Final Presentations

Here is a little gift I wanted to give you before the end of the year. I really apologize to all of you who gave the presentation on the first date, because I forgot my camera. Anyway, these are the pictures I took while you were entertaining your audience.
Congratulations for all the wonderful presentations and hope you enjoyed this year as much as I did!
If you want to see the presentation in a full screen and read the quotes, click here

CV Activity

I've just uploaded to Continuar the audio files in case you want to complete the CV activities. You can email me and I'll be happy to answer any questions or correct the activities.

Certificates

The certificates will be ready for pick-up on December 22nd. You can ask Lidia for them. She's in the English Program building from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Congratulations and enjoy your holidays!

You've got mail!

Hi! This is just to let you know that I have sent you some emails with important information. Please check your inbox!
See you next class

Made in China, Made with the World

Here is the ad I told you about last class. I think it's nice. It doesn't ensure quality, though =)

Talking about Quality...

Geology!

Hey, Ivana! Maybe you know this website, but it looked really interesting. I thought I'd share it with you.

Types of Forces

Explanation for laypeople, once more :)

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Here are some interesting videos I found related to the unit we're working on.





And this is a great website with information and vocabulary about bridges for laypeople like me :)

Survey

The end of the year is near and we would like you to complete a short survey about your experience as part of the English Program. The survey is anonymous and it will only take you 5 minutes to complete.

We really appreciate your help and support and we look forward to your answers in order to improve our teaching.
To complete the survey, you have to visit this URL:
http://www.quia.com/sv/359744.html
Thanks!

OSHA website

Last class we were talking about occupational safety. I believe you're going to enjoy this link, where you have a lot of info and vocabulary on PPE.


 

Webquests

I tried to access continuar platform today and I was not able to do it. So, in case you'd like to start working on your webquests, here is copy of all the URLs:

Chemical Engineering / Food Engineering
Civil Engineering
Agricultural Engineering
Electrical Engineering / Electronic Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Computer Science
Geology
Industrial Engineering

Saying Dates

I came across this really interesting blogpost about the way we say the years in English. This has been a rather difficult topic after the year 2000 and I think this post is pretty clear on the subject.
Hope you find it as interesting as I did.
Click here to read the post.

NO CLASSES TODAY - NOV 17

Sorry about the short notice, but I have a family problem and I won't be able to go to university today. Hope you understand and see you all on Thursday.

Invitation to meeting with native speakers

On November 24th, 2009 at 12:00 the English Program has organized a meeting with some native speakers.

I think it would be a great opportunity for you to practice your speaking and listening skills. The meeting will be held in our regular classroom.
Hope to see you there!

Risk vs. Hazard (thanks Gerónimo!)

Last class we were talking about their differences and Gerónimo did an excellent job explaining this in terms a layperson can understand.

Hazard is the potential to cause harm; Risk, on the other hand, is the likelihood of harm (it means, the probability of future harm).
A good example to differentiate Hazard and Risk is the regasification ship that came to the petrochemical pole in Bahia Blanca last year. Some people thought that the presence of the ship near the city posed a high RISK to health. It wasn't this way. The presence of the ship represented a HAZARD or DANGER because it has stored inside an explosive gas in large quantities. The population was not at risk because the probability of an explosion happening was very low, or what is called an Acceptable Risk which is a relative term and depends on the control of the hazard to reduce the risk.

Come join the club!

As I told you in class, you're invited to join our social network. Remember to write "(S)" after your name. Hope you join! I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

www.myenglishclubuns.ning.com

Chemistry Lab Vocabulary

As they say in English: "Better late than never".
Sorry for the delay, but I had some technical issues with my printer and I couldn't use the scanner.
Here you have the images with the vocabulary. Hope you find them useful. Click on the image to expand it.

Robot vs. Cube

Some other Link to share with the class

Ramiro watched the video about civil engineering and, as he states in his comment, he wants to work in road safety. Here is a link he'd like us all to watch. Please, if you are a sensitive person, bear in mind that the images are rather explicit.

How to Use "Can" and "May" Correctly | eHow.com

While I was correcting the activities, one of your classmates asked me about the difference between CAN and MAY. I believe this is a very usual question, so here you have a really crystal clear explanation in only four points.
How to Use "Can" and "May" Correctly | eHow.com

Some Links You Wanted to Share with the Rest

• Martín came across this very interesting video about wi-tricity (or wireless electricity). Some classes ago, I remember one group explained this technology to me. So here you have an explanation from an expert. It's really interesting and the technology sounds promising.

• Ivana sent me this link where you have tons of information and links about science. You can spend hours reading really amazing things.

I know you don't have much time, but whenever you have some minutes to spare, try to click on the links and visit these pages your classmates have shared, cause I'm sure if they found them interesting, so will you!

How did I do it? Here is the answer

Geologists

Continuing with our customized posts, here is one for Ivana, but I think the rest may find it interesting and funny too.
I didn't want to copy-paste all the text, so here you have the link to this really great story:
Geologists Really Show

Last class...

