Quiz Team Aguilera!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Xmas Quiz this morning where three teams competed: Gerry's Girls, Beanies and Maroon 4.

It was hard fought throughout and Maroon 4 just snatched it with a great final round and an inspired guess on how long the Amazon River was in miles in the tie-breaker. I thought Carlos' drawing of the Amazon was the deciding factor!

Anyway, very well done to Nicky, Fannia, Matt and Carlos who took the glory and I thoroughly enjoyed the chocolates that were shared afterwards.

Thank you very much for the Xmas card which I shall display on my mantlepiece at home directly.

Well done for a very successful first session and you have all done extremely well.

The yearbook is on the D2L and you will each get a colour copy of the magazine on Monday 7th January.

Have a wonderful break whatever you are doing and I wish you all a relaxing holiday, we have earned it!

All the best,

Mark

Success part IV!

Dear all,

Seven fantastic presentations this morning and again, lots of interesting and diverse topics, so well done to all involved. Gerry was working hard too and he performed amazingly well when Sue asked him to demonstrate his hearing dog skills. He got some treats too, which were richly deserved in my opinion!

Next week I will see the whole class on Tuesday for the Xmas quiz and I HOPE to have the yearbooks then too, fingers crossed.

On Monday I only need to see Cameron and Lucy who will complete the reading assessment which won't take long.

All the best and very well done to all presenters, it was a great four sessions and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your skills develop.

Mark

The first few sessions in the Ne'er

Hi everybody.

This is how I plan to spend the first few weeks back after the Christmas holidays:

7th January 2013 - practice analysis of an oral presentation (in groups) - taken from the TED website.
8th January 2013 - finish off above in class.

14th January 2013 - assessment and discussion on presentation analysis (Oral Presentation Skills) - this also will be a talk from the TED website.
15th January 2013 - finish off assessment / remediation as necessary.

Now, there may be changes to the days I teach you here as we move into semester two as the timetables haven't been finalised yet, but:

Week beginning 21st January 2013 - listen to radio programme on 'Language' and answer questions (in groups), finish off questions / discussion as necessary.

Week beginning 28th January 2013 - assessment on listening (Comm 4 Listening outcome). This will be a radio programme and will follow the same pattern as the unassessed work from the week before.

Mark

One more presentation successfully negotiated

Dear all,

Well done to Laura who delivered a great talk this morning on how to sharpen knives which was high on levels of instruction and demonstration (with a home made cardboard knife no less!)

Nicky and Cameron will both deliver their talks in the session tomorrow which will conclude the presentations for this year.

Mark

Presentations, round two!

Hello all,

Well done to the seven presenters who did the business this morning. We had some really interesting and diverse topics resulting in everybody passing. Thank you to Loana who took a photo of Fannia's 'artwork' as I called it this morning. From a blank canvas to a full breakfast, awesome!

Well done again and I look forward to the remaining talks next Monday and Tuesday.

All the best,

Mark

Blackwell Christmas Bookstall, Wednesday 5 December

Blackwell's Bookshop Christmas Stall
Christmas is just around the corner - and we here at Blackwell's would like to make your Christmas shopping just that little bit less stressful.

We will be bringing a selection of books, CDs, DVDs, children's toys, board games, eReaders, calendars, Christmas cards, stocking fillers and other gift ideas to you on Wednesday 5th December from 10am to 4pm.

So come and visit our stall in the foyer area next to the Refectory and take advantage of our special Christmas offers.

All staff and student will receive 10 percent discount on the day (excludes already discounted items and eReaders) Plus spend over £50 and receive a free I Love Santa bag!

We look forward to seeing you there.

Congrats to our first two contenders

Well done to both Carlos and Dan who presented very well indeed this morning and got us off to a flyer. Everybody in attendance agreed that they had been educated, informed and learnt lots of new things, so well done chaps. Tomorrow morning will see seven talks instead of the previously advertised six and Vicky will be joining that session. Don't forget your presentation plans too (this is an assessment too remember), which won't take you long to put together.

Cheers,

Mark

Don't get tied up in knots

Carlos' presentation will be looking at knots as part of his talk. I encountered something similar to the photo below yesterday in my pocket. If you can relate to it, it should make you chuckle! Cheers.