Tutorial on Active English (units 1~2)

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Tutorial on Active English (units 12)
Tang Jinlan The Institute of Online Education,
BFSU
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Session 1 Introduction

• Time 900 950
• Objectives
• Getting to know more about each other
• Getting familiar with AE series
• Getting to know some practical suggestions on how
  to learn the three courses
• Tasks
• 1. Getting to know more about each other
• 2. Becoming familiar with AE series

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Task 1 Getting to know more about each other
Three adjectives that describe you Something you do well
Name (English, pin-yin, or Chinese)
Someone you would like to spend a day with A place you' d like to be right now
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Task 2 Becoming familiar with AE series

• Discussion questions
• What does Comprehensive English focus on?
• What does Interactive English focus on?
• What does Enrichment Reading focus on?
• How are they related to each other ?
• How do the three textbooks differ from the three
  learner workbooks?
• What are your suggestions on learning the three
  courses?

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Session 2 Solving study problems

• Time 1000 1050
• Objectives
• Getting familiar with words and expressions in
  talking about study problems
• Finding out specific information from the text
  and synthesizing it in the discussion
• Solving study problems
• Tasks
• What mistakes did Willy make in study?
• What are Sues suggestions?
• Solving study problems

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Task 3 What mistakes did Willie make in study?
(1)

• Words and expressions in talking about study
  problems
• assignment, workload, concentrate on, cope with,
• reading lists, set time, make (take) notes,
  drafts, tough,
• stuff, subjects, pick and choose, look up, index,
• set aside (time), routine, get(put) thoughts down
  on paper,
• approach, keep to (that routine), eliminate
  distractions (????)

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Task 3 What mistakes did Willy make in study?(2)

• Willys problems
• He finds it hard to concentrate in class.
• He doesnt take notes in class.
• He is not selective in reading.
• He doesnt set aside a fix period of time to
  study.
• He doesnt write drafts in writing.
• He doesnt have a good study method, eg. he
  spends a whole day studying and finds it hard to
  concentrate.

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Task 4 What are Sues suggestions?

• Sues suggestions
• She does not read complete books, just selects
  those that are relevant to the topic.
• She takes note in reading.
• She uses the index at the back of the book.
• She does a lot of language practice outside the
  class, particularly listening and speaking.
• She sets aside regular times to study and keeps
  to that routine.
• She sets herself an exact job to do in every half
  hour study session.
• She tries to get her idea down on paper and
  writes more than one draft in doing the
  assignments.

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Task 5 Solving study problems (1)

• My problems
• 1. What can I do to improve my oral English as a
  distance learner?
• 2. As a student of BeiwaiOnline, in which way can
  I communicate with my tutor?
• 3. I come across a lot of problems in language
  and learning skills during the process of
  distance learning, is it possible for me to find
  a learner partner? How?
• 4. I cannot attend all the face-to-face
  tutorials, how can I know what is going on at the
  tutorial?
• 5. I dont have the access to the Internet, can I
  learn the courses of BeiwaiOnline?

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Task 5 Solving study problems (2)

• Set up an English fan club with other distance
  learners with the same interest. Attend every
  face-to-face tutorial and practice English as
  much as possible. Practice oral English alone and
  have it recorded, then ask others to give
  comment.

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Task 5 Solving study problems (3)

• You may use the internal message system, exchange
  email with your tutor, use the hot line service
  provided by BeiwaiOnline, fax message to your
  tutor, send letters to your tutor, and
  communicate with your tutor at the face-to-face
  tutorial.

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Task 5 Solving study problems (4)

• Use the platform to look for learners with the
  same wish. For example, you can join a random
  Group study", join chat room, send message to
  your classmates, join English learning platform.
  If you dont have the access to the platform, you
  may join an English fan club, or you may find a
  pen friend or telephone friend in your class to
  help each other.

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Task 5 Solving study problems (5)

• You may enter the education platform to download
  the related materials, or you can buy the VCDs of
  the face-to-face tutorial presented by BeiWai
  headquarter tutors. In addition, you may ask your
  tutor or classmates to get related information.

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Task 5 Solving study problems (6)

• Sure you can. You can prepare a complete learning
  package, including printed materials, VCDs,
  CD-ROMs, audio or video tapes. Try to attend each
  face-to-face tutorial with questions in mind.
  Keep in touch with other distance learners and
  practice English together.

