For homework, please:
- make sure to submit your first Teilleistung by the deadline.
- have a look at the "Second Teilleistung Task Description" on Ilias. We'll be talking about the second Teilleistung and its expectations in Tuesday's session.
- in compliance with my own concept of CSR (classroom social responsibility), there is, in light of Labor Day, no further homework :-).
Don't forget to meet with your partner this week. Remember that your log is due by May 7th at 6 pm to me via email and each partner needs to submit a separate and unique log. (See the "guide to the Teilleistung" document on Ilias for more details.)
For homework, please read Units 25 and Units 26 from Destination and do all of the accompanying exercises.
This video is a very nice recap from BBC Learning English that covers quite a few verbs that are used in conjunction with reported speech. (It's important to learn a set of verbs for reporting because they must be used in order to introduce the reporting in English. Compare this with German in which your Konjunktiv I does all of this work on its own.) VOCABULARY: How to use reporting verbs like insist, demand and advise - YouTubeComplete the final draft of your log (i.e. your first Teilleistung) and make sure that submit it by May 7th at 6 pm.
For homework, please:
- have a look at the article "How Much Are You Willing to Pay for a Burrito" and highlight five unique expressions for talking about fluctuation in price, tax, and revenue. Bring in an example of a product that you have stopped purchasing because it has gotten too expensive and be able to identify where the line is for you concerning what consitutes "too expensive" for you when it comes to that product.
- have a look at a video from Business Insider's "So Expensive" series (these videos average 10 minutes in length) and identify factors that contribute to the product or service having a higher price point: So Expensive - YouTube
- connect what you've read and watched to the price point you've established for the app/product/service featured in your first Teilleistung. How did you arrive at this number?
- review my corrections, edits and comments on your essays. Make a checklist out of these comments to apply to future work. Make sure to use this checklist when reading the final draft of your first Teilleistung, which you will need to submit by this Friday at 5 pm.
- in the last 15 minutes of Thursday's class, you will have the opportunity to have your first Teilleistung proofread by a partner. Bring in what you have of your first Teilleistung for one of your peers to have a look at and give you feedback on. If you do not want others to read your work, you will be allowed to leave class 15 minutes early.
Links mentioned in Tuesday's session:
Compare countries - Hofstede Insights (hofstede-insights.com)
For homework, please:
- first, read the article "Say it ain't Joe" (posted on Ilias under this title) and watch the following video (both from The Economist): Trump 2024: could he win again? - YouTube
- read at least one other article about the 2024 presidential election from a periodical other than the Economist. How does the content included in this article differ from what the Economist presented in the article and video you watched first?
- make at least three concrete predictions about the 2024 election, including (for example) results, attitudes, platforms, important issues, key states, etc. What data do you base your predictions/forecasts on and why?
Links of interest:
270toWin - 2024 Presidential Election Interactive Map
Ruth Muskrat Bronson: American Indian Activist and Advocate Ahead of Her Time - YouTube
Tlingit Code Talkers - SHI War and Peace Exhibit (sealaskaheritage.org)
Alberta Schenck: Teenage Activist (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
***Please note that, due to the May 1st holiday and Project Week, our next class session will be on Monday, May 15th.***
Don't forget to meet with your partner this week. Remember that your log is due by May 7th at 6 pm to me via email and each partner needs to submit a separate and unique log. (See the "guide to the Teilleistung" document on Ilias for more details.)
For homework, please read Units 25 and Units 26 from Destination and do all of the accompanying exercises.
This video is a very nice recap from BBC Learning English that covers quite a few verbs that are used in conjunction with reported speech. (It's important to learn a set of verbs for reporting because they must be used in order to introduce the reporting in English. Compare this with German in which your Konjunktiv I does all of this work on its own.) VOCABULARY: How to use reporting verbs like insist, demand and advise - YouTubeFor homework, please:
- finish your first Teilleistung before our Tuesday session to avoid last-minute stress
- watch the video and read the article featured in the "gender pay gap listening and reading" file in the "negotiation and wages" folder on Ilias and complete the accompanying exercises. Bring these answers/notes with you to our Tuesday session.
For homework, please:
-don't forget to meet up with your partner this week.
