The formation of students’ national self-awareness in EFL class

© Canadian Center of Science and Education. In the epoch of globalization it is urgently important to draw attention to the problem of the formation of national self-awareness of school students. Numerous researches in the Russian Federation show that there is a tendency of cultural level decreasing, according to which a great many school students are not aware not only of the world's cultural heritage, but have a vague idea of their own (national) culture. The authors examine the role of foreign languages learning in the formation of national self-awareness of students in High schools. Language, as it is, reflects the culture and history of the nation. Therefore it can be declared a unique source in the process of national self-awareness formation of school students. The cross-cultural approach and the cross-cultural comparative approach in teaching EFL let both, teachers and students, consider human problems from the standpoint of two or more cultures that contribute to the comparative-contrastive analysis of native culture phenomena and compare the native culture with the culture of the target language. Drawing on literature of teaching and learning EFL, multicultural studies, as well as personal international teaching and learning experience, the authors examine the teaching and learning techniques focused on these approaches and present the authentic model of the formation of students’ national self-awareness based on the integration of teaching the language and local lore in EFL classes. The paper discusses issues and practices of the studied model and offers general recommendations for High schools faculty

Rhetoric as an effective tool of overcoming communication barriers in new educational environments

Searching for novel ways of overcoming communication barriers is dictated by new realities and forms of communication that appear in the educational system of the present day in Russia. In this paper, the authors reveal the basic barriers of communication in new educational environments and make an attempt to prove that rhetoric can serve as an effective tool of breaking these barriers. Materials and instruments aiming at the solution of the studied problem are investigated with regard of the communication situation, roles of participants of communication and ways of communication which communicants undertake. The leading research method implemented in this study is an experiment conducted by the authors with the aim in view to prove that knowledge of rhetoric enables both university faculty and students to overcome communication barriers arising in new educational environments. The research allowed the authors to empirically identify the role of teaching rhetoric in class and verify it to be effective while overcoming the barriers of communication. The results of the study can serve as a general guideline for faculty and student body of the university

Teaching local lore in EFL class: New approaches

© Author(s).This paper is dedicated to the up-to-date educational problem, that is, the role of local lore in teaching EFL to University students. Although many educators admit that local lore knowledge plays a great role in the development of a well-bred and well-educated personality and meets students’ needs, the problem has not been thoroughly studied. Local lore can also serve as a unique source for implementing various teaching techniques, in particular a project method. In this study a project-based teaching technique was exploited, which allowed to implement the individual approach to the education of students. The materials used in this research are taken from the copyright methodical textbook “Local Lore in EFL Class”. Drawing on literature of teaching and learning EFL as well as personal teaching and learning experience, the authors present the authentic model of teaching local lore in EFL class on the basis of the project-based teaching technique. The paper discusses issues and practices of the studied topic and offers general recommendations for University faculty. These materials can also be used in teaching practice of pre-service teachers

Formation of discursive competence in EFL class

The educational system of the present day in Russia puts forward new and new challenges: searching for novel ways of forming various competences of university students, with discursive competence dominating. In this paper, the authors make an attempt to prove that teaching students to write with argumentation in EFL class can become the basis for the formation of their discursive competence. Materials and instruments as well as teaching techniques of forming discursive competence in EFL class are investigated. The leading research method implemented in this study is an experiment conducted by the authors with the aim in view to assess the level of discursive competence that students can reach in EFL class. Drawing on methodical literature and personal teaching experience, the authors offer an authentic model of forming discursive competence in EFL class. The findings of the research can serve as general recommendations for university faculty and can be used in EFL class

Learning to read newspapers in efl class, or neologisms in english newspaper texts

No doubt, reading newspapers in EFL class has become a must, for newspapers provide relevant information telling the reader all about what is happening in the world, and, in this way, deepening and broadening the outlook of students. Another feature of newspapers is that they include texts of different types and language styles not easily found in belles-lettres. The relevance of the research topic is determined by the fact that modern lingua-didactics pays much attention to the functioning of new words in texts of different types, including newspaper texts. However, the problem of teaching students to read newspapers containing new words (neologisms) is not sufficiently studied. This determined the purpose of this research. The authors were able to analyze the functioning of neologisms in English newspaper texts and pinpoint the frequency of their use, which resulted in compiling a glossary and developing a set of training and test exercises which were approbated in the experiment with the aim in view to help students deal with the large amount of vocabulary they confront, and learn to distinguish neologisms associated with a particular content area from general academic vocabulary. The findings of the research can serve as general recommendations for university faculty and can be used in EFL class

