GPII Wednesday 18th May, GPIII Thursday 19th May, GPIV Friday 20th May

18TH MAY 2011
GP II GROUP 15 MODULE B2+2
2PM LESSON 11

Progress Test
The purpose of this test is twofold - firstly to see if you have learnt the material we have covered in class and secondly to see if you have reached a sufficient level to be considered C1.

Home

Next week is your last lesson and it will take the form of a tutorial. Anyone who has missed the presentation or the test will have an opportunity to do them then. You should all come with your self study notebook/files and be ready to talk about what you have been doing personally to improve your English this term.

Thursday 19th May 2011
GPIII Group 6 B2+2
11:30am Lesson 10

Progress Test
The purpose of this test is twofold - firstly to see if you have learnt the material we have covered in class and secondly to see if you have reached a sufficient level to be considered C1.

Home

Next week is your last lesson and it will take the form of a tutorial. Anyone who has missed the presentation or the test will have an opportunity to do them then. You should all come with your self study notebook/files and be ready to talk about what you have been doing personally to improve your English this term.

GPIII Group 13 Module B2.3
2pm Lesson 10

Progress Test


Home

Next week is your last lesson and it will take the form of a tutorial. Anyone who has missed the presentation, letter writing or the test will have an opportunity to do them then. You should all come with your self study notebook/files and be ready to talk about what you have been doing personally to improve your English this term.




Friday 20th May 2011
GPIV Legal English Private Law Stream

Group 2 1.30pm Lesson 11
Group 4 4.30pm Lesson 11

Class
Presentations
Peer and General Feedback

Home
Take some time to write up your thoughts on your own performance use the questions at
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/exercise/speakex.htm
as a guide. Write about 100 words and put it with the rest of your self study to present to me in the last lesson on 27th May

Tuesday 17th May 2011 ECII Group 8 Module B2+2 and Group 18 Module B2+1

Tuesday 17th May 2011
ECII Group 8 Module B2+2
1.30pm Lesson 11

Class
Progress Test

The purpose of this test is twofold - firstly to see if you have learnt the material we have covered in class and secondly to see if you have reached a sufficient level to be considered C1.

Home

Next week is your last lesson and it will take the form of a tutorial. Anyone who has missed the presentation or the test will have an opportunity to do them then. You should all come with your self study notebook/files and be ready to talk about what you have been doing personally to improve your English this term.

ECII Group 18 Module B2+1
4.00pm Lesson 11

Class
Progress Test

The purpose of this test is twofold - firstly to see if you have learnt the material we have covered in class and secondly to see if you have reached a sufficient level to go to the next module.

Home

Next week is your last lesson and it will take the form of a tutorial. Anyone who has missed the writing, presentation or the test will have one last opportunity to do them then. You should all come with your self study notebook/files and be ready to talk about what you have been doing personally to improve your English this term.

Monday 16th May 2011 SPI and GPIV Lesson 11

Monday 16th May 2011
SPI Group 7 Module C1.2
2pm Lesson 11

Progress Test
Pronunciation
Error Correction
Grammar
Summarizing Skills, References and Citations.


Home:
Next week is your last lesson. Jessica will have an opportunity to sit her test and Lorenzo to give his presentation. You should all come with your self study notebook/files and be ready to talk about what you have been doing personally to improve your English this term.

GPIV Group 6 Legal English Criminal Law Stream
5pm Lesson 11

Class
Assessed Tasks
(1) Debate
(2) You Be The Judge (U.S.)

Materials
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/142448/20110507/osama-bin-laden-killing-legal-violate-international-law-experts-lawyers-divided.htm
http://www.georgeboyle.com/judge.html

Home
You Be the Judge (U.K.).Have a look at http://ybtj.gov.uk/ where you can watch 4 different sentencings - for criminal damage, burglary, robbery and threatening behaviour. Do you agree with the sentences given? Would these offenders have been given a similar sentence from an Italian court?

Next week is our final lesson and it will take the form of a tutorial. Come prepared to talk about the course - what you thought was useful, what you have learned and what areas of your English you think you need to improve.

Friday 13th May GPIV Legal English Private Law Groups 2 and 4

Friday 13th May 2011
GPIV Legal English Private Law Stream

Group 2 1.30pm Lesson 10
Group 4 4.30pm Lesson 10

Class

Presentations
Introductions and Conclusions
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/32233573/Presentations
Signposting Language
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/spkfram.htm
Using notes
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/spkfram.htm

Home
Prepare a presentation on the same topic as your essay for next week. You should be prepared to speak for 6 to 7 minutes and allow an extra two minutes for questions.

FEEDBACK ON ESSAYS

Group 2 - come prepared and learn your forms for referencing and citing - this aspect was poorly handled.

