Listening

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????? ????? Unit 12
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Listening
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Revision

• 1. The facts had been ________ from thousands of
  students in their first year of university study
  by asking such questions as these.
• 2. He explained that his diet was so _____that he
  had to reward himself occasionally.

obtained
strict
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• 3. Snow is ______ in some countries.
• 4. The company has ________ its operations in
  Stanford by opening a new branch office there.
• 5. In the 19th century the government __________
  land to settlers willing to cultivate it.

absent
expanded
distributed
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• 6. The businessman _______ a lot of money to the
  hospital.
• 7. She lets her son _____ his own Christmas
  present.
• 8. The task will be finished ahead of ________ if
  nothing prevents.

donated
select
schedule
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• 9. Our premier _________ higher salaries for
  teachers.
• 10. I dont know what _________
• would suit me.

advocates
profession
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Pre-Listening

• 1. What do you know about education
• in the United States?
• Teachers in the USA are usually
• full of humor and give the students
• little, or even no homework.
• Nearly all American high school
• students have the chance to receive
• higher education.

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• 2. How is it similar to Chinese education? How is
  it different?
• We Chinese have too many exams while the USA
  doesnt.
• We have longer working hours than the
  American students do. And they enjoy more
  holidays than we do.

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Listening

• Comparison of education in China and the USA

Bigger class sizes in China than USA
China teacher uses a
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mixture of
student-centred learning
and teacher -centred
learning USA
student-centred learning
Homework Exams
China more than USA
China national exams
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USA no
national exams during high
school education.
Grades awarded on coursework.
Teacher-centred more formal,
traditional, teacher guides students through
the method solving problem
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step by step. Students do similar
problem for homework. Student-centred
Teacher asks question or gives problem and
students find their own answer to the
question or their own way to solve the
problem.
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Listening Text

• Z Zhang Fan female Chinese
• student
• M Mike male American student
• Z Hi Mike, hows the course? I guess it must
  be pretty different from school in America

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• M Yeah, Zhang Fan, its certainly different.
• Z I suppose the class size is bigger?
• M Thats for sure, but the students in China are
  well behaved and listen carefully, so its not a
  problem. The biggest thing is that the

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• teachers have a different approach in China
  here the classes are a mixture of both
  student-centred learning and the more
  traditional teacher-centred learning.
• Z In what way?

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• M Well, some of my lessons are like in America
  Mr. Dong asks a question or gives us a problem,
  then we talk about it and try to discover an
  answer ourselves
• Z Mmn, thats student-centred learning, right?

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• M Yeah, and other lessons are quite different
  more, well, formal For example, in some classes
  the teacher gives us the information and goes
  through the question step by step. Then we do a
  similar exercise by ourselves for homework.

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• Z How do you feel about that?
• M Actually I like those lessons because I can
  make sure I really understand everything.
• Z Yes, providing lessons with a strong basis is
  one of the strengths of Chinese education. Now,
  tell me, how do you find the homework?

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• M Oh Zhang Fan, I find it rather difficult! I
  have much more homework than in the US and my
  classmates are very hard-working and serious
  about their studies. I have to learn so much by
  the next lesson to keep up with them and Im not
  good at remembering things

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• like Chinese students.
• Z Itll be good for you, Mike it will help you
  to organize your time and learn to discipline
  yourself.
• M Youre right. Im worried about the exams
  though. You see in America we dont have any
  national exams at high school. The schools give

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• grades based on our work during the course
  you know projects and essays and things like
  that.
• Z Yes, in China many students have to take the
  national exams. We have to study hard for them if
  we want a good job or to get into a good college.

