Monday, September 30, 2013

Week 8 Course Evaluations, PowerPoint Presentations, and Mid-Terms

This week will bring all stress levels up just one more notch! Remember to breathe and do not come to class hyped up on chemicals! Have yourself a nice cup of Chai Tea with milk before class and blink a couple of times—it’ll be all over and you can move on to something else.


On Monday we’ll begin with the presentations, I hope you all remember that this is NOT the week to have any absences because they will bring your participation grade down one point for each day missed—check the syllabus—this whole week is in the grey box!


All pending work is due this week; that means everything we have done up to now is due by Thursday if you hope to receive any credit for it. On Monday October 6th, I will deliver a piece of paper to each student with your current grade for the entire course. I have found this to cause fewer disillusions at the end of the course when your final grade is NOT such a surprise.


This week, on the blog I would like to see you write about each other’s presentations; (for example, things which you found surprising about another person’s topic, new information which you did not even imagine to be true). In reading some of your essays I have learned many facts about these topics which I did not know, some have compelled me to go to the sources and learn more. Also discuss your feelings about getting up and sharing in front of the group (Was it difficult? How did you feel? What would you do next time? What wouldn’t you do again?)

 If any of you are planning to do a Master’s Degree outside of Mexico in an English speaking country you should know that MD programs are known for students teaching other students much like what we are doing this week!

36 comments:

  1. Hi classmates!!!
    The power point presentation I think is the most difficult activity in all semester.
    Stand up and talk about a issue in the world with more help than our presentation is complicated, I was surprised because I was the third to present my exposition, I'm always nervous and I freak out but it is normal, doesn't it?!
    All the presentations are interesting and I think we can learn something new like too much people die on Hiroshima, that actually the food could be dangerous and we can have cancer, the water is too contaminated.

    Finally, the presentation help to us to practice our speaking, and get the control when we speak in public.

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    1. Hi Gaby!

      I agree with you; I think speaking in front of other people make us feeling nervous but it´s a great way for practicing our pronunciation, fluency and also, to learn about topics we haven´t even heard about before.

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  2. without* more help than our presentation...

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  3. Good Night classmates!
    I´m really impressed about some information that I didn´t know and I never imagined, like in atomic bomb in Hiroshima and AIDS orphans, that were really cruel and sad topic, but we need to know, to in the future we do not repeat the same
    About my presentation, I felt really bad because I was sick of flu but I tried to explain me the best that I could, and in my next presentation I need to relax me more and try to be more fluid.
    About sharing true information, I think its the most important action in presentation, because we can transfer knowledge that maybe it will relevant to the people in his lifes.

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    1. Agree with you Memo, it's awesome the things that we can learn! At the same time, we do realize what's going on in the world and how we can help.

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    2. Hi Memo, well, really, I liked your topic and the form in which you developed it (more images and less letters). In fact, you don´t look like sick :)

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    3. Well done in your presentation! I agree with Carmen, you didn't look sick.

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    4. Hi Memo!

      I totally agree with you, I think that sharing true information it´s the key to structure this kind of job, because it could result interesting or useful for someone else.

      Greetings :)

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    5. I agree with you memo, it was interesting to know about the bombs attack, and also I missed you presentation but everybody made it very good

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  4. Good Night classmates! The European Union, was a subject not easy for me, because I knew nothing about the subject, so it was very illustrative; also be general culture is an important part of the contemporary world.
      Very useful in case of traveling to Europe.
    Today, God gave me a test. My dear cousin Rafael died at 5:30 p.m.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Im sorry. I know what you can feel because I my mother die in may 31th. but the life continuous and they will be proud of what we can do when we honor his memori. dedicating some of your time to remember the best of him. the not dead lives in you and in the hearts of all who knew him

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    3. Martha,

      I had a similar test on Thursday, they notified me during the exams--when I could do nothing but quietly sit there crying, big humility test.

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  5. I'm so nervous to do my presentation because I have a lot of homework of my carrer and I don't have much time to practice my topic, but I do my best, and you'll have a good explanation from my topic, I'm proud of it, and I hope you like my presentation.

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    1. you can do it great Dany, good luck!

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    2. Good luck in your presentation Daniela! P.S: you have a little mistake in "carrer", would be "career"

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    3. I liked the way that you explained today! Do not worry, you explained the topic very well.

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    4. yes i'm agree with Jimena you explained very well. but you need believe in your country, In the others countries the peolple feel like you. THE ORGANIZATIONS ARE BAD OR THEY TAKE THE MONEY FOR OTHER THINGS.

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  7. Hi! :)
    I like presentations, is easy and good way to learn about others topics, we do not need to investigate much, because our classmates provide good information. It´s hard when the presentations are with many words and almost no images, by the contrary, when are many images, the presentation becomes cool and interesting, also is not hard pay attention.

    I explained my topic with the group of 5:45, and I liked it. I do not feel nervous, and I guess because in that classroom are just a few people. Also I studied my topic before, to understand well what I was going to say and try to don´t be nervous.

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    1. Hi Jime, I agree with you, the presentations should have less letters and more images and to avoid to read the information; it´s supossed that you know the topic and sometimes it´s hard for the students that there are many letters.

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    2. Jimena & Carmen,

      I am in full agreement. When your classmates have slides with text they lose a minimum of 10 points on their presentations, although I also must say that reading all the information is almost as bad from a teachers point of view. You should know the topic well enough to speak intelligently for 7 minutes....

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  8. The topic of Violeta was interesting for me because I can't understand why the rich countries don't gave free public education why not? only 30 countries I can't believe

    In my presentation I was very nervous and I forget words.

    my topic was World Wildlife but the organization disappointing me because some times they do things that the law prohibits not understand their way of thinking they ask that the laws are respected when it is being affected but when they violate the laws to their advantage they forget the struggle you have faced

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    1. Hi Isabel, I agree with you, neither I understood why some countries don´t have free education and why Pakistan has? It´s strange and sometimes contradictory.

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  9. Hi everyone!

    Well, I believe that to make a presentation is a little difficult in Spanish, so, in English is a bit more difficult but isn´t impossible. I liked my topic (Greenpeace) because to take care of the environment is a question that matters for all, the next time, I woul like to speak better. I enjoy to to prepare my presentation and to practice what I will say. It´s a good form witch we can improve our English.

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  10. Hi,

    I really enjoy the presentations, I couldn't listen all of them because of school. But, I like the way that we could learn new information about interesting and important topics in the world. One of the presentation that impact me more is the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, I get impress in who people were affected.

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  11. Hi!

    I enjoyed a lot every presentations because each one had it own touch in the work so, many were nervous, others were pretty sure. In general something that I learned in these topics is that human throughout its stay in earth have made disasters and have been deteriorating it, but exist responsable people who wants a better place to live, and they try to improve the world with great actions that impacts in all of us. In my opinion I liked very much the Hiroshima, Chernobyl, and environmental cancers themes.

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  12. Hi everyone!

    Even that I get nervous, I think this was a great opportunity for practicing my speaking in front of other people. If I do this again, I will absolutely use more images and less letters because thinking that I was going to forget important information like quantities or dates, I didn´t do it.

    I liked very much my classmates´s presentations because they were visually very attractive so I think that it´s something my presentation needed.

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  13. I Liked this dinamic because I've learned a lot of things that I didn't know, every topic was interesting. Was difficult for me talked in front of the group because I didn't studied enough and I read the majority of my presentation and that is the fact that I would like to change, read less in a future activity like this. However, I think that we got more vocabulary and we improved our fluence and pronunciation.

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  14. This is the thirt time that I write....

    well I really like presentations, even when most uf us got nervous. I think that is really interesting to know about all the topics that we presented, not just because is important to know it as general knowledge, in fact it could be useful to get concius and, we don't know maybe we can get a job later.

    Anyway, for me, to expose was really difficult, my legs and voice trumble and I feel that I'm dreaming...Anyway, I thint that I was better than in 700 level.

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    1. Alba as you said, we were nervous but anyway, everybody made a good presentation. It was interesting to know about the countries in the word that have a free public education, I like your presentation :) NICE!!

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  15. I loved everybody presentations because I learned a lot, Everybody needs to keep working in english... you doing it very well!

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  16. I was astonished with the topic of Violeta knowing that in 30 Countries the education is free. For me it is very iteresting, because I didn´t know it. I knew for some friends that the Government in other Countries pay them for going to study, the Master´s Degree..
    And I liked very much the topic of Isabel of the World Wildlife.
    I would have liked to speak about my topic of Robin Hood Foundation, instead of Reading it, but for me it was very difficult. (Too much Thecnologic words.)

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  17. It was interesting, if was the second time thy I made a presentation in English and in my opinion wasn't bad, maybe I have to Lear more and it's obviously, but I liked it

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