Здоровый образ жизни

Муниципальное общеобразовательное учреждение

«Средняя общеобразовательная школа № 46 г. Белгорода»

Научное общество учащихся «Вереск»

Руководитель проекта

Белгород

2010

Печатается по решению

научно-методического

совета школы

Руководитель проекта

Участники проекта: Донцова Ю, Ермакова М, Жибелев А, Захарчев С, Земцева А, Иванова М, Калиниченко А, Ковалевский А, Кривошей М, Лазарева Н, Осетров В, Поправкин А, Савченко А, Сергейчук К, Слюсаренко А, Черкашина А, Шевченко И, Шеламова А, Юдина М

Данный проект подготовлен членами научного общества учащихся «Вереск». Над первой частью работала младшая группа (7 класс), над второй - старшая группа (8-9 класс).

При подготовке изучена дополнительная литература, проведены беседы со школьным педагогом-психологом об использовании ароматизирующих масел, музыки, цвета для релаксации и лечения различных заболеваний; изучены материалы анкетирования, проведенного членами НОУ «Гинтим» о курении, употреблении алкоголя и наркотиков. Представляют интерес пословицы, поговорки и текст диалога по теме проекта.

В ходе подготовки каждая группа создала презентацию, отражающую ход выступлений. В презентации младшей группы «Школа – центр здоровья» использована информация и видеоматериалы из жизни своей школы.

В данном сборнике представлены разноуровневые по сложности тексты по теме «Здоровый образ жизни», которые могут быть использованы учителями для обучения учащихся различным видам речевой деятельности. Материалы также могут быть использованы учащимися в качестве дополнительного материала к уроку.

© Издательство Вереск Белгород 2010

Healthy Way of Life

School Scientific Society “Heather”

Cherkashina Alesya: Good morning, everybody! Let’s start the meeting of our school scientific society “Heather”. I am a representative of the younger group and we will start. The problem of our discussion is what should be done to be healthy. We analyzed some environmental problems, the influence of bad and even dangerous health habits of children and teenagers and cleared out what has already been done in our school to solve this problem. Osetrov Vlad will tell us about the work of the school ecological society Green Team

Osetrov Vlad: There are two scientific societies in our school. They are Greenteam (ecology) and Heather (the English language).

Sometimes we have joint meetings of School Scientific Societies Heather and Greenteam. Last time the members of the ecological society informed us about their investigations of the ecological situation connected with the Vezyolka. In this meeting pupils reported on their work. They said that the members of their society compared data of pollution of the river in the territory of the town in 2005 & 2008. They worked together with the students & teachers of the BelSU and cleared out that the pollution of the water increased. They also said that the members of Greenteam had an ecological landing on the banks of the river.

They collected 3 m3 of rubbish, published leaflets & wrote about it in the local newspaper “Our Belgorod”. They drew attention to the necessity of taking care of nature and preventing the pollution of the banks of the river with hard everyday rubbish.

Cherkashina Alesya: Dontsova Julia is a specialist in ecological problems.

Dontsova Julia: Many people know that if you hurt nature, you hurt yourself. It’s a pity but other people don’t understand it: they pollute air and water, throw litter away and cut trees down. When owners of the factories throw chemical waste products, they don’t worry about animals and people’s health.

When people cut trees down, they reduce quantity of oxygen. When they throw away litter they not only pollute air and water they do their cities unclean.

I am very worry about this situation because I don’t see the way out in the nearest future. We cut down trees for paper, for example, because we can’t do without it. We also can’t do without plastic bottles, packets and so on. The only way out is the developing of science and namely nano-technologies. This work is started and something has already been done. I hope that many members of school scientific societies will become brilliant scientists and will solve these complicated problems.

You see, every ten minutes one kind of animal, plant or insect disappears. If nothing is done about it, over one million species will disappear in twenty years from now.

The seas are in danger. They are filled with poison: industrial and nuclear waste. The Mediterranean is already nearly dead; the North Sea is following. If nothing is done about it, one day nothing will be able to live in the seas.

The tropical rainforests which are home of half the Earth’s living things are being destroyed. If nothing is done about it they will disappear in twenty years.

Fortunately, there are people who are trying to do something about it. In 1961 the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was founded – a small group of people who wanted to raise money to save animals and plants. Today the WWF is a large international organization. It has raised over £35 million for conservation projects, and has created or given support to National Parks in five continents. It has helped 30 mammals and birds to survive. Perhaps this is not much, but it is a start. If more people give more money and if more governments think of what is happening – perhaps the WWF will be able to help us to protect the natural world and all of us with it.