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Session 3 Higher education in US and China

• Time 1100 1150
• Objectives
• Reviewing words and expressions in talking about
  college students life
• Finding out specific information from the texts
  and synthesizing it in the discussion
• Practicing your critical thinking skill learning
  to make comparisons and contrasts
• Tasks
• What does a typical American college student look
  like?
• What does a typical Chinese college student look
  like?
• What are the differences?

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Task 6 What does a typical American college
student look like? (1)

• Some useful words and expressions used in talking
  about college students life
• casual jeans sweater admit apply to
  reputation record expensive afford loan be
  concerned about vacation competition
  institution facilities verbal graduate
  dormitory campus homesick independent suburb
  social life informal independent
  communication

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Task 6 What does a typical American college
student look like?(2)

• There are usually more than one child in their
  family.
• They wear casual clothes, e.g. blue jeans and
  sweaters on campus.
• They need to work hard all through the high
  school if they want to enter universities with
  good reputation.
• They have to pass SATs or ACT in order to be
  admitted to a university.
• Whether they are accepted by a university depends
  on not only their performance in SATs or ACT, but
  also their high school records.
• They usually take a government loan to help pay
  their tuition and the living expenses.

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Task 6 What does a typical American college
student look like?(3)

• They love music, and also like watching TV. They
  are concerned about some social issues like
  pollution, the use of non-renewable resources,
  etc.
• They are usually very independent, which is
  reflected both in the lifestyle and the academic
  culture.
• They are financially independent from their
  parents.
• The role of teacher is to provide guidance and
  direction, not giving knowledge.
• Their teaching stresses a lot on communication
  skills and the ability to analyze information.

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Task 7What does a typical Chinese college
student look like?(1)

• There is usually one child in their family.
• They live on campus and share a dormitory with
  other students. They do not cook and eat at the
  school dining halls.
• Their parents pay for their tuition and the
  living expenses. Sometimes, they can also take a
  government loan.
• They are also very concerned about the social
  issues.
• They spend a lot of time on studies.
• Their classroom is usually teacher-centred.
• They learn a lot of basic knowledge about a
  subject.

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Task 8 What are the differences?

• High school records matter in deciding whether to
  admit a student to a college or not in America,
  while the entrance examination decides everything
  in China.
• American students usually take out a government
  loan to pay for their tuition, while parents pay
  the tuition in China.
• Teaching in America stresses more on developing
  Ss ability to analyze information, while Chinese
  students learnt a lot of basic knowledge about a
  subject.

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Session 4 Debate language

• Time 1330 1420
• Objectives
• Reviewing some words and expressions ER unit 1
• Practicing the skill of debating
• Practicing the use of some important words and
  expressions
• Tasks
• Mini debate Taking a year off before college
  good or bad?
• Focus on the language

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Task 9 Minidebate - Taking a year off before
college good or bad? (1)

• Useful words and expressions relevant to this
  topic
• interruption decision experience part-time
  private vacation benefit concentrate on
  relate to mature earn pay for
  tuition

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Task 9 Minidebate - Taking a year off before
college good or bad? (2)

• For
• one can learn more about life.
• one can relate what she learns to real life.
• one can become more mature.
• one can earn some money to help pay for the
  tuition and the living expenses

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Task 9 Minidebate - Taking a year off before
college good or bad? (3)

• Against
• one may forget how to study
• one may find hard to concentrate in class
• one may not want to study after going to work

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Task 10 Focus on the language (1)

• adjust (to), cope (with), concentrate on, in a
  way,
• set aside, keep to , be relevant to , look up
  make (take) notes, in advance, have in common,
  obtain, earn, be located in, attract, survive,
  apply to sb. for sth., get on with , impress,
  qualify sb for sth. ,used to, lose count,
  seem/be eager to do sth. , take chances, drop
  out, regardas, be concerned about, turn down, in
  fact, center on/around, have(little/some)
  influence on, prefer that, assume that ,
  mobile, accompany

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Task 10 Focus on the language (2)

1. ???????,?????????????????(concentrate on)
2. ???????,??????????????,????????(set aside, keep
   to, routine)
3. ???????????????, ??????????????(adjust to)
4. ???????630 ????????????????(apply to for )
5. ???????????????????(have little/some influence)

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Task 10 Focus on the language (3)

1. ????????????,?????(turn down)
2. ??????????????????,?????????,????(in fact, drop
   out)
3. ????????????????????(regardas)
4. ???????,?????????????????(obtain)

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Task 10 Focus on the language (4)

1. I went to bed late last night, and I found it
   hard to concentrate on what the teacher was
   saying today.
2. If I were you, I would set aside an hour everyday
   to review the lessons and keep to that routine.
3. Please tell me how you adjusted yourself to the
   college life, for your experience might be
   helpful to other people.
4. You scored 630 in the TOEFL test. Did you apply
   to some universities for scholarships?
5. You had better talk to him in person. My words
   had little influence on him.

