ENGLISH AND ITS ROLE FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS

 

Nowadays English is the most important language in the world. The native speakers of English live in Great Britain, the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand. English is one of the official languages in the Irish Republic, Canada, the South Africa. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations and other political organizations. So over 300 million people speak it.

Scientific and medical achievements break actively into life. Exchange of scientific information promotes wide development and introduction of science into practice in different countries. Half of the world’s scientific literature is in English.

Among all professional activities, the medical practice mostly needs a constant updating of know-how. That’s why a good knowledge of foreign languages by medical students is the main obligation of tomorrow’s medical doctors. To know English today is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for every good specialist in medicine.

According to the WHO doctors of tomorrow must be the “five-star doctors”. They must have universally essential skills: the care-provider, decision-maker, communicator, community leader and manager.

In order to achieve these, medical students should study and work hard. Life-long learning in medicine is a natural process. Qualified doctors must read a lot of special books and foreign medical journals in the original. It makes doctor’s outlook wider and helps him to escape many mistakes, to develop ability to discover how to find important knowledge and information about a particular field of medicine, to develop ability to work in real time. And by means of learning and mastering English they can play a full and active role in community and in profession.

TASKS

I. Analyze and find which word does not suit here:

1. a. Great Britain b. Canada c. the WHO d. the USA

2. a. study b. be c. speak d. among

3. a. in b. of c. range d. about

4. a. updating b. medical c. scientific d. natural

5. a. leader b. full c. manager d. provider

II. Complete the following sentences:

1. English is the most important …

2. The native speakers of English live in …

3. Over 300 million people …

4. Scientific and medical achievements …

5. According to the WHO doctors of tomorrow must …

6. Qualified doctors must read a lot of …

7. To know English today is absolutely …

III. Answer the following questions:

1. What language is the most important language in the world?

2. Where do the native speakers of English live?

3. How many people speak English as their mother language?

4. Why is a good knowledge of foreign languages the main obligation of tomorrow’s

doctors?

5. Should medical students study and work hard in order to achieve a good knowledge

of English?

6. Can it increase their professional and intercultural outlook?

7. Do you like to study English?

IV. Learn the following forms of agreement and disagreement:

I agree (with you)- я согласен (с вами)

I disagree – я не согласен

You are (absolutely) right - вы (абсолютно) правы

You are wrong - вы неправы

You are mistaken – вы ошибаетесь

I think so – думаю, что так

I don’t think so – я так не думаю

I’m afraid – боюсь …

to my mind – по-моему

of course

certainly конечно, обязательно

sure

as far as I know - насколько мне известно

V. Express your agreement or disagreement using the forms from the exercise IV:

1. Nowadays English is the most important language in the world.

2. The native speakers of English live only in England.

3. All world’s scientific literature is in English.

4. To know English today is necessary for every educated person.

5. In order to be a good specialist it is not necessary to read special literature.

6. According to WHO doctors of tomorrow must speak only their native language.

7. Learning and mastering English help people to play an active role in community.

VI. Read and translate the text:

There are some rules of memory. It is necessary to repeat the material every three days. If you don’t repeat the material within three days most of the information vanishes as if you never learnt it. It is better to memorize material before you go to bed. You will memorize it more quickly. It is very useful to listen to the material you are learning to memorize the pronunciation. One should also know that we get 90% of information by teaching others only 20% by listening and 30% by seeing.