Folk songs do magic in teaching speech and grammar patterns in EFL class

The authors in searching for new ways and stimuli of teaching vocabulary and grammar to students in EFL class present their own vision of meeting the challenge. In this study it was hypothesized that folk songs significantly stimulate and encourage students to learn more lexis and grammar they encounter in lyrics. In this paper, the authors fairly claim that rhymed speech and grammar patterns help students to learn and reinforce the correct articulation and pronunciation of sounds, accent and rhythm features. Materials and study instruments aiming at the solution of the outlined problem are investigated with regard of the roles that the song genre fulfills. An experiment conducted by the authors with the aim in view to prove that the repeated playback of a song expands students' vocabulary and helps them to better assimilate grammar, was chosen as a leading research method in this study. The research made it possible for the authors to empirically prove that folk songs can do magic in EFL class contributing to the comprehension of the foreign language in the context of culture, transforming a monotonous memorization and reproduction of language material into creative work, solving the problem of multiple repetition of a single model. The findings of the study can serve as a general guideline for university and high school faculty and pre-service teachers

Deep Photometry of GRB 041006 Afterglow: Hypernova Bump at Redshift z=0.716

We present deep optical photometry of the afterglow of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 041006 and its associated hypernova obtained over 65 days after detection (55 R-band epochs on 10 different nights). Our early data (t<4 days) joined with published GCN data indicates a steepening decay, approaching F_nu ~t^{-0.6} at early times (<<1 day) and F_nu ~t^{-1.3} at late times. The break at t_b=0.16+-0.04 days is the earliest reported jet break among all GRB afterglows. During our first night, we obtained 39 exposures spanning 2.15 hours from 0.62 to 0.71 days after the burst that reveal a smooth afterglow, with an rms deviation of 0.024 mag from the local power-law fit, consistent with photometric errors. After t~4 days, the decay slows considerably, and the light curve remains approximately flat at R~24 mag for a month before decaying by another magnitude to reach R~25 mag two months after the burst. This ``bump'' is well-fitted by a k-corrected light curve of SN1998bw, but only if stretched by a factor of 1.38 in time. In comparison with the other GRB-related SNe bumps, GRB 041006 stakes out new parameter space for GRB/SNe, with a very bright and significantly stretched late-time SN light curve. Within a small sample of fairly well observed GRB/SN bumps, we see a hint of a possible correlation between their peak luminosity and their ``stretch factor'', broadly similar to the well-studied Phillips relation for the type Ia supernovae.Comment: ApJ Letters, accepted. Additional material available at ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/kstanek/GRB041006

Utilization of Immunoblotting in Studies of Epitope Targeting in Monoclonal Antibodies to Melioidosis Agent Antigen 200 kDa

Objective of the research was to use immunoblotting for studies of epitope targeting in monoclonal antibodies to 200 kDa Burkholderia pseudomallei antigen, which are synthesized by hybridomas-producers from the two collections in the laboratory of immunodiagnostics and biotechnology at the premises of Volgograd Research Anti-Plague Institute. Employed were 8 typical strains of melioidosis agent with the complete antigenic structure. Antigen preparations were separated by means of denaturating vertical electrophoresis in 12 % polyacrylamide gel with 0.1 % sodium dodecylsulfate. During the process of cell-replication, 12 hybridomas-producers were given preparative amounts of monoclonal antibodies to 200 kDa Burkholderia pseudomallei glycoprotein. Following that, immunoperoxidase conjugates were manufactured. Epitope targeting of monoclonal antibodies was evaluated using immunoblotting. With the help of vertical electrophoresis identified was the presence of several mandatory major components contained in the antigen complexes of the salt-water and formamid B. pseudomallei extracts . Differential staining substantiated glycoprotein origin of certain antigen components. Immunoblotting with the stated above antigen preparations revealed epitope targeting of a number of monoclonal antibodies to 200 kDa antigen of melioidosis agent; demonstrated were the differences in their specific interaction with biopolymers which form part of the antigen specter. Those differences were characteristic of hybridomas-producers belonging to different collections, as well as of particular strains of B. pseudomallei

Characterization of toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains isolated in Russia

