Welcome to English VI
HOMEWORK 1
Taking the three tests indicated below (grammar, listening and reading) is the first homework for this semester. It is a serious task. You can attempt it only one time. It only takes about 15 to 20 minutes each, but you are given an hour per test, to make sure you do not worry about the time.
Your score in these tests will be the reference to measure your progress during the semester. Don't use dictionaries, or ask anyone when answering the questions. Just be honest and select the answers you consider correct. If you answer all the questions, correctly or incorrectly, your homework will be graded with a 5.
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COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK
The Common European Framework divides learners into three broad divisions which can be divided into six levels:
A Basic Speaker
A1 Breakthrough or beginner (ICESI LEVELS 1-2)
A2 Waystage or elementary (ICESI LEVELS 3-4)
B Independent Speaker
B1 Threshold or pre-intermediate (ICESI LEVELS 5-6)
B2 Vantage or intermediate (ICESI LEVELS 7-8)
C Proficient Speaker
C1 Effective Operational Proficiency or upper intermediate
C2 Mastery or advanced
A1 (ICESI LEVELS 1-2) Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
A2 (ICESI LEVELS 3-4) Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.
B1 (ICESI LEVELS 5-6) Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
B2 (ICESI LEVELS 7-8) Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
C1 Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
C2 Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.
EVALUACION - RUBRIC
Las evaluaciones parciales abarcan cuatro componentes del idioma a) escucha b) vocabulario c) gramática d) comprensión de lectura. Estas evaluaciones se realizan mediante exámenes escritos, excepto las habilidades orales del estudiante, las cuales serán evaluadas por medio de presentaciones individuales y/o grupales.
La evaluación tiene dos componentes, la nota de exámenes y las notas varias; sin embargo, estas últimas
sólo se tendrán en cuenta para el cálculo de la definitiva de aquellos estudiantes cuya nota de exámenes
sea mayor o igual a 3.0.
Nota definitiva:
Si (nota exámenes < 3.0) entonces:
Nota definitiva = nota exámenes
Si (nota exámenes>= 3.0) entonces:
Nota definitiva = (nota exámenes * 0.55) + (notas varias * 0.45)
Distribución de NOTAS EXÁMENES:
Primer Parcial = 27%
Segundo Parcial = 27%
Examen final = 46%
Distribución de NOTAS VARIAS:
Quices=25%
Trabajo en clase=20% (la mitad corresponde a las presentaciones de las unidades asignadas)
Producción Oral=20% (cuatro presentaciones orales)
Tareas=15% (workbook y demás asignaciones)
Laboratorio=20%
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TEXTBOOK: TOPNOTCH 3 –UNITS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 CLASSBOOK AND WORKBOOK
First Midterm Exam: Week 7 –Feb.28th –Mar.5th
Second Midterm Exam: Week 13 –Apr.11th-Apr.16th
Final Exam: Weeks 17, 18 –May 16th- 28th
IMPORTANCE OF CLASSBOOK AND WORKBOOK (5%)
All questions in the midterm exams will be directly related to the material covered in the class book or in the workbook, except for the reading comprehension which will be evaluated with questions similar to the ones given in class.
All questions in the final exam will be directly related to the material covered in the class book or in the workbook, including the reading comprehension questions.
An ongoing homework during the semester will be the completion of the workbook. The first two units will be evaluated by the teacher while students take the first midterm exam. The next two units will be evaluated by the teacher while students take the second midterm exam. The final unit in the workbook will be evaluated on the last class. Workbook evaluation corresponds to 5% of the total course evaluation.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Students will make two oral presentations before the first midterm exam and two more before the second midterm exam. These presentations will be on any topic selected by the student and can be made individually or in groups of two or three students. The grade is individual, though. Each oral presentation is worth 2.5% of the final grade.
UNIT PRESENTATIONS
Student groups will be assigned the presentation of one of the units in the textbook, before the corresponding midterm exam and again before the final exam. Each unit presentation is worth 2.5% of the final grade.
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HOMEWORK:
PREPARE ORAL PRESENTATION FOR WEEK 2 ABOUT NOBEL PRIZES 2010
Explain the invention, creation or production for which the prize was awarded
Describe the prize: money awarded, importance of recognition, etc.
Give the winner’s biographical data
Express your position (opinion) towards those organizations and persons in charge of awarding the prizes: history, procedure, money given, political roles, mistakes made, other.
