Language exam topics (long) - Grammar correction/ Could you correct my writings?

Hy

I'm going to have a language exam next Tuesday and I'm not sure whether my texts are good or not, by which I mean, I still have some problems and difficulties with grammar, so I need some help. Could you correct my texts? I know, there is a large amount of them, but it is really important for me. Thank you!

Topics: Education; My school; Family; Human relationships; Celebrations; Consumer Society; Fashion; City life - Country life and Living abroad; The area where I live and my home; Computers, the Internet, mobile phones and SN sites

01. Education

There are all kinds of schools in different countries. In most societies educational institutions operate at three levels: elementary, secondary and higher. In elementary or primary schools in Hungary there are two sections: junior and senior classes. Secondary education occurs in several types of schools. In Hungary, we can speak about grammar schools, secondary vocational schools and vocational schools, but there are training courses as well such as NTR training. In higher education we can mention colleges and universities. It is also worth mentioning that in Hungary many schools have to cope with financial difficulties as they are given less and less money from the Ministry of education. Therefore it is no wonder that they cannot afford to buy modern teaching aids when there is hardly enough money for chalk. On the other hand, there are richer school as well, for example in Western societies like Great Britain.

In Britain education is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 16. Children are tested at the ages of 7, 11 and 14 by doing NCTs in English, mathematics and science. Primary schools are divided into two sections, an infant school and a junior school. Secondary education starts at the age of eleven. The majority of schools are comprehensive schools where children of all abilities are educated together. There are also grammar schools for which children are selected on the basis of an exam. At the end of the secondary education students sit for a GSCE or A-level examinations. Students who have successfully passed A-level exams may go to university to do a three or four-year course leading to a first degree such as Bachelor of Arts, or Bachelor of Science. After graduating students can choose to study for a higher degree, such as a Master of Arts, Master of Science, or a doctorate. As I mentioned before, there is more money for education, but higher education is not free for students. They have to contribute to the cost of teaching and pay their living costs.

It is also important to mention, there are good schools everywhere as students can be successful and less successful everywhere. Being a successful student has always been many students’ ambition. Many students assume that it is undemanding to become one, but they do not realize how difficult it is to become successful throughout the school year, especially when one seeks for perfection and excellence. Although there are many more methods to achieve excellence and success in school, the preparation to become a successful student involves having a good time management skill, good study habits, and the motivation to push oneself. These steps are necessary for students to have a promising and successful school year. These steps will be a valuable aid in their whole life as well. Nevertheless, it is not always as simple as it sounds, because the role of the teachers is also important. They also have to prepare for lessons and do their best. Without a good teacher students can’t learn well either. But, if everyone does what she or he has to do, it doesn’t cause too much problem to be successful at school.

02. My school

Jászberény has a lot of schools, but there is one above all which is called Lehel Vezér Secondary School. It has the best reputation in the region, what is more, it is in the centre of the town. It is a two-storey building surrounded by beautiful environment.

But it is not only a building, because there is usually hard work, since the main aim of the school is the success of its students. Therefor the teachers of the school do their best and try to make the curriculum interesting. What is more, they are pretty fair. Thus, teacher-student relationship is seldom bad.

Moreover, the school has got all kinds of well-equipped labs, classrooms and even a library. There is a large amount of facilities like the so-called Szántai Garden where students go PE lessons. The garden is also well-equipped with its football field, volleyball court, tennis court, basketball court and handball court. Unfortunately, it is far away from the school as a result, it takes a lot of time for students to go there or come back and change their clothes before lessons start. As for the classes, the school has 4 types of classes: two basic classes, a Math class, a Human class and an English preparatory class.

As for me, I went to the English preparatory class and I can tell that I had chosen well. My teachers are highly-educated, encouraging, supporting and even kind. I feel that my knowledge has improved a lot since I started to learn here. What is more my class is pretty good and although I came later than my classmates, they accepted me and most of them treat like a friend. It seems it is a real community and the atmosphere is really pleasant. Furthermore, it is not everything as the attitude of my class to learning is great. Everybody has realised that she or he learns for herself or himself.

Finally, I like almost everything except the narrow corridors. Sometimes we can hardly get to the lessons on time. It would be really good if there was a bigger building with more space. Moreover, I would like some English lessons with practicing the spontaneous speaking and without any writing. Maybe, other foreign language options would be good too.

