a year on

So, how is it? What happened? How was your year?
I have ended up in Singapore, via Palestine, which i think you all knew about. Anyhow, i'm now a teacher trainer for the british council here. If you are ever in the area, or want to invite me to visit you, feel free!
News!

For every 16 group members

Hi everyone!
sooner is better lol

I post the today's picture on here:)

And.. yes I already miss my classmates
I was happy to meet all of them (including Ed and Mary)
happy to study with you

so, so,,
I want to introduce one famous beautiful Japanese phrase.

一期一会（Ichi-go ichi-e）

This phrase originate from Japanese tea ceremony and we use this for describing the special opportunity of meeting someone.
And, '一期一会' actually means "Live every day as though it were last." but we also use as"Treasure every encounter,for it will never recur."

I think the life is '一期一会'.
We can meet many people from now on.
But, I won't forget this class.
Thanks for everything during this PS5 course.

Keeping in touch:)

Cheers,
Mio

Feedback on the pre-sessional course

Please complete this general survey here's the link. If you have feedback you wish to send please email me edward.russell@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk and / or g.pearson@manchester.ac.uk (course co-coordinator)

thanks and best wishes

Group 16 in Chinese restaurant

Here is Group 16 in TAIWU! We had a really good time!
Giorgia, my camera is not fantastic~. My picture is also faint...
Saki

Our very Great, very Chinese group lunch!

Here is the picture of our lovely lunch!! I really enjoyed it!! I think we should do it again!!

The picture is a bit blowry...hopefully Saki will have a better one...I trust her fantastic camera :-)

Ciao ciao!

Giorgia

my reflections and acting plan

Through the PS5 cources and the process of my project, I feel that I have to study English more. My all English skill is so poor to write down the academic essay and sometimes I cannot explain my idea even in writing. Besides, especially academic essay, I have use some specific skills such as signposting words, paraphrasing, references and so on. I do not have such knowledge enough. Anyway, my issue is the English knowlege itself.

What should I next to do? There is only one answer, studying. But, to be more specific, I should study more about the grammar and vocabulary. These two things are most important for writing and the most basic knowledge in English. I will study the grammar text book and read lots of jornal / essay then pick up some words that I do not know.

Be more specific, I study grammar 30 minutes every day, and read the jornal, article or books at least 30 minutes per day. I study one certain grammar (such as tense, signposting words..) during one week and get at least 70 words per week. It means that I can get at least 10 new words from the books every day. These help me to get more about the basic knowledge of English.

Anyway I have to study study study more ;(

oh, sounds like negative... but, I do not think seriously.

I am really look forward to become a "professional" of English.



Cheers everyone,
Mio

My Reflections and action plan.

My Reflections and action plan.

Here is my issue: It took me ages to actually decide what the topic of my project would have been. In fact, considering that I'm going to study political economy, but coming from a philosophical back ground, I decided to push myself choosing an economy related topic. Shame that I didn't have a clue about it!
When I started doing my research I realized that I pushed myself too far. My topic was too difficult and I didn't have the time and the competence to fulfill it. So, I found myself having to change my topic at the end of the second week. It wasn't fun. I had to do further research and I had to rebuild my outline.

In order to improve my brainstorming and research capacities, I reckon I could be more humble when choosing the subject for an essay, deciding according to what would give me less trouble and better grades. I guess that I could also get on my tutor's nerves and ask for advice (however Ed told me that courses in the master will give a reading list to chose from).

Practically tho, I think that tonight I will go on the library's website and I will apply for one of their free courses. This should help me becoming faster when doing my research by teaching me how to manage the catalogue system better. Then, when the master is going to start, I will make sure I will find out the reading list as soon as possible and I will lay out my project from the very beginning, leaving space for improvements, but hopefully not major changes.

Right, that's it guys.

Looking forward to read yours!!

Ciao ciao!!

Giorgia

Students, teachers, leadership, and electric shocks

There's an old saying that it's either carrot or stick, when it comes to motivating other people. This kind of thinking, is very much theory X. I like to think more theory Y. Click here is you don't know what I am talking about.
Anyhow, this article caught my attention today which is about more than Milgram's famous experiments at Yale 50 years ago.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2011/sep/01/stanley-milgram-research-zealots-zombies

Today's lecture

What did you think about the lecture? Did you like it? Why do you think he mentioned China so much?

Anyhow, Marc has mind-mapped, again, and I hope he doesn't mind me sharing here.

He recognises that it isn't as detailed as the others that he produced (see below) as he didn't catch everything yesterday, though he said he enjoyed the lecture. You can suggest some changes, or additions in the comments.

Accents from all over the world!

As Ed told us, there are more conversations in English in the world between no-native speakers of the language, than between native speakers.

I'd like to share some links related with accent and show how sometimes the accent can create unvoluntarily problems with pronunciation and the ability to be understood by others.

