Seminar preparation...

The early bird catches the worm...

Here's a 10 minute film on CCTV in the UK. Watch this to get an idea what we'll be looking at for the next few days. It's quite an interesting and, some might say scary, little film.

Enjoy..

Seminar reflection..

So that's the first seminar done. Generally speaking, I think the seminar went very well. I heard some good points made and effective use of language and vocabulary. Well done! Don't forget to write up your reflection on your own performance on your blog.
Alternatively, track down the original film '12 Angry Men' starring Henry Fonda. That's how to behave in seminars (or juries)!

Something to watch before your seminar....

You might like to watch a couple of short videos on the subject of media literacy and the influence of TV.
To find them go to Google Video and search for 'Panorama - Is TV bad for my kids?' and 'Becoming the Media' (Parts 1 and 2). And a discussion 'Media Literacy - The experts' here.
Have a nice weekend..

Seminars 'n' stuff

Think about what we did in class today looking at seminars - what kind of 'seminar person' are you? How can you improve your participation in seminars?
We have looked at some functional language which you can use for interrupting, agreeing etc. and will look at more. Remember - you don't need to learn all of them. Knowing how agree with someone in 500 different ways is not really going to improve your life. Choose a few expressions that you feel confident using or that you want to use and stick with them... You need to be able to use them appropriately, not just say them when you can't think of anything else to say.
Grammar - as we've seen, Present Tenses have more uses than you might think. There are a few decent websites (for example this one or this one or even this one) you can check if you still have doubts about any of the uses (or of course you can look at a grammar book like Murphy - Essential Grammar in Use)
Don't forget to post what you do in self-study on your blog....
see you tomorrow

Wednesday's class

Thanks for all your blog addresses - that's almost everybody now. Well done! Make sure you post something of what you are doing in self-study.
Today you practised Seminars. It was generally very good and I was happy to hear everybody speaking English - don't forget to speak up (=to speak louder) as it can sometimes be difficult for me, and other students, to hear what you are saying.

Some thoughts from you:

• It's hard to 'translate' what you want to say into English
  
• At the beginning some of you felt a bit nervous about speaking
• It was hard to reach a compromise because the situation was not real and you needed more information
• It's sometimes difficult to understand different accents

Some thoughts from me:

• Remember that a seminar is all about participation and interaction. Don't be afraid to interrupt, agree, disagree, introduce your own opinions and ideas
• Speak up!
• Try to use expressions and vocabulary which we have looked at in previous classes - environmentally speaking, from an economic standpoint etc.
• If somebody is not saying much, ask for their opinion

Don't forget to look at the websites on page 16 of your coursebook to help you start thinking about Friday's seminar.

Practice seminar tomorrow!

Make sure you read the article on page 58/9 of your coursebook... It's an excellent example of an academic essay. Make some notes - what are the advantages and disadvantages of tourism on the Cook Islands? Are there any ideas you could use in the discussion tomorrow?

You will notice that this essay has a lot of academic vocabulary - the kind of words most commonly used in academic writing. Before the end of the week, we'll talk a bit about the Academic Word List, where you can find the list and how it can be useful for you in your studies.

Seminars

Yesterday we started looking at seminars and the difference between seminars and lectures.
We saw that lectures are more passive whereas seminars are active and we also saw why some students like seminars (a chance to 'shine') and why others do not like them so much.

• How many differences can you remember between lectures and seminars?

The 'MySkills' site from Essex university has a nice section on seminars. Have a look at the video overview to watch some students talking about seminars.

http://www.essex.ac.uk/myskills/skills/seminars/default.asp