Tahiti

Tahiti est une île de la Polynésie française (collectivité d’outre-mer) située dans le sud de l’océan Pacifique. Elle fait partie du groupe desîles du Vent, et de l’archipel de la Société. Cette île haute et montagneuse, d'origine volcanique, est entourée d'un récif de corail. L'île est composée de deux parties - Tahiti Nui, la plus importante, et Tahiti Iti également appelée la Presqu'île, reliées entre elles par l'isthme de Taravao.

Avec 1 042 km² et 178 173 habitants, Tahiti est à la fois la plus grande et la plus peuplée des îles de la Polynésie française. L’île concentre l’essentiel des activités économiques de l’archipel polynésien ; la ville de Papeete, située sur la côte nord-ouest de l’île, est la capitale de la Polynésie Française et en abrite toutes les institutions politiques. Le tourisme contribue fortement à l’économie de l’île, d’autant que Tahiti abrite le seul aéroport international de la Polynésie Française, lui donnant le statut de porte d’entrée du territoire.

L’histoire de Tahiti a été marquée tout d’abord par le peuplement de l’île par les navigateurs polynésiens, d’origine austronésienne, puis par la découverte de l’île par les explorateurs européens. Les échanges avec les Européens ont permis à une famille tahitienne, les Pomare, d’imposer leur autorité sur l’ensemble de l’île. À partir de la fin du xviii^e siècle, l’île fut colonisée par des missionnaires protestants anglais, puis devint protectorat français au milieu du xix^e siècle. L’île devint ensuite une colonie, membre des Établissements français de l'Océanie, avant d’être rattachée à un ensemble d’archipels qu’on appelle Polynésie française.

School Years around the World

by Mark Hughes

Somewhere in the world, right now, students are hard at work in school. With over 190 nations spanning the globe’s 24 time zones, students and their academic years come in a variety of forms. Here’s a sampling of the typical school year in 13 nations throughout the world.

Australia

Students in Australia attend school for 200 days a year. Their school year lasts from late January to mid December. Since Australia is in the southern hemisphere, it experiences summer while it’s winter in the northern hemisphere. Summer vacation for Australian students is from mid December to late January. Their school year is divided into four terms, with each term lasting 9 to 11 weeks. Students then have two weeks of vacation between each term. The typical school day is from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and lunch is eaten at school. Students are required to attend school for at least eleven years, but they usually attend for twelve years. The average class size is eighteen students and there are about six computers per classroom.

School grades in Australia are called years. Kindergarten is the first year of formal schooling, followed by year 1 through year 6; secondary school is from year 7 to year 12. A 6 year old begins in year one, while an 18 year old finishes school by year 12. From year one to year six, students spend about 12 hours a week working on math and English. Many schools integrate subjects, meaning they combine two or more academic subjects. For instance, say your class is studying coral reefs. A non-integrated approach would have students study coral reels only in science class. An integrated method incorporates math, by taking measurements, for example, and language arts. Students would then use that information to write a report about coral reefs.

Runic alphabet

Origin

Little is known about the origins of the Runic alphabet, which is traditionally known as futhark after the first six letters. In Old Norse the word rune means 'letter', 'text' or 'inscription'. The word also means 'mystery' or 'secret' in Old Germanic languages and runes had a important role in ritual and magic.
Here are some theories about the origins of runes:

The alphabet was probably created independently rather than evolving from another alphabet.
Runic writing was probably first used in southern Europe and was carried north by Germanic tribes.
The Runic alphabet is thought to have been modelled on the Latin and/or Etruscan alphabet.
The earliest known Runic inscritions date from the 1st century AD, but the vast majority of Runic inscriptions date from the 11th century. Runic inscriptions have been found throughout Europe from the Balkans to Germany, Scandinavia and the British Isles.

Alma Deutscher, seven, writes opera The Sweeper of Dreams

Le petit prince- La comédie musicale

USA

The United States of America (commonly called the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic consisting of fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean. At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 314 million people, the United States is the third- or fourth-largest country by total area, and the third-largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.

Стратегии выполнения заданий раздела Лексика и грамматика

Задания В4-В10 базового уровня

Даётся связный отрывок из повествовательного или научно-популярного текста с пропусками. На полях напротив каждого пропуска даётся слово.

Требуется преобразовать слова, напечатанные на полях напротив пропуска так, чтобы они грамматически соответствовали содержанию текста.

Важно! Прежде чем начать заполнять пропуски, обязательно прочитайте весь рассказ, чтобы понять его основное содержание. Подсказка на выбор правильной грамматической формы слова вовсе не обязательно находится в самом предложении, а может быть где-нибудь еще в тексте.

1.  Бегло прочитайте весь рассказ, игнорируя пропуски. Цель — понять общее содержание и ход повествования.
2.  Теперь начните заполнять пропуски.
Если это личное местоимение, определите, какая форма тут нужна - в именительном или объектном падеже (I-me, he-him, you-you, she-her, we-us, they-them), или нужно употребить соответствующее притяжательное прилагательное (если следующее слово существительное - my/your/his/her/our/their book) или притяжательное местоимение (если местоимение употреблено само по себе - mine/yours/his/hers/ours/theirs).
Например,
Little Sassy Sam certainly had a reputation, although he wasn't fully aware of it. His teachers always remarked how wonderful it was to have Little Sassy Sam in their classrooms.    THEY