-read about inversion in Unit 19 and complete all of the accompanying exercises. Learn the vocabulary for Unit 20 and complete its accompanying exercises.
Inversion is important for sophisticated English usage and is tricky for German speakers as one has generally trained oneself to not let rules of German syntax (featuring the verb in the second position, otherwise known as "V2 position" in linguistics) interfere with English output. Page 154 of your Destination book features adverbials that trigger inversion in English. You should learn them by heart, read the examples in that table out loud and, ideally, write out your own examples. Just like the gerund or infinitive rules from last semester, learning the rules of inversion in English will make your English truly sophisticated.Don't forget to meet with your partner this week. Remember that your log is due by May 7th at 6 pm to me via email and each partner needs to submit a separate and unique log. (See the "guide to the Teilleistung" document on Ilias for more details.)
For homework, please read Units 25 and Units 26 from Destination and do all of the accompanying exercises.
This video is a very nice recap from BBC Learning English that covers quite a few verbs that are used in conjunction with reported speech. (It's important to learn a set of verbs for reporting because they must be used in order to introduce the reporting in English. Compare this with German in which your Konjunktiv I does all of this work on its own.) VOCABULARY: How to use reporting verbs like insist, demand and advise - YouTubeFor our Thursday session, please:
- read the file "negotiations situations and negotiators" file and complete complete exercises 63.1, 63.2, and 63.3 in the "negotiations situations and negotiators exercises" file
- read both files "preparing for a negotiation" and be able to explain BANTA in your own words. Apply the triangular model on the second page of the article to a real-life negotiation (possibly one connected to your proposal, i.e. first Teilleistung)
- bring in any questions you have concerning negotiation to our Thursday session
For homework, please:
- read the three-page essay "Americanize the first American" (in the folder of the same name on Ilias) by Zitkala-Sha. Bring in three comments about this text (these comments can refer to any aspect of the text).
- have a look at this 5-minute video on Harlem in pictures The Harlem Renaissance's cultural explosion, in photographs - YouTube
- read at least three poems of the Harlem Renaissance featured on this page (the ones without the red "P" are free to access) and bring in your comments on them: The Harlem Renaissance | Poetry Foundation What is relatable to you about these poems today? What references/aspects/details require some background research? What can't you relate to at all?
Links of interest:
For homework, please:
-don't forget to meet up with your partner this week.
-read about inversion in Unit 19 and complete all of the accompanying exercises. Learn the vocabulary for Unit 20 and complete its accompanying exercises.
Inversion is important for sophisticated English usage and is tricky for German speakers as one has generally trained oneself to not let rules of German syntax (featuring the verb in the second position, otherwise known as "V2 position" in linguistics) interfere with English output. Page 154 of your Destination book features adverbials that trigger inversion in English. You should learn them by heart, read the examples in that table out loud and, ideally, write out your own examples. Just like the gerund or infinitive rules from last semester, learning the rules of inversion in English will make your English truly sophisticated.For homework, please:
- read through the fraud vocabulary and complete both exercises in the "fraud" folder on Ilias.
- look up a video on a high-profile case of fraud (some recent ones include Bernie Madoff, Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos), and Wirecard, but I encourage you to find your own examples) and a) identify what kind of fraud was committed, b) how the party/parties involved were caught, and c) how the party/parties was/were prosecuted (if at all).
- read through the responses to one of the two debates posted on Ilias (either "Should firms fire staff for their social media activity?" or "Should workers have a right to work from home?") and highlight what you consider to be the strongest arguments. Supplement the responses provided with your own arguments/examples/ details and be ready to debate the question you choose first thing in our Tuesday session.
- if you haven't done so already, start writing proposal for your first Teilleistung, which is due by April 28th at 5 pm to me via email.
For homework, please:
- don't forget to meet with your partner this week
- read Units 13 and 14 and complete all of the accompanying exercises.
As you will see in Unit 13, the past in English serves many functions. For advanced learners, it's crucial to master "unreal time" because of its function in making statements and requests more polite. It is also essential to master "unreal time" in order to soften your speech in professional settings. (The speakers in these videos stress that British speakers place a premium on politeness, but politeness is important for the entire English-speaking world.) You will find overlap with German in many cases. (Some situations do call for directness and/or straight talk, however, so let the context dictate the language you use. You simply want to add polite forms to your repertoire so that you can use them when you deem them necessary. Having options is the essence of attaining fluency.) These videos are useful resources in explaining unreal time further:
BBC Learning English: When is the past not the past? Grammar: When is the past not the past? - BBC English Masterclass - YouTube
BBC Masterclass: Being polite (how to soften your English): Speaking: Being polite - how to soften your English - YouTube
BBC Learning English: Three ways to use "wish": Three ways to use 'wish' - BBC English Class - YouTube
BBC Learning English: Stop saying (Using the correct verb form for "I wish"...and, yes, the teacher's delivery is a bit odd in this one, but the content is good): Stop Saying: Using the correct verb form for 'I wish' - YouTube
The following channels tie into "quantity and money" and are channels I draw material from for business English classes. Consider using content from these channels for your listening content for your partner this week. Even if you are not going to choose business as your focus at the TH, I recommend that all of you gain a solid foundation in the business register and with business terminology. Nearly every professional activity will involve business acumen in some capacity. All the better if you can maneuver in this environment in multiple languages.
CNBC Make It (with some interesting series like "Millennial Money," which features what kind of standard of living a certain salary can get you in various cities, and "Suddenly Obsessed," which chronicles the rise of featured products and trends): CNBC Make It - YouTube
Business Insider (known for their "So Expensive" series, which explains why certain brands and products have such high price points): Business Insider - YouTube
Freakonomics weekly podcast (hosted by the authors of the popular Freakonomics books): https://freakonomics.com/archive/
For homework, please:
-don't forget to meet up with your partner this week.
-read about inversion in Unit 19 and complete all of the accompanying exercises. Learn the vocabulary for Unit 20 and complete its accompanying exercises.
Inversion is important for sophisticated English usage and is tricky for German speakers as one has generally trained oneself to not let rules of German syntax (featuring the verb in the second position, otherwise known as "V2 position" in linguistics) interfere with English output. Page 154 of your Destination book features adverbials that trigger inversion in English. You should learn them by heart, read the examples in that table out loud and, ideally, write out your own examples. Just like the gerund or infinitive rules from last semester, learning the rules of inversion in English will make your English truly sophisticated.For homework, please:
- read Units 13 and 14 and complete all of the accompanying exercises.
As you will see in Unit 13, the past in English serves many functions. For advanced learners, it's crucial to master "unreal time" because of its function in making statements and requests more polite. It is also essential to master "unreal time" in order to soften your speech in professional settings. (The speakers in these videos stress that British speakers place a premium on politeness, but politeness is important for the entire English-speaking world.) You will find overlap with German in many cases. (Some situations do call for directness and/or straight talk, however, so let the context dictate the language you use. You simply want to add polite forms to your repertoire so that you can use them when you deem them necessary. Having options is the essence of attaining fluency.) These videos are useful resources in explaining unreal time further:
BBC Learning English: When is the past not the past? Grammar: When is the past not the past? - BBC English Masterclass - YouTube
BBC Masterclass: Being polite (how to soften your English): Speaking: Being polite - how to soften your English - YouTube
BBC Learning English: Three ways to use "wish": Three ways to use 'wish' - BBC English Class - YouTube
BBC Learning English: Stop saying (Using the correct verb form for "I wish"...and, yes, the teacher's delivery is a bit odd in this one, but the content is good): Stop Saying: Using the correct verb form for 'I wish' - YouTube
- don't forget to meet with your partner this week (April 3rd-April 7th) and next week (April 10th-April 14th)
The following channels tie into "quantity and money" and are channels I draw material from for business English classes. Consider using content from these channels for your listening content for your partner this week. Even if you are not going to choose business as your focus at the TH, I recommend that all of you gain a solid foundation in the business register and with business terminology. Nearly every professional activity will involve business acumen in some capacity. All the better if you can maneuver in this environment in multiple languages.
