HCEAI English Class at La Sorbonne University

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

M2 Class: TED - Bunker Roy: Learning from a Barefoot Movement

http://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy.html

M2 Class: Barefoot College in India on ARTE until Dec 07

You can watch this insightful documentary on Barefoot College in India on ARTE until December 07th from this link:

http://videos.arte.tv/fr/videos/les-apprenties-solaires--7081952.html

Extract:

Presentation extracted from ARTE:

Rafea est la seconde épouse d'un bédouin sans travail. Cette Jordanienne, qui a quitté l'école très tôt, subvient seule à ses besoins et à ceux de ses quatre filles. Elle est alors sélectionnée pour passer six mois au Barefoot College, au Rajasthan. Avec vingt-six autres femmes venues du Burkina Faso, du Kenya, de Jordanie, toutes d'âge mûr, de milieu pauvre et sans qualification, elle va être formée à l'ingénierie solaire : circuits électroniques, soudure, cellules photovoltaïques... Un programme ambitieux pour des mères et des grands-mères qui, pour la plupart, ne savent ni lire ni écrire. Mais pourquoi les femmes ? Contrairement aux hommes qui quittent leur village une fois formés, elles mettent leurs connaissances et leurs ressources financières au service de la famille et de la communauté, explique Bunker Roy, le fondateur du Barefoot College. Mais la marche de Rafea vers l'indépendance économique et l'autonomie sociale se heurte au poids des traditions et aux réticences de son mari.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Permanent link for documents (audio reports, transcripts, etc.)

Here is the link all my HCEAI students (M1 and M2 groups) will have to use to find the documents (audio reports, phrasal verbs, vocabulary, etc.) used and discussed during the class sessions:

[in case this link does not work, switch to Mozilla/Firefox or to Internet Explorer or email me, I will send the documents and audio reports by email]

http://9giga.sfr.fr/n/50-17/share/LNK948150618767f0a50/

Saturday, November 17, 2012

M2 Class: Nov 20: 1st Main Exam: Program of Revisions

The 1st Main Exam on Nov 20 will last around 75-80 minutes maximum and will cover:

A/ Vocabulary:

1/ The Cost of Cotton (BBC)
2/ Listening comprehension recordings (Employment, After Graduation, Natural Medecine, History of Dentistry, Archaeology, PC A Practice Test 1)

    3/ False friends: exercises 1, 2 and 3

C/ Grammar (in translation):

    1/ Unit 26 to 33 included
    2/ Phrasal Verbs: Unit 145, 144 and 143

C/ Listening comprehension:

1/ there will be an unknown recording with questions: you will hear it twice: the first time without the questions, which means you take extensive notes while listening, and a second time with the questions.

2/ you will hear extracts only once from "The Cost of Cotton" (BBC) and "Wikipedia at Ten" (BBC) and you will have to write a short commentary on these extracts.

REMINDER: We must leave the classroom at 4:55 pm maximum as there is a class after our class.

Other reminders:

1/ Attendance rules:

Attendance is compulsory for those students who are in "contrôle continu": if you are absent 3 times (ie 2+1) for unjustified reasons, if you cannot provide me with a valid and sincere justification, you will be automatically registered in "contrôle final".

2/ If students in "contrôle continu" fail to take this 1st main exam, they will be automatically registered in "contrôle final". They will be allowed to take the other exams and attend our class sessions on Tuesday afternoon.

3/ There will be no catch-up session whatsoever, even if you have a valid and sincere justification. Please, do arrive on time if not in advance!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

M1 Class: Nov 16: 1st Main Exam: Program of Revisions

The 1st Main Exam on Nov 16 will last around 90 minutes maximum and will cover:

- Vocabulary and False friends: the same program as on Nov 09 (see previous note)

- Gram (in translation): from Unit 26 to 31 included

- Reading comprehension: there will be an unknown text with questions

- Listening Comprehension: you will hear extracts twice only from "Cartoons Coverage" and you will have to write a short commentary on these extracts

Reminders:

1/ Attendance rules:

Attendance is compulsory for those students who are in "contrôle continu": if you are absent 3 times (ie 2+1) for unjustified reasons, if you cannot provide me with a valid and sincere justification, you will be automatically registered in "contrôle final".

