SCHOOL-LEAVING AGE
Children have to stay at school until the age of 16. There is no upper age limit.

ALCOHOL
You have to be 18 to buy alcohol in a shop or a pub, but if you are 16 and you are having a meal in a pub, you can drink beer or wine with it.

PROSECUTION
In Scotland, you can be prosecuted for a crime at the age of 8. In England and Wales, the age is 10. You can't be sent to prison until you are 21.

I am a teacher of EFL at Kirovohrad Pedagogical University (Ukraine). I have two native languages: Ukrainian and Russian (both are Eastern Slavic languages). Ukrainian is the official language in my home country, but for many people Russian still remains not only the native language, but also the main means of communication.

Since my country became independent we have not been a closed society anymore. We can read any Western newspapers, books, watch original movies and in general we experience more and more communication with Western countries. In this way, the influence of English is becoming more obvious.

Of course, there were English words in Russian and Ukrainian in the Soviet period (we pronounced "girl friend", "boy-friend", "weekend", "face", "happy end" almost in the same way as they are pronounced in English").