Cherkashina Alesya: Savchenko Nastya is the leader of the group of pupils who cleared out what is done in our school for pupils’ health.

Savchenko Nastya:

The Aim of the Investigation is

•  To clear out if pupils have possibilities to be healthy in our school

•  To involve every pupil of our school in the healthy way of life

•  To add information to the chronicle of our school

•  To work out the training aids for pupils studying English

•  To advertise the experience of organizing school Health Center

The Ways Of Investigation are

•  Analyzing school sports equipment

•  Analyzing the equipment of school medical service

•  Interviewing members of different clubs

•  Interviewing students, teachers and members of school administration

Our school has always been the center of health in our region because we have 2 medical rooms, 2 sports grounds, a swimming pool, 6 gymnasiums which are well-equipped with numerous sport facilities.

There are 6 sport clubs which are attended by 698 students of our school and 127 by children and grown-ups living not far from us.

We have 4 lessons of Ph. E. in a week and many competitions in different kinds of sport. Our Sport Calendar is very busy.

There are many pupils who are fond of tourism. We like to go hiking very much. We do it together with our teachers and parents.

There is a good tradition in our school: every year some groups of approximately 60-70 children go to different sanatoriums to cure & have a rest. They have already been to Moscow, Voronezh, Kislovodsk, Anapa.

There are 2 psychologists in our school who are always ready to help us in a difficult minute and they give us special classes where we learn how to cope with our problems.

School teachers and doctors pay much attention to the propaganda of the healthy way of life. They explain how dangerous bad health habits such as smoking, drinking alcohol, taking drugs and so on. And we often write about it in our wall newspapers.

We can not only study in our school but during every break we can relax in a beautiful winter garden with exotic plants, aquariums with fishes, coops with birds.

Our canteen plays a great role in improving our health. Kind workers prepare for us very tasty meals: salads, fish and meat, different porridges, borshch, rassolnic. Here we can also take fruit juices, yoghurt, and our favourite pizza.

The administration of our school & of children’s hospital decided to organize a special Medical Centre in our school. It started its work on February,The ceremony of its opening was broadcasted on the local TV.

Highly qualified specialists will also help you to relax with the help of special psychological exercises, aromatherapy, video - and audio-programs, to drinking tasty and useful phito-tea.

Cherkashina Alesya: Shelamova Alina will give you some advice how to be healthy with the help of aroma oil.

Shelamova Alina: Our group visited school psychologist Safonova N. I. She told us many interesting things and gave a lot of useful advice concerning aroma oil, curing with the help of colour and music. We were very much surprised but they really can be good doctors.

It is interesting to know that people knew and used different aroma oil for more than six hundred years.

In 1928 the French chemist Gattfors burnt his hand and used the oil of lavender [‘lævәndә] by chance. He was so surprised when it helped him very quickly and left absolutely no signs that he decided to investigate the influence of aroma oil in general. Specialists came to the conclusion that aroma oil is more useful than medical treatment and they called this way of curing ‘aromatherapy’.

Nowadays many doctors hope that people will use this way of curing more actively because we are part of Nature and its gifts should be used to help us.

There are many different kinds of aroma oil, but we would recommend to you to have some of them at your home and they will help you in many cases.

I’d like to give you some useful information.

Lemon oil will help you to get rid of head ache, sickness and it is very useful for making your skin more beautiful.

Rose oil is used for curing headache, cough and sleeplessness.

Lavendar oil is used for curing sleeplessness, air-sickness, cold in the head (насморк), the flue. It will also prevent you from catching a cold.

You know that nowadays many people suffer from the flue that’s why we decided to use the oil of lavender here in our classroom.(takes a bottle with oil)

To my mind it smells good. Enjoy it and be healthy!

Cherkashina Alesya: Zemtseva Nastya has a very good friend Doctor Colour. What do they advise?

Zemtseva Nastya: If you are not well, don’t be in a hurry to use any remedy as there are many other more pleasant ways of getting better.

Do you know about Doctor Colour?

Many years ago and namely in 1350 BC the Egyptian Queen Nefertity used aroma oil of different smells and colours for her bath to feel better and be more beautiful. Even in ancient times people knew that every colour had its own peculiar influence on their health and mood.

Later on scientists discovered how to cure definite diseases with the help of colour. The chain of this influence is as follows: eye – brain – definite organ.