2/ If students in "contrôle continu" fail to take this 1st main exam, they will be automatically registered in "contrôle final". They will be allowed to take the other exams and attend our class sessions on Friday afternoon.

3/ There will be no catch-up session whatsoever, even if you have a valid and sincere justification. Please, do arrive on time if not in advance!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

M2 Class: short vocab test on Nov 06 / homework / Reminders

The short vocab test on Nov 06 will cover the vocabulary from:

- False Friends: exercises 1, 2 and 3
- The Cost of Cotton
- Listening comprehension recordings:

Archaelogy

Practice Test 1

Natural Medecine

The History of Dentistry

Since we did not discuss the vocabulary from "After graduation", there will be no questions from this recording.

Homework for Nov 06:

Grammar:

units 32 (ex 2/3/4)

unit 33 (ex 3/4)

unit 143 (ex 3)

Reminders:

1/ Exams dates:

- 1st main exam: Nov 20

- 2nd main exam: Dec 11 = "contrôle final" for those students who are not in contrôle continu

- 2nd short vocab test: Dec 18

2/ Attendance rules:

Attendance is compulsory for those students who are in "contrôle continu": if you are absent 3 times (ie 2+1) for unjustified reasons, if you cannot provide me with a valid and sincere justification, you will be automatically registered in "contrôle final".

3/ There will be no catch-up session whatsoever, even if you have a valid and sincere justification.

Monday, October 29, 2012

M1 Class: program of revisions / reminders

Reminder: there is no class on Nov 02

The first short vocab test on Nov 09 will cover:

1/ Reading comprehension texts:
- Remnants of the past
- Language diversity
- Trends in the Indian fashion and textile industries
- Neanderthals and humans

2/ Vocabulary:
- Government and politics: up to page 5 included
- Media vocabulary: the whole handout

3/ False friends: exercises 1, 2 & 3

Homework for Nov 09:

- Grammar: Unit 28 (ex: 2/3), unit 29 (ex: 3/4), unit 30 (ex: 3/4), unit 31 (ex: 2/4)

- Listening comprehension + vocabulary: WikiLeaks (PBS reports). You can also watch this report on the site of PBS:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec10/wikijournalist_07-27.html

Reminders:

1/ 1st Main Exam: Nov 16

2/ Attendance rules:

Attendance is compulsory for those students who are in "contrôle continu": if you are absent 3 times (ie 2+1) for unjustified reasons, if you cannot provide me with a valid and sincere justification, you will be automatically registered in "contrôle final".

3/ There will be no catch-up session whatsoever, even if you have a valid and sincere justification.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

M2 class - Exams dates

- First short vocab test (vocabulary + false friends covered until Oct 26 included): Nov 06. This vocab test will last around 15 minutes maximum.

- First main exam (around 80 minutes): Nov 20 (vocabulary, grammar, listening comprehension)

Reminders:

1/ Second main exam (40% of the semester grade) = "contrôle final" for those students who are not in "contrôle continu": Dec 11. This exam will cover everything done during the semester.

2/ Second short vocab test: Dec 18

3/ Should you fail to sit one of these exams, there will be no catch-up session whatsoever, even if you have a valid and sincere justification.

(mounirnassor@yahoo.co.in)

M1 class - Exams dates

- First short vocab test (vocabulary + false friends covered until Oct 26 included): Nov 09. This vocab test will last around 15 minutes maximum.

- First main exam (around 80 minutes): Nov 16 (vocabulary, reading comprehension, grammar, listening comprehension)

Reminders:

1/ Nov 02: no class (we'll try to catch up one way or another)

2/ Second main exam (40% of the semester grade) = "contrôle final" for those students who are not in "contrôle continu": Dec 14. This exam will cover everything done during the semester.