Over the last three months, CLE held four workshops addressing issues relevant to English language learning and use for all SUSTech students.
The first workshop, entitled “Presentation Skills in Academic Setting,” was delivered by Prof. Siqun XU, associate professor of the CLE, on September 1st. This workshop shared numerous tips on developing presentation skills in an academic setting. Essential skills for planning, structuring, and delivering a presentation as well as some speech delivery techniques were shared to help students to build professional confidence when doing academic presentations.
Another themed workshop delivered by Prof. Siqun XU on September 24th was “How to learn English at College”. This workshop focused on how to plan their English language learning during their four-year study at SUSTech from the following three aspects: English learning, English translation, and English thinking, and making foreign language competence a competitive advantage for their future academic and career development.
The third themed lecture “Writing Effective Scientific Papers: How to help the reader understand what you achieved and why it matters” was delivered by Dr. Adrian Rowland on September 20th. In this one-hour session, participants learned how to write effective scientific papers by using an OCAR structure, which includes an opening, challenge, action, and resolution.
Dr. Conrad Herrera delivered a seminar on “Agreeing and Disagreeing in English Conversation” on October 27th. Dr. Conrad shared common expressions used to show agreement and disagreement with plenty of examples used in the real context. The audience practiced with the given expression to speak naturally and properly when offering an opinion to their partners.
In addition to the workshops for students, special seminars for teachers were held twice this semester, “PIGAI: Online Essay Grading System” and “Assessment Workshop for Teachers”. All these two sessions were aimed at supporting teachers in conducting language teaching.
Overall, CLE hopes that the SUSTech community of learners will take advantage of the workshop series as they move forward toward more sustainable and refined English language learning practices. There will be a series of workshops covering a variety of topics next semester. Looking forward to your continued attendance and participation. Don’t hesitate to join us!
