About the Listening & Writing Activities

Hi all,

I’m sorry that the sound files of the listening activities couldn’t be opened for some of you, like Laura. I’m not sure why this happened, but it’s all right if you understand the topic and have already gotten ideas to write about to present orally on Monday.

Actually, the purpose of the listening activity is to give you an idea about the life experience and dreams of some famous and ordinary people, like Vanessa Redgrave, the famous British actress, and Tiffany the ordinary university student, to help you see if you could relate to any of them.  

Rita and I agreed on that listening to one or both interviews should help you find ideas to talk about for your oral presentations on Monday.

The purpose of the writing activity, on the other hand, is to help you organize these ideas in order to be able to remember them while you’re talking. This should help you speak fluently on Monday.

In order to make it easier for you to brainstorm ideas, here is a handout I created for my students that should be helpful:
< http://alothman-b.tripod.com/handout_brainstorm.htm >

If you prefer to directly outline your ideas, try to use this handout on the academic paragraph outline form at: < http://alothman-b.tripod.com/handout_parag.htm >

Please note that the two handouts, above were designed for students required to write a 8-sentence paragraph, but you don’t have to do that for this “Skype project”. You only need to provide 3 to 5-sentence paragraph, including:

1. General statement on the topic.


2. Your main idea (your hope or dream in life).


3. Reason(s) (notice that you could give 1-3 reasons on why you chose that hope).

Please don’t hesitate to post any inquiry on the listening and writing activities should you need further explanation.

I look forward to reading your paragraphs.

Good luck!