I believe we learned a lot of new vocabulary. I was wondering if you were going to remember all of it, so I tried to put the most important words together. Here they are:

Civil Engineering

And at Ramiro's request (or should I say "complaint"?), here is a link to a VERY interesting video describing what civil engineers do. The embedding code is disable, so the link will take you to youtube and you can watch the video there.
Hope you enjoy it!

The sky is the limit...

I was surfing the net today, looking for some interesting article to post here, and I came across this new development Xerox patented a few days ago:

Xerox Develops Silver Ink for Cheap Printable Electronics
(PhysOrg.com) -- Xerox has developed an ink which can be used to print circuits onto plastics, films, and textiles. Although circuits printed on flexible materials aren't new, Xerox's method may be cheap and easy enough to open the doors to many new possibilities for flexible electronics.

I believe the possibilities are huge. My daughter is running a fever right now and she hates it when I use the thermometer to messure her temperature, so I was wondering: What if I had a T-shirt with a built-in thermometer? That would be great!
What other applications can you think about?
And BTW, for all of you chemical engineers, here is a short video where they explain how they are able to melt silver at a very low temperature.

Here is the link to the article posted by Xerox, in case you're interested in reading it from the source.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

Here is some interesting text in case you want to start thinking about the final exam :)

And here is a video with some tips


Going For An Interview:
Job Interviews: Where Do You See Yourself In Five Years?

Another week has gone by...

Enjoy the weekend and study English!!!

Enjoy the weekend!

Business climate

Here is the definition for business climate

And here is a short article explaining the concept.

Yes, yes... I know what you're thinking: "990 hits were just her, checking to see how many hits she had so far" Nonetheless, I'm happy :)

He who laughs, lasts!

Some funny images I've found here. Enjoy your weekend!

New Product Development Process

Ivana sent me this very interesting link where you can see all the vocabulary we saw in the previous lesson.

New product development process

You have a great explanation of "fuzzy front end" and you can see that the vocabulary we have seen is actually used in everyday language related to the topic.

Thank you, Ivana!

And you thought the ideas for innovative products we shared in class were weird? Check this website and you'll see what innovation really is.
This is my favorite so far. Maybe 'cause I've worked in an office and I know what it feels like :)

Reading, reading, reading

I've already posted a link to practice listening. Today, surfing the net, I came across this website with tons of movie scripts. I believe it's a great opportunity to practice every day language and they also include a lot of descriptions. Many of the links open a pdf file with the complete script. Others, link you to another link where you'll find the script. Of course, scripts are 100 pages on average. You don't need to read the complete script, but just a quick look can help you learn some new vocabulary and useful phrases. Hope you like them!

And BTW, remember last class we talked about the movie Envy? Look what I found :)

Listening

Great website with listening practice

Something funny for the weekend

Relative clauses review

These are two links I've found to useful grammar resources about relative clauses. They include some grammar review and then online exercises you can do to check your understanding and practice for the first test, corresponding to Unit 1.
Relative clauses:
Theory, practice and tests
If you are planing on completing the tests, Level 1 is really too easy for you. Try Tests 2 to 4.

More theory, more practice and more exercises :-)

Enjoy!

An image...

So these are all the images I've received so far...

And here are some thoughts I've found about engineers

My advice is to look out for engineers. They begin with sewing machines and end up with nuclear bombs. By Marcel Pagnol

To define it rudely but not ineptly, engineering is the art of doing for 10 shillings what any fool can do for a pound By Arthur Wellesley

A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. By Freeman Dyson

Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems. By Scott Adams

Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that never has been. By Theodore von Kármán

All quotes from: http://www.iwise.com

HAPPY STUDENT'S DAY!

I've been surfing the net to find something funny to post for student's day. I've been unsuccessful so far... but I thought you may find these two videos interesting. I know the first one reflects American situation, but I believe we can identify ourselves with some of the issues the students point out.






And finally, something funny came along. I DO know your names, so don't even think about it :)


HAPPY STUDENT'S DAY AND SEE YOU ALL ON TUESDAY!

A picture is worth a thousand words

I was thinking it would be nice to create a slide show with images that represent the program you're studying at university. Surf the net and look for a picture that you believe summarizes your field of study. Tell me why you've chosen it. Use continuar platform (www.continuar.uns.edu.ar) to send it to me via a platform mail, so that you can attach the picture. My user ID is 420tarriaga, but you can always run a search if you cannot remember it.
I'll put them all together and then post it in our blog.

I'm posting a picture here as an example of what I'd like you to do. My picture represents what some people believe a teacher is, this doesn't mean I agree with it, don't worry :-)

Engineers

So, here goes the first invitation to participate in our blog. You've seen that I posted two Dilbert cartoons related to engineers. What do you think of them? Do you agree with the message they convey? Any other thoughts about engineers? Don't be shy! Post a comment and share it with the rest of the class.