Transcripts of Programme of Activities for First Day Answers .
SECTION 1
RECEPTIONIST: Sorry to keep you waiting. Well, firstly, let me give you this booklet. It tells you a bit more about
the school, the courses and the social activities we offer. Now, on the first page, there’s an outline
of this morning’s activities. There, you see? The programme starts at 10 o’clock. Example
Try not to be late as it’s a very full day.
At 10 o’clock, all the new students will gather in the Main Hall to Ql
meet the Principal and the rest of the staff. In fact, you spend most of the morning in the Main
Hall.
STUDENT: Where’s that?
RECEPTIONIST: I’ll show you in a minute. Just let me quickly run through this morning’s events first and then I’ll
explain how to get there.
STUDENT: Yes, OK.
RECEPTIONIST: Right. Where were we? Yes, so, the Principal’s talk will last about fifteen
minutes and then the Director of Studies will talk to you for half an Q2
hour about the courses and the different requirements for each. After Q3
that, the Student Adviser will tell you about the various services and activities we offer to
students. Any questions?
STUDENT: SO, all of this is in the Main Hall?
RECEPTIONIST: That’s right. And then you’ll go next door to Classroom 5 at 11 o’clock. Q4
STUDENT: What happens there?
RECEPTIONIST: You’ll have a test.
STUDENT: Test? I don’t like the sound of that. What sort of test?
RECEPTIONIST: Oh, it’s nothing to worry about. It’s just a placement test to help us find Q5
your level of English so that we can put you in the right class. It won’t last long.
STUDENT: But how do I find the Main Hall?
RECEPTIONIST: Right; if you look on the back of the booklet I gave you, you’ll see a map of the school. Let me
show you. Look: you came in through the Main Entrance, here, and now we’re here at Reception.
Now, to get to the Main Hall, you walk on to the end of this corridor in front of you and then you
turn left. Walk along past the Language Laboratory and then past the Library, which is next to the
Language Lab, on the same side, and facing you is the Main Hall, at the end of the corridor. You
can’t miss it. Q6
STUDENT: SO it’s next to the Library, in fact. Q7
RECEPTIONIST: Yes, that’s right.
STUDENT: I should be able to find that. And do you have a Computer Laboratory?
RECEPTIONIST: Yes, we do
STUDENT: Could you tell me where that is?
RECEPTIONIST: Certainly, yes. You go down to the end of this corridor again but, this Q8
time, don’t turn left; turn right, away from the Main Hall. The
Computer Lab. is immediately on your right. OK?
STUDENT: And where’s the staff room, in case I need to find a teacher at some
stage?
RECEPTIONIST: The staff room is near the main entrance, on the left over there, just Q9
opposite the Reception desk. In a day or two, I’m sure you’ll find your
way around very easily.
STUDENT: Oh, one last thing. Is there a student common room?
RECEPTIONIST: Oh yes, I forgot to mention that. It’s this area here, very close to where Q10
we are now, to the right of the Reception desk as you come in the main
entrance. There’s tea and coffee facilities there.
STUDENT: Great. Thank you very much.
RECEPTIONIST: You’re welcome.
SECTION 2
Hello, everybody and welcome to this informal meeting about the University Helpline. The Helpline was set up ten
years ago by the Students Union and it aims to provide new students to the university with a service that they can
use if they need information about practical areas of student life that they are unfamiliar with.
Let me give you some examples of the type of help we can offer. We can provide information on financial
matters; for example, you may feel that your grant is insufficient to see you through college life or you may have
some queries regarding the fees you are Ql1
paying if you are an overseas student. In both cases, the Helpline would be able to go through things with you and
see what the outcome might be. Another area we can help Q12
with is what we generally term the ‘domestic’ area; things such as childcare and the availability of nursery
provision, for example, come under this. Then there’s ‘academic’ issues that may arise while you are in the early
stages of your course that you may not know what to do about. You may wish to know more about essay
deadlines, for example, Q13
or how to use the library – there are all kinds of questions you will find yourself asking and not knowing where to
get quick answers from. The Helpline would be able to provide these. The last example I’ve given here is simply
termed ‘social’ – and yes, there is a lot of Q14
social life here! But you may have a particular interest you wish to pursue or you may wish Q15
to participate in outings or trips if you don’t know many people at the moment.
