a few commentaries on books

from our ERASMUS exchange student, vielen Dank!


Book 1: Passport presentations/ Douglas Bell This book is perfect if you don’t have any ideas about how to structure a very good presentation, for example about a topic you have chosen to speak about in a seminar. It is divided into six units which lead you from a basic start through to the question of how can I convince and persuade my audience the best. The beginning is an introduction of how to structure a well- prepared oral presentation and little language tip- boxes will help you to improve your body language as well as answering questions about which visuals are appropriate to use and how you can start a linking phrase. At the end of each chapter there is a checklist which should reflect what you have already learned from the previous chapter. The book has a clearly defined structure and is wonderful to use if you are uncertain about what makes a good presentation. It has lots of helpful sentences and vocabulary you definitely have to learn for succeeding. The DVD also reflects what the book has summarised, you get different examples of oral presentations, how to explain your main topics, how you should react on questions given by the audience and so on. If you feel unsure about the last presentations you had in front of a class just simply grab this book and try to figure out which main problems you have to enhance for getting a better mark.

Book 2: New English File/ Oxford / Clive Oxenden New English File is a book for students who want to improve their upper- mediate level of English. It has seven units which discuss different topics, you can read articles, can learn new vocabulary, every topic has questions which have to be answered and at the end of each issue you find a what- do- you- remember- page. At the end of the book there are all listening examples, in case you want to read them and improve your knowledge of written English. There is also a grammar bank where you have the chance to revise and exercise tenses and other grammatical queries and a vocabulary division with new words you can learn. The book itself is nicely illustrated. The DVD also has seven chapters and each chapter is split into interview part 1+2, common phrases used in those interviews, surveys about the topics where the interviewer asks people on the street and common phrases of those interviews. I think the visualisation of the different subjects has succeeded; very good is the common- phrases part where you can listen to the most important words of the interviews (good for remembering them).

Book 3: Global/ Lindsay Clandfield and Rebecca Benne This book has ten units which are all very useful for upper English classes, e.g. about economics, land+ sea, parents+ children, dreams+ reality, tears+ laughter and the content on the second page gives you a good overview of all the topics. In every chapter are writing, listening and reading exercises to improve not only your listening skills but also communication exercises you have to do with a partner. It includes further additional material on phonetics and reading, as well as grammar questions and an audio script. In my opinion it is a really useful book, especially for classes, there are many illustrations, advanced articles about interesting topics and it makes fun to work with the book. The CDs given focus on the listening parts and are mainly spoken by native English speakers. So if you have gained already a good understanding of how the English language works this is the perfect book to practice and learn more vocabulary.

bon anniversaire!

monsieur Dickens! Today is the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens and I have found a book not yet catalogued! Will do this tomorrow, promise!

Quite a few new DVDs

We got quite a few new DVDs for the library including Czech films offered to us by Andrea Novotna who worked for us in the winter. She offered us some Czech classics such as: Vesničko Má Středisková (my sweet little village), a comedy from the same director as the famous Closely Observed Trains (that we already have in the library), Tankový Prapor, Román pro ženy and Kolja

And I am offering my DVD box of Herzog Kinski, which means: Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu, Cobra Verde, My Best Friend, Aguirre the Wrath of God and Woyzeck! The films are in German though you will also hear other languages such as Spanish, French, Italian etc...

Italian film festival

Can I remind our Italian lovers, no, I meant lovers of Italian, that there is a great Italian film festival at the moment for the anniversary of Italo Svevo

I am particularly looking forward to the adaptation of La Coscienza di Zeno next week!

PRESENTS FOR THE NEW YEAR

And... the presents for the new year are as followed:

AMARCORD, Italian dialogues
LE CONCERT, French and Russian dialogues
INDIGENES, French and Arabic dialogues

WISER sessions

WISER: Finding Stuff – Books etc on SOLO [Monday 23 January 9.15 - 10.00] - Effective search techniques for finding books and other library materials using SOLO, ordering from the book stacks and using the SOLO eshelf and saved searches > Book Now



WISER: Finding Stuff – Journal Articles Monday [23 January 10.00 - 11.30] - How to find articles and papers to support your research using a wide range of bibliographic databases and how to develop your search strategy. This workshop will include plenty of time for participants to try out their own searches using databases for their subject as well as a demonstration. >Book Now



WISER: Finding Stuff – Theses and Dissertations [Monday 23 January 11.30 - 12.15] - How to find dissertations and theses from Oxford, other UK institutions and overseas. >Book Now



WISER: Your thesis, copyright and ORA [Friday 27 January 9.15 - 10.15] - Oxford DPhil students are required to deposit a copy of their thesis in ORA (Oxford University Research Archive). This session will focus on copyright and other issues that DPhil students need to take into account when preparing and writing their thesis so that they do not encounter problems when they deposit. DPhils are encouraged to attend this session early so that they can make sensible decisions regarding rights from the start of their research. >Find out more > Book now.




WISER: Getting information to come to you [Friday 27 January 10.30 - 12.00] - How to keep abreast of new publications and papers in your research area and research news and opportunities on the web using RSS feeds and email alerts. The session will include a demonstration and also time to set up your an RSS reader or email notifications >Book Now



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Hello!

Happy New Year to you all!

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