Each of us has ever faced the task of writing or speaking about ourselves. It could be when applying for a job, when meeting new people, when filling out a questionnaire, taking an exam, or simply it was the topic of your school essay.

It is important to immediately determine how deep and extensive your story about yourself should be. Of course, it all depends on the situation. If you are preparing for an interview, then the story should be clear, concise, business-like. You should focus on your education, work experience, your business qualities, and in general, your strengths and prospects as an employee. If your story is focused on new acquaintances, then most likely you will mainly talk about your hobbies, hobbies, habits, character, etc. In a school essay, you will definitely have to talk about your family and friends and plans for the future . Situations in which you need to talk about yourself can be very different.

If you are faced with the task of talking about yourself on English language, then ready-made phrase templates will come to your aid, adding to which you will receive a full-fledged essay. First you need to determine for yourself what exactly you want to talk about and draw up a clear plan for the story. I suggest you learn a “universal” self-talk plan that works for almost any situation. You yourself will be able to decide which points in your essay will be covered in more detail and which not. For each item, you will be offered template phrases with a translation, which you will need to supplement with information about yourself.

Our story plan is as follows:

1. Introduction and general information about myself (Introduction and general information about myself)
2. Place of residence (The place where I live)
3. Information about family
4. Education
5. Place of work (My job)
6. My hobbies, talents, interests (My hobby, talents and interests)
7. Traits of character (Сharacter)
8. Plans for the future

Template phrases are the main assistants in compiling a story about yourself

Writing a story "About myself"

As an introduction, if the situation allows, you can say the following phrase:

• It’s hard to speak about myself as only people surrounding me can see me objectively - It’s very difficult to talk about yourself, because they can objectively perceive me only from the outside

• Let me introduce myself - Let me introduce myself
• Let me tell you a few words about myself - Let me tell you a little about myself

First, state your name:

• My name is Valentin - My name is Valentin

If your loved ones call you differently, you can add the following words:

• But my friends call me Vel - But friends usually call me Val
• But people usually call me Valea - But they usually call me Valya
• But you can call me Vel - But you can call me Val

You can specify the origin of your name or something interesting about it:

• It is a Latin name - This is a Latin name
• I was named after my grandmother - I was named after my grandmother
• My name is quite unusual and I like it - My name is quite unusual and I like it

After that, you can specify the age:

• I am 25 years old
• I was born in 1988 - I was born in 1988
• I will be 30 in three months - I will be 30 in three months
• I will be 20 next Octomber - I will turn 20 next October

• I am from Saint Petersburg
• I come from France, I live in Paris - I am from France, I live in Paris
• I used to live in Saint Petersburg, but now I live in Moscow - I used to live in St. Petersburg, and now I live in Moscow.
• I was born in London and I have lived there all my life - I was born in London and have lived there all my life
• I was born in Balta. It is a small town near Odessa. When I was 16 I moved to Saint Petersburg with my family - I was born in Balta. This is a small town near Odessa. When I was 16, I moved to St. Petersburg with my family

If your interlocutor is interested, you can dedicate a couple of sentences to your city, its location and attractions. In America, when meeting a new person, this item is simply mandatory. For some reason, this is very important for Americans. A person can be born, for example, in the state of Illinois and move to another state in early childhood, but when they meet, he will certainly mention that he is from Illinois.

• My home town is very big, one million people live there - My native city very big, a million people live there
• It is located in the south of the country - It is located in the south of the country
• My home city is the center of light industry - My home city is the center of light industry
• My home town is famous for its theater - My hometown is famous for its theater

If you are writing an essay about yourself in English, then you must definitely mention your family:

• I come from a large / small family - I'm from a large / small family
• All members of my family are helpful and friendly - All members of my family are friendly
• There are five of us in the family - There are five of us in the family
• We get on well with each other - We get along well with each other
• I have a father a mother and two younger brother / sister - I have a father, mother and two younger brothers / sisters

If applicable, provide general facts about each family member. Tell us how old they are, what they do, who is educated, where they live, etc. But don't get too carried away. The whole story is still about you, not about your family members.

