End of Term June 2011

Hi there,

I just wanted to say well done on a good term's work and good luck for your exams.

I was very impressed with the number of people who started blogs this term and the quality of the content. Keep it up. I will continue posting notes and links for you to follow over the summer, so do check the blog and don't be afraid to asks questions and write comments.

Remember - a little, often is the best way to improve your English.

Have a good summer.

Sean

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