All in all, I’m very grateful for learning here and I would definitely recommend this school, especially the English preparatory class to everyone.


03. Language learning

Not everybody a good language learner, but nowadays it is essential to possess some knowledge of at least one or two foreign languages. Furthermore, it has got a lot of advantages, so knowing a foreign language is really useful as well.

First of all, learning a second language helps people get to know the values and customs of an entirely different group of people. Language learning broadens people’s mind and they can understand other people’s way of thinking much better. Knowing a foreign language is quite beneficial in the job market as well. Those people who possess a proper language knowledge have more opportunities in the field of work especially in tourism and catering but in other areas as well.

Unfortunately, language learning is sometimes difficult. You have to fight for your knowledge. Learning the vocabulary is half the battle, which involves improving your memory. There are plenty of memory tricks you can use, but repetition is hands-down the most popular method. If you can consistently see, hear and write a word, it will eventually become ingrained in your memory. There are some unique tips for memorizing foreign language vocabulary. One of the best ways to memorize foreign language vocabulary is to grab your vocabulary textbook and a packet of Post-It notes and start sticking them at various places in your home. It won’t feel like studying, but it will be far more effective as the words sneak in your long-term memory almost unnoticed. Another great way to memorize foreign language vocabulary is by reading children’s books. You can find them online or even in your local library written in multiple languages, and they use sufficiently simple vocabulary that you won’t have trouble reading most of the words. When you run across a word you don’t know or can’t remember, have a foreign language dictionary handy to look it up. Often, hearing words spoken in a foreign language will help you memorize vocabulary. More film stores and rental shops have a foreign film section from which you can choose multiple titles. Take them home and watch them over and over again, looking for context clues to help you figure out what’s being said. You can also watch that particular foreign language channel on television.

There is also an interesting thing which can give some additional plus when you learn languages. It is not exactly similar to the usual techniques like watching films in that particular language, by which I mean it is more than that. But, anyway, as you probably know children learn their mother tongue from the basics in a foreign world without any kind of knowledge so doing a language course in a native speaking environment can work out for you as well, but obviously you will be better in making yourself understood. What is more, it can be really fun and challenging. The only problem is that these courses are usually very expensive as their fees include tuition, accommodation, meals and, very often additional programmes that come as an all-in package. Obviously you also have to pay for the journey there and back. All these things make such courses incredibly expensive, especially for people who live in poorer countries.

As for me, I learn English and German, and I love them. English is my first foreign language and I couldn’t exist without it. Having a proper English knowledge is everything I want. I love German too, but actually I have just started since last September and I have learned a lot of things so far, but there is still a large amount of knowledge I have to work for. In my opinion, it is absolutely worth it.


04. Family

If we think about a family, different things can be brought up in our minds, depending on our own family or our ideas about a perfect or imperfect family models. Even the smallest children can plan their future families in the kindergarten.

There are nuclear families with one, two or no children, and there are extended ones as well, with more than two children. The number of the members can be influenced by the other relatives living with their children, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, cousins and so on. Even an unmarried couple can count as a family, whether they have children or not. Everything depends on our different points of view.

In these days the family models are so familiar in developed and developing countries. Not just the father, but the mother is working, too, in order to insure a happier and better life.

Nowadays there are not so many differences between the rights and the jobs of a man and a woman, not like about 100 years ago. In the past, people didn’t like the idea of a learning or a working woman, because their task was to stay at home, cook meals, care for the children. They didn’t have so many rights, either. Later, women started to open their eyes and said it’s not enough and not fair against them. They wanted to go to school and to work to provide their families and even themselves a better life.

So, now a very big percent of the ladies are working, but not just because they wanted to, but because they need to work to get enough money in the family wallet. Some people say it’s not good for the children as they got less care from their parents while they are going into kindergarten and see their family only on the late afternoons. Of course, this is hard for their parents too, as they miss their children and can focus less on their jobs while they are apart from each other.

And again, career or children? If a child is born, who will stay at home to care for him or her? It used to be the mother, but in these days, when everybody is in a shortage of money, people started to decide based upon their salary.

Unfortunately, nowadays a very common problem is the bringing up of the new life. Clothing, feeding, educating. Everything costs money, except from the love and the goodwill. If you want to care about your beloved ones and you do care about them it doesn’t mean that you can afford everything they need.


