UNIT 3: BUSINESS…makes us FREEJ

        I have always believed each and every of us are “designed” to do something special in this world. We are defined by the things that we do, this is why it is said that: the things we do make us who we are. We are born to create something so that after we are gone, we would be remembered.

        Reading this unit made me reconsider the importance of choosing the right job. After the wonderful age of childhood (in which we discover the whole world) and the unforgettable adolescence (when we believe that everything is possible) it is time for real life; begins that period in which we have to take lives in our own hands. (we fall in love, decide to have our own families and outstanding careers) In addition to this I found useful the vocabulary table on “Jobs and work”. That list offered me large variety of possible jobs and their descriptions. Using the list of adjectives from this unit I was able to describe many of the given jobs.

        Therefore I realized that none of those jobs are suitable for me. I want to do more, I want to be more! And this is the human nature; we always want to have more than we already have, and to be something more than we already are. I am absolutely sure that everyone has that perfect job, which allows them to feel liberated, free! I hope someday I’ll find that ideal job for me, so that I’ll start being the real me.

        The reading and comprehension exercises about “Branding and brands names” pointed out the importance of a name in a successful brand. It also made me remember my favorite brands. (of perfumes, shampoos, cars, food and drinks etc.)

        The Grammar Revision was like a break after all those intense thinking exercises. It included easy assignments like: simple statements, reported questions, affirmative and negative sentences.

        I really enjoyed working with my mind and soul in solving this unit. I have to admit it was a great challenge for me and I wait impatiently for my next oneJ!

Practice 4… all I was waiting for:D

         After three weeks of learning about oral presentation it is finally “Question Time”! I believe now, I could give a better answer to your question from practice number one: “What is the point of an oral presentation?”

        As you already know, I am an Erasmus student and I am so proud to be here. My entire experience since I have been in Spain was absolutely amazing. This is why I would definitely say that I am living the “Erasmus dream”. Everything is different here (weather is sunnier, people are nicer, food is spicier), but the oral presentations are the same here as in RomaniaJ. Even since high school I had to make oral presentations, but nobody really explained me what is the point of these presentations. Now, due to these English practices, not only that I know what the point is, but I also know what makes a good presentation.

        Romanian study system offered me an outstanding volume of knowledge. Unfortunately, I had few opportunities to practice all that I have been learning during these years. In Spain, I found a better way to study! By practicing more; I have managed to learn more. I have already prepared some oral presentation and this is the reason why I value so much my English practice classes.

        The videos from my fourth practice gave me a great example of how to handle questions after a presentation. The first step is to make sure you understand the question you are being asked. (you can repeat the question in your own words or even ask the questioner to repeat it for you in order to check out your understanding) The second step is to repeat a simple question to make sure that all the audience has heard. The third step is to answer the question in a brief way.

        I really appreciated that I was given suggestions even for two unusual situations. The first one was in case of not knowing the answer. The most important thing in this situation is not to panic, but also to have a back-up strategy. (such as: to offer to find the answer later, to ask if anyone else in the audience can give a brief answer, to suggest a source where the questioner might find the answer etc.) The second unusual situation appears when no one has a question. In this case you should answer a question you have prepared in advance, by saying: “An important question that often comes up is…”

        After “Question Time”, what else can we find out about oral presentations? Who knows? Maybe practice number five will give me an answer even for this question.

        Bye bye! See you next timeJ!

UNIT 2: COMPUTERS… are the CLUE!

        Hello youJ! Computers are the reason I can write this everyday to you. We live in this world of communication, in which “Sky in no longer the limit” due to the use of the Internet on the computers. I was extremely happy to see my second topic, because there are so many things you can say about computers, almost as many as you can do on a computer. (play, listen to music, work, talk to your friends and family and also see them, watch videos and movies, read and learn about any subject you can be interested in etc.)

