M1 students: assignment for May 09 on "Australia"

Answers the questions on the report on "Australia" (see the handout for the questions on this report) and send your answers before Saturday, May 09 (8 am).

Here is the link in case you need this handout again:

[switch to Internet Explorer or Mozilla (or vice-versa) in case this link does not work. If nothing works, email me and I will send it by email]

http://9giga.sfr.fr/n/50-17/share/LNK219449b985acad206/

Instructions :

• Deadline: Saturday, May 09, 8am.

• I will remove 3 points per day if the work is sent after this deadline. I will not accept papers after Monday (May 11), 8 am, thereafter, it will be zero.
• double spacing, font 12 (- 2 points if you do not follow this guideline)
• your attached file must be either in RTF format (Rich Text Format) or just cut and paste your answers in your email itself if you do not know how to make an RTF format file (unlike Word or Open Office files, the RTF format is a basic format most softwares can read and open).
  

Deadly mistakes: -2 points for each mistake

• no plagiarism: use quotation marks if you cite someone in your paper or if you use specific words/expressions used in the report
• capitalization rules on nationalities and religion (adjectives and names of the religion : «Australian» not « australia», « Jewish » not « jewish »)
• no basic grammar mistakes: agreement rules (examples : « he goes » not « he go », « they were» not «they was »; « there are two students » not « there is two students» etc.), irregular verbs, other basic grammar rules
• no contracted forms (contracted forms are not allowed in academic/formal papers: can’t > cannot / isn’t > is not, etc.
• spelling mistakes on basic words (which / witch), use a spellchecker (« correcteur d’orthographe »), change the language from French to English in your software
  

Make sure you get an email from me confirming that I have received your paper. If I do not confirm, this means I did not receive your paper. Wait 24 hours before sending me a reminder.

M2 students: assignment for May 09 on "The Cost of Cotton"

Instructions :

• Deadline: Saturday, May 09, 8am.

• I will remove 3 points per day if the work is sent after this deadline. I will not accept papers after Monday (May 11), 8 am, thereafter, it will be zero.
• double spacing, font 12, around 150 words each section +/-10%. (- 2 points if you do not follow this guideline)
• your attached file must be either in RTF format (Rich Text Format) or just cut and paste your answers in your email itself if you do not know how to make an RTF format file (unlike Word or Open Office files, the RTF format is a basic format most softwares can read and open).
  

Deadly mistakes: -2 points for each mistake

• no plagiarism: use quotation marks if you cite someone in your paper or if you use specific words/expressions used in the report
• capitalization rules on nationalities and religion (adjectives and names of the religion : « Chinese » not « chinese », « Jewish » not « jewish »)
• no basic grammar mistakes: agreement rules (examples : « he goes » not «he go », « they were» not «they was »; « there are two students» not « there is two students» etc.), irregular verbs, other basic grammar rules
• no contracted forms (contracted forms are not allowed in academic/formal papers: can’t > cannot / isn’t > is not, etc.
• spelling mistakes on basic words (which / witch), use a spellchecker (« correcteur d’orthographe »), change the language from French to English in your software
  

Make sure you get an email from me confirming that I have received your paper. If I do not confirm, this means I did not receive your paper. Wait 24 hours before sending me a reminder.

Questions:

1/ Explain/discuss in around 150 words why, for Gérald Estur, a freelance international cotton consultant, « the competition African farmers are facing on the world market is very difficult ».

2/ Listen to the following section (from 13 minutes to 14 minutes 26 seconds ie from “I’ve been in all the different types of sizes …” to “their conditions are bad.”) and explain/discuss in around 150 words what Pietra Rivoli says about the coastal regions in China.

3/ Listen to the last part of the report (from 19 minutes, 40 seconds ie from “Most consumers don’t really think…” till the end) and explain/disuss this part in around 150 words.

Message for all groups

Dear students,

The transcripts of the reports "Australia" (M1 and M2 groups) and "The Cost of Cotton" (M2 group only) are available from the link below.

[switch to Internet Explorer or Mozilla (or vice-versa) in case this link does not work. If nothing works, email me and I will send them by email]

http://9giga.sfr.fr/n/50-17/share/LNK219449b985acad206/

Message for all groups: class cancelled today (April 10)

Dear students,

I have just returned from Malesherbes and like a couple of M2 students I met there, when we arrived there at around 4:45 pm, we discovered that the center was closed…

Before leaving La Sorbonne at 4 pm, I did try to double-check whether or not Malesherbes was open. Nobody answered the phone calls there, the « Portail étudiant » had not been updated and there was no information whatsoever. The History department had no confirmed information and they knew next to nothing. But, the officer in-charge at the information desk at the main entrance at La Sorbonne told me that the center was open…However, to my utter dismay and immense frustration and anger, it was not!...

Are we really in the 21st century and in the age of high-tech super mega speed technology where information is supposed to be almost instantaneous and immediately available to everybody??...

Well, it’s almost 6 pm and I’ve just returned to La Sorbonne to the teachers’ room (room Chastagnol) to leave all the handouts I had prepared and brought for you.

As far as your homework is concerned, to sum up, everything that was supposed to be done for today is postponed for the first Friday after the holidays, there will be a the vocab quizz for the M1 and M2 groups as indicated earlier. But, there will be no listening comprehension test nor grammar tests on the first Friday, they are postponed for the following Friday. As indicated earlier, add two more pages of vocabulary from the handout «Government and Politics».

