British Council English Courses at the LUISS - Speaking Practice

Speaking Practice


During your tutorials many of you told me that you wanted to improve your speaking. Some of you think that the only way to do this is by going to a country where English is spoken. However it isn't always possible to do this so you need to think of ways of creating opportunities to speak in English while you are at home, here in Italy.  A good way to do this is to make use of social networks  (Facebook) and technology such as Skype to talk to your classmates in English out of class. You can also use websites such as Soundcloud or  Vocaroo http://vocaroo.com/ where you can record your speaking, play it back to yourself and/or send it to a friend via email.

Try it.
Good Luck and Keep Talking!

British Council English Courses at the LUISS - Tutorials and Beyond

Tutorials and Beyond


This week is the last week of lessons in which you will have your tutorial and get a chance to talk to your teacher about your progress.

Remember though it is important to maintain your level so try to do a little bit of English often.
Remember too that if you want to improve your speaking, you need to do more listening practise and to pay attention to things like strong forms and weak forms which occur in fast connected speech.

In many of the groups we read and discussed several controversial legal issues such as the Death Penalty so follow this up with more reading and listening on the internet. For example there was an article about the Death Penalty in the Guardian today see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/21/america-death-penalty-murders-innocents

The Guardian also has a great Facebook page for students go to: https://www.facebook.com/GuardianStudent

If you want more examples, notes and exercises on grammar, vocabulary skills, academic and legal English you can go to my website http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/11442631/FrontPage

D'Amico Shipping Legal English Course

D'Amico Shipping Legal English Course
18th May 2012
Semester 2 Lesson 10

Cohesive Devises and Discourse Markers
Patents and Business Methods

Going Further:
Multiple Intelligences
http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/index.htm
Conditional Forms
Exercises
http://www.englishpage.com/conditional/conditionalintro.html
Reading/Noticing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/mar/18/what-if-star-wars-never-existed

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 18/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS
Friday 18th May 2012


2pm
GPIV Group 5


Home
Criminal Justice Discussion
Sentencing Case Studies
http://www.georgeboyle.com/judge.html

Go further:
You Be The Judge Video
http://ybtj.justice.gov.uk/
Sentencing - Worksheet and Podcast Listening
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/31299679/Sentencing

Presentation Skills
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/32233573/Presentations


Home
Next week is your last lesson and final assessment. Please come along prepared to give a short (5 minute) presentation on a legal topic of your choice.

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 17/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS
Thursday 17th May 2012
11:30am

GPII Group 12 B1.2
Class
Progress Test Units 4 - 6
Reading, Listening, Grammar & Vocabulary, Speaking.

Home
Next week the last lesson will take the form of a tutorial. Come along at 2pm as usual and book a 10 minute slot to see me. Come prepared with all your self study material. I will give you your results and we can discuss your progress. if you have attended less than 70% of the course, next week's tutorial is compulsory. 


Suggestions for self study:

• All your homework
• New vocabulary – including word lists, mind maps, example sentences & pronunciation
• Links to useful websites
• Extra activities for problem areas
• Error correction of written work
• Articles from English magazines or websites that you find interesting
• Questions & comments about the course for your teacher or other students
• Reflection on your own progress
• Your responses to the tasks set every week on http://seansstudypage.blogspot.com 

• Full participation in class activities (e.g. debate, questionnaire writing, interviewing, seminar)
• Full participation in open class discussions
• All group and pair work conducted in English 

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 16/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS
Wednesday 16th May 2012


10:30am 
GPIV Group 3


Class
Criminal Justice Discussion
Sentencing Case Studies
http://www.georgeboyle.com/judge.html
Go further:
You Be The Judge Video
http://ybtj.justice.gov.uk/
Sentencing - Worksheet and Podcast Listening
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/31299679/Sentencing

Presentation Skills
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/32233573/Presentations


Home
Next week is your last lesson and final assessment. Please come along prepared to give a short (5 minute) presentation on a legal topic of your choice.

2pm:
GPII Group 11 B1.2


Class
Progress Test Units 4 - 6
Reading, Listening, Grammar & Vocabulary, Speaking.

Home
Next week the last lesson will take the form of a tutorial. Come along at 2pm as usual and book a 10 minute slot to see me. Come prepared with all your self study material. I will give you your results and we can discuss your progress.

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 15/4

British Council English Courses at the LUISS


Tuesday 15th May 2012


11:30am
GPIV Group 1
Class
Presentation Skills
Listening, Signposting Language, Introductions and Conclusions, Using Notes
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/32233573/Presentations


Home
For your final assessment please prepare a 5 minute presentation on a legal subject of your choice.
Next week's lesson will take the form of a 10 minute individual interview with me in which you will deliver your presentation and then we can then talk together about your progress during the course.

