Posts

Post-15: Semester 2 Task

Dear All, to complete this semester you need to be ready with the following tasks: 1.  A summary  of an article with an explanation of why you have chosen it and a set of 3 questions to go with it: a) What would you like to learn from it? b) What information from it you knew? c) What information is / was not clear? Please,   choose an article that discusses some urgent/vital/very important/urgent/up-to-date issue Word limit: 250 - 270 words 2. An essay: 280-300 words choose between the options below a) A for-and-against essay b) An opinion essay   c) A solution to problems essay Choose different topics for tasks 1 & 2   3.  A reflection note  about the activities you have been offered this semester:    Y our summary will be graded according to the criteria you can access by following the link https://bit.ly/2LcQsz0   Reflection note: Follow the link to the Reflective note evaluation criteria https://bit.ly/2WCFebH you should comment o

Post-14: My Story beginning. Help needed

Dear All,  I'd like to share with you the beginning of my story which I got stuck with. Can you help me out? Imagine yourself on a long train journey which you have to take to visit with your friend you haven’t seen for a long time. When you enter the train compartment you see that your companion on it will be   a man in his 40-ies. He is rather good-looking but at the same time there is something not quite pleasant about him. You can’t quite say what it is but soon you begin to realize that it is his stubborn nature. No matter what you start talking about he immediately finds smth. to contradict you. Just imagine that you mention your opinion about the developing scandal in the corporate world. He immediately finds some arguments in support of the people involved. They did not expect the situation to develop the way it is? They could not foresee the outcomes of their actions? Can they be then considered real professionals? ­­­­ But I am getting off the track. So, as the

Post-13: Generating your own strories

Dear All, are you superstitious? Hope you are not. The reason why I have to mention this is that the Post I've created for today is number 13. However I'm hoping that it woudn't prevent you from creating an interesting story. How? Here is the explanation: http://writingexercises.co.uk/plotgenerator.php By following the link above you will access a form with the help of which you will be able to receive all the necessary elements for you to create a story. You will get the following details: The main character Character 2 Setting Situation Theme Character action What you need to do is develop your own strory, using this information. You have 3 attempts at choosing the story elements if you do not like the first or the second one that is generated. Your story should be in the genre of your choice: for example, it could be a love story, an adventure story, a thriller or some other kind of story if you wish. You should be able to finish writing it duringf the

Vocab note: buddies vs friends

Dear All, you have just asked me about the difference b/w "buddies" and "friends" I've found the following answer: They are basically interchangeable... mostly depends on context. Here's some generalizations though: Friend: You usually use this to refer to a friend to another person. Ex. "I would like you to meet my friend, George." Buddy: Used like friend ("this is my buddy, George"). Can be friendly (usually used with pets or kids). Ex. "Hey Buddy! How was your soccer game?" .. or angry Ex. "Watch it buddy! You spill your beer on me again and I'm gonna kick your ass!" Mate: We don't say this in America. Dude: Teenagers/young adults use this more often. Ex. "Duuuuuude, we're, like, almost out of weed." Otherwise I hear it a lot when people are mad at a friend. Ex. "Dude! You made out with my girlfriend! That's not cool..." Or when you are excited Ex. "Dude

Task-12:Thesis statement-references-conclusions

Dear All, today I'd like to discuss with you a number of problems that keep recurring in your writing: a) Did you have a chance to read one of the posts by one of your peers they wrote about one of the sessions at the IATEFL Conference? Probably, not yet. So, your first task is to choose one, read about it and comment on it by asking a couple of questions. b) How to formulate a thesis statement http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/thesisexerciseprint.html c) What you need to remember about referencing the resources for this task I'll analyse one of your works with you together and then let you add references correctly to one of the works you have recently written: d) Techniques for writing conclusions: This is your hometask for 23.03.19 - http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/thesisexercise.htm l : I've discovered in the morning on the 23rd of April the link that I shared with you was wrong. It's a pity nobody let me know about it during the

Post-11-IATEFL-Conference-Liverpool

Dear All, Today you will have a chance to get acquainted with some materials of the IATEFL conference that took place in Liverpool last week. IATEFL is a large international organisation for teachers of English as a foreign language ( IATEFL ). Each year it holds a conference devoted to the discussion of a large variety of issues associated with language learning and teaching. I have been a member of IATEFL since 2008 and taken part in several conferences throughout these years. Also, I was the editor of the newsletter published by the LT SIG. It stands for Learning Technologies Special Interest Group, and this is a way in which IATEFL members are grouped. You can learn more about it at  https://www.iatefl.org/special-interest-groups/sig-list   First, I'm inviting you to watch the clip made during the first day of the conference, which can help you feel the atmosphere and the mood of it:  https://conference.iatefl.org/conference.html . Next, I'm inv

Post-10: Reference-details-you-need-to-include-in-your-works

Dear All, I'd like to remind you again about the necessity to add the information about the resource(s) you have used in your works. Let's say you quoted smb.'s work in yours to make your introduction more engaging or to support the argument you are making or maybe you've paraphrased smb's words or added a summary of some information you have read. In all these cases you need to provide a reference to the resource(s) you have used. It's not enough to just mention the author. There is more information you need to give to your readers.What for, you may ask? For the others to access the resources you have referenced if necessary. It is a common feature of academic and research writing, which is necessary to build up our knowledge and understanding in a variety of fields. Remember too that the details you need to provide depend on whether you are making an in-text or the end of the document reference . This is what you need to do: in the body of your work, y