Thursday night blog??? Well, I glass of vino has been consumed and the rain has stopped – we shouldn’t underestimate the effects of the weather on students’ ability to study and, hell, even to make it into college!
However, I’m really writing to praise the SWAP workshop thing at the beautifully located Craighouse Campus – I believe one Siegfried Sassoon once recuperated and reflected upon his contributions to the ‘glory of slaughter’. It was really good to break from routine, and have a day away from Stevenson. I realised I had been caught up a bit in the mounting pressure of the work load – half the teachers seem to have suddenly picked up on the fact that we’ve only got a month till Xmas, and have determined to chuck assignments at us, Arriba, abajo, al dentro, al centro!
Anyway, they gave me a cup o tea, which is always a winning start, and it was encouraging to see so many people, of a mature status, all eager to study! Then we heard a good talk on the ‘transitions’ we could expect on moving on up from college to uni. They’ll be a lot less contact time and no obligation to attend lectures, where up to 500 unknown faces may gather in a large, formal, impersonal environment. However, us mature students often WANT to attend because we have something to contribute. And we’re too old to deal with hangovers!
Loads of good advice regarding Note Taking was the 2nd workshop. Many lecturers post some of their notes online BEFORE the lecture, and, of course, you can always read up on the subject. I’d say note taking is a skill that I’ll develop with time, but I’m no too bad at the mo! It’s important to:
• Prepare beforehand
• Develop note taking style & strategy
• Think before you write
• Try to identify key points
• Review, reflect & possibly rewrite ASAP
We then experienced a real live lecture on Sectarianism in Scotland. Seemed interesting, but the lecturer was trying to squeeze a full lecture into 30 mins. So we just got some good stuff about Irish immigration, which we discussed and evaluated in groups before lunch.
A workshop on Academic Writing was next, which re-enforced some of the points we’d been given by Scott, and I knew from my IELTS in Cambridge tutoring. It was still good advice and during the talk... BING BANG BUMP!!
Why the arse was I so hell bent on writing so much for my Investigating Europe project?? I felt the need to write about Barça’s season in a manner that was fitting for the majesty of the triumph, and would show my literary talents to the full. Lovely. However, it’s probably more important to finish the project, and give myself time to do other stuff and have a wee pint!
The last workshop was probably the best! It concerned Reading, and led us into the ideas of being a Passive and Creative Reader....more on this later!
Ciao
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Monday, 23 November 2009
Monday 23 November
Wow, how time flies! One month till Xmas holidays begin, and work seems to be piling up!
I managed to write down some sentences for my UCAS personal statement, but it’s going to need a lot of tidying up, sorting out and clarity of vision!
I did spend a lot of time on my Investigating Europe project last week, and, just as Joe predicted, I’m going to go over the word limit. The problem is that when I started writing about last season’s Barca games, it gave me such good memories that I wanted to write more and more!! I’ll speak to Joe this week and ask if he wants a condensed version!
Evan’s history class was very useful, and he confirmed that I was on the right lines for my “Women’s vote” essay, which can also be used in Communications. I actually started working on it on Saturday morning…a glorious sunny morning… I was sitting by the living room window with classical music playing….but then Suzanne & NJ came in, so we had to switch to crap TV!!! And that was the end of my creative period. I don’t like working in my room during the day!
Cedric gave us a wee test in French class. I had no problems with the reading and listening sections…..you get to write your answers in English. The writing section was more difficult….I’ll have to study my mistakes and rewrite my utterings! I feel fairly confident about the spoken section.
I know I made a stupid mistake in the Maths assessment….25+9= 36!!!! Why? Because I was jumping ahead and thinking about square roots. Lesson – one step at a time!
Targets for this week –
(1) Arrange interviews for Investigate Europe.
(2) Complete I.E. Season review, having spoken to Joe.
(3) Complete History essay.
(4) Rewrite French essay.
I managed to write down some sentences for my UCAS personal statement, but it’s going to need a lot of tidying up, sorting out and clarity of vision!
I did spend a lot of time on my Investigating Europe project last week, and, just as Joe predicted, I’m going to go over the word limit. The problem is that when I started writing about last season’s Barca games, it gave me such good memories that I wanted to write more and more!! I’ll speak to Joe this week and ask if he wants a condensed version!
Evan’s history class was very useful, and he confirmed that I was on the right lines for my “Women’s vote” essay, which can also be used in Communications. I actually started working on it on Saturday morning…a glorious sunny morning… I was sitting by the living room window with classical music playing….but then Suzanne & NJ came in, so we had to switch to crap TV!!! And that was the end of my creative period. I don’t like working in my room during the day!
Cedric gave us a wee test in French class. I had no problems with the reading and listening sections…..you get to write your answers in English. The writing section was more difficult….I’ll have to study my mistakes and rewrite my utterings! I feel fairly confident about the spoken section.
I know I made a stupid mistake in the Maths assessment….25+9= 36!!!! Why? Because I was jumping ahead and thinking about square roots. Lesson – one step at a time!
Targets for this week –
(1) Arrange interviews for Investigate Europe.
(2) Complete I.E. Season review, having spoken to Joe.
(3) Complete History essay.
(4) Rewrite French essay.
Monday, 16 November 2009
Monday 16th
Well, the private classes went OK last week so I’m not going to starve to death…yet. We’ve just had Dieca telling us a bit more about the UCAS application process so I’ve got to write a personal statement for that….pressure!