CNBC Make It (with some interesting series like "Millennial Money," which features what kind of standard of living a certain salary can get you in various cities, and "Suddenly Obsessed," which chronicles the rise of featured products and trends): CNBC Make It - YouTube
Business Insider (known for their "So Expensive" series, which explains why certain brands and products have such high price points): Business Insider - YouTube
Freakonomics weekly podcast (hosted by the authors of the popular Freakonomics books): https://freakonomics.com/archive/
***Please be advised that Thursday, April 6th and Tuesday, April 11th are non-teaching days at our institute. Our next session will therefore take place on Thursday, April 13th. The photocopier is now back online, so you will not need to bring an electronic device to access materials in future sessions.***
For homework, please:
- bring in a piece of successful print advertisement to present to your neighbor (make sure you can at least describe the ad if you can't find it on the Web)
- do some "normstorming" for your first Teilleistung. This involves identifying the sector the application or product(s) you are proposing and doing some research concerning the "norms" of that sector. (The "industry groups" file might help you in identifying the sector of your application/product/service/business.) Norms include how, when, and where products and serves are offered, what advertising looks like in this sector, who the target audience of its products and serves tend to be, and the list goes on. The benefits of normstorming involve identifying specific ways to make your product or service stand out and set it apart from the competition.
- complete all of the exercises included in the "CSR vocabulary exercises with answer key" file and self-check your work using the key on the last page
- either listen to this long read or read the text version of the article (the link is featured directly below the media player) and identify where you agree with the author's thesis (i.e. main message) and where you don't: Why progressive gestures from big business aren’t just useless, they’re dangerous – podcast | Environment | The Guardian
Links of interest:
Behind Costco's Treasure-Hunt Shopping Strategy | The Economics Of | WSJ - YouTube (concerning store layout and customer behavior)
For homework, please:
- use search.ebscohost.com and/or Google Scholar (or another database for academic articles) and find one article centered on US culture or history that you find interesting. (You need to be accessing the TH Köln's internet network either at the TH itself or via a VPN to access our university's holdings via EbscoHost.) Identify its research question, its data set, and its findings. Bring these notes with you to our next session.
- listen to at least one jazz song/piece between now and our next class. Jot down the name of the artist(s) and the song/piece's title.
Links of interest:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Red Man’s Rebuke, by Simon Pokagon. (Project Gutenberg is great for accessing texts in the public domain.)
The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition. (upenn.edu)
For homework, please:
- read Units 13 and 14 and complete all of the accompanying exercises.
As you will see in Unit 13, the past in English serves many functions. For advanced learners, it's crucial to master "unreal time" because of its function in making statements and requests more polite. It is also essential to master "unreal time" in order to soften your speech in professional settings. (The speakers in these videos stress that British speakers place a premium on politeness, but politeness is important for the entire English-speaking world.) You will find overlap with German in many cases. (Some situations do call for directness and/or straight talk, however, so let the context dictate the language you use. You simply want to add polite forms to your repertoire so that you can use them when you deem them necessary. Having options is the essence of attaining fluency.) These videos are useful resources in explaining unreal time further:
BBC Learning English: When is the past not the past? Grammar: When is the past not the past? - BBC English Masterclass - YouTube
BBC Masterclass: Being polite (how to soften your English): Speaking: Being polite - how to soften your English - YouTube
BBC Learning English: Three ways to use "wish": Three ways to use 'wish' - BBC English Class - YouTube
BBC Learning English: Stop saying (Using the correct verb form for "I wish"...and, yes, the teacher's delivery is a bit odd in this one, but the content is good): Stop Saying: Using the correct verb form for 'I wish' - YouTube
- don't forget to meet with your partner this week (April 3rd-April 7th) and next week (April 10th-April 14th)
The following channels tie into "quantity and money" and are channels I draw material from for business English classes. Consider using content from these channels for your listening content for your partner this week. Even if you are not going to choose business as your focus at the TH, I recommend that all of you gain a solid foundation in the business register and with business terminology. Nearly every professional activity will involve business acumen in some capacity. All the better if you can maneuver in this environment in multiple languages.
CNBC Make It (with some interesting series like "Millennial Money," which features what kind of standard of living a certain salary can get you in various cities, and "Suddenly Obsessed," which chronicles the rise of featured products and trends): CNBC Make It - YouTube
Business Insider (known for their "So Expensive" series, which explains why certain brands and products have such high price points): Business Insider - YouTube