The next item on our agenda is education. It will most likely be mandatory in any scenario. If you are still in school, but you can use the following phrases:

• I go to school. I am in the ninth form - I go to school. I'm in ninth grade
• I am good at German and Math - I do well in German and mathematics
• My favorite subjects are Spanish and Literature - My favorite subjects are Spanish and literature

If you have already graduated from high school and are a student, then the following phrases are for you:

• I finished school in 2010 - I graduated from school in 2010
• I am a student of London University of the Arts
• I am a first-year / second-year student - I am in my first / second year
• I am in my first/second/third year - I am in my first/second/third year
• My major is Psychology / I major in Psychology - My specialty is psychology

If you have already received higher education:

• I graduated from University in 2014 - I graduated from the university in 2014
• I graduated with honors - I graduated with honors
• I majored in Philology
• I was trained as a lawyer - I was educated as a lawyer
• At University I studied many subjects - At the university I studied many subjects

If you work, then be sure to give a couple of suggestions to your profession:

• I am / I work as a teacher - I work as a teacher
• In future I want to be a lawyer - In the future I want to become a lawyer
• I work for (the name of the company) - I work for (company name)
• I am looking for a job at the moment - At the moment I am looking for a job
• I am unemployed at the moment - At the moment I am unemployed

Dedicate a few sentences to your hobbies, interests, talents. To do this, use the following phrases:

• As for my interests, I am fond of music - as for my interests, I am fond of music
• I am keen on sport - I am fond of sports
• I can play tennis very well - I am good at playing tennis
• I am interested in history - I am interested in history
• When I have some free time I go to the gym - When I have free time, I go to gym
• In my free time I usually read books - In my free time I usually read books
• I devote much time to learning foreign languages ​​- I devote a lot of time to learning foreign languages

In a story about yourself in English, you must describe your character. You can name your advantages and disadvantages. You can also name the qualities that you value in people, or vice versa - you do not accept.

• People who know me well, say that I am a reliable person - People who know me well say that I am a reliable person
• My best qualities are patience and creativity best qualities it's patience and creativity
• I am a communicative person and I have a lot of friends - I am a sociable person and I have many friends
• Sometimes I can be lazy - Sometimes I can be lazy
• I like to associate with polite and intelligent people - I like to communicate with well-mannered and intelligent people
• I appreciate sincerity and trust - I appreciate sincerity and honesty
• I hate when people lie and betray - I hate when people lie or betray
• Those who are unreliable irritate me - Unreliable people annoy me

To describe your character, you may need the following adjectives:

active - active
communicative - sociable
creative - creative
reliable - reliable
self-confident - self-confident
friendly - friendly
sociable - sociable
absent-minded - scattered
calm - calm
lazy - lazy

You can complete your story about yourself with a couple of sentences about your plans for the future or just about your dreams:

• In future I want to be a doctor - In the future I want to become a doctor
• I want to become a famous person - In the future, I want to become famous
• My dream is to travel around the world - My dream is to travel around the world
• I dream of having a big house - I dream of a big house

In a story about yourself in English (about myself), it is very important to smoothly move from one point to another. You should end up with a beautiful coherent essay, not some list of phrases. Use linking suggestions.

What is a "topic"? The word "topic" came to Russian from the English word "topic", which means "topic". In Russian, the concept of "topic in English" can be interpreted as "an essay or story in English." Therefore, topics in English on various topics will be useful to both schoolchildren and students.

In this section, we have collected examples of school and university English assignments about ourselves, our family, our country, our pets, our favorite music and hobbies.

Such stories well help to develop thinking in English and English speech and prepare for.

We provided each topic with a small dictionary - English words with translation into Russian on a given topic. We hope that our English language topics with translation will help you in learning and improving the language.

The choice of a profession in our time is very important direction. For some it's a calling, for others it's just a job. One of the popular topics for essays in English is “My profession is an engineer”. In this article we will consider an English topic about a future profession ...

It is very important to be able to describe yourself in English, especially if you are applying for a job or want English-speaking colleagues or friends to know more about you. The story about myself in English (about myself) was originally built on a certain “template”, around ...

Let paper letters almost no one writes anymore, but email is a great way to communicate. Imagine that your friend is in a place where the Internet is only a few hours a day, and it will not work to communicate in instant messengers. Do you understand what is needed...

Recently, the problem of environmental pollution has become acute. It is raised both in schools and universities. In particular, they are asked to write an essay on the topic of environmental protection in English. Therefore, topics in English on the topic of ecology are very popular ....

Fluency in English is an achievable goal if you build an effective lesson plan. And especially the effectiveness of lessons is important for initial stage study, when we have a fuse to gain knowledge, but there is still no clear understanding of how to conduct our classes. Therefore, to help beginners, such a technique was invented as a topic in English on the topic of everyday life, relationships, a story about yourself, etc. Just in today's material, we will analyze what is remarkable about this format of classes, how it is carried out and how effective the results of such studies are.

What is an English topic on the topic of family, hobbies, media, etc.

Let's start with what this study method is all about. So, English topics on topics are adapted training modules in which information on a specific topic is concentrated. Even the designation “topic” itself is a topic in English. Therefore, in Russian, for example, the topic can be called " a story about yourself" or " my family". More generalized options are also possible: travel », « tourism», « food and drink" etc. Wherein educational material consists of the following sections:

• Popular vocabulary ( preferably with transcription and translation);
• Text ( usually with grammar adapted to the level of knowledge of the students);
• Questions and tasks ( often suggestive, i.e. can be answered with ready-made sentences from the text);
• Independent work to consolidate the studied material (an essay in English on a topic or an oral story).

This lesson structure is not accidental. The fact is that English topics are designed to diversify the skills of perceiving foreign speech. To achieve this goal, this technique actually artificially recreates the language environment, i.e. makes students immerse themselves in the topic as much as possible and concentrate on English. Accordingly, the topic should be selected according to your educational level. For example, there are English topics for students ( for students), for beginners ( for beginners), for pupils ( for schoolchildren) etc. All of them are distinguished by the complexity of grammar, the variety of vocabulary and the general disclosure of the topic.

This is with regard to the definition of topics, as a technique for learning a language. Now consider whether this method is effective and how high it is.

How to conduct lessons with topics in English

To appreciate how useful English topics are for beginners, you first need to understand the principle of conducting classes. After all, only a well-conducted lesson will ensure the proper result. So, let's analyze the lesson with the topic in stages.

Vocabulary set

First of all, you should familiarize yourself with the list of thematic words. A good topic in English must contain a dictionary, and all expressions in it are presented with transcription and translation. If your training material does not have a separate dictionary, then you need to make it yourself. Read the text of the lesson and find an unfamiliar word, write it out in a notebook. Work through the entire text in this way, and when you have a ready list of words, start looking for their translation and correct pronunciation. Do not be lazy to write out the transcription in at least Russian letters, because this will help you not only pronounce words correctly, but also quickly memorize them.

Reading

The second stage of working with a topic is a meaningful reading of the educational text. As we remember, topics are designed to reveal everyday topics of the English language in an adapted form, i.e. adjusting to the level of knowledge of the reader. Therefore, difficulties should not arise here, especially since you have already sorted out all the incomprehensible vocabulary in advance. So, what should you focus on while reading:

• On content. Understanding the text is the main task. After all, we then have to answer questions or write an essay on a topic in English.
• On the use of words written out in the dictionary. New expressions are better remembered in context, so once again it will not hurt to note the pattern of using a new word.
• On pronunciation. Reading the text aloud helps to eliminate the Russian accent and imitates the speech situation, i.e. afterwards, it will be easier for you to speak English, because you are confident in the correctness of your speech and you are used to its English sound.
• on grammatical structures. It will not be superfluous to note the application of the recently studied aspects of time, irregular shapes verbs, etc.

Of course, it is impossible to immediately notice all these nuances, so the educational text is read at least 3 times. First, just to understand the content, then aloud to practice pronunciation, and with the third reading, we consolidate the information, paying attention to the grammar and contexts of new words along the way.

listening

This stage is typical only for some lessons, since by no means all topics in English with translation are supplemented with audio material. If your text is accompanied by a record with its content, additional dialogues or questions - then this is a great success. Since in this case it is possible not only to develop the correct pronunciation, but also to work out the perception of English speech by ear.

Other English topics: Learning English on Your Own from Scratch: How to Succeed

The listening process itself is as follows: the student listens to the recording, repeats after the speaker and tries to understand by ear what is being said. At first, you can and should use printed text as a guide, because. It's better to see what the speaker is saying. Otherwise, beginners can easily get lost in the recording, get nervous, not understand anything, and only spoil the whole lesson for themselves.

Translation

While reading or listening to a topic in English, the student acts as a translator, translating the text into Russian. Of course, ideally, you need to achieve a subconscious understanding of English, i.e. we read and immediately understand what is at stake, we do not even need to look for Russian equivalents of words and expressions. But at the initial stage of training, such perfection is simply impossible to achieve; months or even years of practice are needed. Therefore, here we work in a standard way - we consistently translate sentences, preferably in writing.

Why is translation needed? There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, in this way we will once again go through the content of the text and learn it better. Secondly, again, we will repeat the new vocabulary of the lesson. Thirdly, you may need a text with a translation for an essay in English, because when writing an essay, you need to build on something. In addition, you need to know the translation for listening, to make it easier to navigate the speaker's speech.

Questions and written work

After a thorough work with the text, the learned information must be consolidated through practice. To do this, the work provides mini-tests and leading questions, or, for example, they offer topics to translate Russian sentences into English. It all depends on the level of preparation of the student.

This is how they conduct lessons according to the methodology of English topics. As you can see, the work is quite voluminous, so you can, and sometimes even need to, divide it into several lessons ( especially if the topic in English requires writing an essay). At the same time, do not forget to start each next lesson with a brief repetition of the already studied part of the material.

An example of an English topic for beginners

We looked at what topics are and learned how to deal with them correctly. But this is all theory, and for a general understanding it would be nice to add a little practice. Therefore, now let's look at what a typical English language topic with translation for beginners looks like. It has already been noted that the topics for English are diverse and almost limitless, but for simplicity and clarity of the example, we will take the simplest one - “About myself”. So, let's begin.

Related vocabulary

name is…		called, called
…years old		…years
was born		born
live		live
currently	[ˈkʌrəntli]	at present, now
dormitory	[ˈdɔː.mɪ.tər.i]	hostel
tall		tall
cheerful	[ˈtʃɪəfl]	cheerful
kind		kind
sociable	[ˈsəʊ.ʃə.bl̩]	sociable
handsome	[ˈhæn.səm]	handsome (only for men)
imagine	[ɪˈmædʒɪn]	represent, imagine
communicate		communication
spend time		spend time
however		but
to be alone		to be alone
sometimes	[ˈsʌmtaɪmz]	sometimes, from time to time
fishing	[ˈfɪʃɪŋ]	to fish, fishing
fond of		get involved
take a part		participate
develop		develop
unit	[ˈjuːnɪt]	unite
thanks to…	[θæŋks tə]	thanks to
a few	[ə fjuː]	several
		become
mission	[ˈmɪʃ.ən]	mission, meaning

Text

My name is Sergey and I'm 25 years old. I was born in Russia, in Omsk city. Currently I live in Saint-Petersburg . I study at the Saint Petersburg State University and now I’m living in a student dormitory.

I am a young, tall and handsome man. My friends say I am kind and cheerful. I have many friends because I am very sociable. I like to talk with people and I can't imagine my life without communicating. I spend much time with my friends, however, I want to be alone sometimes. At such moments I go fishing in the river.

Other English topics: How phrases and words are formed in English with examples

Also I am a sportsman. I love volleyball, and I often take a part in competition. I have more than 50 different medals, but is not much important. I really love this game! Volleyball develops speed, coordination of movements, arm strength and height of jump. And volleyball is a team sport: this game units the people. Thanks to volleyball I met a lot of a good friend.

And finally, I would like to say a few words about my dream. I want to have a large family and I plan to teach my children volleyball. They'll become the best players. That is my life's mission.

Translation

My name is Sergey and I am 25 years old. I was born in Russia, in the city of Omsk. I currently live in St. Petersburg. I study at St. Petersburg State University and now I live in a student hostel.

I am a young, tall and handsome man. Friends say that I am kind and cheerful. I have many friends because I am very sociable. I like to communicate with people and I cannot imagine my life without communication. I spend a lot of time with my friends, however, sometimes I want to be alone. At such moments I go fishing on the river.

I am also an athlete. I am fond of volleyball and often take part in competitions. I have more than 50 different medals, but this is not so important. I really love this game! Volleyball develops speed, coordination, arm strength and jump height. And volleyball is a team sport: this game brings people together. Thanks to volleyball, I met many good friends.

And finally, I would like to say a few words about my dream. I want to have a big family and plan to teach my children volleyball. They will become the best players. This is the meaning of my life.

Verification work

Task number 1: Answer the questions:

1. How is Sergey old?
2. Where does he study?
3. What do his friends say about him?
4. What kind of sport does Sergey like and why?
5. What is his dream?

Task number 2: Using the given vocabulary and following the sample text, make up your own story about yourself, 10-15 sentences long.

This is what a typical one looks like English topic. We do not have audio support for the text, but as an alternative, we can recommend using a regular online translator. You just need to copy the text into the translator window and click the voice button.

The effectiveness of teaching topics in English

Now we have considered both theory and practice - it remains to evaluate the results. So, how useful is the technique of English topics, it is also topics in English, if we speak English.

Of course, topics carry a lot useful information. This is the vocabulary common in speech, and behavior in everyday situations, and traditions, and the mentality of people. All these things are important to know in order to understand the culture of the country and, accordingly, its language. In addition, topics are good because they allow you to develop a “base”, i.e. quickly learn simple topics and start conversing in English.

It is important to note that with the help of topics, students develop comprehensively. Provided that the topic contains a dictionary, text, audio files and written tasks, students improve their English skills in several ways in one lesson:

• Replenishment of vocabulary.
• Improving pronunciation.
• Work with the perception of English by ear.
• Recall grammatical nuances.
• Ability to formulate own thoughts in English.

Actually, the five points listed above represent a complete command of the language. After all, for free communication in English, you need to know the meaning of words, be able to pronounce them correctly and understand what the interlocutor is talking about. In addition, our speech must be literate and fluent, i.e. you need to be able to quickly compose an answer to a question, and not lose the thread of the conversation.

Thus, it turns out that the topics form the student's high-quality knowledge base of the English language. Therefore, the effectiveness of the technique is extremely high. But, it should be noted that the overall performance is highly dependent on the format of the classes. For example, if you do not listen to texts and answer questions to them, then it is natural that you will not perceive English by ear. The same goes for writing: if you don’t want to write essays, don’t write, but only then you won’t learn how to formulate thoughts in English. Therefore, it will be difficult for you to talk with foreigners.

So the technique of English topics in itself is almost flawless, but do not be lazy to conduct your lessons correctly and constantly monitor the results of the classes.

We also advise you to study useful material about 1000 words in English that you need to know, it will definitely come in handy when compiling your texts in English.