Both groups
RESEARCH
• Use Wikipedia as a starting point but be careful when using it as source. Is there a named author? Is it reliable? For referencing a Wikipedia source see below:
Please note that the APA Style Guide to Electronic References warns writers that wikis (like Wikipedia, for example) are collaborative projects which cannot guarantee the verifiability or expertise of their entries.
OLPC Peru/Arahuay. (n.d.). Retrieved from the OLPC Wiki: http://wiki.laptop. org/go/OLPC_Peru/Arahuay
• BBC Radio 4 has an excellent series of podcasts which includes episodes on many of the topics that featured in your essays e.g.

Contempt of Court and Prisoner Voting rights (the “proportionality debate”)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zdl28
Family Courts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vcpbp
International Criminal Court
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rbky7
Jury Trials
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yyhqn
Bribery Law Reform
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00r6611


CONTENT
• Essays that were general overviews or definitions did not score as well as essays which took a critical approach or discussed the legal/social/historical/political perspective.
• If you are discussing a case, you need to say why it’s important or discuss the impact of the decision rather than just giving a summary of the facts and the judgment. An essay must be more than a case brief.

ORGANISATION
• Many essays lacked clear introductions and conclusions
• You don’t need to use headings or number your paragraphs in an essay – clear topic sentences will introduce the theme of each paragraph.

STYLE
• Avoid repetition use a range of synonyms
• Simplify your punctuation – avoid colons and semi colons followed by long lists and numerous clauses.
• Avoid unnecessary phrases e.g. “I’m going to talk about…” “The Health Care Act is an act of parliament.”

ACCURACY
• Articles – overuse of “the”
• Tenses – present perfect, overuse of the present simple, mistakes with irregular verbs
• Structure – Don’t separate your subject, verb and object. Always make sure your sentence has a subject.
• Noun-Verb agreement – check singular and plural forms
• Collocations – especially verb + preposition consists of
• This, these etc.

Thursday 12th May GP III Group 6 (B2+2) Group 13 (B2.3)

Thursday 12th May 2011
GPIII Group 6 B2+2
11:30am Lesson 9

Class
Negotiations - Language & Listening
Making Language less direct & more diplomatic
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/37881077/Negotiations

Negotiation role play - Assessed Task

Home
Revise for your progress test for next week (19th May)
The Test is worth 25% of your final grade. It will include 6 sections:
(1) Legal Principles http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/student/article3859004.ece
(2) Error correction - modals, articles, countable and uncountable nouns, quantifiers, verb patterns.
(3) Negotiation Language
(4) Covering letter for a law job
(5) CAE Grammar task, open cloze. See http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/cae/students/tests/pt1index.htm for examples and practice.
(6) Summarizing, references and citations


GPIII Group 13 Module B2.3
2pm Lesson 9

Class
Presentations
Preparartion and assessment
Introductions and Conclusions
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/32233573/Presentations
If you did not give a presentation today, you have a final opportunity to do so in the last lesson on 26th May. remember your presentation is worth 25% of your final grade.

Home
(1)Today's speakers please take some time to write up your thoughts on your own performance use the questions at
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/exercise/speakex.htm
as a guide. Write about 100 words and put it with the rest of your self study to present to me in the last lesson on 26th May

(2) Prepare for your PROGRESS TEST next week 19th May at 2pm sharp! (Don't be late!)
The test will contain:

50% Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation based on units 5A, 5B and 5C
15% General Grammar (from the whole book)
10% Reading
10% Writing (Write 2 paragraphs on 2 of the legal principles we discussed in clas see: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/student/article3859004.ece )
15% Listening

Practice! And remember to collect together all the extra work you do in preparation for your test and put it with your self study ready to show me in the last lesson.

11th May 2011 GP II Group 15 B2+2

11TH MAY 2011
GP II GROUP 15 MODULE B2+2
2PM LESSON 10


CLASS
Individual Presentations
If you did not give a presentation today, you have a final opportunity to do so in the last lesson on 25th May. remember your presentation is worth 25% of your final grade.

Home
(1)Today's speakers please take some time to write up your thoughts on your own performance use the questions at
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/exercise/speakex.htm
as a guide. Write about 100 words and put it with the rest of your self study to present to me in the last lesson on 24th May

(2) Revise for your progress test for next week (18th May)
The Test is worth 25% of your final grade. It will include 6 sections:
(1) Legal Principles http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/student/article3859004.ece
(2) Error correction - modals, articles, countable and uncountable nouns, quantifiers, verb patterns.
(3) Negotiation Language
(4) Covering letter for a law job
(5) CAE Grammar task, open cloze. See http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/cae/students/tests/pt1index.htm for examples and practice.
(5) Summarizing, references and citations

Tuesday 10th May 2011 ECII Groups 8 (B2+2) and 18 (B2+1)

Tuesday 10th May 2011
ECII Group 8 Module B2+2
1.30pm Lesson 10

Class
Individual Presentations
If you did not give a presentation today, you have a final opportunity to do so in the last lesson on 24th May. remember your presentation is worth 25% of your final grade.

Home
(1)Today's speakers please take some time to write up your thoughts on your own performance use the questions at
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/exercise/speakex.htm
as a guide. Write about 100 words and put it with the rest of your self study to present to me in the last lesson on 24th May

(2) Revise for your progress test for next week (17th May)
The Test is worth 25% of your final grade. It will include 5 sections:
(1) Tenses
(2) Conditionals
(3) Error Correction
(4) CAE Grammar tasks (a) open cloze (b) key word transformations. See http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/cae/students/tests/pt1index.htm for examples and practice.
(5) Summarizing, references and citations


ECII Group 18 Module B2+1
4.00pm Lesson 10

Class

Presentations in pairs
If you did not give a presentation today, you have a final opportunity to do so in the last lesson on 24th May. remember your presentation is worth 25% of your final grade.

Home
(1)Today's speakers please take some time to write up your thoughts on your own performance use the questions at
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/exercise/speakex.htm
as a guide. Write about 100 words and put it with the rest of your self study to present to me in the last lesson on 24th May

(2) Revise for your progress test for next week (17th May)
The Test is worth 25% of your final grade. It will include 5 sections:
(1) Tenses
(2) Conditionals
(3) Error correction
(4) CAE Grammar tasks (a) open cloze (b) key word transformations. See http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/cae/students/tests/pt1index.htm for examples and practice.
(5) Describing graphs

Monday 9th May 2011 SPI and GPIV Lesson 10

Monday 9th May 2011
SP I Group 7 Module C1.2
2pm Lesson 10

Presentations continued.

Home:

Today's speakers please take some time to write up your thoughts on your own performance use the questions at
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/exercise/speakex.htm
as a guide.

Next Week will be your progress test which is worth 25% of your final grade. It will include 4 sections:
(1) Pronunciation - revise the phonemic symbols
(2) Error Correction - revise modals, articles, quantifiers, countable and uncountable etc.
(3) CAE Grammar tasks (a) multiple choice cloze (b) open cloze (c) key word transformations. See http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/cae/students/tests/pt1index.htm for examples and practice.
(4) Summarizing, references and citations.

GPIV Group 6 Criminal Law
5pm Lesson 10

Presentations
Feedback on Presentations
Pronunciation errors
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/11442648/Pronunciation
Legal Principles
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/student/article3859004.ece

Friday 6th May 2011 GPIV Groups 2 & 4

Friday 6th May 2011
GPIV Group 2 (1:30pm) and Group 4 (4:30pm)

Academic Essays - timed writing in Class.

Wednesday 4th May GP II Group 15 and Thursday 5th May GPIII Groups 6 & 13

Wednesday 4th May 2011
GPII Group 15 Module B2+2
2pm Lesson 9

Class
Presentations

Home
Well done to all the speakers today. Please take some time to write up your thoughts on your own performance and include it with the rest of your self study material. Use the questions at
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/exercise/speakex.htm
as a guide.

If you haven't given a presentation yet, you have a final chance next week May 11th.

Thursday 5th May 2011
GPIII Group 6 Module B2+2
11:30 am Lesson 8

Class
Presentations


Home
If you were one of the 10 students who gave a presentation today, please take some time to write up your thoughts on your own performance and include it with the rest of your self study material. Use the questions at
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/exercise/speakex.htm
as a guide.

If you haven't given a presentation yet - you will have one final chance to do so in the last lesson on 26th May or possibly next week if we get time after the negotiations.

GPIII Group 13 Module B2.3
2pm Lesson 8

Class
Formal writing p.81
Writing assessment - covering letter for a law job.

Home
Next week we will be doing a speaking assessment based around presentations. Please come prepared by:
(1) Reading the tips on page 86
(2) Choose a topic and think of 3 to 4 points you want to make.
(3) Go to http://www.uefap.com/speaking/spkfram.htm and find some examples of signposting language that can help you.
(4) Write an introduction and a conclusion

The presentation should last 3 - 4 minutes.

Tuesday 3rd May 2011 ECII Groups 8 and 18

Tuesday 3rd May 2011
1:30pm
ECII Group 8 B2+2
Lesson 9

Class
Feedback on Essays
Presentations
Introductions and Conclusions
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/32233573/Presentations
Signposting Language
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/spkfram.htm
Using notes
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/spkfram.htm

Home
Prepare a presentation on the same topic as your essay for next week. You should be prepared to speak for 4 to 5 minutes.
This is an assessed task worth 25% of your final grade.