Red makes more active the work of a heart, improves the mood.

Orange gives us strength, makes people feel themselves younger (cures glands –железы внутренней секреции)

Yellow is the symbol of the Sun, gives us hope and reduces tension (cures nervous diseases).

Green cures headache, cough, calm us in general (cures lungs)

Blue gets people rid of fears, makes them more sure in themselves; (cures kidneys – почки)

Purple gives us energy, gets us rid of any kind of depression (cures digestion –пищеварение)

I wish you good luck! Be in the pink! (OK)

Cherkashina Alesya: Yermakova Rita adores music and found out how it can treat people.

Yermakova Rita: Ancient people noticed that the sound of bells of the church towers cured some diseases.

Everybody knows how sounds of music can influence people. Music can inspire, entertain, enrich, conquer or destroy us. It can transform our hearts and feelings. Specialists say that the best way to relax is listening to classic or folk music.

Music, or sound therapy treats both our body and soul. As to the body, music and colour treat different diseases of heart, lungs, stomach, nervous and so on.

To improve your mood listen to “Turkish Rondo” by Mozart or “Habanera” from the opera “Carmen” by George Bisey.

To forget your problems listen to “Ave Maria” by Franz Shubert.

“The Waltz of Flowers” by Tchaikovsky can treat diseases of stomach.

Music of George Gershwin helps to reduce emotional tension.

Let’s listen to it now. Enjoy yourself!

Savchenko Nastya: Pupils of our school love our Alma-mater, because of its kind, wise and friendly atmosphere. We are always engaged in many useful & interesting activities. Much attention is always paid to our health both by teachers and doctors. We are sure that combination of words Health Center can be referred not only to new medical rooms but to our school in general.

Cherkashina Alesya: Is there anything more important than health? I don’t think so. “Health is above wealth,” wise people say. You can’t be good at your studies or work well when you are ill.

If you have a headache, heartache, toothache, backache, earache or bad pain in the stomach, if you complain of a sore throat or a bad cough, if you run a high temperature and have a bad cold in your head, or if you suffer from a high or low pressure, I think you should consult a doctor.

The doctor will examine your throat, feel your pulse, test your blood pressure, take your temperature, sound your hear and lungs, test your eyes, check your teeth or have your chest X-rayed. After that he will prescribe some treatment, pills, tablets or some other medicine which you can buy at the chemist’s. He will recommend you to stay in bed for some time, because there might be serious complications. The only thing you have to do is to follow his recommendations.

Speaking about doctor’s recommendations, I would like to tell you a story.

An old gentleman came to see a doctor. The man was very ill. He complicated of weakness, insomnia, memory loss and serious problems with his heart, lungs and liver.

The doctor examined the patient and said that no medicine could cure his disease.

Do you know what the doctor’s advice was?

First of all, he told his patient to go to a quiet place for a month and have a good rest. He also advised him to eat more roast beef, drink two glasses of red wine every day and take long walks. In other words, the doctor recommended him to follow the rule: “Eat at pleasure, drink with measure, and enjoy life as it is.” The doctor also said that if the man wanted to be well again, he shouldn’t smoke more than one cigarette a day.

A month later the gentleman came into the doctor’s office. He looked cheerful and healthy. He thanked the doctor and said that he was now a different man. He was very well again. He said that he followed all the doctor’s recommendations.

“But you know, doctor,” he said, “it’s not easy to begin smoking at my age.”

You see, English people like to talk about the weather. It is their favourite topic. But we often talk about our health. Please, listen to how it could be.

Yermackova Rita, Slyusarenko Artyom – dialogue about health

•  Hi, Rita. What’s wrong with you? You look pale and tired. Are you ill?

•  Hello, Artyom. I feel bad. I have a high temperature.

•  Do you have a sore throat?

•  Yes, I have. And my nose is running.

•  You should go to bed. I’ll call a doctor for you.

•  A doctor? What doctor?

•  He is a specialist in diseases of the nose, throat and ears. He can cure almost everything.

•  Oh, that is ridiculous. I’ve just caught a cold. I am going to buy aspirin, take a nap and everything will be fine.

Cherkashina Alesya: And finishing the first part of our meeting we would also like to present you with English proverbs and sayings about health:

•  A sound mind in a sound body – в здоровом теле здоровый дух

•  An apple a day keeps the doctor away – кушай по яблоку в день и доктор не понадобится

•  Good health is above wealth – здоровье дороже всякого богатства

•  Health is not valued till sickness comes – тот здоровья не знает, кто болен не бывает

•  We never know the value of water till the well is dry – что имеем не храним, потерявши плачем

•  Early to bed and early to rise make a man healthy, wealthy and wise – кто рано ложится и рано встает, здоровье. Богатство и ум наживет.

