ALL GROUPS: for November 24 & 25 (2008)

[Updated Nov 18]

Dear students,

1/ Tuesday group only: I am not very happy about posting the corrections of the handout on the phrasal verbs. As I told you, some (maybe most?) students did not come for the catch-up class last week for most probably unjustified reasons. Nevertheless, as requested by some genuine students at the end of the class, these answers will be posted some time soon.

2/ All groups: You can rewrite your paper on Darwin or Einstein (I think I have returned most of the papers) and if all the mistakes are perfectly corrected, you can get up to 2 points maximum. The original paper must be returned so that I can see the difference. You can do it for next week or the following week. I apologise to those students whose papers have not been returned yet. They will be returned next week at the latest.

3/ We will finish our discussions on the Brain Drain From African Countries.

4/ If you need to clarify some of the vocabulary/expressions from the transcript handed out to you on Monday or Tuesday, do ask me at the beginning of next class.

5/ Next class (Nov 24 & 25): try to do some research on the US Elections: read, listen, watch as much as you can. Next week, after listening to and/or watching a report on these elections, you will have to write a short essay (for around 20 minutes). You will only be allowed to use your handwritten notes but no computers, nor transcripts, nor copies of articles, no dictionaries, etc. will be allowed.

6/ I will collect another sample of your homework on The Brain Drain on a random basis as well. If your homework is not done and/or not ready and/or if you have forgotten it, you will get a zero mark. You may hand in your homework on a voluntary basis (if your name does not come up) but, in that case, it will be graded like the rest of the homework collected.

7/ Students that will be absent for unjustified reasons will automatically get a zero on their homework and on the assignment.

8/ The first in-class exam (maximum 50 minutes) will take place on December 8th (Monday groups) and on December 9th (Tuesday group); there will be several parts:

Part A will be based on listening comprehension:

• you will hear extracts from the reports we have studied and a series of questions will be asked to explain/clarify some aspects from these extracts

• there could be a fill-in-the-gap like part as well (I will use the transcripts handed out to you).

• there could be an unknown report and specific questions on it (that is why it is VERYimportant that you VERY regularly listen to reports from the BBC, PBS, ABC, etc)

Part B: there will questions on the vocabulary, the idiomatic expressions, and the phrasal verbs

Revision program

• Susan Wicklund
• The Cost of Coffee
• The Brain Drain From African Countries
• The phrasal verbs
• vocabulary from Wicklund and The Brain Drain (see transcripts)
  

9/ If you are absent for justified or unjustied reason, there will be no catch-up exam whatsoever. Make sure you get up early in the morning, take the right train/metro much in advance, don't miss the steps in the staircase, don't walk on banana peels in the streets and don't eat too much before the exam! Remember, in Paris, there never was a tsunami, nor any earthquakes, no any giant floodings or similar catastrophes...and so far, no coup d'états or curfews are in the offing...

Absent students:

* If your absence is unjustified, you will get a zero mark.
* If you can provide me with a strong, valid and very serious justification/certificate, you may be given a take-home exam and/or you will be asked to take another kind of exam but it will NOT compensate the in-class exam you have missed and it will NOT be graded the same.

10/ Do let me know and email me if you find something interesting, funny, insightful on the US elections.

Best regards,

Mounir Nassor
(mounirnassor@yahoo.co.in)