4:00pm
ECII Group 18 B2+1
Lesson 9

Presentations
Introductions and Conclusions
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/32233573/Presentations
Signposting Language
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/spkfram.htm
Using notes
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/spkfram.htm

The Financial Crisis and Germany: Listening and notetaking
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2011/mar/15/focus-podcast-germany-economic-strength

Home
In PAIRS prepare a 5 to 6 minute presentation (about 3 minutes each) on the following topic:

Choose one European Union country (other than Germany) and discuss how well it has coped with the recent financial crisis. What measures did its government introduce, how successful were they and what is the state of the economy now?

You may wish to listen to the following podcasts for research:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2011/mar/28/guardian-focus-podcast-spain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2011/mar/22/guardian-focus-podcast-france
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2011/apr/06/guardian-focus-podcast-poland

Monday 2nd May 2011 SPI and GPIV Lesson 9

Monday 2nd May 2011
SP1 Group 7 Module C1.2
Lesson 9
Class
Individual Presentations

Home
Well done to all the speakers today. Please take sometime to write up your thoughts on your own performance use the questions at
http://www.uefap.com/speaking/exercise/speakex.htm
as a guide.

Next week we will hear the presentations on JFK, Cossiga, Gandhi, FDR, Gorbachev, Obama, Mandela and Milk. Remember to check with the speakers who have the same subject to ensure that there is no overlap.

GPIV Criminal Law Group 6

Class
Individual Presentations

Home
Write up your thoughts on how well your presentation went this evening. Use the questions at http://www.uefap.com/speaking/exercise/speakex.htm
as a guide and put it together with the rest of your self study material.

ECII B2+2 FEEDBACK ON ACADEMIC ESSAYS

ECII B2+2 FEEDBACK ON ACADEMIC ESSAYS

TIME MANAGEMENT

Many students went over time and some didn’t finish. Too many people were writing up to the last minute when they should have been checking and writing your references. It was obvious that the majority of students ignored my advice on how to divide your time (10 - 20% for planning, 40 - 60% for writing and 10 – 20% for checking) as your essays were often poorly organised and contained many basic mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar. Some scripts were unfinished or failed to address all the points in the question, yet a number of students spent a large part of the 2 hours chatting in Italian.

Time limits and word limits create a level playing field – it is much fairer to see what you can produce when given the same restrictions. If writing is giving as a homework exercise it is often the case that one student will spend several days and write several thousand words while another will spend a couple of hours and three hundred words – how can you compare the two? In class writing is a much better indication of where your true strengths and weaknesses lie.

CONTENT

The question had three parts –
(1) How had the country coped with the financial crisis?
(2) What measures had the government introduced and whether they were effective or not?
(3) The state of the economy now.
If you don’t address all parts of the question, it is very difficult to pass. When researching the question make sure that all areas are covered. If you couldn’t find information on one part of the question (though I find this difficult to believe) you still have to address the issue (e.g. It is still too early to tell if these measures have been effective or Results so far have been inconclusive.)

ORGANISATION

Introductions and conclusions were generally weak and paragraphs were often unclear. Despite my warnings there were still too many one sentence paragraphs. A good introduction should address the question and offer a brief overview of what you are going to discuss. It should also grab the reader’s attention. Similarly, your conclusion should remind the reader of your main arguments and leave him/her with something to think about. Many introductions just talked about the origins of the financial crisis and didn’t even mention the country they were analysing.

REFERENCES AND CITATIONS

Although we had talked about how important this area is when writing an essay, many students ignored the rules and suggestions that we had studied in the previous lesson. All sources must be cited in the text especially when you are quoting someone’s exact words or statistics. Paraphrase rather than quote and don’t quote long stretches of text. You MUST also include references at the end in the APA style that we looked at in class or in the preferred style of your university. If you are unsure of how to do it – go to http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm or http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/

IF YOU INTEND TO STUDY ON THE ERASMUS PROGRAM YOU MUST LEARN THESE RULES – INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES WILL EXPECT THAT YOU KNOW IT.

WRITING STYLE

Keep sentences short and simple. Sentences shouldn’t be longer than 20 words. Don’t use colons (:) and semi colons (;)which turn you sentences into long complicated lists. Keep your subject, verb and object together at the beginning of the sentence. Make sure that every sentence has a subject (remember “it” and “there”).

ACCURACY

• Mistakes in vocabulary or collocation (due to translation) can make your essay difficult to understand so always check for false friends.
• Countable/Uncountable nouns, singular and plural forms, noun verb agreement (this/these)
• Tenses
• Articles – overuse of “the”