BPAJ0121    Unit 1  Introduction

Teacher: Jana Kubrická (kubrická@fsps.muni.cz)


Task 1 About the course:


Content:


Requirements:


Materials:


Assessment:


Others:


Task 2 Scientific disciplines

Discuss these questions: Which of these subjects have you studied? At what age did you study them?
Which subjects are/ were you good at? Which of them do you consider relevant to you future career?
Which would you like to study further? What do you call a person specialising in each subject?



mathematics        history            geography              physics            chemistry
sociology


philosophy          languages          economics           statistics           biology
psychology







Task 3 Vocabulary

Complete the sentences with one of these verbs in the correct form.

skip     attend     revise      re-sit     do    apply      get     study      fail      pass
pay


a)      I hated maths at school. I didn´t do any of the homework, never …………… attention to the
teacher and ……………….. classes whenever I could. Of course, the first time round I ………… my exams and
had to ………… them the following year. The second time round I ……………, which I was really pleased
about. It really boosted my confidence and I decided to ………….  to one of the better universities.
To my amazement, I got in and I´m there now – studying maths!

b)      Marc´s a very bright student. He always …………….. very well when he was at school. I´m sure
he´ll ………… a good degree, even though he doesn´t …………… hard. Of course, he hardly ever …………..
lectures or ………… the things we´ve done. I sometimes resent the fact he´s so clever!

What sort of student are you? What are the good and bad things about your studies?


c)      What is the one word all these expressions collocate with?

intensive – introductory – intermediate – advanced – refresher – do – take – enrol on – sign up for
– withdraw from – drop out of –  complete – pass – fail

Task 4 Listening – Why do we hiccup?

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AdQLkUkui8)

a)      Check the pronunciation of the following expressions:

stimuli         anxiety        response       spasm        diaphragm         closure
physiological           mechanism              hypothesis


b)      Listen and answer these questions:

-         What causes hiccups?

-         What happens in the body when we hiccup?

-         What is the function of hiccups?

-         What home remedies do people try for hiccups?


Task 5  Idioms   Can you guess the meaning of the idiomatic phrases below?


1.       She passed her test with flying colours.

2.       I´m afraid in this line of work it´s a case of dog eat dog.

3.      I´ve dialled the number so many times I know it by heart.

4.       Getting an apology from him was like getting blood from a stone.

5.      The patient suffered severe injuries and his organs shut down – it was a perfect storm.

6.      There is no need to convince us of the value of hard work, we already know that. You are
just preaching to the choir.

7.       Failing the exam was for him a bitter pill to swallow, but he plans to try again next
year.

8.      Management often turn a blind eye to bullying in the workplace.

9.      Bill is feeling miserable about losing his job and Bob is rubbing salt into the wound by
saying how good his replacement is.

10.  It was caffeine and alcohol that caused her blood pressure go through the roof.

11.  Their hospital ran like a well-oiled machine.

12.   The amount of white cells in my blood became the litmus test for diagnosing my disease.

(For more, go to http://www.english-at-home.com/vocabulary/english-studying-vocabulary/)