Summer Courses

http://issuu.com/csim-orientales/docs/civ_14_triptico_digital?e=10837564/7592796

Cursos Intensivos de Verano 2014 - CSIM

Folleto informativo sobre los cursos intensivos de julio 2014 que se ofrecen en el CSIM (Centro Superior de Idiomas Modernos) de la UCM (Universidad Complutense de Madrid).

Oral Projects and Important Dates

As I mentioned in Monday's class, for your final Oral Project I'd like you to prepare an individual five minute presentation.

The key concepts for the choice of topic and style of presentation are personal and discursive.

That is to say, the topic should be something that means something to you, individually, and it should be something that generates debate- your mark will be given for the presentation itself, as well as both how you handle the follow-up Q&A session, and how you participate in the discussions following your classmates' presentations.

You will be marked on Clarity and Comprehensibilty. What I mean by that is essential how easy is it to understand what you are saying- this covers your use of grammar and vocabulary, your pronunciation and your abilty to explain your ideas coherently.

You will give your final presentaions on May 5 and May 7.

Your end of course exams will be on May 12 and May 14.

It is very important that everybody attend all of these dates.

Remember, we don't have class on April 28.

In Monday's class we....

Saw Jacobo's and Elena's inital presentations, on the subjects of Italy and Ukraine respectively. High points were Jacobo's entertaining, conversational style and metaphorical 'glue' of comparing the Italian situation to an opera, and Elena's very clear, well-structured exposition of the Ukrainian situation.

I'm looking forward to seeing the other presentations on Wednesday!

This week in class....

We looked at communicative skills, of giving your point of view and explaining others' points of view. We worked on what was left of unit 11, including cleft sentences and arguing on the topics raised in the unit re: the future of the planet.

I also set you an essay writing task. I would like you to write an 'argument' essay defending your point of view. I suggest that you look at one of the argeuments form the unit, about the future of the planet and different views about what can be done, as these are topics with a lot of scope for debate, but any other topic of general social or economic relevance, provided there is a position you can take as well as a counter position you can argue against, should be suitable.

Please write somewhere around 200 words. If you can word process it, it's easier for me to read.

This week's classes

This week we've continued to look at unit 11 and the topic of climate change and the future of the planet. If you've missed any classes I recommend you read the texts on pages 109 and 110.

For homework you should look at the language work on pages 114, 116 (exercises 1 to3)  and 117 (exercises 6 to 8)

Language Log

Geeky blog about language issues, which often focuses on Chinese.

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/

Holiday Homework: Improve your speaking skills

Step One: Read through your notes for the presentation you gave or were supposed to give on the last day of the course.

Step Two: Record your approximately 1-2 minutes of your presentation.

Step Three: Transcribe your recording verbatim- the exact words your hear yourself saying on the recording.

Step Four: Try to correct the errors that you find.

You don't have to do all these steps at the same time, and in fact it's probably a good idea to leave a day, or at least a few hours between steps two and three.

Then you can repeat the task with other sections of your recording, or with other presentations that we have given over the term e.g an early memory, a product pitch for a civilisational advance, a social issue, something you think should be banned/legalised.

This task is designed to help in your awareness of how you speak, to identify and focus on the kind of errors you find difficult to eliminate from your spoken English.

Please post recordings and transcripts on dropbox.

Have a good holiday!