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• M You know, Xiao Zhang, this is really
  interesting. Why dont we have lunch together and
  we can talk some more?
• Z Sure, I know a really good noodle restaurant

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Discussion

• A I dont think Mike is enjoying his studies in
  China, because there are so many differences
  between education in China and the USA. For
  example, Chinese education puts too much emphasis
  on

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• exams, and there is too much homework.
  Besides, the teaching methods are quite
  different.
• B Im afraid I cant agree with you. Though
  there are a lot of differences, we share much in
  common for example, more and more teachers are
  using western

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• teaching styles freely, and our government
  is doing its utmost to reduce the workload.
• C In my opinion, if Mike comes to China for
  further education, he will surely oblige himself
  to like the Chinese teaching style, to be

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• interested at least. If so, everything will be
  OK, and he will enjoy his studies here.
  Otherwise, he is sure to regret his choice.

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Listening on P233
Part 1
Part 2
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Listening Text

• Part 1
• J Julia T teacher (female)
• J Good morning! I saw your advertisement in the
  paper for Chinese courses and I dropped by to get
  some more information.

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• T Great, which course are you interested in
  General Chinese or Business Chinese?
• J Well, Im not sure. Whats the difference
  between them?
• T The General Chinese course is for beginners.
  It covers everyday

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• situations you know, shopping, booking
  tickets, ordering food in a restaurant, things
  like that. Its quite popular with people
  intending to visit China for a holiday.
• J I see, so is it mainly Chinese conversation,
  or does it include learning to read and write as
  well?

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• T It mainly deals with spoken Chinese, but
  students do learn to recognize about 300
  characters-enough to read simple passage.
• J Mmm, and the Business Chinese course?
• T Thats a more intense course for people who
  need to use Chinese for

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• business. Most of the students work for
  corporations who have projects in China. It
  teaches a specialized vocabulary thats used in
  meetings, reports, letters and so on. Theres a
  lot of speaking practice in this course too, but
  it places more stress

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• on developing reading and writing skills
  than the General Chinese course.
• J Is it suitable for beginners?
• T Well, some beginners do choose this course,
  but they find the workload quite tough. I suggest
  you

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• take the General Chinese course first because
  most students find it helps them to have a basic
  knowledge of the language before they start.
• J I see. And what about the cost?

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• Part 2
• Professor Smith is giving an informal
  presentation to a group of students aged about 17
  or 18.
• Hello everyone. Thanks for coming. Well, we
  all know that exams are stressful and cause
  anxiety. Today,

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• Im going to explain what happens to your body
  when you feel anxious, and then give you some
  advice that might be helpful to you.
• To start with, its important to understand
  that anxiety is a normal, natural response to
  stress or fear,

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• and in fact its quite useful. Anxiety causes
  physical changes which prepare your body and mind
  to face challenges. So feeling anxious about an
  exam is OK and actually helps you to perform
  well.
• Anxiety becomes a problem, however, if you
  experience it too

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frequently or over a long period of time. In this
situation, it becomes difficult to concentrate
and you may find you get upset easily or lose
confidence. It is also common to suffer from
extreme tiredness and to have difficulty in
sleeping .
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• Now, I recommend a 3-step approach to beat
  anxiety. Firstly, use breathing exercises to
  reduce your bodys physical stress. Secondly, use
  positive thinking methods calm your mind and
  improve your concentration, and thirdly, plan your

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• study schedule using the Eating an Elephant
  approach.
• titters and eating an elephant? from
  audience
• What do I mean? Well, if I asked you to eat
  an elephant, youd probably feel you couldnt do
  it. Youd start to

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• worry, feel stressed and experience anxiety. But
  if I gave you an elephant steak say, about this
  size could you eat it?
• murmurs of agreement and yes from
  audience
• Yes, so eating an elephant is easy if you cut
  it into smaller pieces and just

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• eat one piece at a time. And when you study, you
  should cut up your workload into small pieces
  and concentrate on one piece at a time, rather
  than the whole elephant.
• OK, lets look at each of the 3 steps in more
  detail

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Homework

• Preview the Reading and finish Exercise 1 of
  LANGUAGE PRACTICE on P105.