        Unit 2 allowed me to acknowledge the perfect mix of vocabulary, grammar and listening skills, concerning computers and electrical equipment. By making a list of all the words connected to computers I could review the computer equipment and its uses. I enjoyed doing the questionnaire: “How computer literate are you?” especially because it showed me how important a computer is in my life. I believe that the “Progress Portfolio” was also a great idea, because it made me feel more confident knowing that there are so many things I can do in English. (such as talking about: using computers, people’s past and present ability, imaginary situations or understanding a technical lecture and also having the possibility to ask and answer questions and so many other things)

        The grammar revision was also of great help for me. In this way I could review: the use of articles (a, an, the, no article), phrases we use to talk about our abilities (for instance: manage to do something, be quite/very/really good at doing something, can do something, be able to do something etc.), the second conditional (to talk about imaginary situations), indirect and direct questions (indirect- formal situations and direct- informal situations) etc.

        The section I love the most in this Unit is called: “Future trends”. I am absolutely fascinated with everything that has to do with the new technologies. Nowadays, computer technology has developed a new trend: “smaller and faster”. It seems that computers are really everywhere and as a result the relationship between people and computers will be closer. We already have wearable computers and we have started to use the “gesture interface” based on facial-hand recognition systems. In no time, due to the use of the Internet on the mobile phones, we will be able to work in a “mobile office”. It is a fact that computer chips can be injected under the skin. In the future, the RFID (radio-frequency identification tags) might be used to track or identify people or to store information such as medical data. (Although there are concerns about privacy and personal safety)

 It is incredible what people can do just by using their minds and putting all their hearts in it. Reading all the articles in Unit 2 reminded me how great and important a human being isJ!

Practice 3… Grammar is for free :P

          Nice to see you again! I would like to start by saying that I chose this title for my third practice in order to explain you how important this Grammar Revision on Verb Tenses was for me. It gave me almost the same feeling as getting something for free could give me. You could think that my affirmation is a silly one, but I can assure you that I really needed this Grammar Revision.

        Using the Active/Passive Overview table, I was able to find out what verb tenses I have problems with. It is like in real life: the first step in solving anything is to identify the problem. Due to the extension of the third practice, I had the possibility to detect and even more important to correct my mistakes. The study material on verb tenses allowed me to improve my grammar skills.

        After reading all the given information about Verb Tenses (forms, uses and examples), I tried to do more exercises. I was amazed to see that I had few or even no mistakes in some exercises.

        The Grammar Revision was just for worming-up. The second half of the practice was far more entertaining, because my oral presentation knowledge got even richer. We started by listening two versions of a business presentation. Geoff Maxwell, the Manager of a high-tech electronics company has been asked to run a business tour. In the first version of the presentation he was annoyed and unprepared (non- effective presentation) and in the second one, he was prepared to do a professional job. (effective presentation)

        I found of great help the Signposting table, concerning the linking parts of an oral presentation. I am absolutely sure I will use this table a lot for my future presentations.

        The two versions of the video on Dr. Linden’s presentation provided me the information necessary concerning on the right kind of language used in an oral presentation. (eye-contact, language complexity, sentence length, use of pauses, personal/impersonal language)

        One more thing I have learnt in this practice is that visual aids are vital in oral presentations. Therefore we have to know that there are some important rules for designing and using visual aids. (such as: don’t use to many visuals, don’t read from the visual, use a pointer, face the audience as mush as possible and so on)

        As the practice classes go on I can’t stop asking myself: “What else could I find out about oral presentations?” But I guess that the next practice will answer my question so…see you soonJ!

Practice 2…I’m with you :D

        This was the first practice I attended to and my first impression was: “I am going to enjoy this class!” I realized from the beginning that English practice classes have an organized structure, because of the study materials, which are divided into: part 1- grammar revision and part 2- oral presentations. Having such an organized study plan, the two hours go by without notice.

        Firstly, we focused on the language of definitions: Relative clauses. The study material provided us all the information we need about: defining and non-defining relative clauses. (and for each of them: definitions, examples, punctuation, relative pronouns used in defining and non-defining relative clauses and also some of the expression used in introducing the non-defining clauses)

        Secondly, we made use of all the given information to improve our grammar skills by solving the exercises. (there were two types of exercises: gap fill relative clauses exercises and sentence combination with relative clauses) We even had the possibility to take a short test on relative clauses.

        Thirdly, on the second part of the practice, we went on with our oral presentations. The main concern was to learn how to start an oral presentation. (introducing yourself and your talk, which should include the following elements: 1 Greeting, name and position; 2 Title/subject of the presentation; 3 Purpose/objective; 4 Length; 5 Outline/the main parts of the presentation; 5 Questions and finally 6 Reference to the audience.) All of these elements were better illustrated in the listening exercises. (we heard twelve extracts from the introductions to two presentations- one internal, one external.)

