🤩Let's practice for «Высшая Проба»🤩

There are seven notions connected to Tudor England and five descriptions listed below. Decide which notion corresponds with each description. Two notions do not have a description. Write down the correct letter.

🤩Notions:
A. Act of Supremacy
B. Royal Progress
C. Dissolution of the Monasteries
D. Treason Act
E. Reformation
F. Court of Star Chamber
G. Privy Council

🤩Definitions:

1. The religious movement during the Tudor period that led to England’s separation from the Catholic Church and the creation of the Church of England.
2. A group of royal advisors who helped the monarch govern and make key political decisions during the Tudor era.
3. A journey made by Tudor monarchs around England, staying in noble households to display power, maintain loyalty, and avoid court expenses.
4. A series of laws passed under the Tudors that expanded the concept to include words, beliefs, or denial of the monarch’s authority.
5. The process by which Henry VIII closed monasteries, seized their wealth, and redistributed their lands.

Would you like to know more about «Высшая Проба», do more practice exercises and get feedback from our teachers? Then sign up for the intensive course on the 7th and 8th of February!

🤍 Share your guesses in the comments!

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🎧 Here's the audio!

😑 Triple threat: Ultimate summary practice 😑

Today we have an experimental format for you. With the Regional stage, СПбГУ and «Высшая Проба» drawing closer, we have come up with a way to practice for all of them at once.

1️⃣ First, listen to the audio above and choose the best summary (this is a new task in the СПбГУ Olympiad).

2️⃣ Then decide whether the statements 1–5 are True (A) or False (B) according to the text you hear (you‘ll find a similar task at the Regional stage).

3️⃣ Next up, we‘ll look at summary structure together and offer you additional audios to practice writing them. This will help you write the summary during «Высшая Проба».

4️⃣ Finally, you‘ll get a chance to practice continuing the text you heard coherently. That‘s another new task from СПбГУ.

❤️ Did you enjoy this practice? Let us know in the comments!

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😋 A fun task for you 😋

Steve is writing an email to his friend to tell him about a girl he met recently. Unfortunately, Steve was really hungry when he wrote the message, so he accidentally wrote food names instead of the words he should have used. Find and correct Steve’s mistakes.

Hey man,
I had to write and tell you about this girl I met last week. I don’t know how it happened, but from the first coffee she became the apple of my pie. She’s smart, funny, and somehow calm and chaotic at the same time. I keep catching myself smiling like an idiot, and yeah, that’s probably nacho problem, but I had to say it out loud.
We talked for hours about music, travel, and nothing important, yet it felt like I was giving her a pizza my heart without even trying. She’s honestly one in a melon, and you butter believe I’m not messing this up.
lettuce grab a beer soon and I’ll tell you everything. I donut know where this is going, but I’m excited to find out.
Talk soon,
Your boy Steve

😋Wasn't that delicious? For more creative vocabulary-based tasks, sign up for our free webinar that will take place tomorrow at 19.00! You'll look at examples of tasks together with the lecturer and then get some more to practice at home

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💌 Вам привет! 💌

Наша преподавательница Соня Бароха приглашает на интенсив к «Высшей Пробе», который пройдет уже в эти выходные. Успейте записаться!

👾A Listening task for you 👾

With the Regional stage looming, let's practice the second task from the Listening part there 🤩

For items 1–5 listen to the conversation. Choose the correct answer (A, B or C) to answer questions 1–5. You will hear the text only ONCE.

1️⃣What does Rachel say about her job title?
A. It makes her feel more important than she is.
B. It gives people the wrong idea about her work.
C. It is appropriate for most of the work she does.

2️⃣What is the most common reason for the gallery not exhibiting an artist’s work?
A. The subject matter is unsuitable.
B. It is not of a high enough quality.
C. The gallery manager doesn’t like it.

3️⃣Why does Rachel include a commentary in the catalogue?
A. It gives background information about the artist.
B. It encourages people to buy paintings over the phone.
C. It tells people what experts think of the work.