4pm
GPI Group 10 B2+2
Class


Progress Test


Home
Prepare for next week's tutorial. Please bring along all evidence of your self study work this term for grading. Self study is worth 25% of your final grade, so if you feel you have done badly in the test, you can still pass the course if your self study grade is good.

In grading your self study I will take into account the following:

• Exercises and discussion threads on the digital platform (your deadline for completing the work set on the platform is midnight Sunday 20 May)

and/or

• Any other homework
• New vocabulary – including word lists, mind maps, example sentences & pronunciation
• Links to useful websites
• Extra activities for problem areas e.g. tenses, countable/uncountable nouns
• Error correction of written work (e.g. correcting/rewriting your essay)
• Articles from English magazines or websites that you find interesting
• Questions & comments about the course for your teacher or other students either on the platform, the blog or in your tutorial
• Reflection on your own progress
• Your responses to the tasks set every week on http://seansstudypage.blogspot.com 

• Your participation in class speaking activities (e.g. legal systems debate 13/3/12, law reform scenario p. 96 - 97 20/3/12)
• Your participation in open class discussions
• Whether you spoke Italian or only English in class

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 14/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS


Monday 14th May 2012
4pm


GPI Group 16 B2.2 


Class
Progress Test - Units 4 - 6
Reading, Listening, Grammar & Vocabulary, Speaking.

Home
Next week is your tutorial so come prepared to talk about your progress. What do you think you have improved on this term? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your learning objectives for next term? Also bring with you all your self study work, your folder or notebook (or the url of your blog) for grading. Remember that your self study is worth 25% of your final grade.

For anyone who has missed any of the assessments (e.g. the report or the test) you will have one last chance to complete them in class next Monday.

D'Amico Shipping Legal English Course 11/5

D'Amico Shipping Legal English Course
Term 2 Lesson 9


Friday 11th May 2012
11:30am

Writing Official Minutes to Company Meetings
Collocations (meeting/resolution)
Informal - Formal (indirect speech, passive forms subjunctive)

International Legal English (2006, Cambridge) p. 56 -57

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 11/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS
11th May 2012


2pm
GPIV Group 5

Corporate Governance - reading and vocabulary
For more information on types of companies in different jurisdictions see: 
http://www.corporateinformation.com/

Letter of Advice
For more information on letters of advice and legal opinions see:
http://search.americanbar.org/search?q=opinion%20letter&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=default_collection&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&ud=1&ip=2.158.114.223&access=p&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&entqr=3&entqrm=0&entsp=a
Timed Writing Assessment - letter of advice.

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 10/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS
Thursday 10th May 2012
11:30am


GPII Group 12 Module B1.2


Past Continuous - Pronunciation - strong forms and weak forms
Jigsaw Reading  - Famous Businessmen and Businesswomen p.62 - 63
Business English Collocations (run a company, go bankrupt) p. 63
Past Perfect p. 63
Past Continuous and Past Perfect (p. 144 -145)

Home
Next week there will be a progress test based on the material from units 4, 5 and 6 in the book. The test will include reading, listening, grammar, vocabulary and a short speaking exercise. A good way to prepare would be to do the Review exercises on pages 68 - 69 as well as the extra practice tasks at the end of each language reference p. 141, 143 and 145. Remember any extra work and revision you do also counts towards your self study grade.

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 9/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 
Wednesday 9th May 2012


10:30am
GPIV Group 3


Class
Avoiding "Legalese"
The Golden Rules of Good Legal English Writing.
http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/25080245/Legal%20Writing%20In%20Plain%20English
Error Correction - Letters of Advice.

2pm
GPII Group 11 Module B1.2
Class


Business Vocabulary (p. 58)
Negotiating an employment contract (role-play)
Ethical Dilemmas (p.60 reading, discussion, discourse markers)
Past Continuous and Past Perfect (p. 144 -145)

Home
Next week there will be a progress test based on the material from units 4, 5 and 6 in the book. The test will include reading, listening, grammar, vocabulary and a short speaking exercise. A good way to prepare would be to do the Review exercises on pages 68 - 69 as well as the extra practice tasks at the end of each language reference p. 141, 143 and 145. Remember any extra work and revision you do also counts towards your self study grade.

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 8/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS
Tuesday 8th May 2012


11:30am
GPIV Group 1


Corporate Governance - reading and vocabulary
For more information on types of companies in different jurisdictions see: http://www.corporateinformation.com/
Letter of Advice
For more information on letters of advice and legal opinions see:
http://search.americanbar.org/search?q=opinion%20letter&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=default_collection&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&ud=1&ip=2.158.114.223&access=p&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&entqr=3&entqrm=0&entsp=a

Writing Assessment - letter of advice.