Thank you.

Lazareva Nina: Nowadays people are becoming more health-conscious then they used to be. People try to live in a healthy way. But what is a healthy life-style? In my opinion, it is a balanced rational nutrition, doing sports and absence of bad habits like smoking, drinking or using drugs. The group of pupils investigated how bad health habits influence our health. You are welcome, Rita!

Ivanova Rita: “To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did: I ought to know because I’ve done it a thousand times”, said M. Twain. A proverb also says that you start smoking to prove that you are a man. And then you try to give up smoking to prove that you are a man.

For this meeting of our school scientific society we learned much literature and conducted an opinion poll on the problems of the healthy way of life.

The Aim of Investigation is to clear out

o  What kind of tobacco products are used nowadays and their influence on human’s health

o  How smoking influences different inner organs

o  If it is safe to be second-hand smoker

o  What voluntary organizations struggle against smoking

o  To work out the advises how to stop smoking

o  Discuss among the classmates the influence of smoking on the lifestyle.

o  To improve skills of using English

The Ways of Investigation are

o  Studying special literature

o  Conducting an opinion poll among school students

o  Taking part in the work of the ecological SSS “Green Team”

Smoking tobacco is the leading cause of lung disease. Smoking also has been linked to heart diseases, stroke and many kinds of cancer. Smoking is responsible for about 87% of all lung cancers and is a major cause of cancers of the mouse, esophagus, kidney, bladder and pancreas.

Scientists have identified more than 60 chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause cancer in humans and animals. Smokeless tobacco and cigars also have been linked to cancer. The American Cancer Society says nicotine can kill a person. It does this by stopping the muscles used for breathing.

Experts say menthol cigarettes are no safer than other tobacco products. Menthol cigarettes produce a cool feeling in the smoker’s throat and people can hold the smoke inside their lungs longer. That’s why these cigarettes are more dangerous. Other smokers believe that cigarettes with low tar levels are safer. Tar is substance produced when tobacco leaves are burned. It is known to cause cancer.

Zakharchev Sergei: Experts say smoking affects not only the smoker. Women who smoke cigarettes during pregnancy are more likely to have babies with health problems. Pregnant women who smoke are at risk of having a baby who weighs less than normal. Low birth weight babies have an increased risk of early death and they suffer from a number of health disorders.

Experts say tobacco smoke also affects the health of people who don’t smoke. Smokers may harm the health of family members and people at work when they breathe out smoke from cigarettes. This is called “second-hand smoke”.

Now I ‘d like to tell about World Voluntary Organizations Against Smoking. For many years scientists have warned that smoking tobacco is bad for one’s health. Yet people around the world continue to smoke. The World Health Organization estimates that almost 5 million people around the world die each year from the effects of smoking. That number is increasing. The tobacco use could kill more than 9 million people a year by two thousand 20 if nothing is done to control the problem.
The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control came into force on February 28th 2005. Now any country approving the treaty will be required to obey its rules. They govern issues such as tobacco price and tax increases, the illegal trade of tobacco products and second-hand smoke.

Shevchenko Igor: Every year about 390 000 people lose their lives because of smoking. Doctors say that it is the single most important preventable cause of death.

If smoking is so dangerous, why do people smoke? To start with, people have been smoking tobacco for hundreds years. In America early colonists learned about tobacco from the Indians, and soon many people here and in Europe were smoking it. Smoking is dangerous in many ways. It causes the two most deadly diseases: heart disease and lung cancer, as well as other deadly diseases.

Our group has conducted an opinion poll on different bad habits.

Why would anyone want to smoke, if it is so bad for health? Many people started smoking long before they learned how unhealthy it was, and now it is hard for them to stop: 10% of teenagers started smoking because they were interested in the process of smoking, 12% - because their friends did it, 8% - had some problems at school, 7% -can’t even answer why. Many youngsters smoke 1-10 cigarettes a day, 8% -10-20 cigarettes a day, 5% - more than 20. It is interesting to note that 9% of smokers can’t get rid of this habit, 26% think that they can, but don’t want to do it.

