymhall)	O. a room where lectures, seminars or tutorials are held;
16. extracurricular activities	P. the land on which the buildings of college or university are located

 

Focus on Grammar

Understanding infinitives

v 1.6. What is infinitive? What forms of infinitive do you know? How may infinitives function in the sentence? Try to answer these questions, then consult the Appendix, page…

1. Infinitive in the role of adverbial modifier of purpose:

“MPSU teachers are increasingly involving technologies of distant education … to supplement their classroom lectures and seminars … (in order to, for the purpose of…)

2. Find in both texts three other underlined examples with infinitive. In such cases as “ In 1937, he was arrested to become another victim of Stalin’s Great Purge” infinitive is used as an adverbial modifier of result. We may rephrase it using conjunction “and”: “In 1937, he was arrested and, as a result, became another victim of Stalin’s Great Purge”.

 

v 1.7 Complete the sentences, using infinitive either as adverbial modifier of purpose or result:

1. Shehurriedaway to…

2. Ouraimwas to…

3. You’retooyoung to …

4. She was well enough to …

5. I arrived to …

6. He is clever enough to…

7. It took us an hour to…

 

v 1.8. Compose five sentences of your own, illustrating usage of infinitive in the role of adverbial modifier of purpose and result.

Presentation skills

v Task 1.9. Speaking. With your partner, discuss the following questions:

1. What ways to make an impressive beginning of your presentation do you know?

2. How many slides will you prefer to have in a 10-15-minute talk?

3. What is the optimal amount of text per slide?

4. What font and background would you advise to use on slides?

5. How do you usually let know the audience that you are transiting to the next part of your talk?

6. Is it important to let the audience know when you are starting to conclude your talk? If yes, what phrases would you use for it?

7. Do presenters normally tell the listeners about when they can ask questions? In what part of their presentation may they do that?

 

v Task 1.10. Reading. Read the following text and decide how close you were to these recommendations.

When preparing your presentation, remember that too many slides may bore the audience, therefore, make no more than 15 slides. Do not use too much text on each slide. Let the text consist of bullet points with the minimum of words. Use informative illustrations (photos, graphs, tables etc.) rather than text where possible. Use plain fonts such as Arial, Calibri, but preferably not Times New Roman. Let the letters be dark and big against the light undecorated background.

At the beginning of your presentation, introduce yourself and the topic of your presentation. Set the goals and give a brief outline of what you are going to talk about. Let people know when they can ask their questions.

However, if your presentation is not strictly academic (i.e. meant for scientific community), it is better to start your presentation in a brighter and more “catchy” way so as to have the audience’s attention (you only have about 30 seconds for that). You may tell a story that will puzzle, surprise or even slightly shock people, you may ask listeners a question or set a mystery to involve them, and, finally, you may make a powerful statement. Remember that your objective at the beginning of your talk is to engender wonder in what you are going to tell.

While speaking, do not forget to provide smoothness and consistency of your story. For that, you may use a number of phrases such as: “On the next slide you will see…”, “As I have already mentioned before…”, “This… I showed on one of my previous slides…”, “And this brings me to the next part of my presentation…/conclusion”.

In conclusion, sum up the essential points of your presentation and make a strong memorable statement in the end. This final statement is very important, because this is what your listeners will remember after your talk. Let this statement be positive and inspiring.

After you have finished, thank your audience for their attention and encourage them to ask you questions.

 

Ø Task 1.10. At home, p repare to give a talk and a computer presentation about MPSU and your reasons to be with it. Use the target vocabulary from the text. Consider the following: