MODULES who what to expect when where Soft Skills Evel Meckarov "The module will be designed based on years of hands-on experience from the corporate world of IBM combined with the latest theory trends. “Soft skills” is a term relating to a collection of personal, positive attributes and competencies that enhance your relationships, performance, and perceived value to other people. In this world of constant change, soft skills provide the ability to adapt quickly to anysituation. In our experience, soft skills make a huge difference in people oriented roles and can be applied in all areas of life." "20/3, 10/4 and 24/4 always 10 - 11:30" "Language Lab, Language Centre, Komenského nám, 2" Academic writing Libor Štěpánek and Tristan Lee "This support group is designed to provide students with an opportunity to take their academic writing skills in English to a higher level, specifically in relation to their own discipline. The programme of this group is practical as well as theoretical. Participants will be actively involved in a series of written individual, collaborative and peer-review tasks. Their texts will be analysed and discussed with a native speaker, an academic support professional. At the end of the group work, participants will be able to understand generic and specific features of academic texts; evaluate strengths and weaknesses of written work and know how to improve their individual writing style." "Tuesday, 10th March, 17:00-19:00, the first session" "Language Lab, Language Centre, Komenského nám, 2" Reading and Discussions Eva Čoupková "A module not only for bookworms - during our several sessions I would like to read critically and discuss a text of our common choice in English – be it a novel, a short story, an essay, or a poem – and try to interpret and analyse it employing the basic theoretical tools. These include, depending on the nature of the narrative, the differences between story and narration, point of view, use of figurative language, gender and genre aspects of the text, questions of originality and value, and so on. Before the first session you may think of a text that would be interesting for you, giving me your suggestions and reasons for your choice. You can use the web page http://www.goodreads.com/ for reference." Thursday 19 March 13:00 Room J1 Kotlářská 2 Faculty of Science Case Studies Štěpánka Bilová "Are you interested in exciting cases from your field of study? In this module you’ll choose a contemporary or recent case and then you’ll report  the information, in both written and oral forms, to others. The group will meet twice. During the first session you can develop the strategies and prepare the guidelines and in the second session everybody will briefly report on their cases and submit their written work. Apart from practicing the language skills (mainly reading, speaking, writing), you’ll work on your research and communication skills." Thursday 26th March 13:30 "Room 302, Faculty of Law" Conversation Šárka Roušavá "At the first support group session, students will be provided with various e-learning language links focused on issues we agree on beforehand; these will include vocabulary, readings, comprehension questions, discussion topics, quizzes and videos. Between the support group sessions, students are encouraged to design group or individual projects on a theme of their choice. The topic is up to you, as well as the work strategy. The support group will attempt to provide a forum of discussion for people who may find it difficult to express their opinions and concerns in English." "Thursdays 5th, 12th and 19th March at 17:00" "room 36, FSS" Pronunciation Eva Trumpešová - Rudolfová "According to most recent research, the biggest percentage of all communication breakdowns happens due to wrong or unclear pronunciation. Have you ever been in a situation, where you had to repeat a word, what seemed like a thousand times, and nobody understood what you were saying? And when you finally spelled it, they went a-ha, you mean... – and pronounced the word, in exactly the same way you did? Have you ever wondered what a person with a very untypical accent was telling you, only to discover that they just swapped two vowels, and with this knowledge their English was perfectly understandable to you? In this support group we will most certainly listen and then, we can speak, we can sing, we might improve our guessing and intuition of what the others are saying..., simply, we will be doing whatever you personally need to do to improve your pronunciation, so that you feel at ease from now on, when using all the weird words like choir, ruthlessness, conscientious, thoroughly and many more... There will be three sessions: (Taking It) In and (Speaking It) Out and Bringing Your Voice In." "26/3 at 1,15 PM" "Language Lab, Language Centre, Komenského nám, 2" Working abroad Eva Čoupková "The Scientific Method is a logical and rational order of steps by which scientists come to conclusions about the world around them. The Scientific Method helps to organize thoughts and procedures so that scientists can be confident in the answers they find. Scientists use observations, hypotheses, and deductions to make these conclusions. Do you know whether you make or do an experiment? Do you know what you usually do with a hypothesis? And how to pronounce determine, bacteria, or variable? If not or you are not sure, come to my shower to find out." Thursday 26 March 13:00 "Room J1 Kotlářká 2, Faculty of Science" Presentation Skills Lenka Zouhar Ludvíková "Sooner or later you are all going to give a presentation and it might be in English. Let´s try a few presentations in this support group. All of you are going to perform at least 3times, presenting different topics. You will be learning from your and other people´s mistakes, you will be giving feedback to one another and you will become better presenters for exams to come, for conferences to go to, for your future careers." Wednesday 25th March 17:30 C21 FF Academic discussions Jiřina Hrbáčková "In three sessions of this support group we are going to explore the mechanisms and principles of academic discussions and much more. After the first meeting we will decide which topics are the most attractive and controversial for us so that we can then prepare for the real academic discussions ourselves. You are going to learn useful language tools and phrases, you are going to study and prepare materials for our discussions and you will hopefully enjoy the whole experience." Wednesday 26th March 15:30 "Language Lab, Language Centre, Komenského nám, 2" Emotional Intelligence Eva Trumpešová - Rudolfová "Are your feelings your helpers and servants or Ayour enemies? Enemies?! Time to change it... We might discuss your emotions but we don´t have to, if you are not comfortable. What we will most certainly do is, find a way for everybody to become more aware of and therefore more intelligent with their own emotions. If your question is: Do I need courage to do that? My reply goes as follows: Yes, so join us on a courageous and daring journey, starting with this very topic: Courage!" 26/3 at 10AM "Language Lab, Language Centre, Komenského nám, 2" ILEC – Guided Self-Study Module for Future Lawyers Barbora Chovancová "Do you dream of becoming a divorce lawyer to the rich and famous? Would you rather help single mothers fight cross-border cusotdy battles? Or are you the down-to-earth type who believes that a good way forward is to prepare and pass the ILEC exam? In either case we invite you to join for a module in autonomous learning in which we are going to explore approaches to self-improvement and self-study in legal English, share study tips, set up goals - and then go away and work out what you really want to do, do it and come back to share it with the others." Thursday 26th March 13:30 "Room 315, Faculty of Law" "Film adaptations of Spanish/Latin American and English Literature" Jitka Žváčková "When a book is adapted into a film, some questions arise, „Is it a good film?“ or „Is it better than the book?“ When is the last time you had a discussion or quarrel on this topic? Are you interested in watching, reading and comparing? If you are, come and share your opinions with us. We will be happy to read the books you have already read and watch the films you have already watched. We could focus on Spain and Americas or Britain and Indias. We could compare, contrast and analyse bits and pieces or full stories, characters, styles, language or anything you find worth discussing." Wednesday 18/3 at 5:00 pm "Jazyková studovna/Language Lab, Language Centre, Komenského nám.2" Crosscultural Awareness Lenka Zouhar Ludvíková "Let´s explore other cultures as well as our own. This module will offer you opportunity to share experience, to compare and contrast, to read and write... A variety of tools that will help you understand other cultures might be introduced and we will try to see the world from the perspective of other people." Tuesday 17th March 10:30 - 12 "Seminar Room, Language Centre" Organizing a conference Lenka Zouhar Ludvíková "This module will be an example of experience learning as you will organize a miniconference for a Presentation Skills module from the scratch. You will be in charge of the correspondence with the speakers, coordinate all procedures, look after smooth preparation phase as well as the actual event, specify the programme, promote the conference... Your learning will happen almost ""by the way"" in areas of writing, negotiating, prioritizing, stress management etc. And as we all know, there is nothing like your own personal experience to learn from." Friday 27th March 10:30 - 12 "Seminar Room, Language Centre" Productive skills - based on one´s own production Lenka Zouhar Ludvíková "We learn fom our own mistakes in our lives and we call it a growth. Let´s learn together from our mistakes in English and call it progress. In order to correct and possibly avoid your mistakes you have to make them, find them and learn from them... We will do so with your own writing and speaking." Tuesday 31st March 12:00 - 13:30 "Seminar Room, Language Centre" Learning to Learn Eva Trumpešová - Rudolfová "Whether you decide to learn to swim or to drive a car or ... bake a cake maybe, you are given detailed instructions as to how to do it so that you arrive at the best possible result. However, you are never given any instructions, help or hints as to learning. You spend long years being told: “Learn this! Learn that!” but you never get the HOW. This module is for people who feel the same, who miss learning skills in their curriculum and also for those who are willing to share their stories, their ways and their strategies." 18/3 at 2PM "Seminar Room, Language Centre" Project Skills: Art Walk / Talk Martina Šindelářová Skupeňová "Let us create an interesting interactive guide for Masaryk university collection of contemporary sculptures. At our first meeting, we can join a guided tour on the campus. Then our team will be involved in the project work on the guide, developing speaking and writing competencies in English, as well as many useful soft skills – negotiation, creativity, presentation skills etc. http://www.online.muni.cz/udalosti/5662-kampus-obklopuje-galerie-soch#.VNmtaC7F5A4" 18/3 1 PM Campus Bohunice Vocabulary Online Martina Šindelářová Skupeňová "This module is designed to help you to expand your Academic English vocabulary using online tools. The focus of this group is practical, aiming at students´ individual needs. At the first meeting, some useful vocabulary learning strategies and tools, including the usage of language corpora will be introduced. Later, you will look for interesting tools yourselves and share them with your colleagues. You can develop individual as well as group word lists and also discover exciting ways of recycling and revising vocabulary. " 11/3/2015 17:30:00 "C21, FF" ##### Sheet/List 2 ##### SHOWERS who what when where Project Management Basics Evel Meckarov "The shower will be designed based on years of