05. Human relationships

Each of your relationship plays an important role in your life, but the most important is family.

On the other hand, when children become teenagers, they may have arguments with their parents, but good parent-teen relationships are significant and include respect, understanding, trust, and concern.

Parents can build good relationships with their teens by spending time together, keeping promises, using humour, and appreciating their efforts and strengths. Teens are less likely to take unreasonable risks if they have good relationships with their parents.

As children grow into teenagers, they gain a great deal of independence. That's a normal and natural part of growing up. But even as they increase their independence, parents need to keep their relationships as close to their teens as they did when their teens were small children. They still need parents to love, guide, and have fun with them.

As I mentioned before, the most important relationship is family, however it doesn’t always start or end in blood. Obviously, you will never have blood relation with your best friend, but you can treat each other like siblings. But, there are also friends who come and go easily and it is not necessarily bad. Those friends also play an important role in your life, even if your relationship doesn’t last forever. Those friends mostly help you socializing, so you can get experiences and become wiser if I can say so.

Apart from friends, class mates can also help socializing, what is more, you spend most of your time together, so you can get along very well. On the other hand, it can be horrible if you don’t like each other. So, good class community is pretty important.

Student-teacher relationship is also really important as you spend a large amount of time together. Good teachers love their subjects and are highly qualified. In addition they are brilliant at communicating their knowledge and their enthusiasm. They have a big impact on their students and can motivate them to work hard. They are strict but fair, so they assess their students regularly. Furthermore they are creative, encouraging and supportive. They have a good sense of humour, and students feel they have fun even when they work hard. They treat their pupils equally, have no pets or favourites, so they can create a good relationship with their students.

As for me, each of my relationships is important for me. Admittedly, the priorities are not the same, but since all of my relationships have a different meaning, reason and purpose, I couldn’t live without any of them.


06. Celebrations

There are many celebrations in different countries all around the world. Some of them are funny and interesting, some are traditional or religious. No matter what they are, celebrations play an important role in our lives.

Celebrations make life more enjoyable and fun. For instance, Christmas is one of the most wonderful time of the year when the whole world change in a good way, by which I mean everybody is kinder and everything is nicer. Or on Women Day, which falls on March 8th, people celebrate the equality between men and women. Family members and friends give flowers and gifts to women, who feel very happy about it. More and more celebrations interest people all over the world such as Halloween, St Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day and so on....

Celebrations are the occasions when you can express your feelings or your respect to someone that you love. Especially in Father’s Day or Mother’s Day, you can give your parents gifts, flowers or greeting cards to express how you love them. In Teachers’ Day, students show their love and respect to their teachers as they give flowers and best wishes to their teachers.

Celebrations also remind people of important days, or great time in the year. For example, every country has its own Independence Day, which is almost the greatest day in a year. This is the time for people to recall and be proud of their history. As for religious celebration, Easter is very popular and it is celebrated on Sunday, at the first full moon after the spring equinox. At this time people commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the beginning of spring. The festive period begins with Good Friday, two days before Easter Sunday. People usually go to church and women and girls paint eggs for the Monday male visitors. The different Easter are eggs and chick referring to new life, while the bunny symbolizes fertility. On Easter Day, which is always a Sunday, people eat traditional dishes such as hard-boiled eggs, cooked ham with spring radishes and yellow cottage cheese made in different ways. Also, there are some special Easter cakes. A typical Hungarian tradition is the sprinkling of girls and women with perfume, or originally with water, on Easter Monday. In return for the sprinkling boys and men get either hand-painted or chocolate Easter eggs and an innovation to the table full of homemade dishes and cakes.

Another important celebration is New Year’s Day when people all over the world celebrate the first day of the New Year. This day remind them that one year has passed and the new one is coming with brand-new things.


07. Consumer society

In the era of consumer society shops are fully packed and costumers are regularly tempted or charmed. Shops offer discounts, bonuses and all of them apply all sort of tricks to force you to buy things you did not plan. They continuously rearrange the display of goods; there is a bakery with smell of fresh bread in each supermarket and so on. So, we simply cannot resist such temptations.

What is more, there are also people who become Shopaholic. Shopaholism is an addiction just like taking drugs or gambling. Mainly those people become shopaholics who suffer from some kind of mental or emotional problem as depression or loneliness. Buying something makes their lives happier and more fulfilling. On the other hand, shopaholism can lead to financial problems as these people spend more than they can afford. For example, they can have credit card debt. It is quite difficult to get rid of this addiction so shopaholics need the professional help of psychologist.

As for credit cards, they have benefits and drawbacks as well. Having a credit card is good, because this form of payment is fast and easy; but it can also be dangerous. We often hear about online crimes involving credit cards. Some crafty hackers may have access to your bank account, might clone your credit card and can withdraw money from it. Another disadvantage of credit cards that if you don’t keep in mind how much money you have, you can spend many times more than you can actually afford. In this case, you have credit card debt, which means you have to pay back your debt plus the interest. Nowadays, banks are far more cautious with their money, and I have heard of cases when people finally went bankrupt.

What is more there are also advertisements, commercial and public service advertising. Commercial advertisements are a form of communication whose aim is to persuade the viewers, readers or listeners to purchase some products. They try to create a desire for a particular item. However, public service advertising informs, educates and motivates people about non-commercial issues or politics.

Different types of media can be used to deliver advertising massages, for example newspapers, magazines, television, billboards or direct mail. As for TV commercials, they are a pretty effective way of making a product well-known. In these commercials very often celebrities promote their favourite items. Teens are the main target audience of this kind of advertisement. Apart from television, the Internet is also a popular method of advertising with its web pop-ups and web-banners.

A good advertisement or commercial should be entertaining, informative and thought-provoking. It should raise the attention of viewers, listeners or readers. We cannot escape advertising as it is everywhere. Some people trust advertisements and are convinced by them, while others simply cannot stand them, especially when a commercial break interrupts an exciting film on TV.

All in all, we should resist the temptation and shouldn’t always listen to the advertisements, especially without getting appropriate information. In short, we shouldn’t believe everything what is said.


08. Fashion

Wearing something fashionable gives you that rounded feeling. However, you must be really careful because fashion can deceive people easily: the fact that something is fashionable doesn’t mean that it looks good on you. It depends on what sort of person you are because if you like following the crowd then you will be open to all kinds of fashion trends, but if you are more unique then probably not. It is said that fashion goes in cycles, things that used to be fashionable may come back in style later.

There are also fashion models who are at the top of the so-called trendy crowd, by which I mean they are idols and people who follow them. It can be really fun. However, being a top model has advantages and disadvantages as well.

First and foremost, being a top model is quite beneficial because of the high salary. Modelling is among the best paid jobs in the world. What is more, a lot of people would give up anything just to gain publicity. However, a part-time model or a professional model gets a lot of publicity. She instantly becomes popular due to the many photographs taken by the paparazzi which are later printed on magazines and newspapers. A top model is also invited to various TV shows where she can talk about her experiences and some of her challenges.

On the other hand, a model’s career is hard and sometimes depressing. She must spend time and effort on staying in shape and looking good. This includes some form of dieting which often leads to dangerous conditions such as anorexia.

Fashion is also important for teens but there are schools where school uniforms are compulsory. Wearing school uniform is good in some kind of respect, but it has its own drawbacks as well.

It is good, because students can express that they belong to the same community. By which I mean it gives students a sense of pride as they know they belong in that school. What is more they can’t recognise the financial differences between students, so they won’t judge each other on the basis of clothing. Mostly, they inner qualities will matter not their outward appearance.

On the other hand, it’s boring to wear the same clothes all the time. And, it’s important to have their own style. Teenagers can express a lot of things with their clothes from mood to music taste.


09. City life - Country life and Living abroad

Long time ago, people preferred to live in the countryside. Because of the urbanization, people tend to leave the countryside and move in cities. Thus, cities are always crowded and life became more stressful. Nowadays, people have many options. They can live in a city or in the countryside as well if they want to. For instance, there are some people who prefer a quiet and peaceful place; contrarily, others like to have a good job and more facilities.

Cities have advanced infrastructures like high medical care, strong police force, advanced fire service and so on. What is more, there are better job opportunities and more shopping and entertainment facilities. Nevertheless, people who live in the countryside have better living environment. There are also cinemas, shopping centres, clubs and restaurants in a town, but they may be less modern. However, the country side is healthier, because a person who lives in a city has to tolerate different kinds of pollution. Because of the so many cars, buses, and factories, the environment is noisy and polluted. On the contrary, in a countryside, people enjoy fresh air and stay in a quiet and peaceful place, so it is healthier. Furthermore, traffic jam is also a major problem for human in big cities since the streets are too crowded. Nevertheless, people who live in a countryside can always enjoy the beautiful environment.