Good luck and see you soon!

Here is a collection of topics and essays on the English language (short thematic stories). All topics are grouped according to their respective topics.

Topics, essays on topics:

• My life (91)

  Personal essays, stories about yourself, your family, pastimes, vacations, hobbies, best friends. All topics in this section in one way or another relate directly to the personality of the narrator.

• Books (29)

  This section contains stories on the topics of books read, the general meaning of literature and reading in human life. There are essays on such topics as "My favorite book", "Books in my life", etc.

• Geography: cities and countries of the world (220)

  This section is completely devoted to the description of geographical objects, cities, countries, continents. It contains information about the features of their political structure, development history, economy and culture.

• Education (28)

  Topics on the topics of learning English, features of education in a particular country, teaching in schools and universities. All essays in this section are devoted to educational topics.

• Environmental problems, climate pollution, the impact of human activity on the environment - topics on these and others similar topics collected in this section.

• Biographies (92)

  Here are collected stories in English about the biographies of great people, their scientific discoveries and inventions, about how their creativity influenced the future of mankind.

• Art: painting, music, poetry (44)

  Essays and topics in English about culture, art, painting, music and cinema. It also contains stories about famous museums and exhibition galleries in our country and abroad.

• Holidays and traditions (44)

  Stories about what holidays exist and how they are held in various countries peace. Features of national traditions and cultures.

• Professions and careers (18)

  Essays in English about the choice of profession and career. Here are collected topics on topics such as "My future profession"," Employment ", etc.

• Media (32)

  This section contains texts about mass media: television, newspapers, radio, Internet. Issues of censorship, professional ethics, advantages and disadvantages of the media are discussed.

2015-11-16

Good day, my dears! I have amazing news for you!

British scientists have found that if each time you put an English textbook under your pillow at night, then the speed of assimilation of the material increases by 15-20% ... It's a joke, of course! Although, if an English textbook is regularly in your hands, this is already a big deal!

In this article, I will present to your attention conversational topics in English that will help you learn how to correctly build sentences, conduct a dialogue correctly, increase your vocabulary and learn the meaning of established colloquial phrases.

You will definitely be interested!

Agree that to study dry theory and perform monotone exercise is unbearably boring, especially for children. To increase the effectiveness of training, more attention and effort should be paid to , and choose a topic so that it is really exciting and informative.

Typical situations, events of everyday life, stories about well-known things and events - all this has not lost its relevance and, with a healthy creative approach, will not leave indifferent either students or teachers.

You can add a twist to almost any topic: apply some kind of slang expression, place a famous character in a non-standard situation, or specifically place an “extra” word.
Also, be sure to present small dialogues on topics. Below I have presented a list of topics on which you can perfectly develop your speaking skills. Any theme is suitable for both children and adults.

By the way, full list topics you can find

Topics

Not very difficult topics are suitable for schoolchildren:

For example:
We tell the children that Winnie the Pooh came to the store, and Rabbit works there as a seller. The dialogue follows:
— Can I help you, Mister?
— Yes, I want to buy honey, but I have no money!
— Who are you, Mister? Where are you from? And why don't you want to pay?
My name is Winnie the Pooh. I'm from the forest. And I don't have money.
— In that case, No money, No honey!!! Bye Bye!

For those who are preparing for the exam, both the topics outlined above and the following are suitable:

For example:
Tell us what your favorite or least favorite holiday is. What time of the year do you celebrate it? What dishes does your family cook on this day. Do you give gifts to each other? How do you spend the celebration itself, do you invite friends.

I like New Year. That's my favorite holiday. I liked it a lot when I was a kid. My mother always gave me a lot of presents like a bike, a new book or a gadget. Besides, my mother cooked a lot of food. She always baked my favorite apple pie. We invited many friends to our place. I also like the weather at this time. There is a lot of snow and ice everywhere.

Let's add to the list: