Monday’s assignment

Hello all,

I hope that you have enjoyed your time off. Now, back to our writing and reading theme. Today we will practice note talking. Please read the following explanation and follow the tasks below. 

By the way, since this Friday is off, our weekly presentation will be on Thursday, please check it and start working on it!

Note Taking While Reading

When reading for study purposes, it is common to take notes. People take notes for different reasons: to stay focused on what they are reading or listening to, to remember information better, or to deepen their understanding of the information. Here are some steps for note-taking focused on what they are reading or listening to, to remember information better, or to deepen their understanding of the information.

Here are some steps for note-taking:

1.Define your purpose for reading. Is it to get a general understanding of the text? To find specific information for a class assignment? Or to be able to recall information during an exam? Thinking about the purpose will help you stay focused on the information in the text that is relevant to your needs. 


2.Preview the text to get a general sense of its content and how the information is organized. For example, skim headings, sub-headings, chapter summaries and charts. Getting a sense of how the entire text is organized and what the main ideas are will help you organize your notes. For example, the headings in the text (or table of contents) can be used as headings for your own notes. 


3.While reading the text, try to differentiate between the main points and supporting details. It is helpful to read the introduction to the text and topic sentence of each paragraph for the main points. Take notes of the main points and supporting details. 


Skim the following text to find out what it is about.

In today’s economy, more and more workers are being laid off and relying on the employment insurance program. Today we’re featuring the history of Canada’s Employment Insurance program. When did it start? Why did it start? What’s it like today?

The Employment Insurance program was launched in response to severe economic conditions during the Great Depression. The Depression lasted from 1929 right up until the Second World War in 1939. During that time, millions of Canadians were out of work. With no government aid, families were forced to rely on whatever community aid was available. Many Canadians lost their homes, and many more were unable to provide for their families.

There was a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of an unemployment insurance program (as it was then called). People who were in favour of unemployment insurance said it would give families enough income to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. But others felt that such a program would encourage people to stay unemployed.

Despite the debate, the Unemployment Insurance Act came into effect in 1941. In 1971, the program expanded, and began to cover maternity and sickness benefits. In 1996, the program changed its name to Employment Insurance. Today, EI places an emphasis on skills training. The program encourages laid-off workers who receive benefits to attend training programs before re-entering the workforce.

Employment Insurance operates like any insurance program: workers pay into a fund, and can apply for benefits under certain conditions. Workers most commonly receive benefits when they are laid off. However, they can also receive benefits when caring for a newborn or newly adopted child (maternity, parental and adoption benefits), when suffering from a long-term illness (sickness benefits), or when caring for a family member who is seriously ill (compassionate care benefits). Not all workers are eligible for benefits. Eligibility depends on how long workers have been employed and what type of work they have been doing.

 Adapted from information on www.hrsdc.gc.ca

 Task 1:

1.  Highlight the information you think you need to take notes on.
2. Compare and discuss with a partner.
3. Take notes on the key information.
4. Use your notes to write one paragraph summary of the text.

• 
  

1. 
   

• The history about EI. 
• The reasons of EI come from. 
• The advantages and disadvantages of EI. 
• The development of EI. 
• The benefits of EI and the requirement of EI.

4.  The EI is a kind of insurance for unemployment workers. It came up with during the Great Depression until the Second World War in order to help  plenty of unemployed workers and their families through offering money by government. The plan named Unemployed Insurance Act implemented in 1941. It expanded to including maternity and sickness benefits in 1971. In 1996, it changed the name to EI and focused on skills training. Though unemployment workers can get benefit from government, including maternity EI, long term of illness EI, compassionate EI and so on, there are many requirements on applying for.

Note Taking While Listening

Most of the strategies for note taking while reading also apply to note-taking while listening: you need to think about your purpose for listening, recognize the main ideas, and make decisions about what information is relevant to your purpose. But there are two important differences. First, your note-taking must keep up with the speaker, so you have to take notes quickly. And second, your initial notes will follow the order and outline of the speaker’s talk, so you may need to review and re-organize your notes later so that they make sense to you.

Here are some tips for effective note taking while listening:

1.Listen carefully to the introduction of the presentation because most presenters will give an overview of their talk in the introduction. 


2.Use symbols and abbreviations to speed up the process of taking notes. You can develop your own system of symbols and abbreviations, but make sure you use them consistently so that you always remember what they mean.

3.Listen for phrases (signposts) that indicate how the presentation is organized and signal different parts of a presentation/lecture. For example:

a)    Introducing the topic: The topic of my presentation today is the similarities and differences of Alberta and Saskatchewan  ...; I intend to show that ... 


b)   Indicating the organization: First, I’d like to talk about ...; In the second place ...; And finally..


c)    Reviewing information: As I mentioned previously ...; It’s clear that ...; You probably remember that ... 


d)   Emphasizing information: I’d like to stress that ...; The main point is that ... 


e)    Starting a new point: I’d like to move on to ...; Now let’s turn to ... 


4.Listen for logical connectors that express the relationship between ideas. For example, as a result of, in contrast to, although.

Task 2:

Listen to this presentation and answer the following questions.

1. How many parts are in the talk?
2. Write the main topics that the presentation will address. Take notes on key information.
3. Write headings for your notes.
4. Compare your notes with two of your peers and discuss the strategies you used (listening for key words, using abbreviations, using a chart).
5.  List all the new vocabulary that you have picked from the presentation and use them in sentences of your own.    

1.  Three
2.  Similarities and differences between Alberta and Saskatchewan.
3. climate, geography, economic, population(demographic)
4. 
   

5. catalogue	Similarity	difference
   		Alberta	Saskatchewan
   geography	Prairie Province. Landlocked. Bordered the U.S.A., along the latitude and almost straight.
   climate	Humidity Continental Climate, wind blowing is the same	Because of rocky mountain, drier and cooler.	Centre and eastern is humidity continental climate and turn dry into west. Warm wind blows to the west. North is subartic
   Economic and natural resources	Economic is growing fast. Large oil produce, agriculture, and farming. Common agricultural crops and livestock: wheat, canola, flags, oats; beef, cattle.	Oil produce is the first. The lead of wood, bee keeping, buffalo. Economic is larger. GDP is 5 times than Saskatchewan. Natural gas.	Oil produce is the second. Potash and Uranium Oxide produce.
   Demographic( Population)	High rate of population rising	3.5 million. Main ethnic group is English, then Scottish, Irish, German, and Ukraine	1 million. Main ethnic group is German, English, Scottish, Irish, and Ukraine.

   
   
   demographic, proximity, potash, Saskatchewan.

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