The majority of the participants (84%) of this opinion poll are sure that smoking is not useful for health, but 16% are foolish enough to think that smoking will do them no harm. They think it is “cool”, it helps to relax, to avoid stress, etc.

Fortunately, using tobacco is becoming less and less popular every day. Many organizations are working hard to warn people about danger of smoking. This is good, because the more a person knows about smoking, the less likely it is he will ever start smoking.

Lazareva Nina: Yudina Maria worked out recommendations how to get rid of smoking.

Yudina Maria:

At last we came to the conclusion How to stop smoking in real life

o  To stop smoking, you should carefully plan your actions for at least one week.

o  Try to stay away from people and situations that might trouble you.

o  Do not go to public places where people are smoking.

o  Even one cigarette can make you a smoker again. In the first week or two without cigarettes, you probably feel terrible. You may be angry or sad. Do not lose hope. These feelings will go away in a few weeks, if you stay away from tobacco.

o  Go for a quick walk or a run at least two times a day. Walking or running will make you breathe deeply. This will help to clear nicotine from your body.

o  When you have the urge to smoke, you could chew gum or eat a piece of fruit or vegetable instead.

One day you will recognize that you have won the struggle against smoking

Lazareva Nina: There are a lot of young people who think that it is ok to drink a lot of beer because it isn’t strong alcoholic drink. But in a fact beer addiction is not better then addiction to vodka for example. In my opinion it’s not bad to have a glass of vine when you have a birthday, for example, but it is really harmful to drink alcoholic drinks without any special occasions, just to relax as some people do. Popravkin Alex cares much about his health. We ask why?

Popravkin Alex: Drinking alcohol as well as smoking is a very bad habit. It’s a pity, but nowadays anyone can easily buy a bottle of wine in the nearest shop though it is very injurious to health.

Drinking much alcohol causes heart, liver, stomach, mental diseases, loss of memory, makes speech unclear and so on. Life of people drinking alcohol is 15-20 years shorter than those who don’t do it.

As a result of conducted opinion poll we cleared out that 25% of its participants approve and 75% disapprove drinking alcohol, 65% do it themselves. But many schoolchildren tasted wine at the age of 13%), 22% did it at the age of 10-12, 16% -when they were younger than 10 years old. More than half the participants (52%) said that their relatives used to drink alcohol, but nobody said that it influences the relations in their families badly.

Lazareva Nina: Zhibelev Alex will prove how dangerous drugs are.

Zhibelev Alex: Nowadays drug addiction is often met among teenagers. It is a serious disease. Let’s clear out why.

A drug is a chemical compound that can change the way our body works or changed the way we feel or act. Not all drugs are bad for people. Aspirin is a drug we take to relieve headaches or body aches. Medicines that can be used with a doctor’s written prescription are also drugs. Medicines taken properly are safe and useful.

There are thousands of different drugs. Some of them are known as stimulants because they stimulate the nervous system. They increase the heart rate and blood pressure and give a person sense of well-being. Small amounts of caffeine in coffee, tea or cola-drinks are not harmful. Cocaine and crack cocaine are powerful stimulants – they can kill a person the first time he tries them!

Other drugs are known as depressants because they slow down the nervous system. The most common depressant is alcohol. Usually alcohol is not even thought of as a drug, but it is.

Many drugs create a dependence. Some drugs can change completely the way people think and the way they view the world around them. And finally the use of drugs leads to the full destruction of the body.

How can a person be safe? The best way is to stay away from drugs completely and use medicine only when it is prescribed by a doctor. That way you can be sure that the drugs you take will be helping your body and not hurting it.

Lazareva Nina: Let’s go on with nutrition. What kind of food should we eat, what is useful for our health? Scientists ascertained that food contains proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins and we need to get a proper balance of all those substances. Doctors assure us that we won’t be able to live without vitamins – we will feel fatigue, will be always ailing, etc. And they are absolutely right, it was proved. So, our food should contain variety of vitamins. Eating a lot of fruit and vegetables is the best way to get vitamins. As for fats – of course they are very important as well – fats give us energy. But we shouldn’t eat too much fat food, because it influences our health with different negative consequences like obesity and illnesses connected with it. I would like to say a few words about some popular (especially among young people) products like crisps. Eating it we never think about quality of oil, but it’s really important. This oil contains carcinogen and it is very harmful for our health. We should be careful with oil, butter and some other products that contain cholesterol. And I think that it’s also important to eat various food. I read that in the nineteenth century American biochemist proved that monotonous food is harmful. Sergeichuk Kristina will tell us about some problems connected with meals.