        Therefore, after this practice I found out that it is important to have a choice of words and expressions at your fingertips. I know that there are so many other important things one should know when making an oral presentation, but I am confident that after finishing with all the practice classes I will be able to make an outstanding oral presentationJ

        I can’t wait for my next practice!

PRACTICE 1…ORAL PRESENTATIONS ARE ON!

        Hello again! I am still working on my own, at home. I am sorry I missed practice number one, because it really seems an interesting one. This practice focuses on making a list of things that make a good presentation. (Starting with the overall impression which includes: awareness of your audience and clear objectives, going on with the presentation system: planning, organization, information and impact and finally being aware of the presentation delivery, the body language and the visual aids)

        My colleagues had the opportunity to practice their listening skills by hearing an effective presentation of Westwood’s Peter Blake. In this way they identified what makes a presentation effective and how to present the background information. By hearing a second, non-effective presentation, I believe that they were able to make a comparison between those two. As a result they could understand better the concept of an “effective presentation”.

        I was not able to do the listening exercises, but instead I focused on grammar. The “Language focus” with time expressions and tenses helped me to review three tenses: The simple past, the present perfect and the present simple. 

        The second part of the practice was definitely more captivating. Based on my technical experience in Mechanical Engineering, I had to visit three web sites and make a definition of my discipline. Everybody knows that Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing and maintenance of mechanical systems. But for me was more than this and I can’t get enough of this fascinating world.

        I am looking forward for my next practice! See you soon:D

          

Unit 1…English is for fun :D

         I have to admit it took me a little time to start writing on my English blog, but now that I did start, I won’t stop for anything. Writing on blogs became my hobby since I have been here, in Spain. I truly believe that it is a very useful and also funny way of practicing English.

        I missed the first English course, but I really enjoyed doing it on my own, at home. I found very interesting the first topic: “Engineering Materials”, especially because I study Industrial Economical Engineering. My first task was to do a list of materials I know, which are used in engineering. I was amazed to see that I have already known a lot of materials and so many things about those engineering materials.

        The next two tasks allowed me to use a good strategy for finding information in a table, called “scanning”. The table contains useful information about engineering materials (such as aluminum, copper, brass, ABS, etc.). I had to scan the table two times in order to find some specific materials (for example materials which are soft, ductile, malleable etc. or a metal used to make aircraft, an alloy suitable for castings etc.).

        The fourth task helped me to find definitions for some of the engineering materials (such as an alloy, thermoplastic, mild steel, a conductor, high carbon steel etc.). The listening task gave me the possibility to make a table of my own with some specific materials, their properties and also their uses.

        After I finished with my tasks, I went to the next topic: “Materials technology”. Firstly, I learnt how to describe specific materials, doing different exercises. (in which I had to complete the missing headings using the word in the box or match the materials from 2 columns or ask and answer questions about different materials etc.) In this way I found out really interesting things about “Recyclable Materials” and about “Environment”.

        Secondly, in the “Categorising materials” section I read about the green brakes. I have never heard about the regenerative braking systems, but I truly support the idea of the ecological drive. I believe it is essential to find hi-tech efficiency gains in motor racing, in order to limit the energy loss inherent in traditional braking systems. Exercises in this section helped me to acquire new knowledge of materials used in engineering. (for example composite materials or high-voltage cable)

        Thirdly, the section “specifying and describing properties” gave me the opportunity to read extracts from DuPont’s technical guide to Kevlar. I didn’t know what Kevlar is until I read the article. Now, not only that I know what is it, but I can also say some words about its uses. (Kevlar is an organic fiber used for drive belts, brake pads, tyres, sealing gaskets and even for the bullet-resistant amour of a car)

        The last section of Unit 1 was about “discussing quality issues”. When talking about this, we took in consideration a watch manufacture. Doing the exercises I could find out about the quality issues that watches have. (watches can be water resistant, scratch resistant etc.)

         I finished Unit 1 and I thought: “I am so happy I chose this class! Not only because it is suitable for me, but also because in this way English is really FUNJ!”