4️⃣What does Rachel say about administrative work?
A. She is able to leave a lot of it to others.
B. She would like to have an assistant to help with it.
C. She finds it hard to get it all organised.

5️⃣What does Rachel find most enjoyable about her job?
A. meeting interesting people
B. the fact that it’s unpredictable
C. being close to works of art

👾 To get the most practice, use your last chance to sign up for our intensive course. In the 12 seminars, you'll get familiar with all the Regional stage tasks and strategies of solving them. There is a morning and an evening group. The course starts tomorrow!
👾 For those who can't fit online seminars into their schedule, we have a series of pre-recorded lectures. After watching them, you can do the practice tasks and get feedback from our teachers
👾Lastly, for the most independent learners, we offer a set of practice exercises in the Regional stage format

🤩 Source of the task

⬇️As usual, share your thoughts in the comments!⬇️

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📕 A pun vocabulary task: Vol 3 📕

Here’s another fun task for you!

For items 1–5, complete the puns. The number of letters is given in brackets to help you and there is an example (0) done for you.

0. What do you call fake spaghetti? An _ (7).
Answer: impasta

1️⃣ I once tried to catch fog. _ (4).

2️⃣ Why don’t eggs tell jokes? They’d _ each other _ (5, 2).

3️⃣ I stayed up all night wondering where the sun went. Then it _ _ me (6, 2 or 4).

4️⃣ What do you call a factory that makes okay products? A _ (12).

5️⃣ I used to play piano _ _, but now I use my hands (2, 3).

Guess in the comments 👇

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⚡️ Открыта регистрация на закл «Ломоносова» ⚡️

Успейте зарегистрироваться до утра 12 февраля.

👉🏻 А чтобы лучше подготовиться к заключительному этапу, успейте записаться на наш интенсив, который пройдет уже на этих выходных 👈🏻

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💜Cultural Competence Task💜

In the "Lomonosov" Olympiad, there is a task where you need to identify the author of a speech or text. Let's practice for it together!

You are going to read an excerpt from a famous speech. Analyse the language and facts presented in it.
Prove that the person this speech is hypothetically attributed to was NOT the person who gave it in reality.
Guess and write who WAS the real author. Make sure you spell the name correctly.
Write 70-80 words using 2-3 facts or language peculiarities from the text showing that it is not possible that this speech was given by the said person.

Was this speech given by Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013)?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

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💜 Sample answers for today's task 💜

To get full marks, you could write something like this:

This speech wasn't given by Margaret Thatcher. Firstly, the speaker describes herself ploughing fields, bearing the lash, and having thirteen children sold into slavery, which does not fit Thatcher’s background as a 20th‑century British prime minister. Secondly, the colloquial, repetitive phrasing “And ain’t I a woman?” also contrasts with Thatcher’s formal, parliamentary style. These features indicate the real author was the African American abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth.

However, if you don't know the name of the person, you can still get 8 out of 10 points, for instance:

Margaret Thatcher couldn't have given this speech, and there are several reasons for that. First of all, the speaker talks about "carriages", which suggests an older, pre‑car setting. Secondly, she also mentions slavery, which was prominent in the 19th century. References to "the lash" also point to an enslaved or formerly enslaved woman. Thirdly, the word "ain't" is typical for American English, not the British version. All in all, I suppose that this speech was given by a woman who lived in the 19th century, was enslaved (at least for some part of her life) and was an abolitionist.

💜Sign up for our Lomonosov intensive course happening this weekend! If you're still thinking about it, here's a message for you from the teacher, Kseniya Adeeva:

😀 More speaking 😀

🥰 We've noticed that you liked our free task samples for the Regional stage, so here are 4 speaking sets. Find a friend and practice together. Twice!

🇬🇧 What is more, for these sets we've selected a topic that allows you to revise for Country Studies part as well: US and UK museums!

🖇 The full PDF is in the comments 👇🏻

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