Best regards,

Mounir Nassor

email : mounirnassor@yahoo.co.in

A communiqué from the History department

Motion des professeurs, maîtres de conférences, PRAG, ATER, Allocataires-moniteurs et chargés de cours de l’UFR d’histoire de l’Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne

7 avril 2009

Les enseignants-chercheurs de l’UFR d’histoire :

1° expriment leur très vive inquiétude devant la gravité d’une situation dont les conséquences sont, d’ores et déjà, après huit semaines de désorganisation, très lourdes pour l’avenir de la formation et de la diplômation des étudiants ;

2° appellent chacun à l’esprit de responsabilité et au respect de la liberté de travail afin que tous les enseignants puissent, en conscience, assumer leur mission de service public ;

3° demandent instamment au président Georges Molinié de rétablir effectivement les conditions concrètes du fonctionnement de l’Université. Il s’agit aujourd’hui d’une reprise immédiate des cours sur tous les sites de la Sorbonne afin de préserver le contenu réel des enseignements et rendre encore possible la validation du second semestre de l’année 2008-2009. Les conditions d’évaluation (contenu, modalités) relèveront exclusivement de l’appréciation des enseignants responsables. Il y va désormais de l’image et de la crédibilité de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne.

Votants : 62 ( +2 partis avant le vote et 1 arrivé après = 65 présents)

OUI : 41 ( + 2 oui partiels : 1 aux points 1 et 2 – 1 au point 3) – NON : 6 – Abstention : 13

approbation de la motion par 66 à 70 % des participants au vote et par 87 à 91% des suffrages exprimés

Next Friday (April 10)

Dear students,

It was not possible to have a room at Institut de Géographie again but I managed to find one at Centre Malesherbes (108, boulevard Malesherbes, 75017 Paris / Métro : Malesherbes ou Villiers).

So we will have class as follows in room 125:

• M2 group: from 5 pm to 6:30 pm
  

• both M1 groups: from 6:30 pm to 8 pm

Best regards,

Mounir Nassor

(email : mounirnassor@yahoo.co.in)

PS: Since I do not have all the students' email addresses, could you please quickly inform the rest of your classmates and friends about this? Thanks in advance!

Message for all groups: for next Friday (April 10)

Dear students,

I will indicate by next Thursday (April 09) where and when our next class on April 10 will take place.

Here is the link to get the handouts and the audio reports:

http://9giga.sfr.fr/n/50-17/share/LNK219449b985acad206/

M2 (next Friday, April 10)

• Vocab quizz on the first 4 pages of the handout "Governement and Politics" and "The Brain from Africa"
• Reading Comprehension: the handout was given today, this is a training exercise (ie not graded), we will correct the answers next week
• Audio report titled "Australia": the handout was given today, this is a training exercise (ie not graded), we will correct the answers next week
• We will start discussing the report from the BBC "The Cost of Cotton"
• Do let me know if you had problems with the some words or expressions from What Clash of Civilizations by Amartya Sen

For the first Friday after the holidays:

• Vocab quizz: add 2 more pages of vocabulary from the handout "Government and Politics" + Brain Drain + What Clash of Civilizations
• Listening Comprehension Test: you will hear a short (unknown) audio report twice and you will have to answer 5 questions
• Very short test on grammar: present perfect (simple and progressive)/preterit

M1 (next Friday, April 10)

• Listening Comprehension (the handout was given last week and it was due for today (April 03) but bring the handout and we will rapidly correct the answers)
• Reading Comprehension: the handout was given today, this is a training exercise (ie not graded), we will correct the answers next week
• Audio report titled "Australia": handout given today, this is a training exercise (ie not graded), we will correct the answers next week

For the first Friday after the holidays:

• Vocab quizz: add 2 more pages of vocabulary from the handout "Government and Politics" + Brain Drain + What Clash of Civilizations
• Listening Comprehension Test: you will hear a short (unknown) audio report three times and you will have to answer 5 questions
• Very short test on grammar: present perfect (simple and progressive)/preterit

Reminder: to improve your listening skills and achieve the objectives of this course based (among others) on "academic" listening comprehension and expression, it is very important that you listen and watch "academic" reports in English. You can download for free thousands of audio reports (most of the time, the transcripts are availiable, except for the BBC World Service):

• BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/

• PBS (USA)

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/

• ABC (Australia)

http://www.abc.net.au/

• Useful Online Dictionaries via Lexilogos

http://www.lexilogos.com/anglais_langue_dictionnaires.htm

• Wordreference

http://www.wordreference.com/enfr/

Message for all groups (for Friday, April 03)

Dear students,

Because of the disruptions that occurred this week by students on strike at Institut de Géographie (I.G.) and since the rooms at La Sorbonne continue to remain desperately closed, I have been told by the adminsitration from I.G. that they will close the center at 6 pm instead of 8 pm and they asked me to reschedule the sessions I had planned there for this Friday (April 03).

As a result, we will class as follows in "Nouvel Amphi" (ground floor) at Institut de Géographie:

• M2 group: from 3 pm to 4:30 pm
  

• both M1 groups: from 4:30 pm to 6 pm
  

The other solution was to have class on Saturday morning but I could not contact the person again at I. G. to book the rooms on Saturday morning though I really tried hard all this morning and spent a lot of time trying to find a solution to all this re-scheduling...

M1 groups: the vocab quiz planned for this Friday is maintained: the first 4 pages of the handout "Gouvement and Politics" and vocabulary from the report "Brain Drain from Africa" (BBC report). Should you be absent that day, you are required to provide me with a valid and sincere justification, otherwise, you will get a zero. There will be no catch-up whatsoever!

I apologise to all of you for all this but I really tried my best to find a solution that would be acceptable to all of us in these very difficult circumstances.

I hope you will all understand.

Best regards,

Mounir Nassor

(email : mounirnassor@yahoo.co.in)

PS: Since I do not have all the students' email addresses, could you please quickly inform the rest of your classmates and friends about this? Thanks in advance!

PPS: (REMINDER) Students who were absent for the previous quiz are required to provide me with a valid and sincere justification to avoid getting a zero.