Sergeichuk Kristina: People care about their health. They are trying to lose weight. The most popular ways to do it—to cut out snacks and deserts, to eat less of everything and to exercise more. Eating habits have changed now. People eat less fat and sugar and more fibre. They prefer healthy food.

We found out that many people have changed their habits. First of all they try to have their meal regularly. They eat more fruit and vegetables. Many of them keep to a diet. The Russians believe that being too fat leads to different diseases.

Many people in Great Britain people think more about their health too. They eat a lot of low fat food and much fibre. Fat is thought to be the cause of many diseases. Some people have started counting the calories they eat every day. (A calorie is the energy value of food). So they can try to take in less calories and loose weight. This is called a calorie-controlled diet. Special food with less calories for slimmer is produced now in Great Britain.

Fast food is very popular all over the world. Do you know that in 1937 the McDonald brothers, Dick and Mark, opened little restaurant in California. They served hot dogs and milk shakes. In 1945 they had 20 waiters. All the teenagers in town ate hamburgers there. When the 1948 year came they got paper boxes and bags for the hamburgers. They put the price down from 30 to 15 cents. There were no waiters—it was self-service. So it was cheaper and faster.

In 1960 the McDonald’s company opened hundreds of McDonald’s restaurants all over the States. In 1971 they opened restaurants in Japan, Germany, Australia.

In our country McDonald’s appeared in 1990. The fast-food chain served a recordpeople on opening day.

Lazareva Nina: Kalinichenko Alina knows much about eating habits in Russia and Great Britain.

Kalinichenko Alina: People say, “You are what you eat”. What about Russian people? In Russia there is a large variety of milk products: a sort of dry cream cheese called “tvorog”, thick sour cream and several types of sour milk products. There is a big choice of appetizers, hot and dessert dishes. You can recommend your guest caviar, salmon, hot and cold smoked sturgeon, pike-perch in aspic or stuffed, herring, sprats, marinade fish and the like.

As for cold meat dishes one can taste ham, cold boiled pork with spices, jellied tongue and various salads. For a change you can taste delicious Russian pancakes (blini) with caviar and mushrooms and thick sour cream. And soups? There are plenty of them: fresh cabbage shchee, borshch, kidney and cucumber soup (rassolnic), and soup in season – okroshka. For the main course you can taste beef-Stroganoff, golubtsy, Siberian *****ssian meal is also famous for its pies which were baked in good old times and remain popular nowadays: kulebiaka, rastegay, vatrushki, baranki, sooshki, etc.

Since the 1970’s eating habits in Britain have undergone a change. People have been encouraged by doctors, health experts and government advertisements to eat less fat and more fiber. Fat is believed to be one of the major causes of obesity and heart disease. Forty per cent of adults in Britain are overweight and Britain has one of the highest death rates due to cardiovascular disease in the world. Britons have become more aware of calories, the energy of food. Food manufactures have started to help the general public to make more informed choices about what they eat.

So, the traditional British breakfast is bacon, eggs or sausages, preceded by fruit and followed by toasts. Lunch is a light meal at school or work and takes 30-40 minutes. Dinner is usually the main meal of the day and consists of two courses.

Take-always became extremely popular in the 1980’s. The traditional British take-away is fish and chips eaten with salt and vinegar. The British are famous for their love of sweet things and afternoon tea with sandwiches, scones and jam. It was once a traditional custom. But it is changing now.

As to most of working people they don’t have tea as afternoon “meal”, but they do have a short break in the middle of the afternoon for a cup of tea. Tea is also drunk with lunch and dinner.

Lazareva Nina: Another point that is not less important than balanced nutrition is doing sport. It’s very useful to take regular exercises, to go to gym and to jog to keep form. Sport makes you stronger, healthier. Well, on the one hand sport takes a lot of energy and time but on the other hand it helps to distract your mind from your problems, it improves your mood. And it’s very important to be in good mood. Also it is said that sport teaches person to be disciplined in some way. I want to say that it’s good idea to do sports regularly, not just from time to time. It’s much better to go to gym several times a week for about an hour, than once a week but for three hours. I don’t talk about going in for professional sport – exhausting trainings that can be even harmful. Krivoshei Maxim is an expert in sport life. He knows how sport is used by the British to be healthy.

Krivoshei Maxim: Of course, sport plays a great role in our life. I know, that according to our plan we are going to discuss different aspects of sport at a special meeting.