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Task 10 Focus on the language (5)

• He turned down all the invitations this term and
  concentrated on his writing.
• In fact, he only had a high school education. He
  went to college for half a year, and then dropped
  out due to the high cost.
• Beijing Foreign Studies University is regarded as
  one of the best universities in teaching foreign
  languages in China.
• If you dont know English, it will be hard for
  you to obtain a good position in this joint
  venture.

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Session 5 Speaking practice

• Time 1430 1520
• Objectives
• Reviewing and getting to know some greeting
  formulae
• Practicing greetings and simple inquiries in
  different contexts
• Tasks
• How do we greet others and make simple inquiries?
  

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Task 11 How do we greet others and make simple
inquiries? (1)

• Some useful greeting formulae
•  How do you do?
• Hi.
• Hello.
• How are you?
• How are you this morning?
• How are you doing ?
• How are things?
• How are you getting on?
• Hows everything with you?
• How are things with you?
•  

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Task 11 How do we greet others and make simple
inquiries? (2)

• I am fine. Thank you.
• Very well. How about you?
• All right. And you?
• Not bad.
• O.K.
• Pretty good.
• Im doing fine.
• Not too well. I have a cold.

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Task 11 How do we greet others and make simple
inquiries? (3)

• Dialogue 1
• Speaker A is a new student. He majors in
  Engineering, and he comes from Manchester.
• Speak B is a new student. She majors in German,
  and she comes from Liverpool.
• They meet each other first time on campus.
• Dialogue 2
• Speaker A is a new student. She majors in
  English.
• Speaker B is a senior student. She majors in
  English too.
• They meet each other first time on campus, A is
  eager to learn about the course requirement,
  workload, and the lectures in their departments.

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Task 11 How do we greet others and make simple
inquiries? (4)

• Dialogue 3
• Speaker A is a new student. He studies Business.
• Speaker B is a professor of Business.
• She will teach the freshmen this term. They meet
  each other first time on campus.
• Dialogue 4
• Speaker A is a new student. He studies Biology.
• Speaker B is a student counsellor. She is As
  counselor this term.
• They meet each other first time. B is
  familiarizing herself with A. A is telling B his
  plan.

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Session 6 Listening practice

• Time 1530 1620
• Objectives
• Practicing listening for gist
• Practicing listening for detail
• Getting to know some listening strategies
• Solving problems in your learning
• Tasks
• Listening for gist and for detail

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Task 12 Listening for gist and for information
(1)

• Pre-listening questions
• Have you ever heard of Taj Mahal ?
• Where is Taj Mahal?
• How much do you know about it?

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Task 12 Listening for gist and for information
(2)

• While-listening questions
• listening for gist
• What is the main idea of the video?
• What problems has Taj Mahal been facing?
• listening for specific information
• When was Taj Mahal built? What was it used for ?
• Is this the first time that the hotel chain did
  conservation work on historical properties?

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Task 12 Listening for gist and for information
(3)

• While-listening questions
• listening for gist
• What is the main idea of the video? (A hotel
  chain is going to do some renovation work about
  Taj Mahal)
• What problems has Taj Mahal been facing?
  (neglect, industrial and transport pollution)
• listening for specific information
• When was Taj Mahal built? What was it used for ?
  (17th century, a monument for the Empress Mumtaz
  Mahal)
• Is this the first time that the hotel chain did
  conservation work on historical properties? (no,
  they have done the work on other historical
  properties.)

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Assignment

• Topic
• Please write
• 1) A passage about your view on taking a year
  off before college
• 2) A passage about the differences between a
  typical Chinese student and an American college
  student
• Number of words 100 words each
• Due date Nov. 3 of 2001

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Thank you!