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Learning Languages for Life

Presentation analysis / power of believing

February 26, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Jack Ma famously said we should not focus on giving our children knowledge, we should focus on them believing in themselves. In her talk, Ms Dweck expounds on her views as to how this can be achieved/

1: watch and react to ideas


2 – watch a second time / read pausing and answering the questions below
0:13 (time in transcript)
a – what is the very first hook sentence used by the speaker? How does she give emphasis with her voice
0:15
b – what do you think about the anecdote that follows
0:44
c – How does she use adjectives when talking about the experiment with 10 year-olds?
1:59
d – What do you think about the rhetoric question delivery at
e – How does she use repetition to emphasise the difference between the two groups?
3:13 – 4:02f – Does she use too many questions? How well does she deliver them?6:36g – do her examples sell her idea?

3 – read the transcript / watch a third time to make a note of
rhetorical questions / pauses/ sentence stress / imperatives / strong adjectives / subject (we, you, they)   / hand gestures / eye-contact with audience

Presentation skills: Sell a medical service

February 12, 2019 / / 0 Comments

You’ve probably heard of ted.com presentations, one of which we’re going to look at today. In this one we’re going to focus on how the speaker, Doctor Leana Wen, “sells” her idea to you, the audience. Which audience? A casual one that may not be that interested in the topic. Just like you.

Below you have the information on the general idea of the speech. How does it attract our attention?

Wouldn’t you want to know if your doctor was a paid spokesman for a drug company? Or held personal beliefs incompatible with the treatment you want? Right now, in the US at least, your doctor simply doesn’t have to tell you about that. And when physician Leana Wen asked her fellow doctors to open up, the reaction she got was … unsettling.

You will have noticed some of the following things Ted.com used:

a- questions, including a NEGATIVE question

b – “You / your”

c – emphatic words (right now / simply)

d – negativity (beliefs incompatible with / unsettling)

e – unfinished / unclear ideas (………. ) = mystery

Here is the title. Notice anything?

What your doctor won’t disclose

This is the doctor:

Here is the beginning of her speech. Can you see similar things (devices), or do you see a different approach? Do you think they match her dress / make-up / hairstyle / jewelry?

They told me that I’m a traitor to my own profession,that I should be fired,have my medical license taken away,that I should go back to my own country.My email got hacked.In a discussion forum for other doctors,someone took credit for “Twitter-bombing” my account.Now, I didn’t know if this was a good or bad thing,but then came the response:“Too bad it wasn’t a real bomb.”

You might have noticed the following:

a – mystery “they” “someone” “the response”

b – negativity – “Traitor” “be fired” “have..taken away” “hacked” etc

Before watching the presentation, think about why she decided to use this approach / the physical look to sell YOU her idea. Guess how she will continue, then watch!

Click on the transcript button and look for

a- devices like the ones we talked about earlier

b- generally useful presentation structures


MIT Sloan business school: How to lead digital transformation

February 8, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Report

https://sloanreview.mit.edu/projects/coming-of-age-digitally/

webinar

images (all taken from the sloanreview report linked above)

MIT Business school (Sloan): Digital Business Model for a bank

February 8, 2019 / / 0 Comments

In the video, the MIT Sloan speaker talks of his interview with he Executive chairman of Spain’s second largest bank and leader in digital innovation on how it executed its digital transformation. You will hear ideas related to the following questions. Before watching, think of your ideas, then compare.

1 – What six questions should a company CIO / executive ask himself when thinking about the digital business model of his company?

CASE STUDY:

Situation:

Imagine you’re the CEO of a large European bank. Times are tough. There’s pressure on margins. Customer satisfaction scores are not brilliant. You have a whole lot of new competitors biting at your heels like platform companies offering financial services.

How can you change your business model of providing products such as car / home loans?

What is your digital competitive advantage?

How will you connect using mobile / IOT?

Do you have crucial capabilities to reinvent your enterprise?

Do you have the leadership to make the transformation happen?

Now watch the video (2.39 – 15 minutes= 12 minutes)


Harvard Business School: competitiveness in the digital transformation era

February 8, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Answer the questions below that the Harvard business school lecturer answers in the video. Then watch the video to see if he agrees with you

Are you experimenting with use of tech across the board? Is there any result?

Is it a good idea to outsource the innovation ?

Which aspects of your business should you reconsider as a result of digital transformation (he mentioned four)?

What, in your opinion, are core strategy rules for a business?

Who are Amazon’s competitors?

Imagine you’re selling a bike. Apart from saying that the bike is better or
cheaper, how can you create value?

People often walk into a tech hardware selling (e.g. phones) brick and mortar shop, find what they want then order online. What might the BM shop do to increase income?

Big data analysis has been done on how the weather effects buying habits. Can you guess what 3 correlations were noticed?

Video..


Education system

February 1, 2019 / / 0 Comments

think about your answers to these questions:

1 – the motivation to study at school in England USED TO be “if you study hard and got o college you will get a good job”, but kids now often don’t believe a degree is a guarantee of a good job. Is it the same in your country?

2 – Children in some Western countries are sometimes diagnosed with a psychological problem “ADHD” = attention deficit disorder. They can’t pay attention for very long. Do children in your country have this ADHD?

3 – How do we prepare our children for the 21st economy when we don’t know what it will be like?

4 – How do we teach our children their culture but also integrate them into global society?”

Now watch the video (load on ted.com if necessary)

Before watching the next video, answer the question:

‘Machines are much better than humans in specific areas. For this reason education must be changed. What do you think?

Now watch Jack Ma talk about it

Speaking Grammar: Relative clauses.

January 25, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Job Interview: What are your weaknesses?

January 18, 2019 / / 0 Comments

The video below shows some bad answers to the question “What are your weaknesses?” What makes the answers bad?

Now watch the same bad answers, but followed by good versions. What language techniques does the interviewee use to sound more positive?

Fill in the gaps below from memory, then listen and check

Psychologically BAD Weakness Psychologically GOOD Weakness
My English is bad / not good.My English is good, but I think it 1) _____ be better.

My English is good, but I think it could be 2) _ _____better

My English is good but it is 3) ___ __ good ___ it _____ be
I always have difficulty talking on the phone in English4)_________ I have a bit of difficulty communicating in English on the phone

, 5)________ if the other person has a very strong accent

I 6)___ always clarify the ideas

It 7)_____ be nice if it ____ a little bit easier
My communication skills are really badMy communication skills, 8)_____ good, could be a bit better I think.

It would be nice if my communication skills were a little bit better.

I think I need to 9)_____ my communication skills a bit 10)_____.
It’s always a problem for me to talk to other team membersI 11) ____ _________ had a problem communicating with a team member,

12)____ it’s something I’ve 13)_____ working _____

It’s something I’m getting better 14) ____

I 15)____ ____ I need to improve it a bit more
I’m not punctualAlthough I’m 16)____ a punctual person, occasionally I 17)____ be a little bit late 18) _____ ___ family commitments or things like bad traffic.

Although there’s 19)____ _____ a problem because of this, I think that it is something that could be improved a little bit.
I’m not patient / I’m really impatientFor me it’s 20)____ ____ important to meet targets and to meet 21)______, and I push myself a lot to achieve these 22) ____.

Occasionally, as a result, I 23)___ be a little bit impatient with colleagues.

24)________ , this is something I’ve been working on, and I’ve improved.

It’s just that I think 25)___ ____ _____ a little bit more improvement.

And then I’ll be quite happy.

Answers below:

Psychologically BAD Weakness Psychologically GOOD Weakness
My English is bad / not good.My English is good, but I think it could be better.

My English is good, but I think it could be a bit better

My English is good but it is not as good as it could be
I always have difficulty talking on the phone in EnglishSometimes I have a bit of difficulty communicating in English on the phone

, particularly if the other person has a very strong accent

I do always clarify the ideas

It would be nice if it was a little bit easier
My communication skills are really badMy communication skills, although good, could be a bit better I think.

It would be nice if my communication skills were a little bit better.

I think I need to hone my communication skills a bit more.
It’s always a problem for me to talk to other team membersI have occasionally had a problem communicating with a team member,

But it’s something I’ve been working on

It’s something I’m getting better at

I just feel I need to improve it a bit more
I’m not punctualAlthough I’m quite a punctual person, occasionally I might be a little bit late because of family commitments or things like bad traffic.

Although there’s never been a problem because of this, I think that it is something that could be improved a little bit.
I’m not patient / I’m really impatientFor me it’s always been important to meet targets and to meet deadlines, and I push myself a lot to achieve these goals.

Occasionally, as a result, I can be a little bit impatient with colleagues.

However, this is something I’ve been working on, and I’ve improved.

It’s just that I think it does need a little bit more improvement.

And then I’ll be quite happy.

TY Python [LISTS]: 5 – Help Uliana improve her adjectives

January 12, 2019 / / 0 Comments

vocabulary list for the homework task 2

code from video:

from nltk.tokenize import word_tokenize
import nltk

file = open(‘adjectives.txt’).read()
most_common = open(‘most_common.txt’).read()
most_common_final = most_common.split()

final = word_tokenize(file)
is_adjective = lambda pos: pos[:2] == ‘JJ’

adjectives = [word for (word, pos) in nltk.pos_tag(final) if is_adjective(pos)]

l3 = [x for x in adjectives if x not in most_common_final]

print(l3)


Anki “rules”: easy

December 28, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Anki is great, but two problems are

1 – 248 repetitions for today !@#$%%R@! (= too many repetitions build up)

2 – mm, mm, mm, mm (= people do the cards passively without speaking)

To manage, these problems…

a – Delete, Delete, Delete if…

i – a card is difficult

ii – the idea not clear

iii – the structure is not useful

iv – it is VERY easy. NOTE: even if it is easy passively, is it easy actively (See below)

aim to delete between 20% to 50% of your cards:

This will save you time and effort!

b – regular, it’s every day !!

if you do anki during the day in little bits, it’s easier. Do it when waiting for friends, do it when standing in a line, do it before a meeting starts, do it on the bus

do NOT take a one week break. Take it with you on holiday

c – Active or passive structures?

If you want to learn a word passively (it’s a bit difficult, or it’s not THAT useful etc), then do anki normally

If you want to learn a word actively then there are 4 levels:

—— mechanical levels (1/2)

active level 1 = repeat the answer OUT LOUD

active level 2 = repeat the WHOLE structure the answer is in (without reading)

—– flexible levels (3/4)

active level 3 = change the WHOLE structure so it is true for your life

active level 4 = COMBINE the structure with another structure you did in anki recently

Obviously it takes time and effort to do the “flexible” levels. So, if you’re tired or there are a lot of repetitions or you don’t have an idea, then do “active level 1 / 2”. If you have an idea for the card / you have more energy do active level 3 /4. If you’re on the bus and can’t speak out loud, then do them passively. Don’t forget to delete if necessary 🙂


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