We watched a fascinating yet tragic documentary about the Guerre Civil. We then started reading “La Lengua de las Mariposas” in class. This was difficult…I felt we worried about individual vocab items and didn’t concentrate on the more general aspects – the story, the characters. It was also complicated by the fact that the author seemed to jump about in time on the 1st page…the main character was in school then worrying about starting school. Also the PRETÉRITO IMPERFECTO is the same in 1st & 3rd person, which made it tricky to know who the subject was!
However, I did get a basic feel for the 2 principal characters…and on Saturday morning I managed to read the whole story! Of course, I didn’t understand every word but I followed the tale which is the most important thing!
Other than that, nothing much of note!
We watched a fascinating yet tragic documentary about the Guerre Civil. We then started reading “La Lengua de las Mariposas” in class. This was difficult…I felt we worried about individual vocab items and didn’t concentrate on the more general aspects – the story, the characters. It was also complicated by the fact that the author seemed to jump about in time on the 1st page…the main character was in school then worrying about starting school. Also the PRETÉRITO IMPERFECTO is the same in 1st & 3rd person, which made it tricky to know who the subject was!
However, I did get a basic feel for the 2 principal characters…and on Saturday morning I managed to read the whole story! Of course, I didn’t understand every word but I followed the tale which is the most important thing!
Other than that, nothing much of note!
Monday, 9 November 2009
Monday 9th Nov
Last week was a bit of a financial disaster: no hope of extra financial support from the college, TLI won’t continue the evening classes, and the potential study at Riccarton was cancelled. That triple whammy hit me fairly hard: do I judge success by money alone? Well, no but I’d like enough to have a life! Maybe I am discovering more about the reality of student hardship. We’ll see how the private class idea works out but I guess I might have to start looking for bar work!
Enjoyed a good chat with Scottish Anna in the literature class, and it’s true that explaining your understanding of something to another person can strengthen your own understanding, and occasionally make you realise some gaps in your knowledge. I’m looking forward to doing more short story review work. I never really did suss out the Queen of Sheeba / King Solomon reference though!
The role plays in French have been great fun and I’m still pleased with how much had been implanted deep within my mind! However, I need to keep working on new vocab: car – la voiture, and what was meat??? Maybe just order boef!
Popped in to see Joe and had a brief chat about progress. I didn’t do enough last week, but I really didn’t feel like working on Thursday after the money disappointments, and the weekend??!! This week I’ll finish the History section, and do some research & planning on the Symbol of Catalonia.
Scott’s communication class has been fascinating of late: Calvinism, the Enlightenment, David Hume et al. Perhaps I should try and study Scottish history?? I didn’t finish the Hume assignment in class and this was good….The last time I pushed myself to finish my writing within the class time, and although I passed without problem I feel that I rushed the work. Better to take one’s time and experience higher levels of satisfaction.
I find Maths a very pleasant way of starting a Friday morning – it is logical captain, and there is a definite answer to be found. Onto Pythagoras and his groovy triangles!
After all my moaning about Chartism, Evan thought it was excellent and actually read out a section in class. Pleasing but a bit embarrassing!
Enjoyed a good chat with Scottish Anna in the literature class, and it’s true that explaining your understanding of something to another person can strengthen your own understanding, and occasionally make you realise some gaps in your knowledge. I’m looking forward to doing more short story review work. I never really did suss out the Queen of Sheeba / King Solomon reference though!
The role plays in French have been great fun and I’m still pleased with how much had been implanted deep within my mind! However, I need to keep working on new vocab: car – la voiture, and what was meat??? Maybe just order boef!
Popped in to see Joe and had a brief chat about progress. I didn’t do enough last week, but I really didn’t feel like working on Thursday after the money disappointments, and the weekend??!! This week I’ll finish the History section, and do some research & planning on the Symbol of Catalonia.
Scott’s communication class has been fascinating of late: Calvinism, the Enlightenment, David Hume et al. Perhaps I should try and study Scottish history?? I didn’t finish the Hume assignment in class and this was good….The last time I pushed myself to finish my writing within the class time, and although I passed without problem I feel that I rushed the work. Better to take one’s time and experience higher levels of satisfaction.
I find Maths a very pleasant way of starting a Friday morning – it is logical captain, and there is a definite answer to be found. Onto Pythagoras and his groovy triangles!
After all my moaning about Chartism, Evan thought it was excellent and actually read out a section in class. Pleasing but a bit embarrassing!
Monday, 2 November 2009
Monday 2nd Nov
Hooray! I'm have a multimodal (ARK) learning preference.
Strongest in Reading & Writing, closely followed by Kinesthetic, then Aural with Visual coming in last. I'd say that makes me quite a 'traditional' learner: I like to be able to read the words and make my own deductions. Of course I also like to be able to ask questions and hear the answer. When it comes to understanding some physical processes I want to be able to touch or physically interact to feel how something works.
Strongest in Reading & Writing, closely followed by Kinesthetic, then Aural with Visual coming in last. I'd say that makes me quite a 'traditional' learner: I like to be able to read the words and make my own deductions. Of course I also like to be able to ask questions and hear the answer. When it comes to understanding some physical processes I want to be able to touch or physically interact to feel how something works.
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