Writing an informal letter about school
Level A2
Write an email about your school subjects to your American pen-friend.
Hi Susan,
Thanks a lot for your letter. It was interesting for me to get to know the subjects you study at school. I’ll write you about mine with pleasure.
I’m in the eighth grade and we have a lot of subjects, fourteen or fifteen all in all. All my school subjects are compulsory. I wish we could choose them. Ukrainian language and literature are the core subjects at the national exam called External Independent Evaluation or External Independent Testing (EIT). Students must pass EIT examinations at the end of the high school to enter a university.
At the lessons of Ukrainian we do a lot of grammar exercises, write essays and dictations. Sometimes it’s really hard,but I want to speak and to know my native language well. At the Ukrainian and world literature we read a lot of books and discuss them. Every month we do a test.
We have lessons of History of the world and the History of Ukraine. We learn about the events and people from the past. We read about heroes and battles. But the problem is that we must memorize lots of dates.
In Geography classes we learn about our planet, about other planets and stars, about continents and their climate, rivers and mountains .We use a map and a globe at our lessons.
In Biology we get to know interesting facts about nature and all living creatures on our planet – plants, animals, people. Themes about human beings are the most interesting for me.
In IT we learn everything about computers and how to use them. Last year we spent too much time doing algorithms in “Scretch”.
In Maths we do with numbers. We do all sorts of mathematical calculations. Math is the one of the most difficult subjects for me.
At the lessons of Physics and Chemistry we do experiments, watch videos, make presentations and do projects, but I hate these subjects like some of my classmates because these lessons are so boring.
My favourite subject is English because it is the easiest and the most interesting subject for me. We do a lot of grammar exercises, learn new word, discuss topics, watch videos and do tests online. I study at a specialized language school thus I have English classes every day.
I usually have six or seven lessons a day. We have the same timetable for the whole year. The academic year is divided into two terms. One term is a half a year. At the end of each term we have tests. There are breaks in the school year called holidays. We have autumn, winter, spring and summer holidays. Summer holidays are the longest lasts for three months.
I hope that it was interesting for you to read about my school routine.
Would you like to change something in your schooling? It would be great if you share.
Love,
Dasha
That’s a big problem that we can’t choose subjects to study. I’m sure, that I don’t need Maths or Physics in my future life, I mean, I can count and that’s enough for me. I think, we should pay more attention to foreign languages, because good knowledge of them gives us wide opportunities for our career. Our timetable is too complicated, and students are really tired after school, often they don’t have time for their hobbies.