The aim of the study was to characterize toxigenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae by examining 12 toxigenic strains of C. diphtheriae isolated in Russia between January, 2017 to June, 2019. The morphological, toxigenic and biochemical properties of C. diphtheriae was studied. Genotyping of C. diphtheriae strains was performed using MLST and dtxR gene sequencing with subsequent phylogenetic analysis. Results. Toxigenic strains of C. diphtheriae were isolated in the Novosibirsk, Samara and Chelyabinsk Regions, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Yugra as well as the Republic of Northern Ossetia — Alania. Among these strains, 5 were isolated from diphtheria patients (moderate disease found in one case, mild course — remaining patients) and 7 strains were isolated from bacterial carriers. In two cases C. diphtheriae from diphtheria patients were identified as ST25 sequence type, gravis variant; in one case — ST8 type, gravis variant; two cases — ST67 sequence type, mitis variant. In asymptomatic carriers of tox-positive C. diphtheriae strains they belonged to ST25 sequence type, gravis variant — in two cases, ST67 type, mitis variant — in four cases. A sequencing type was not identified in one case. All sequence types were widespread globally being presented by a large number of isolates in the PubMLST and characterized by a substantial amount of derivative sequence types. At the same time, they belonged to different clonal complexes and differed markedly from each other contributing to their reliable difference as assessed by MLST. Study of gene dtxR sequence diversity showed that all allelic variants were typical for the representatives of these sequence types. New alleles of gene dtxR were not revealed in strains examined. It was shown that non-synonymous substitution C440T leading to A147V amino acid substitution was found solely in one allele distributed in ST8, ST185, ST195 and ST451 types suggesting at late mutation. In contrast, the polymorphism C640A resulting in the amino acid substitution L214I was found not only in the same allele, but also in the basal tree branches indicating that isoleucine was in the ancestral sequence of the protein

Определение противококлюшных антител у школьников с длительным кашлем

Objective: to assess anti-pertussis immunity in schoolchildren aged 7–17 who complained of a prolonged cough during the 11-year follow-up period.  Materials and methods. The study included 1046 patients aged 7 to 17 years who applied to the Consultative and Diagnostic Center of the G.N. Gabrichevsky Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology with complaints of prolonged cough in the period from 2010 to 2020. Blood serums were examined in ELISA with the determination of IgM, IgG, IgA antibodies using RIDASCREEN test system (Germany).  Results. An active infection with the detection of IgM and/ or IgA, IgG antibodies above threshold levels was detected in 51,3% of children with prolonged cough, while annually in a fairly high percentage throughout the follow-up period. Active pertussis infection, established based on the detection of IgM, IgG, IgA antibodies above thresholds in blood serum samples, prevailed in children 12–15 years old, accounting for more than 60% in children with prolonged cough. Antipertussis immunity as a result of childhood vaccination or previous disease was detected in 16.1-20.2% of people in the period 2010–2014 and in 12,8-20,9% in 2015–2020.  Conclusion. The results obtained by us on the study of anti-pertussis immunity in schoolchildren confirm the presence of active latent circulation of the pathogen whooping cough among children of this age cohort and, therefore, the presence of unaccounted for cases of the disease. This confirms the importance of timely diagnosis of pertussis, isolation of children for the period of active infection and justifies the need for the widespread introduction of a second revaccination against pertussis. Цель: оценка противококлюшного иммунитета у школьников 7–17 лет, обратившихся с жалобами на длительный кашель, в течение 11-летнего периода наблюдения.  Материалы и методы. В исследование включено 1046 пациентов в возрасте от 7 до 17 лет, обратившихся в консультативно-диагностический центр Московского научно-исследовательского института эпидемиологии и микробиологии им. Г.Н. Габричевского с жалобами на длительный кашель в период с 2010 по 2020 г. Сыворотки крови исследовали в ИФА с определением IgM, IgG, IgA антител с помощью тест-системы «RIDASCRЕЕN» (Германия). Результаты. Активная инфекция с выявлением антител классов IgM и (или) IgA, IgG выше пороговых уровней выявлена у 51,3% детей с длительным кашлем, при этом ежегодно в достаточно высоком проценте на протяжении всего периода наблюдения. Активная коклюшная инфекция, установленная на основании выявления в образцах сывороток крови антител IgM, IgG, IgA выше пороговых значений, преобладала у детей 12–15 лет, составляя выше 60% у детей с длительным кашлем. Противококлюшный иммунитет в результате проведенной в детстве вакцинации или перенесенного заболевания выявили у 16,1–20,2% лиц в период 2010–2014 гг. и у 12,8–20,9% – в 2015–2020 гг.  Заключение. Полученные нами результаты по изучению противококлюшного иммунитета у школьников подтверждают наличие активной скрытой циркуляции возбудителя коклюша среди школьников и, следовательно, наличие недоучтенных случаев заболевания. Это подтверждает важность своевременной диагностики коклюша, изоляции детей на период активной инфекции и обосновывает необходимость повсеместного введения второй ревакцинации против коклюша.