hands-on project management experience from the corporate world of IBM combined with the latest theory trends. Whether you are writing an essay, your thesis, looking for a job, studying for an exam or even planning your vacation you can look at everything as a project. In this shower you will have the possibility to see just how much of our lives revolve around big and small projects but more importantly how to put yourself in the driving seat and gain control. Effectively managing the projects in your life can go a long way." 17th April 9:30 - 11 "Seminární místnost, Language Centre, Komenského nám, 2" Cook in English Lenka Zouhar Ludvíková "Take this shower as an opening to English learning on the background of gastronomy. Hopefully this module will be a starter that will motivate you to meet again and discuss recipes and explore the language of the kitchen. Practical cooking, hands on experience sessions recommended... Futhermore, I will show you how you can learn English from Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver." 1st April 4:30pm to be specified... Book Club Eva Čoupková "A shower not only for bookworms - in our single session I would like to discuss the literary work of art you like –  be it an article, novel, poem, short story, drama – belonging to English or any other national literature; however, the discussion should be in English.  We may choose one text and consider it from different angles - what you find important/interesting/strange/valuable/ typical regarding the author/work/ period in which the work originated, suggesting further points for discussion. I would like to offer you five reading parts to choose from, or you can use the web page http://www.goodreads.com/ for reference." Friday 17 April 11:00 "Room J1 Kotlářská 2, Facult of Science " Critical Thinking Libor Štěpánek "Everybody can become a subject to information overload or a complex mix of viewpoints. Critical thinking can help us understand which arguments are valid, which we should be persuaded by and which can lead us to making informed choices. This shower session aims to equip us with critical thinking skills and techniques. We may focus on critical thinking in both the academic and everyday context as an opportunity to enhance our own skills in critical thinking. The practice-oriented session can be organised around group and individual tasks, problem-solving, discussion and debate activities." "Monday, 13th April, 17:00-19:00 " "Jazyková studovna / Language Lab CJV, Komenského nám. 2" Grammar for Lovers Petra Trávníková "Everything you always wanted to know about grammar but were afraid to ask. You will choose what we will look at before the session itself and these problematic spots will be the subject matter of our shower. Preferably, we will deal with those grammar problems that are less “mainstream” and above the B2 level." "Wednesday, 13th May, 9.10-10.45" "K23, Veveří 28" Grammar for the others Petra Trávníková "In this shower, we will concentrate on more basic areas in English grammar found problematic by the students themselves and identified prior to our session in a discussion thread in the IS. Consequently, we will deal with these areas both at the theoretical and practical level." "Thursday, 14th May, 9.10-10.45" "K12, Veveří 28" Creative skills in Lg.learning Libor Štěpánek "“There are many misconceptions about creativity. Creativity is not a separate faculty that some people have and others do not. It is a function of intelligence: it takes many forms, it draws from many different capacities and we all have different creative capabilities. Creativity is possible in any activity in which human intelligence is actively engaged.” (Robinson, Ken (2001): Out of our minds. Learning to be creative, p.111) Creativity can simply help us increase effectiveness of our language skills development. This shower session aims to equip us with creativity skills and techniques. It may address questions such as creative situations, creative personality, steps of creative process, and creativity barriers. The practice-oriented session can be organised around group and individual tasks, problem-solving, discussion and debate activities." "Monday, 23rd March, 17:00-19:00" "Language Lab, Language Centre, Komenského nám.2" Multilingual Animal Idioms Jitka Žváčková "When learning a foreign language, you may have a tiger by the tail, but still you can keep grinning like a Cheshire cat. Do you know what we are talking about? If not, this shower is the right choice for you. We are going to observe the secret lives of animals, pets and beasts living in a magnificient world of words, sometimes between the lines and definitely ignoring geographical frontiers. You can be as quiet as a mouse, as sly as a fox or as busy as a beaver, there is always a place for you in this group." "Tuesday, 17/3 at 5:00 pm" "Jazyková studovna/Language Lab, Language Centre, Komenského nám.2" Scientific and academic vocabulary Eva Čoupková "The Scientific Method is a logical and rational order of steps by which scientists come to conclusions about the world around them. The Scientific Method helps to organize thoughts and procedures so that scientists can be confident in the answers they find. Scientists use observations, hypotheses, and deductions to make these conclusions, Do you know whether you make or do an experiment? Do you know what you usually do with a hypothesis? And how to pronounce determine, bacteria, or variable? If not or you are not sure, come to my shower to find out." Friday 17 April 9:00 "Room J1 Kotlářská 2, Faculty of Science" LARP Lenka Zouhar Ludvíková Experience live-action role play in English. No need to say more... 15/4 at 5:30 C21 (FF) Professional skills Robert Moncrief Say what you need and Robert will help you with it. Pre-shower email correspondence will specify the topics that will be covered. 6/5 at 10am "Seminární místnost, Language Centre, Komenského nám, 2" Your gifts Eva Trumpešová- Rudolfová Can you count your blessings..? 1/4 at 2PM to be specified