Another great opportunity is moving abroad. Living away from your country is a bigger change. It can be a really interesting and unforgettable experience, but at the same time it has very important effects on your life.

First and foremost, living abroad can help you broaden your minds. If you move abroad, you have more opportunities to get to know an entirely different country and its customs, traditions. Furthermore, it is good for language learning as you can speak to native speakers and improve your knowledge more efficiently.

On the other hand, you may feel homesickness which can cause more problems since you always think about your mother country, your family and your friends and cannot concentrate on your life properly. Moreover, you can also have financial difficulties, because if you move abroad it doesn’t mean that your life will immediately become successful.

In fact, every place has got drawbacks and benefits as well, but it depends on you what you prefer.

10. The area where I live and my home

My hometown is Jászberény. I consider it an average place. Its infrastructures, like medical care or fire service are not too modern or advanced, but relatively good. However, the police station is being modernized as the police force is getting stronger.

As for the environment, the town is pretty nice with its parks and historical buildings. For example, my school is a two-storey building surrounded by beautiful environment.

Unfortunately in my town teenagers are really short of entertainment facilities. There is a library, a cinema, a club and some restaurants. It is not enough for young people, on the other hand, there is a wide variety of sport facilities from body building to ball games like football and handball.

As for my neighbourhood, it is not the best place of the world, but it is close to a lot of things. For instance, I can get to the school easily. Furthermore, there is a gym not far away from my home which I like a lot since it is well-equipped and its owners are really kind to me. Nevertheless, my street is everything, but lively. Because of the fact that it is really narrow, there are not any park or grassed area. I love nature, so I can hardly accept this fact.

My home is better in this respect. It is a detached house with a beautiful garden. It is full of plants as bushes, flowers and the like. And, it is not everything, there is a nice wooden pavilion with a swing where I can read, relax a bit and enjoy the nice environment. After a hard day in the school, it is a real relief for me.

Unfortunately, the other parts of my home are pretty tiring after a while because almost everything is white. There are only a red and white carpet, some red curtains and bedspreads. It could be worse and all in all it is not that horrible, but since I love the lively and stylish houses I am sometimes bored there. I think, I am starting to hate the white colour.

Apart from colours, I love my room, but I live with my little sister who is pretty young. Moreover, she can be annoying sometimes and due to her, my room seldom has a relaxed atmosphere.

I know, it will be better later and it could be worse, and actually, it was far worse when I lived with six messy guys in a students’ hostel. There are no words to describe that.

11. Computers, the Internet, mobile phones and SN sites

Computers and phones help people in more than one way and are becoming more and more popular with people of all ages. The multimedia possibilities of modern computers and mobile phones are practically limitless. Computers and phones allow users to listen to music, play video games, browse the web, watch movies and keep up with their friends all from the comfort of their homes. As computer technology continues to improve over time, more and more possibilities are created daily.

For instance, SN sites appeared just before the beginning of the century and took the Internet, and the world, by storm. Just a few decades ago, people wrote letters or called each other regularly to keep in touch. Then e-mails came, and today SN sites allow users to communicate instantly with friends and family.

In past, people play computer games with friends only when they were together. With SN sites, users can play online games with people that are next door or on the other side of the world. They can even play with ‘virtual’ friends they’ve never even met. And it seem it doesn’t take time to make friends; it just takes a few clicks of the mouse.

Until very recently, people used to put all their holiday photos in albums. Now SN users can share their photos online.

On the other hand, they are harmful to our health. Using computer or phone for too many hours can damage your eyes. What is more, children, teenagers and even adults can easily become addicted to them and spend hours in front of the screen instead of socialising with other people. Lastly, computers and phones that have an Internet connection are useful, but they are not safe. With so many computers connected to the Internet, users are at risk for a number of safety issues.

As for me, I use my computer and my phone a lot since I can chat with my friends and learn more efficiently. Moreover, the internet is full of useful websites and I can watch series and films as well. Therefore, I watch a large amount of movies. However, I also have time for my social life and I don’t like to be without my friends, so I meet them as often as I can.

Ps.: I would like to thank again