Sumários
Summary Writing
22 Maio 2018, 14:00 • Cecília Maria Beecher Martins
Introduced students to the principles of summary writing
The five most important steps to good summary writing
1. Read and understand the article well – check any words you don’t know in the dictionary so that you really understand the text
2. Extract information from the text in content sections – put information together that should be together
3. When writing your summary use your own words and sentence structure in the summary but identify the original text clearly
4. Remember you do not need to give all the examples so some sections may be very short. Include the main points and the main supporting arguments only. You can actually leave out most of the details.
5. Do not add anything to the content
Students practised this skill by writing a 150-200 word summary of James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" in class after they had performed an animated reading of the text and done note taking exercises.A tutorial was available to students who had not attended the WILL Lab session on summary writing.
The final exercise students performed in below.
Write a summary of the following article: Original Passage 2 : A December 20, 2001, online article entitled, "A world empire by other means." The author's name is not given. It was published on Economist.com, <http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=S%26%
2BXL%2FRA%5F%24%OA>
It [English] is everywhere. Some 380 million people speak it as their first language and perhaps two-thirds as many again as their second. A billion are learning it, about a third of the world's population are in some sense exposed to it, and by 2050, it is predicted, half the world will be more or less proficient in it. It is the language of globalization, of international business, politics, and diplomacy.
It is the language of computers and the Internet. You'll see it on posters in Cote d'ivoire, you'll hear it in pop songs in Tokyo, you'll read it in official documents in Phnom Penh. Deutsche Well broadcasts in it. Bjork, an Icelander, sings in it. French business schools teach in it. It is the medium of expression in cabinet meetings in Bolivia. Truly, the tongue spoken back in the 1300s only by the "low people" of England, as Robert of Gloucester put it at the time, has come a long way. It is now the global language.
How come? Not because English is easy. True, genders are simple, since English relies on "it" as the pronoun for all inanimate nouns, reserving masculine for bona fide males and feminine for females (and countries and ships). But the verbs tend to be irregular, the grammar bizarre, and the match between spelling and pronunciation a nightmare. English is now so widely spoken in so many places that umpteen versions have evolved, some so peculiar that even "native" speakers may have trouble understanding each other. But if only one version existed, that would present difficulties enough. Even everyday English is a language of subtlety, nuance, and complexity. John Simmons, a language consultant for Interbrand, likes to cite the word "set," an apparently simple word that takes on different meanings in a sporting, cooking, social, or mathematical context-and that is before any little words are combined with it. Then, as a verb, it becomes "set aside," "set up," "set down," "set in," "set on," "set about," "set against," and so on, terms that "leave even native speakers bewildered about [its] core meaning."
Sample summary: The article "A world empire by other means" published on December 20, 2001 in the Economist online proposes that English is and looks to remain the most important language for international expression. Soon, half of the world’s population will use it with some degree of skill. Despite its humble beginnings – spoken by a small initial population; its difficulties in spelling, pronunciation, and grammar; its many varieties around the world; and its complexities in usage – with one word having many possible different interpretations – globalization has made it the language of international business, entertainment, politics, and diplomacy.
Summary Writing
22 Maio 2018, 12:00 • Cecília Maria Beecher Martins
Introduced students to the principles of summary writing
The five most important steps to good summary writing
1. Read and understand the article well – check any words you don’t know in the dictionary so that you really understand the text
2. Extract information from the text in content sections – put information together that should be together
3. When writing your summary use your own words and sentence structure in the summary but identify the original text clearly
4. Remember you do not need to give all the examples so some sections may be very short. Include the main points and the main supporting arguments only. You can actually leave out most of the details.
5. Do not add anything to the content
Students practised this skill by writing a 150-200 word summary of James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" in class after they had performed an animated reading of the text and done note taking exercises.
A tutorial was available to students who had not attended the WILL Lab session on summary writing.
The final exercise students performed in below.
Write a summary of the following article: Original Passage 2 : A December 20, 2001, online article entitled, "A world empire by other means." The author's name is not given. It was published on Economist.com, <http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=S%26%
2BXL%2FRA%5F%24%OA>
It [English] is everywhere. Some 380 million people speak it as their first language and perhaps two-thirds as many again as their second. A billion are learning it, about a third of the world's population are in some sense exposed to it, and by 2050, it is predicted, half the world will be more or less proficient in it. It is the language of globalization, of international business, politics, and diplomacy.
It is the language of computers and the Internet. You'll see it on posters in Cote d'ivoire, you'll hear it in pop songs in Tokyo, you'll read it in official documents in Phnom Penh. Deutsche Well broadcasts in it. Bjork, an Icelander, sings in it. French business schools teach in it. It is the medium of expression in cabinet meetings in Bolivia. Truly, the tongue spoken back in the 1300s only by the "low people" of England, as Robert of Gloucester put it at the time, has come a long way. It is now the global language.
How come? Not because English is easy. True, genders are simple, since English relies on "it" as the pronoun for all inanimate nouns, reserving masculine for bona fide males and feminine for females (and countries and ships). But the verbs tend to be irregular, the grammar bizarre, and the match between spelling and pronunciation a nightmare. English is now so widely spoken in so many places that umpteen versions have evolved, some so peculiar that even "native" speakers may have trouble understanding each other. But if only one version existed, that would present difficulties enough. Even everyday English is a language of subtlety, nuance, and complexity. John Simmons, a language consultant for Interbrand, likes to cite the word "set," an apparently simple word that takes on different meanings in a sporting, cooking, social, or mathematical context-and that is before any little words are combined with it. Then, as a verb, it becomes "set aside," "set up," "set down," "set in," "set on," "set about," "set against," and so on, terms that "leave even native speakers bewildered about [its] core meaning."
Sample summary: The article "A world empire by other means" published on December 20, 2001 in the Economist online proposes that English is and looks to remain the most important language for international expression. Soon, half of the world’s population will use it with some degree of skill. Despite its humble beginnings – spoken by a small initial population; its difficulties in spelling, pronunciation, and grammar; its many varieties around the world; and its complexities in usage – with one word having many possible different interpretations – globalization has made it the language of international business, entertainment, politics, and diplomacy.
Open City by Teju Cole
21 Maio 2018, 12:00 • Zuzanna Zarebska
Open City by Teju Cole. Students discuss Teju Cole's Open City and answer the guideline questions on the main character's quest of conquering the city as well as himself. Students' presentations
Open City by Teju Cole
21 Maio 2018, 10:00 • Zuzanna Zarebska
Open City by Teju Cole. Students discuss Teju Cole's Open City and answer the guideline questions on the main character's quest of conquering the city as well as himself. Students' presentations