Title: 9. Class: English
Course: Study PrepProg Introduction Social Services, Health Care and Professional English, Part 1

2nd January 2024

Tuesday, 8:15 - 11:30
Greeting
Hello everyone,

Firstly, it's the new year and I want to wish you all a much better New Year.  Last year President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his New Year's greeting said this [official translation]:

Let this year be the year of return. The return of our people. ....

Return of our lands. And the temporarily occupied will become forever free.

Return to normal life. To happy moments without curfew. To earthly joys without air alerts.

The return of what has been stolen from us. The childhood of our children, the peaceful old age of our parents.

I hope this may be the case this year. I wish you well for the new year and I am glad that I can help support you with your English and your future careers.

I will be your teacher for 6 weeks, about 20 hours of class time.  20 hours is not a lot of time to help improve your English. Because of this we will not be looking at grammar but mostly at 'communication'.   I will be helping you with your English for wellbeing and health care but also helping your professional communication (for presenting and group meetings) and preparing for Entrance exams (comprehension and reading tests and group interviews).

I have heard such wonderful things about your English from your teachers and look forward to continuing the support of your communication and interaction.

Derek

This week - 2nd January 2024
This week, we will be looking at the topic of presenting.  You have already talked about this and given some presentations in this course, but we will look at the topic from a different point of view.  In the Finnish education system group work and presenting together is a very common method of building and demonstrating competence.  In your entrance exams you will may also be assessed (tested) in groups

What sort of presentations have you given while in Ukraine or in other countries? Do you like giving presentations? What makes a good presentation or, for that matter, a bad one?

We will talk about your opinions on presenting and look at some theory for presenting ideas and giving a good online presentation.  Is an online presentation different to a face-to-face presentation?

We will also spend some time discussing health care and practice listening and sharing stories. One of the most important skills a person working in the wellbeing industry needs is the ability to listen well. We don't spend a lot of time teaching about it , thinking about it or practicing it, but listening, and showing that you are listening, are essential skills in caring for others.

I look forward to supporting you too.

Homework Tasks