All Language Centre courses

Even if the writing of foreign students is grammatically correct and coherent, it can sometimes have an undesired impact on the reader because it is written in the wrong style. This webinar will give some guidance on what is usually considered good academic style. Students will then be asked to complete some exercises on Moodle.

This workshop builds on topics covered in the previous session, partly by analyzing excerpts from published journal articles for their cohesion. Although attending the previous workshop is an advantage, it is not a prerequisite.

In-Sessional English Conversation Hours

So much hard work is compromised due to poor editing. Editing is much more than just simple proof-reading. It involves a critical approach to planning, setting out information, constructing argument, paragraphing, sentencing and ultimately understanding the effect of what we write on the reader. In this workshop we look at a variety of elements in the editing process and we use good models and student work to help us.

This workshop will show you to how to edit efficiently and effectively. We’ll be looking at a number of strategies with examples and the aim is to edit ‘smart’, and create a text that presents your ideas as fluently and coherently as possible.

This workshop discusses the basic principles of academic style, helping you to write more formally, persuasively and precisely. Learn how to attain clarity and accuracy and how to use the passive voice and tentative language (hedging). Students will apply their learning to practical examples.

The most significant grammar mistakes that foreign students make are usually those that greatly change the meaning of the sentence. Modals, such as can or would, are often used to indicate the position of the writer in academic writing, so their inaccurate use can easily give a very different meaning from that intended. For this workshop, students will first watch a video and complete some exercises on Moodle. In the real-time webinar, students can ask questions and discuss areas of difficulty.

One of the key areas in which non-native speakers of English have difficulty attaining native-level accuracy is in the use of prepositions. Although this webinar does not pretend to give students all the answers, it will provide a number of ways to conceptualise the use of prepositions and hopefully clarify this complex area of grammar. Students will then be asked to complete some exercises online.

Idioms form an important part of everyday spoken English and offer insights into British culture and society. In this informal workshop, you will explore English idiomatic expressions within their cultural context and will put them into practice through a range of simple exercises.

This workshop will discuss ways in which meaning can be conveyed in spoken English by intonation and stress, and offer students ways to improve the clarity of their spoken English and their comprehension of the spoken language.

Methodology and results are two very common chapters in academic papers and dissertations/theses, especially in scientific subjects. This workshop will focus mainly on linguistic aspects of these chapters.

The most common way for students to share their work with their colleagues is via presentations, using a variety of techniques and methods. This webinar, which dovetails with the Presentation Skills Practice workshop on 18 November, will introduce some ways in which you can make your work come across as coherent and effective.

Practise your prsentation skills and receive peer and tutor feedback. This workshop offers students the chance to give a short presentation, using interactive whiteboard (with PowerPoint) facilities. Its aim is to hone the skills required for effective presentation, and to practise in a supportive and friendly environment. A MAXIMUM 7 STUDENTS ONLY TO PRESENT. Students must bring a pre-prepared, short presentation with them on a USB stick. PLEASE NOTE IN THE SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO PRESENT.

In this workshop we will look principally at the components of ‘fast speech’. These include use of weak forms, linking, stress time etc. The aim of the session is both to recognise those aspects of pronunciation which aid listening and to get plenty of practice. Students who have come to previous sessions on pronunciation with me are advised that some material will be repeated.

Are you a speaker of Spanish, Catalan, Portugese, Italian or French? Would you like to have the chance to work on aspects of your English pronunciation? If so, join us for this fun and informal workshop, which offers pronunciation practice for speakers of Italic (Latin-derived) languages. Vowel and consonant sounds, linking, stress and intonation will be covered.

This workshop offers a friendly forum in which speakers of Asian languages can practise aspects of English pronunciation. The focus will be on speakers of Chinese and Japanese, but speakers of all Asian languages may attend.

This workshop offers a friendly forum in which speakers of Asian languages can practise aspects of English pronunciation. The focus will be on speakers of Chinese and Japanese, but speakers of all Asian languages may attend if space permits.

This workshop offers an introduction to various techniques for proof-reading a text, to try to ensure that it is as error-free and coherent as possible. It will also teach how to read and use basic proof-reading symbols.

This workshop will consider ways of referencing in a coherent and legible fashion, establishing what might be best practice for the needs of particular academic formats (dissertation, article, paper etc). Footnoting will also be looked at.

The exams that take place towards the end of the academic year can sometimes seem threatening. They don’t have to. This workshop will look at ways to prepare efficiently and effectively in the run-up to exams, working on various aspects of the revision process all the way through to the exams themselves VENUE: - http://cam.adobeconnect.com/revisionskills/

Why waste time going to translation dictionaries or just hoping that what you write will be right? The best resource for writing an academic paper in your subject is other papers which you can use as a model for your own writing. In this workshop we look at how to use journal papers and search engines to expand the accuracy and range of your academic vocabulary. Please make sure you bring a paper copy of a well-written journal paper from your field to the workshop.

With deadlines for MPhils dissertations fast approaching, drop in for this last-minute, trouble-shooting webinar on the research and writing process. Review what independent research entails and what your examiners are looking for. This will be a follow-up to the Lent Term workshop ‘MPhil Dissertations and Other Long Assignments’. VENUE: http://cam.adobeconnect.com/writing-up-your-dissertation/

Academic writing should be clear and concise. It should be coherent, easy to read and present a logical flow of ideas. This workshop will introduce you to a range of useful skills that will focus and improve the clarity of your writing. Learn about sentence length, signposting, ‘garden path sentences’ and more.

The Academic German for Archive Work workshops are offered a number of times during the academic year, based on demand. The sessions are held either at the Language Centre or on the premises of one of the two participating Schools.

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence.

At a basic level, the focus is on every day and real-time, oral/aural communication. Each course features a functional-notional syllabus and grammar points are analysed in context.

For more detailed information about the course please visit our website.