Most of them are funny for me, i hope you enjoy them!!! :)

http://accent.gmu.edu/

Feedback on my presentatoin

Hi everyone,

According to our presentation last Thursday, I would like to say that you all did a really good job! All the presentations from you really made that morning special and enjoyable. I think each of you has your own style and strengths which is very useful for us to learn from each other.
For me, to be honest, I really did a lot of research and also read so many books in order to prepare my presentation content and also to understand more about my topic. Although I practiced it many times, I still made some mistakes during my presentation that day. The first thing is that I spoke very fast. I know it's because I was nervous. But I should have controlled it better. Actually, I also forgot many things I intended to say.
Secondly, I was quite disappointed with me dealing with the questions at the end of my presentation that I couldn't answer the questions properly. I couldn't express my own opinion.
I think next time I will have to spend more time preparing to deal with the questions.
Anyway, thank you for all your kind encouragement after I finished my presentation :)

Cheers,
Tob

My feedback on mine

I guess I was so nervous that I forgot to talk about a lot of stuff that were prepared before. And I was afraid that my poor accent and pronounciation were too bad for mates to follow. Fortunately, some pictures from my ppt saved my life, cause people seemed interested in these images of China's capital. And that made me less embarrassed.

It is urgent for me to practice more oral English and the stand-in-front-of-guys confidence.

A really long way to go. I know.

presentation feedback

Hello everyone,

we all had presentation on last Tuesday. And all of you had great jobs. I hear many different topics and ,what is more, I learned various interesting things though it.

I think I had a lot of things to improve. I was nervous when I did my presentation. And my voice may be a little tension. and I also forgot what I was going to say next. Even I practiced thousands of times before presentation.

overall ,I need your feedback~

Fiona

After my presentation

Hi,

I was very surprised and impressed by everyone's presentation on Thu.

All of you had a great job, to be honest, I really enjoyed it!

I was very disappointed with myself that I couldn't manage the time limit,

even though I practiced many times... :( I must have been super nervous! (me and presentation... we never can be friends...)

Although the opportunity is gone, I'd really want to talk to you about the last point I couldn't make it, if you don't mind.

My topic was "Is aid positive or negative?" and the last point was about the negative side which was the most important part of my presentation!! I mentioned three major problems in Korean development aid- inefficient budget allocation on development projects, repetitive projects implemented by different agencies in the same beneficiary country and the lack of respectful partnership with the beneficiaries. But! I had no time to explain with detail. So, let me tell you more about these three problems and I promise it won't be long.

Do you remember that the current situation of Korean development aid can be described as 'winning the championship' or 'sharing aid'? That is because there is a massive competition among different departments of each ministry and local governments to obtain the budget on development aid. Even though the major portion of development budget is allocated to KOICA, the rest of it is still big amount of money! So, they 'share' the rest of it but, since there are many participants, the amount of allocation for each is not sufficient to complete a proper project. Moreover, they implement the EXACTLY SAME kind of projects in the EXACTLY SAME developing counties! What's the point?!?!?! It is a waste of money to implement such repetitive projects in the same place!!!! It's totally meaningless and non-sense! Another problem is the lack of respectful partnership which is frequently complained by the beneficiaries. When Korean development agencies perform their projects in developing countries, they tend to exclude the recipient country's government or people who are involved in the project. I think it is very arrogant and disrespectful attitude. Even though they've got advanced knowledge or techniques, they are not native so they definitely need cooperation from the developing country's government or local people! If they want to work separately like that, I don't see why they bother to help them.

Well, that was all I want to tell you about and I wish I could tell you this in person on that day...

Anyway, whoever read this, I do appreciate your patience.

Have a wonderful weekend, all of you!

Hanna

How to reference a translated book ?

Hello Everybody !!

I am posting this because i think it might be very useful for everybody. Writing my project i'm using some books from my undergraduate studies in Italian.

This link give tips on how to make reference on translated book:

http://zu.libguides.com/content.php?pid=155473&sid=1317557

Hi guys!

I was looking on TED website for some presentation-inspiration and I came across this video.

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hardy_my_green_school_dream.html


It has nothing to deal with we are learing, but I found it extremely inspiring and encouraging (if you are an eco-freak/treehugger like me).

I know Ed will appreciate. Education and sustaunability together? You might want to drop Gerusalem and go to Bali :-)

Ciao ciao!!!

Giorgia

Presentations Tomorrow!!!

Hi Nina's group
presentations tomorrow, just to say bring any slides on a usb key, or email me, if you prefer. Googledocs is another opportunity. Remember the 10,20,30 rule...
See you
Ed

Last Lecture Note with MindMap(Updated 20110824))

Did it on the lecture.So there are still lots of problems.

Welcome any suggestions and corrections.

Shakti's presentation

http://audioboo.fm/boos/447892-shakti-s-presentation

Edison's presentation

click here

My presentation part 1

http://audioboo.fm/boos/447872-edward-s-presentation-1

Presentation of Tob and Hanna

Hello everyone!
I'd like to post my presentation and also Hanna's one

Tob's presentation

Part 1 Introduction;
http://audioboo.fm/boos/447393-tob-s-presentation_introduction

Part 2 Main Body;
http://audioboo.fm/boos/447375-tob-s-presentation

Hanna's presentation
http://audioboo.fm/boos/447399-hanna-s-presentation

Thank you!!!

