Schedule of work until the end of term - this is subject to change!

OK, so we still have quite a few assessments to do, but here is a rough plan of how we might roll out the Comm 4 and Oral Presentation Skills Units. Remember, I am planning for 5 months or so here, so will do my best to keep to it, no mean feat with two Units to work to. Oh, and there are lots of Mondays that we miss due to holidays!

As a reminder there are 13 assessments you do for me. For Comm 4 (2x reading, 2x listening, 2x talking and 2x writing) and for Oral Presentation Skills (2x presentation analysis, 1x presentation plan, 2x presentations to deliver).

Many of you have already completed 4 assessments - Comm 4 reading (digital books), OPS speaking (how to do), OPS plan (how to do) and OPS analysis 1 (Jamie Oliver). In the next couple of weeks you will also have completed (for Comm 4) 1 writing outcome (an essay you did for Evan) and 1 listening outcome (another Radio 4 Word of Mouth transmission). Phew...so, lets see if we can follow the plan below!

31st Jan - listen to Word of Mouth radio transmission on "language borrowing" again.
1st and 7th Feb - work in groups, discuss the programme, answer some questions.
8th and 14th Feb - listening assessment for Comm 4 and hand in any history essay of your choosing that has passed for Evan - this will be credited as a pass for one of the writing outcomes for Comm 4.
15th Feb - hand back listening assessments for remediation (if necessary) and watch film 1 (of 2).
21st Feb - discuss film that was watched on the 15th and look at how to write a film review.
22nd Feb - watch film 2 (of) 2.
28th and 29th Feb - write up review for one of the films we watched in class.
7th March - give out brief for oral presentation (this will double up for Comm 4 and OPS outcomes - one presentation, two passes!)
8th, 14th and 15th March - prep for presentation.
21st, 22nd, 28th, 29th March and 4th April - presentation delivery (no plan needed).
5th April - Any remediation for assessments as necessary.

11th April until 26th April - EASTER VACATION

26th April - assemble into groups for group discussions. Research on topics.
2nd May - HOLIDAY!
3rd May - assessed group discussions (timeslots to be agreed in previous session).
9th May - at this stage we will have three assessments to complete - one listening, one reading and one analysis of an oral presentation. I suggest that we negotiate what is best re assessments at this stage. The last day of classes will be TUESDAY 14TH JUNE.

I hope this will work out well for us. I am satisfied that it will be.

We can move things around if we feel we need to, but this is the proposal anyway!

Cheers, Mark

Word of Mouth radio programme

Hi all, I hope you enjoyed the Word of Mouth radio programme we listened to this morning. I really liked the observations and discussion that ensued afterwards. I think we learned a new word today - 'Ponglais' or was it 'Ponglish'?! Anyway, for those members of the class who were unable to make the session, we listened to a Radio 4 transmission on the process of "borrowing" in English and other languages and heard from a variety of different sources.

If you want to hear the show again, I will play it on Monday, in our new venue, ROOM 120 at 9am. If you haven't heard the show yet, please ensure that you are in class on Monday.

The Tuesday slot remains the same for semester two and on Tuesday we will work in groups and answer some questions and have some discussion about the analysis of the programme. Meanwhile, I am off to listen to Desert Island Discs, as I have heard it is wonderful (cue shamed face, ruddy complexion, think before engagement etc etc)!

Have a great weekend all and I will see some, if not all of you, on Monday. Remember, for those who were at the class today, you will be authorised if you don't wish to hear the broadcast again.

All the best, Mark

Analysis

Jamie Oliver at the TED!

Hi all, just a quick word to say well done to those of you who have successfully completed the Jamie Oliver TED presentation analysis. I have been impressed with the level of critique in the papers I have seen so far. Don't forget, there is plenty of time to complete this as the deadline is Tuesday 25th January. We will be back in the normal room on the 4th floor on the 27th and as of the week beginning 31st January we will have a new venue. The Tuesday slot will remain the same but the hour slot will now be on Monday at 9. Room to be clarified, but when I have been told where we've been given, I will let you all know!

Have a great weekend,

Mark

Anti cuts website

http://falseeconomy.org.uk/

The link above is worth looking at if you are interested in cuts that are happening / imminent.

I know it is slightly off-topic in the sense that this is a blog for the work we do in class, but nevertheless, this a very important issue.

Best, Mark

Assessment details - Jamie Oliver analysis

Hi all, as I said in the class today, I would like you all to have completed the questions by TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY. This shouldn't pose a problem to you and I am sure that most of you will actually be finished before that date. Remember to answer as fully as possible and I will mark your papers when you submit them. I enjoyed the brief chat we had after we watched the talk in class and there were some insightful and interesting viewpoints. I for one have seen a new side to Jamie Oliver and I'm really quite impressed!

Mark

Jamie Oliver presentation: Teach every child about food

Awesome

Well done to Dave who finished off the last 'how to do' talk. This was a great way to finish off that outcome and it was a skillfully structured talk with a good few laughs along the way.

I enjoyed the responses of the groups this morning to the Ken Robinson presentation where we heard lots of interesting thoughts, well done all. As I said in the class, I will show the TED talk through the projector at the start of the class, so please ensure you are prompt on Tuesday, hold a brief discussion about the presentation and give you the questions to work through. There will be no surprises, just the questions you are familiar with but a different text and presenter.

See you then and have a lovely weekend. Stand free, wherever you may be...

Extra link (Sir Ken)!

This is the bonus feature as discussed by Christie this morning!

Mark

Sir Ken Robinson - creating an education system that nurtures creativity

This was the presentation that we watched and analysed this morning. Please finish off the questions that we didn't complete in class for Thursday's session so we can discuss them in class.

For more interesting presentations, please go to the TED website - http://www.ted.com/

Themes for talks in the past are: technology, entertainment, design, business, science, cultutre, arts, global issues. There should be something for everybody in there hopefully!

Any thoughts on Sir Ken, the content, the discussion today, then feedback at your leisure.

It was great to see you all again and in such fine industrious mode.

All the best, Mark

Welcome Back All!

I hope everybody had a lovely break. We will be pressing on in the next few weeks and I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. All the best, Mark