4pm
GPI Group 10 Module B2+2


Class
Pronunciation "ed" endings and "ea"spelling
For more pronunciation worksheet go to http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/11442648/Pronunciation and click on the link.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns, Singular and Plural Forms, Definite and Indefinite Articles.
Common Errors: news, information, advice, research, notice, accommodation, evidence, proof, weather are all UNCOUNTABLE and therefore are never in the plural and never take an indefinite article. N.b. the difference between knowledge (u) and the fixed phrase a good knowledge of.


Error Correction and feedback on essays.

Presentations.

Home


Reflection on Presentation

If you gave your presentation today, write a short paragraph reflecting on how it went. 

If you were to give your presentation again, would you change anything?

Were you surprised by any of the feedback that your classmates gave you?

What areas do you need to improve (think about pronunciation, countable and uncountable nouns, articles, verb structure, false friends, presentation skills).

Write up your thoughts and either send it to me via the platform or keep it to give to me when you present your self study material in the last lesson on 22nd May.

Revision for Test
Next week is your progress test. It will be in 5 parts:
(1) Legal Principles
(2) Error Correction (tenses, countable/uncountable, verb structure, false friends, articles)
(3) Presentation Language (signposting phrases)
(4) Summarising Skills, Referencing and Citations see http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/38675201/Summarising%2C%20Paraphrasing%2C%20Quoting for some helpful notes.
(5) Grammar & Vocabulary from Unit 9.

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 7/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS
Monday 7th May 2012


4pm
GPI Group 16 B2.2


Class

• Revision of narrative tenses, would/used to
• Listening for grammar - fast connected speech
• Negotiation - listening, bargaining language, role-play speaking assessment 
• Feedback and error correction on reports

Home

Next week there will be a progress test on units 4 - 6 from the book. The questions will cover, grammar, vocabulary, reading and listening. Afterwards there will be a short speaking test including one interactive task in pairs and one individual task where you have to speak on a topic for about a minute. 

To prepare for next week you can:

• Do the revision exercises in the book Review p. 68 -69 
• Look at all the speaking exercises we did in class and the questions I set on the blog. Revise the vocabulary, helpful phrases and functional language for these topics.
• If you have the workbook, do some exercises on problem areas.
• Look at the links suggested throughout the term on this blog.

REMEMBER THAT ALL THE REVISION WORK THAT YOU DO ALSO COUNTS TOWARDS YOUR SELF STUDY GRADE SO KEEP A NOTE OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. 

D'Amico Shipping Legal English Course

D'Amico Shipping Legal English Course
Term 2 Lesson 8
Friday 4th May 2012

11:30am

• Share holders' rights letter
• Formulas for letter writing.

British Council English Course at the LUISS 4/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS
Friday 4th May 2012
2pm


GPIV Group 5
Case Study - Contract/Contractual Remedies
Role Play Negotiation (assessment) Negotiating an out of court settlement.

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 3/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS
Thursday 3rd May 2012
11:30am


GPII Group 12 B1.2


Class

• Business Law (Commercial, Company, Employment Law, Banking and Finance) Vocabulary p. 58
• Role-play: negotiating an Employment Contract - Employers and Unions
• Business Ethics p. 60 - 61 Reading, Discussion and Using Pronouns as Discourse Markers 
• Past Continuous p. 144 -145 G1

Home

• Business Plan p. 59, Q.4, 5 Reading
• Past Continuous p. 61, Q.6

British Council English Courses at the LUISS 2/5

British Council English Courses at the LUISS
Wednesday 2nd May 2012
10:30am


GPIV Group 3


Corporate Governance - reading and vocabulary
For more information on types of companies in different jurisdictions see: http://www.corporateinformation.com/
Letter of Advice
For more information on letters of advice and legal opinions see:
http://search.americanbar.org/search?q=opinion%20letter&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=default_collection&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&ud=1&ip=2.158.114.223&access=p&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&entqr=3&entqrm=0&entsp=a

Writing Assessment - letter of advice.

2pm
GPII Group 11 B1.2

Class
Legal English - Branches of Law
Presentations - listening, organisation and signposting language p. 55
Role Play Presenting a Law Firm to a potential client (Speaking Assessment - 25% of final grade)

For more notes on presentations go to:

http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/32233573/Presentations

http://seansenglishclassroom.pbworks.com/w/page/32914707/Presentations%3A%20Introductions%2C%20Conclusions%20and%20Visuals

Home
Dictionary Skills p. 56