Our School is 25! by Alina Kharchenko

In 1984, on the picturesque bank of the Dnipro, on Shevchenko Street, leading to Taras Hill and the Museum of the Great Kobzar, a new building appeared - The Kaniv Secondary School named after the great Georgian poet, A Tsereteli. In 1997 this educational establishment got a status of the School Specializing in Learning Foreign Languages (English, German and French). 25 years have passed since that time and 2009 was a jubilee year for our alma mater. Our pupils and teachers are our pride. Almost 1500 school-leavers left our school for this period of time, 83 of them got gold medals, 38 silver ones, 37 former pupils became teachers, giving knowledge to students, bringing them up, taking care of them. The pupils of our school take part in Olympiads in different subjects, contests and sport competitions, they attend numerous clubs - dancing, singing, sporting, drama ones.



9 teachers of foreign languages work in our school. They help pupils understand themselves, teach them moral values, about our country and the world around us. At the lessons of the English and American literature our pupils get acquainted with the world of W. Shakespeare and Defoe, Ch. Dickens and G. Byron, J. London and Hemingway, R. Burns and W. Scott. Teaching languages, my colleagues and I use communicative fluency activities/questioning, discussion games, role plays, problem-solving activities. At the town English Olympiads the pupils of our school are mainly the winners, and it brings our teachers pleasure and pride.
Extra-curricular activities are an inseparable part of our work. Strengthening ties with the sister cities, and with Southborough in particular, encourages pupils to learn foreign languages, increases their outlook and urges them to work. Senior students worked at the projects – “Many People, One Heart”, “English in My Life”, “Our Friends All Over the World”. They also willingly put into practice the ecological project embarked by SAKA, planting trees and flowers, watering young seedlings, weeding flowerbeds round our school and in the neighbouring area.
Annually the English teachers arrange the English language week in our school. It includes contests for the best composition or poem, the best wall newspaper, reciting poems, preparation of concerts devoted to Christmas and New Year, St. Valentine's Day, Easter, and Halloween.
A very memorable period was the one devoted to the 25th birthday of our school. Our senior students prepared the film about our school, they acted in the play by Bernard Shaw “Pygmalion”, in the scene from Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet”, recited the sonnets of the great playwright, sang songs of the famous Group The Beetles and modern English songs about love and friendship. The choir solemnly sang “The Anthem of the European Youth”. The atmosphere of the party was very exciting, and the pupils were so proud of their performance.



Really, teachers' job is difficult, but how honourable is to be an adviser, a supporter, a creator, a leader and a friend! How nice it is to discover the world of Knowledge and teach children to be kind and merciful, loving and helpful! This is a Teachers' task. And we, teachers, give our pupils our Heart full of Faith and Love.
Alina Kharchenko, Kaniv