Masoumeh's presentation

http://voicethread.com/share/2187697/

Presentations, Nina's group

Dear all of group 14 aka Nina's group,

If you are reading this, then good, well done.

I expected to see complete presentations but some of you only have your introductions recorded. If you have only done the first part, please extend, or continue with your recording. With this done that's step one complete.
Step two, is to please watch all the presentations below, and to leave a comment, perhaps with some useful feedback.

Ed

ps5 ppt recording(intro)

Hi, guys

This is Tae-hun.

Don't laugh but enjoy it.

In fact, I was having a hard time recording it cause I had to on the open field with many people passing by.

Looking back, it was kind of embarrassing, though.

I've got my file uploaded on the audioboo.fm and I gonna leave a link so that i can share with you.

Okay, here you go.

http://audioboo.fm/boos/447185-ps5-presentation-recording

These days in Manchester

When I was  delving into my momory, I found out that, this city was not that strange than I freshly came here. Though it just has been two weeks, maybe it is enough for me to appreciate the unveiled  beauty of Manchester: fabulous designs of the architecture, refreshing lawn with birds jogging on it, cyclists swiftly passing by, and clusters of cloud drifting away in the azure sky. This is just exactly what I have expected, as the movie Pride and Prejudice depicted. Everything has its place and lives in harmony.  Regularly, I savor these moments by taking a deep breath, and caress the view with my eyes. Just wonderful.

The first several days' memories are limited, for I had been suffering the jet lag. Surely, it was annoying to hit the hay at 7PM passively, and unconsciously woke up at 2AM in the midnight. But anyway, life here was colorful. Of course, solitute did not belong to me, even though I thought I would be lonely when I settle down temporarily. With so many Chinese pals around here, we shared a kitchen and cooked together, like an extended family. LOL. Besides, British guys are amicable and friendly,  they showed me the way when I lost myself in city centre.

Pre-sessional course was fasinating, for I am so lucky to have so many lovely mates and, of course, Ed and Mary, who really helped me a lot. In this global village, it is YUANFEN to bring us together. Undoubtly, we all  need to treasure it. Just enjoy it! BTW, I felt reluctant to do more practise in extra-curricular time, maybe that is why I am so weak at reading and listening. I will fix this problem and catch up with others. The clock is ticking. ..

Manchester is beautiful, which I believe so. Just I can not squeeze any time from my over-loaded schedules to check this out. Maybe, when something important is settled, I will wear my Ray's sunglass and dash onto the street for a spin!

Yang Yansong

The summary about critical thinking

Celeblity Advertising: reasonable or unreasonable question?

The professor Isabela lectu-Fairclough mentions the critical thinking with the example of the familiar situation such as advertising. She states why the critical thinking is important for us in her lecture, 'Celeblity Advertising'.


First of all, she defines an argument as a set of statements with the conclusion and premises. The premises include true, sufficient and relevant points. According to her, advertisements sometimes tend to disguise strong arguments. She gives an example of food products such as Sainsbury's wholegrain; there are lots of advantages to buy it on the surface, however, it avoids describing disadvantages like including high in sugar. In short, this mentions that you should not accept advertisements without question.


Next, she argues that the celeblity endorsement is very convincing, as if the celebrity has an authority. The disadvantage for firms is a conventional celebrity endorsement is risky, because if he or she is involved in a scandal, the firms cannot use him or her as an endorser. In fact, a company which used Tiger Woods as an endorser was compelled to change arguments because of his scandal. As a result, it has changed to use animal mascots which are a much safer option than human beings.

In conclusion, the reason why we should think critically is what we come to believe and do has consequences of being persuaded through argument. There is more to most things than meets the eye, thus it is essential for us to see carefully and take a skeptical view.



Saki

my reflection on the new life in manchester

Dear all,

It has been two weeks since I first set my foot on the land of city Manchester. New life, new environment, new studying, new friends....everything is new for me here. I feels so excited about and a little bit afraid of coming challengings in Manchester. Life is too different from my imagination. I will try my best to deal with all things.

Manchester is a big city，I always confused about roads here. Last week, when I was going to have a look at a house which I may rent, I nearly lost my ways. I could recognize which stop I should get off the bus because all houses looked the same. Fortunately, local people are very kind and warm hearted, I got useful guides from them. Thanks to those people. During looking for houses, I found life is really not easy that I have to face all things by myself. Not only to study, but also to handle everything about life, such as cooking meals. In the last two weeks, I learned a lot, both from life and studying.

I feels so luck to meet you guys here. You make my life easier and colourful. Nice teachers, kind friends, thanks to you all.

Wish everyone a wonderful life!

Wang Zhenni

jinfeng 's presentation

jinfeng's

Long's presentaion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6kDmSIgL9Q