Danish pavilion for the Shanghai expo 2010

The useful websites that I found

AM – News & Current Affairs Radio and PM – News & Current Affairs Radio

http://www.abc.net.au/am/ & http://www.abc.net.au/pm/

I recommend this website because it is contain update Australian news and the article is very academic and objective. In addition, you can listen the MP3 and read the transcript at same time.

ITunes University

http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/whats-on.html#itb-topten

This website offers awesome videos which are from some very famous universities’ public lecture. You can find them such as University of Oxford, Yale and Stanford ETC; they have a lot of lecture that shared on the website. There are 13 categories which are including Business, Engineering and Fine Arts ETC. More importantly, these videos are for free and very easy to download.

TED

http://www.ted.com/

This website I recommend to you because it has abundant video of presentation or talk. It is very valuable for listening and oral presentation.

Dictionary.com

http://dictionary.reference.com/

Online dictionary is easy and effective to search the meaning of words. Now the new website of Dictionary.com has a lot of new features, such as you can search for Thesaurus, Flashcards, and Quotes ETC. I believe it will help you a lot when you doing the assignment.

National Geographic

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

This is an extremely beautiful website, and it contains lots of English articles and videos. It not only benefits for you learning English but also improves your awareness of preserving our environment.  

Discussion Board 1,2,3

Subject: RE: The impact of English on the economy
Author: Liang SHAN Creation date: Sunday, November 7, 2010 11:06:11 PM EST Date last modified: Sunday, November 7, 2010 11:06:11 PM EST Total views: 3  Your views: 4
English has been taught in China for a long time and it still very popular nowadays. No matter what the economy and the education have been strong impacted by English. Abundant institution of English language set up in most of city of China, some popular organizations are: New Orient and New Channel, etc. they offer various course for students of different requirements. In this period, some people become wealth and the educational institution also contribute a lot of tax revenues for our government. Meanwhile, millions of overseas students have a high education in western countries, which also improve the university’s revenues.

Subject: RE: Who needs English language
Author: Liang SHAN Creation date: Saturday, November 6, 2010 8:55:36 PM EST Date last modified: Saturday, November 6, 2010 8:55:36 PM EST Total views: 10  Your views: 5
I can see your point and I agree with your idea. Exactly, learning English could be a superior opportunity for people to seek a better job. This will be a reason that many people follow the step of learning English. But my perspective of who needs English language is that somebody interests in leaning languages. Those people interest in language, vocabulary and grammar and believe English is like music or chocolate to attract their attention. I assume that they are not just to understand the meaning of the sentence but to feel the image of the language.

Subject: RE:About oral presentation
Author: Liang SHAN Creation date: Tuesday, November 9, 2010 12:12:53 AM EST Date last modified: Tuesday, November 9, 2010 12:12:53 AM EST Total views: 1  Your views: 2
I agree with your point. I am a designer and I believe that oral presentation is quite important in my job, because it is the best way to communicate with the clients. During the whole process, we express our idea with some visual aids. It is easy for the clients to understand and interactive with our. We can use Apple inc. as an example, Steve jobs the CEO of Apple, and he manages the presentation every year at WWDC. We can clearly see that the new Apple produces is how to product and why they create the new goods. Therefore, the benefits of oral presentation are obviously and I encourage that everyone should try it.

Reflection week 3

I have been Australia almost a year. At 10^th November I took the airplane to the capital city of Victor——Melbourne last year. I still remember the mood when I in the airplane. It is very complicated but excited. The most reason is that I can see my girlfriend soon and new life will begin, while unknown difficulty should be a challenge for me in the future. Anyway, I am on the way.

Before one year at Melbourne I finished the busy, substantial and hard 3^rd week of E7. The middle course assessment (MCA) is the big job of 3^rd week. Although, its result is not a requirement that we should pass, I really did a lot of work before the test. Firstly, I solve that vocabulary issues. Some new words I have ever met before, such as exaggeration, sufficient, etc. and then I fixed some problems of the structure. However, I still feel the writing is not satisfied because I have a faulty time management. I can’t believe that an hour was spent in introduction and first paragraph. No extra time for me to check my grammar and possible mistake. I definitely hope I can get 70%.

The 3^rd week I star to focus on discussion board. Its convenience is certainly useful for students to discuss in the internet. I think that I not only can learn knowledge at RMIT University but also study advanced learning method. Discussion board offers a platform for University’s student to discuss and learn with each other. It is like a forum at the internet and you can put your idea on the website at anytime, anywhere and any information. It is quite awesome! I do want to recommend that China’s Universities have the same educational system.

