A Series of Workshops for ESL
(English as a second language) students
Semester 2, 2008

Student Learning conducts free academic workshops during semester specifically for Murdoch students for whom English is a second language (ESL), both local and international and undergraduate or postgraduate, to improve English and academic skills. This semester there will be a series of workshops on academic writing, grammar and English pronunciation and speaking skills. Each series is offered at two alternative timeslots per week and consists of three 2-hour sessions that are independent, but you are strongly recommended to attend all three workshops in a series to maximise your learning.

Series 1: Writing Successful Assignments

In this series of workshops you will be shown how to construct good academic essays. The focus is on the structural elements without which, irrespective of how good the English grammar is, an essay will fail to do well.

Tuesdays 2.30 – 4.20pm or Fridays 9.30 – 11.20am (rpt.), weeks 3, 4 and 5(non-teach wk*)

Unpacking a topic Tues Aug 19 or Fri Aug 22 Library 4.040 (NW level 4)	Come and learn how to improve your grade on an essay by fully addressing the assignment question. A fun workshop where your imagination will be stretched.
Planning the paper Tues Aug 26 or Fri Aug 29 Library 4.040 (NW level 4)	In this workshop we work with Post-It notes to plan an essay that will work for you. In this session you will discover the importance of a hierarchy of ideas for writing and presenting your argument.
Drafting the paper Tues Sept 2 or Fri Sept 5 Social Sciences 1.32*	Essays with strong introductions and conclusions will standout from the crowd. In this session the focus is on putting it all-together. Discover what makes a good introduction and conclusion and how you can improve yours.

Series 2: Common Grammar Trouble-Spots

This series of workshops looks at common grammar trouble-spots for ESL students that can cause you to lose marks in your academic essays. Each session gives practical tips and strategies for editing and proof-reading your academic writing to overcome these problems.

Wednesdays 9.00 – 11.00am or Thursdays 2.30 – 4.20pm (rpt.), weeks 3, 4 and 5(non-teach wk*)

English sentence structure Wed Aug 20 or Thur Aug 21 Library 4.040 (NW level 4)	Come and learn about basic English sentence structure and punctuation. Recognise commas splices, run-on sentences and sentence fragments and know how to correct them.
English verb tenses Wed Aug 27 or Thur Aug 28 Library 4.040 (NW level 4)	Brush up your understanding of the form and meaning of the major English verb tenses. Recognise inconsistencies in tense and develop useful strategies for logical consistency.
Nouns and articles Wed Sept 3 or Thur Sept 4 Social Sciences 1.32*	Understand the complexities and subtleties of the noun and article systems in English. Develop useful strategies for consistency and accuracy with singulars, plurals, uncountable nouns and definite and indefinite articles.

Series 3: Improving English Pronunciation & Speaking Skills

This series of workshops aims to improve your English pronunciation and speaking skills. It aims to develop better speaking skills through understanding the English sound system, identifying personal strengths and weaknesses and learning useful strategies for greater confidence, fluency and clarity.

Tuesdays 2.30 – 4.20pm, weeks 6, 7 and 8

The English sound system Tues Sept 9 Library 4.040 (NW level 4)	This initial session presents an overview of the English sound system, and explores the 44 consonant and vowel phonemes that make up standard English. It also introduces rhythm, stress, intonation, linking and phrasing which will be developed further in later workshops.
Syllable stress Tues Sept 16 Library 4.040 (NW level 4)	This workshop explores the two major patterns in syllable stress in the pronunciation of English words. The role of the neutral vowel in unstressed syllables is explored along with vanishing syllables.
Rhythm, phrasing and linking Tues Sept 23 Library 4.040 (NW level 4)	This session examines the music of English in terms of sentence rhythm, phrasing and linking. The role of the tonic (the strongest stressed word in a clause) will also be explored along with the intonation patterns in natural English.

Series 4: Fine-tuning your Academic Writing

In this series of workshops the focus is on writing clear, well-structured sentences and paragraphs. Incoherent and confusing sentences will cost you valuable marks, but you can avoid this by fine-tuning your writing.

Thursdays 2.30 – 4.20pm, weeks 6, 7 and 8

Constructing sentences Thur Sep 11 Library 4.040 (NW level 4)	In this workshop learn what makes a good, clear sentence. Discover how to combine sentences effectively and how to paraphrase, quote, summarise and cite references correctly.
Building paragraphs Thur Sep 18 Library 4.040 (NW level 4)	In this workshop learn how to use, construct and link effective paragraphs together to make well-written, convincing essays.
Common writing errors Thur Sep 25 Library 4.040 (NW level 4)	Many students make similar types of errors in their writing. In this workshop we highlight some of these common writing errors and present strategies for overcoming them.

Other Student Learning General Workshops

Many other useful academic skills workshops are available free to any Murdoch student a number of times in the semester on essay writing, reading, referencing, time management, critical thinking and many other topics such as the Grammar and Punctuation Workshops (GP1) (GP2) (GP3), which aim to help you write better academic assignments by improving your knowledge of sentence structure, grammar and punctuation in three 2 hour sequential workshop modules.

How to Enrol

Enrol for all Student Learning workshops (ESL and General) at the Student Learning noticeboard in the Library Level 4 north wing (near Student Learning reception, Library 4.007). Contact Colin Beasley (9360 2355; C.Beasley@murdoch.edu.au) or Craig Whitsed (9360 2753; C.Whitsed@murdoch.edu.au) for further information on the ESL workshops.