“Dog Region”, “House of the Overaged”: the interview for the OGE set a record for the number of mistakes

There are a surprising number of mistakes this year, teachers say

In schools, the oral interview, also known as admission to the OGE, has disappeared. Most schools won’t have results until Monday. In the meantime, schoolchildren and parents are exhaling, teachers are sharing their impressions.

Modern admission to the OGE in the 9th grade consists of four tasks. First, the examinee receives a printout of the text, which must be read expressively. And then retell it, not forgetting to reproduce the direct quote. The second task, monologue and dialogue, is done based on the picture. You need to describe what is shown there, and then discuss it with the examiner. This role is usually played by a literature teacher, and a visiting expert monitors admission from the outside.

“Of course, children are always very worried during interviews,” says Russian language and literature teacher Larisa Panina from Moscow. – Every year someone breaks my pen – they are given to underline dates and difficult places in the text. This year, one student managed to untwist and reassemble this pen twice while retelling it. Some twist their hair or clothes, others snap their fingers. The guys are very worried – this is a lot of stress at 15-16 years old.

You won’t guess what the theme will be in the text and in the picture. This year, judging by the reviews, topics about Moscow, artists and philanthropists ruled the day.

The “Moscow experts” were the most unlucky: a typo crept into the printed assignment. Instead of the Kremlin Palace in the text – “palace”. Of course, the 9th grade graduates, excited to the limit, stumbled en masse at this “palace.” Therefore, perhaps, such things as the Tver and Kremsky palaces arose in the retelling. The Travel Palace turned into Putevoy. Architect Kazakov – in Kazakhova and even in Casanova.

Unfortunately, another part of the examinees read and retold passages about Nicholas Roerich and Arkhip Kuindzhi. This is where mishearings and mistakes ran rampant. Roerich was somehow spared, renamed Lerikh and RoerIkh. And the name of the main artist of the moonlit night was shamelessly distorted. The surname Kuindzhi was pronounced as Luigi, Kunji, Kiunjin, Kunjini and Kuinjist. A student stood out who thought that the name Arkhip was truncated, but the full name of the artist sounded beautiful – Archipelago…

As you know, artists’ creations are purchased by patrons and collectors. Kuindzhi was also unlucky here. His paintings were bought… by collectors. And not members of the imperial family, but, excuse me, “imperial members.”

Also this year, toponymy was unlucky. Pskov region – in the answers of schoolchildren it became both Polish and even Dog. The island of Valaam also suffered from those taking admission: in the answers it was presented as Baal, Valai, Valayam and even Vakhlam.

There are a surprising number of mistakes this year, teachers say. Maybe because there were a lot of text and visual tasks about charity. And modern children are clearly not doing well with philanthropy. How else to explain their stories that the Prince of Oldenburg built the Marinsky or even the Mother Hospital (Mariinsky) in St. Petersburg, where he helped “the bloodless and orphans.” Another option for the monastery is the Sirotinsky (orphan) house.

But perhaps what “made the day” the most for teachers and observers this year was an innocent picture of old people smiling and writing letters to someone. According to the words of the ninth-graders, the venerable grandfathers did all sorts of things: “they drank, ate and walked in the house of the over-aged.” They also wrote to “hired grandchildren” and some “like-industrialists.” On their walls hung “four portraits, all of them two men.” The old people had “hair, bald spots and wigs” on their heads. Both “long-lasting” and “prosperous” (prosperous) old age are in the future.

“Yes, there are a lot of things children sometimes don’t say during an interview,” confirms Panina. “Some people start talking out of excitement, while others really don’t know much, to put it mildly.” But the hardest thing is if the student does not speak at all, falls into a stupor, literally cannot say a word. You have to draw out words in pincers, “fuss around” and ask leading questions. The best thing is when after this the admission is still not counted. And my mother starts calling with claims that I deliberately knocked down the child, waved my arms and asked something out of place. Like, it was because of me that the child didn’t tell me anything…

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29218 dated February 16, 2024

Newspaper headline:
Canine region and the architect Casanova