But today at this meeting I’d like to give only some information about sport in Britain and how the British relax with its help.

Britain doesn’t often produce sportsmen or sportswomen who are successful in the world sporting championships but it has been good at inventing sports and writing the rules of games.

Golf was first played in Scotland in the 15th century and the most famous golf club, Saint Andrews in Scotland, is still the most respectable authority on golf in the world.

Cricket was played in England in the 16th century and its rules were written in the 18th century.

Nineteenth century team sports, such as football, rugby and hockey, were first played in Britain public schools. The rules for all of those games were written between 1870 and 1890. The rules for lawn tennis were written in England in 1875.

The 22 best English teams play in the Premier League, run by the Football Association (the FA). The other professional teams play in three divisions run by the Football League. Liverpool is the most successful team and has won the most games and tournaments.

The most exciting games are often between teams from the same city: Manchester United and Manchester City; Arsenal and Chelsea from London; Celtic and Rangers from Glasgow. The highlight of the football is the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in London. Eighty thousand fans fill the stadium and there is usually a very good atmosphere. Most people think of a cricket as a slow sport, but the ball can be bowled at speed of 85 miles per hour.

Cricket is a popular summer sport in England. It is not played much in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but it is played in the Commonwealth countries of Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and the West Indies.

Rugby is a type of football. It is played with an oval ball and players can both kick and run with it. There are two types of rugby: In Rugby Union there are 15 players, who are amateurs, and it is played by England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland (a joint team from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland), France, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. There are regular matches between these countries.

The majority of people live in towns and cities, where space for team sports is limited. To keep fit, most people take part in individual sports. They usually go walking, swimming, cycling, or do aerobics. Taking part in all these sports is informal and casual. Most people just want to relax. If they do aerobics, or go swimming, they usually go to the sport center, but not many people join a sport club.

Although many British people are interested in staying healthy, not many people do very much about it. A recent survey proved that many people were not as active as thought and incorrectly believed that they did enough exercises to stay healthy. Only 10 per cent of adults take part in sport more than twice a week.

There are 2000 sports centers in Britain: one for every town, large or small. They were built mostly in 1980s to encourage the public to take part in sport. The number of people who take part in sport has risen, but not many people exercise more than once a month. In the morning many people follow fitness classes shown on TV.

Fishing is one of the most popular individual sports for men in Britain, sometimes it is called angling. The most expensive type of fishing is for salmon and trout: these fish are only found in private rivers and lakes. Nearly a million anglers in Britain wait hours beside canals, rivers and lakes to catch a fish. Then thy weigh it and usually throw it back into the water again.

Athletics is a popular spectator sport in Britain. Sally Gunnell was the European, Commonwealth, World and Olympic 400-metre hurdles champion in 1994.

Cycling is one of he fast-growing sports in Britain. Recently two British cyclists have been in the news. Chris Boardman won gold medal for cycling at the 1992 Olympics. Graeme Obree broke the world record in 1993 by riding 52.27 km in one hour.

As British people say, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Like everybody else British people like doing things outside work.

Walking is a well-known favourite. Ask any British person if they have a pair of walking boots and the answer will probably be yes. Except for dry summer days, the beautiful British countryside is pretty muddy, so you need a good pair of walking boots or “wellies” to enjoy your walk. Walking as a leisure activity has a long tradition in England. You can buy a variety of maps and guides to walking routs. Organized walking is also popular and is a good way to discover local sights of interest with a group of like-minded people and good guide.

Cycling is another popular activity. Unfortunately, many British roads are very busy and don’t have cycling paths, so cycling can be a bit dangerous in Britain, many people find quiet country roads and spend their whole holidays exploring their homeland on their bikes.

More extreme sports like climbing also attract people. And, of course, the famous British eccentricity is the course of unusual sports like extreme ironing. Extreme ironing is a serious sport where teams of people compete at who can do their ironing in more extreme conditions. Mountains, rivers, tall buildings, busy streets… no location is unsuitable for extreme ironing fans. The contestants are judged on both the extremity of the location and quality of the ironing. Phil Show, the creator of the sport, says it “combines the thrill of an extreme sport with the satisfaction of a well-ironed shirt”. Extreme ironing is now an international sport with serious competitions and organized events.

Of course, not all British people keep fit by engaging in extreme sports. Many go to the gym, swimming pool or fitness classes. However it has to be said that the British are not the sportiest nation in the world. You see, watching TV often gets in the way. Increasingly, British people spend their free time watching TV. Sad, but true. The only comforting thing is that they are not on their own – most of the world seems to be doing the same!

Yenbekova Dasha: You see, Maxim, I am fond of different kinds of sport though I prefer cycling and hiking while travelling.

Some people enjoy sitting and looking out of the train or car window. As for me I’m fond of walking. I like travelling by bike and hiking most of all. Usually we get to the country by car or by bike and hiking starts. We keep everything for our trip in our country house. Of course, we need bikes, backpacks, rods, tents and so on. We usually ride bikes to the lake. It takes us 3 hours to get there. It’s a very picturesque place. We put up our tent there near the lake and start fishing. My father and I are fond of fishing. It seems to e we are good at it. My parents and I make a fire together. My mum can make very tasty things on the fire. They are fantastic when we are very hungry after fishing.

We sometimes take our backpacks and hike to another beautiful lake. I like watching different birds. Sometimes we can see a hare or a fox. One day we saw a deer family. We were silent. We didn’t want to frighten them. They were so beautiful! I am looking forward to our next trip!

Lazareva Nina: Kovalevsky Anton studied the history and the revival of the Olympic Games.

Kovalevsky Anton: The first games which later were called “the Olympics” in ancient times were held at Olympia in Greece once every four years.

At that time numerous states on the territory of modern Greece often waged wars. The ruler of one of these, Elis, wanted to live in peace in neutral state. He succeeded in his negotiations and to celebrate this achievement, he organized athletic games.

From that time on the games were held four years in Olympia on the territory of Elis. All wars were stopped by heralds who rode in all directions. Best athletes arrived from many Greek states to compete in running, long jumping, throwing of discus and javelin and wrestling. Only men could take part in the Olympics.

All athletes took an oath that they had been preparing well for the Games, promised to compete honestly and keep the rules of the sacred Olympics. Winners were called “olympionics” and they were awarded olive wreaths and cups of olive oil.

The Olympic Games were accompanied by art festivals. They had been held for about eleven hundred years, until the Emperor Theodosius banned them for religious reasons in 384 AD.

The revival of the Olympics began in 1882 when a young French Pierre de Coubertin made a public speech before the Union of French sport clubs in Paris.

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896 with 311 athletes participating, 230 of these coming from Greece itself. All in all 13 countries were represented: besides Greece there were Australia, Austria, Chili, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary and the USA. Many athletes came on their own initiative and their own expense.

There were nine sports: athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, weight-lifting, wrestling and tennis.

Rowing and sailing were cancelled because of bad weather, and there was no cricket, because there no players! And there were no events for women. The medal system was a bit different from today: only first place (silver) and the second place (bronze) were recognized.

Winter sports made their Olympic debut in 1908 when ice figure-skating was included in the Olympic programme. In 1925 the International Olympic Committee decided to consider the International Winter Sports Week that had taken place in 1924 in Chamonix, France, as the First Winter Olympic Games.

In 1908 Russia took part in the Olympics for the first time. The team consisted of 5 sportsmen. Gymnasts Petrov and Orlov won the first silver medals. And only in 1952 for the first time after the revolution Russian team took part in the Olympics.

Nowadays major compete to host the Olympic Games, not just for the honor the Games bring, but for the vast amount of profit a host country can make. The Games have also become politically important. They can now be seen by nearly every country in the world and are therefore an ideal platform for political statements. In 1984 some countries decided not to send their teams to the Los Angeles Games because they felt there was not enough security and they were too commercial.

Under such circumstances, the Olympic idea and spirit comes into question. And for athletes there is less value in winning a gold medal if the best of the world athletes are not competing.

In 1980 the Summer Olympic Games took place in our country. My granddad told me how magnificent they were. And in 2014 the Winter Olympic Games will also take place in our country, in the well known health-resort Sochi. We are proud of our country and think that these Games will be very successful.

Lazareva Nina: As for me, I think that my life-style is healthy. I don’t smoke. Every week I go to a swimming-pool. I learned to swim in different styles – crawl and butterfly. I even took part in school swimming competition. I try to eat healthy food that has a lot of vitamins. Maybe that’s the reason why I very rarely feel sick and am almost always in a good mood. I think that today we investigated and discussed a very important problem – how to be healthy. We have much interesting information and to my mind it could be used by the pupils and even by the teachers of our school.

I suggest the idea that we should print this material to be used by everybody.

Thank you very much for your participating. It was very useful.

Good buy. See you in February.