Next work is the oral presentation. I already chose the topic last week, while I still confuse about the topic until now. I need to discuss with Carla next week. Maybe she could give me some useful suggestions. 

Reflection week 2

Thursday, I handed in my first critical response. To be frankly, it doesn't make me feel better. I spend too much time in writing and a lot of new words that I doesn't familiar. I ask some classmates in the next day, and they also face similar problem with me. These problems are quite popular, we find that the article is difficult to comprehend therefore you need to put much energy to understand it. Next Wednesday is middle course exam, while there is limited time for me to practice a new one. I believe that everyone must care this exam.

Fortunately, Sara and my well friend help me to solve some writing problems. They make me to understand how to write the structure and which words can be used in your essay. After some practice I find that I obviously understand something how to write it. The critical responds is belong to a kind of essay. While it not just argues some topic, it is examine that whether the writer has the issue of logic, evidence, tone and possible bias. Here is a sample structure which is easy for you to understand. First of all is the introduction. You should describe the background information and premise the author’s main idea and then is your thesis statement. Next, in the first body paragraph you should paraphrasing the author’s first argument and give your counter argument as well. In my opinion, these like your topic sentence. Then you need to analyze the bias, logic, evidence, tone and language. You can separate these in different paragraph. The second paragraph is same as above except that do not repeat the bias, tone and language. Finally, in the conclusion is necessary to restate the argument and give your final thought.

To read one article is easy, while two is totally different. Next week when we finish the exam, Sara will teach us how to compare and contrast two critical responds.

Reflection week 1

After I finished the E6 module, finally I stared the E7 courses. In the first week I feel a little bit exciting and a little bit worry. The reason is quite simple because I finally pass the E6 courses and I know E7 is quite tough and totally different with other courses. We should work hard and do a lot of homework after class. In the rest course we should write critical analysis essay and do oral presentation in the test. These two parts are really difficult and cost your much energy. Anyway, do your best and keep practice; I have confidence to pass the final exams.

In the first day of this course the teacher introduce the outline of the module. The exam’s structure has some changes. In listening test you should take notes from an article and complete the questions. Reading and writing is together during the test, you should read two essays firstly and analyze it whether have bias. To be honest, these areas are my weakest subject and I really need a strategy to ensure that I can pass the test. After 5 days courses, I now know what critical responds is and how to write it. This kind of essay is very useful to improve your English skills because you should stand in a neutral position to analyze it.

Now I am in a new class and I meet some new friends and teachers. Two ladies are my teacher in this module, they are Carla and Sara. Both of them are so good and I enjoy in their teaching. I find some students who have different advantage in different subjects that can be a well partner for learning English. We can learn each during in class or out of class. An interesting thing in E7 is that homework is part of your final result; therefore we should finish a lot of homework after class.

To sum up, E7 is tough and big challenge for me; however, I believe it’s interesting and will improve my English skill. Trust yourself and do your best.

My learning journey

E7 is my final level. A lot of friends told me it’s very difficult and tough, so reasonable strategies and working hard must be a key to pass this level. According to VAK Learning Style I have a learning strategy which is in terms of listening, writing and reading.

1. Writing could be my weakest subject among the 4 skills. I want to get at least 3% higher than last module (77%), and improve my writing speed.

·                     Rewrite every critical responds.

·                     Try to have some extra writing practice out of the class and correct with ILC’s teachers.

2. Listening is also the area which I should pay more attention to. I want to get at least 1% higher than last module (82%)

·                     Using the Learning Hub’s resources to do independent learning at least twice a week.

·                     Access some good websites (e.g.: TED or ABC) to listen to some updated news and try to take notes.

3. Reading is the second weakest subject. I want to improve 3-5% at least than last module (79%) and increase the speed as well.

·                     Remember at least five new vocabularies one to two days.

·                     Finish one text which is from Cambridge 5-7 once a week.

I am a kinaesthetic learner

Kinaesthetic learners prefer to being involved in activities. They need to apply the information and make it their own by constructing something or practising a technique or skill.

Characteristics of kinaesthetic learners

• Often they take notes or even draw pictures or doodle whilst listening
• Remember best what they did
• Memorise by walking and seeing
• Like ‘hands on’ activities and group interaction

Study hints for kinaesthetic learners

• Test your learning by applying it or transforming it to another form. For example use lecture notes or readings to draw a diagram, flow chart or even construct a model.
• Start or join a study group
• Relate facts or theories to your own experience
• Learn or memorise information by teaching or telling someone else
• When studying take frequent breaks. This is also helpful for the other learning styles.