Lesson 1 – Introduction to presentations. English Communication for Scientists http://www.nature.com/scitable/ebooks/english-communication-for-scientists-14053993 1) Work first on your own, then compare your answers with your neighbours A) Make a high-level inventory of the scientific communication for which you were part of the audience within the past six months or past year: the journals or magazines you read, the Web sites you consulted, the presentations you attended, and so on. For each item in this inventory, characterize yourself as an audience. Do you consider yourself specialized or less specialized in the topic or field discussed? If possible, think of what a similar inventory would have looked like a few years ago. In what sense were you a different audience than you are now? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- B) In the previous inventory or simply in recent months, think of all the communication instances that have frustrated or possibly offended you as an audience member. For each, try to identify the reason for your frustration. Was the content too complicated? (Did you perhaps feel excluded as a nonspecialist?) Was the structure confusing? Was the tone inappropriate? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- 2) Watch the video. As you watch, note down what Joanna does badly. Use this checklist to help you. Adapted from J. Comfort and D. Utley, Effective Presentations, 2000. Checklist Overall Does she consider the audience? Does she have clear objectives? System Is her presentation well prepared? Is there a clear structure (beginning, middle, end)? Does she link the parts together? Is the content relevant and interesting? Has she considered timing? Delivery Does she speak clearly? Does she speak at the right speed? Does she use appropriate language? Body language Does she use her body to emphasize meaning? Does she maintain eye contact with the audience? Does she appear confident and positive? Visual aids Are the visual aids clear? Do they support her message? Does she use the equipment professionally? 3) Which parts should be included in a presentation? 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 4) Discuss the following statements with a partner. Are they true or false? a) It is a good idea to write your speech in advance and to read from a prepared script. b) You can improve your delivery by recording yourself as you practise your speech and then watching or listening to the recording critically. c) You should find out as much as you can about your audience in advance. d) It can help to have a drink before you give your speech. e) What you wear when speaking in public is very important. f) Starting your speech with a joke will relax both you and your audience. g) You will give a better speech if it is more spontaneous and less carefully planned. h) There is no point in using visuals. i) It can help give you confidence if you imagine your audience are all chickens. j) Poor pronunciation does not influence understanding. k) Even a naively delivered presentation may succeed if the presented is enthusiastic about the topic. 5) Making a presentation – vocabulary and phrases. Adapted from Academic Vocabulary in use, OUP 2008. Rewrite these sentences by changing the words in bold so they are less formal. a) We need to consider family income too, but I will return to that later. b) So, to proceed to the next point, I will omit item 4 on the handout and instead talk about number 5 in greater detail. c) I will try to finish by 3.30, but do not feel you need to ask permission to leave if you have a class or other appointment to go to. d) There is a handout being distributed and I have some further copies too if anyone wants them. e) I will finish there as my time has come to an end. f) We did not want to make people uncomfortable by having a camera in the room. Nevertheless, we did want to video as many of the sessions as possible. g) I would like to return to a point I made earlier about river management. h) So, I believe our experiments have been successful. I shall end there. Thank you. i) To return to the problem of large class sizes, I would like to look at a study carried out in Australia in 2002. j) I will try not to exceed my time, so I will speak for 30 minutes, to allow time for questions at the end. Write six sentences using appropriate combinations of the words given in A and B. You may use words in A more than once. A present take raise make give B issue presentation results overview comment questions 1) ……………………………………………………………………… 2) ……………………………………………………………………… 3) ……………………………………………………………………… 4) ……………………………………………………………………… 5) ……………………………………………………………………… 6) ……………………………………………………………………….. Listening: What can I do with a Mathematics Degree? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLlxranKf78 1) Look at the word cloud and explain how these expressions are related to mathematics. Výsledek obrázku pro mathematics quotes 2) Discuss questions with your neighbor. 1) Why have you decided to study maths? 2) Why and where is maths important? 3) What sort of career can you have as a mathematician? 4) What is the difference between vocational and non-vocational degree? 3) Listen to the talk and answer questions. 1) What is Dr. Chris Good going to explain? …………………………………………………………………………………………… 2) What is the difference between studying engineering and medicine on the one hand and mathematics on the other hand? …………………………………………………………………………………………… 3) Which things he mentioned would not work without mathematics? …………………………………………………………………………………………… 4) What is Dr. Good interested in? …………………………………………………………………………………………… 5) Why do societies need mathematically-literate people? …………………………………………………………………………………………… 4) Revision. Rewrite these expressions into mathematical symbols. Adapted from Křepinská, Houšková, Bubeníková, Rozšiřující materiály pro výuku anglického jazyka, Matfyzpress 2006. a) square brackets ……………………………………… b) parentheses, round brackets …………………………… c) braces………………………………………………….. d) X is an empty set ……………………………………… e) M is the set with the elements 2, 4, 6 ………………….. f) Capital l minus l is equal to d ………………………….. g) The nth root of c to the mth equals c to the power of m over n …………………… h) b to the power of minus n is equal to one over b to the nth ……………………….. i) The limit of f of x as x tends to x nought is not equal to f of x nought ……………. j) The limit, for delta x tending to zero, of the sum of f of x sub k delta x taken from x sub k equal to a to x sub k equal to b minus delta x equals the integral from b to a of small f of x d x equals capital f of x between the limits a and b ………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………… k) y equals the negative square root of the difference r squared minus x squared ……………………………………………………………………………………….