Get your message across

 

 

JAs Biotek Netværk invites you to take part in the two-part course:

“Write More Clearly; Speak More Clearly;
- get your message across"

A two-part course to help you improve your report writing in English

 

On Monday 6 June,at 13:00-16:30 and
Friday 10 June  at 12:30-16:00 

 

Participation both days!!

 

(You don't have to be a biotech student to participate)

 

Venue: på KU LIFE, room A2-70.02.

AIM:
The aim is to help participants to improve their English writing skills. There is a growing requirement for academic reports, research papers and presentations in English as well as Danish. It is important that your results, findings or conclusions are easily and quickly understood, so that further action can be taken. The course is designed to help you to clarify and simplify your message.

MEANS:
Practical exercises and some theory; learning to use relevant tricks and tools.

For example, the first session could include:
• presentation/description; each person describes verbally an unseen object or image; the others try to imagine what that object is;
• critique and learning points
• writing: practice in selecting main facts from a text; and creating a quick presentation (possibly using overheads or perhaps PowerPoint)
• classroom exercises to strengthen identified weaknesses

The course will be divided into two sessions, with sufficient time in between for students to practice some writing, and for their work to be graded, ready for feedback and discussion in groups or in plenum. This should be a longer text (500 - max. 1,000 words), the subject and length to be agreed individually.

The course will be carefully tailored to the specific needs of the participants, so prior to the course we would like to see examples of the work of each participant - a short text of about 300 words on a subject familiar to them.

PARTICIPANTS:
• We expect that participants will primarily be students in higher education, at Bachelor or Master level;
• Their field will be agricultural science, agri-economics, horticulture, forestry, bio-technology, natural resources and landscape architecture etc.
• Class size should be between 15 and maximum 20 (to give trainers time to read and grade the work for the second part of the course)

GOALS:
• Improved presentation and communication techniques in English
• Improved writing ability in English, including
o structuring reports or papers;
o thinking and writing in English rather than translating or paraphrasing an existing Danish text;
o similarities/differences between Danish and English;
o avoiding stumbling blocks and pitfalls
• Language (quality) control – people or reference books to turn to
• Improved English speaking ability

DURATION OF THE COURSE:
• 2 x 3½ hours
• 2 half-day sessions on a Monday and Friday
• Three days in between for written practice/homework.

Critique of homework: There should be enough time for this between sessions. A text of 500 words could be proofread professionally in about 60 minutes, depending on quality; corrections and suggestions would be shown using Word's Track Changes function, and 'good' examples can be used anonymously in the classroom for discussions.

About the two lecturers/teachers:

Claire Clausen
Journalist, English language consultant and language trainer External language and presentation skills teacher at DTU Risø, Ingeniørhøjskolen i København, and other private and public sector customers Journalist/presenter of News in English, Danmarks Radio; Diplomatic & community correspondent, Copenhagen Post; Press & public affairs officer, British Embassy, Copenhagen.

Michael de Laine
Journalist, copywriter and translator
Contributing journalist at Copenhagen Voice; Business correspondent at Copenhagen Post; Nordic correspondent at Research Europe; stringer for numerous English-language media Copywriter and translator for a wide range of Danish technical and financial enterprises.



Read more in English at JA's website