Physiology or Medicine
Robert G Edwards was awarded the Nobel prize for medicine for his work ‘in vitro fertilization (IVF)’.
He started work on IVF as early as 1950s. Due to his efforts, world’s first test tube baby was born during 1978. In later years he and his team improved the process further and made it available to all.
The IVF technology discovered by him is used as a treatment for infertility. More than 10% of the couples worldwide are infertile and his discovery has been a boon to such people. Approximately 4 million people have been born using IVF till now.
Robert G Edwards is currently professor at the University of Cambridge.
Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 was awarded jointly to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene"
Andre and Novoselov, the teacher-student duo, derived the material ‘graphene’ from graphite. The black writing material used for pencils is graphite, which is a form of carbon. They extracted a thin layer of carbon particles from graphite, actually as thin as on atom width, making a new material graphine.
Andre and Novoselov discovered that Graphine has many interesting properties. It is as good a conductor as copper. It is the best conductor of heat as of now. It is completely transparent and yet, it does not allow the thinnest gas Helium through it.
Because of its unique properties, graphine will have vast range of applications starting from electronics to satellite. A computer chip made of graphine is expected to outperform the present silicon made chips, which means that in future we will have even faster computers. Already a test transistor was developed using graphine and its performance was equal to that of silicon transistor. A paper thin TV monitor screen can be made using graphine. This new material, a form of carbon is a miracle that can find great usage in future.
Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010 was awarded jointly to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki "for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis".
Organic Chemistry is one of the most important branches of chemistry finding applications in our day to life including paints and plastics. Organic chemistry essentially involves various arrangements of carbon atoms together in multiple configurations.
During the initial years, one of the main challenges in organic chemistry was to successfully combine carbon atoms together as carbon would not easily react with other similar atoms due to its structural configuration.
These three scientists discovered possible reactions using a catalyst Palladium so that in its presence, carbon reacts more easily. This tool has been in use for many decades though further improvements are still going on. This tool has been extensively used in chemistry labs as well as medicine factories in order to get the desired combinations.
Nobel committee stated that with the discovery of this tool, a major obstacle hindering progress in organic chemistry was removed.
Literature
Nobel Prize 2010 in Literature was awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa.
Mario Vargas Llosa was born on March 28, 1936 in Peru. After graduating from Colegio Nacional San Miguel in Piura, Mario Vargas Llosa studied law and literature in Lima and Madrid. As an author, he became internationally popular through his novel La ciudad y los perros (1963; The Time of the Hero, 1966), though this novel created big controversy in his home land.
He has lectured and taught at a number of universities in the USA, South America and Europe. His well known works include Conversación en la catedral (1969; Conversation in the Cathedral, 1975), La guerra del fin del mundo (1981; The War of the End of the World, 1984) and La fiesta del chivo (2000; The Feast of the Goat, 2001). He is also a noted journalist and essayist.
Peace
The Nobel Committee announced that the Nobel Peace Prize 2010 was awarded to Liu Xiaobo "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China".
For last few decades, China has experienced enormous economic growth and grew to become second largest economy in the world. However China’s record in following international agreements as well as maintaining human rights internally has been questioned time and again.
Liu Xiaobo strongly advocated for fundamental rights in China. He took part in the Tiananmen protests in 1989; he was a leading author behind Charter 08, the manifesto of such rights in China which was published on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 10th of December 2008. The following year, Liu was sentenced to eleven years in prison and two years' deprivation of political rights for “inciting subversion of state power". Presently Liu is in prison due to this sentence. Following the Nobel Prize announcement recognizing his efforts for human rights and peace, the world has been requesting China to release him.
Economics
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2010 was awarded jointly to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides "for their analysis of markets with search frictions".
Normally any market is based on demand and supply. But many times, in reality, we find that there are many people looking for employment but at the same time there are many vacancies in companies, not able to find candidates. There are many who want to buy a house and there are many who want to sell and both conditions exist at the same time. This year’s nobel laureates developed a theory to answer these questions, which may help better solutions in these areas. They formulated a theoretical framework for search markets. Peter Diamond has analyzed the foundations of search markets and Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides have expanded the theory and have applied it to the labor market.
Their theory is not just applicable to labor market but also to house, monitory theory and various areas of economics.
About the laureates:
Peter A. Diamond, is Institute Professor and Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA.
Dale T. Mortensen, is from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Ida C. Cook Professor of Economics at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
Christopher A. Pissarides, is a Professor of Economics and Norman Sosnow Chair in Economics, all at London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
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