Let me give you some details so that you know where to go and who to see if you want to pay us a visit.
Generally you will see our Helpline officer Jackie Kouachi, that’s K-O-U-A- Q16
C-H-I. Jackie is a full-time employee of the Student Union and she works in the Student
Welfare Office – that’s the office that deals with all matters related to student welfare and
it’s located at 13 Marshall Road. I have some maps here for those of you who haven’t been
there yet. If you wish to ring the office, the number is 326 99 40. That’s 3269940. The Ql 7
office is open between 9.30 and 6.00 on weekdays and from 10 to 4 on Saturdays and Q18
there’ll be somebody there – usually Jackie or myself – between those times. If you want to
make an appointment you can phone or call at the office in person. Please note that it may Q19
not be possible for anyone to see you straight away – particularly if it is a busy time –
lunch time for example – and you may have to go on the waiting list and then come back Q20
later.
Well, enough from me. Any questions?
SECTION 3
TUTOR: Good morning. So, we’ve looked at various aspects of staff selection this term
and I think by now you should all be beginning to see how much more there is to
it than just putting applicants through a short interview or asking the ‘right’
questions. So I think you should be ready for today’s tutorial on ‘matching the
person to the job’.
We’re going to talk today about the importance of choosing that all round
‘right’ person.
Q21
MURIEL: Right. So we have to put ourselves into the role of the manager or supervisor?
TUTOR: Yes. And then we’re going to imagine how different applicants would fit into the
team or group they have to work with … er … we’ll look at some examples later.
MURIEL: It’s just theoretical at the moment…
TUTOR: Yes. The point is, you can select someone – even a friend – who has all the right
qualifications … degrees … certificates, whatever. You can also check that they
have a lot of experience .. . that they’ve done the sort of tasks that you want them
to do in your office already, in a similar environment. But if they start work and
you realise that they just don’t get along with everybody else, that… say, they’ve
got sharply contrasting views on how something will work . .. well, with the best
will in the world, you may be backing a loser.
Q22
DAVE: Wouldn’t it be just a question of company training, though?
TUTOR: Not always. Particularly in a team situation, and I think it’s important to think in
terms of that type of working environment. People have to have faith in each
other’s ability to carry out the task their boss has set them. They have to trust that
everyone will do their part of the job, and you can’t necessarily train people for
this.
Q23
DAVE: But it’s like trying to find out what someone’s personality is like in a job
interview … I mean you just can’t do that. Even if you try, you won’t find out
what they’re really like until they actually start work.
TUTOR: Well, in most interviews you usually ask candidates questions about their hobbies
and what they like doing in their spare time … that sort of thing … so employers
are already involved in the practice of … well, doing part of the task.
Q24
DAVE: But it doesn’t tell you anything. It doesn’t tell you if they’re easy-going or hate
smokers or whatever.
TUTOR: Well, arguably it does give you a bit of information about an applicant’s
character.
TUTOR: Well, arguably it does give you a bit of information about an applicant’s
character, but also . .. more and more employers around the world are making
use of what are called ‘personality questionnaires’ to help them select new staff
and . . .
MURIEL: What’s it called?
TUTOR: A Personality Questionnaire. They have to be filled out by the candidates some
time during the selection procedure, often just before an interview. The idea is
actually quite old. Apparently they were used by the ancient Chinese for picking
out clerks and civil servants, and then later they were used by the military to put
people in appropriate areas of work. They’ve gained a lot of ground since then
and there are about 80,000 different tests available now and almost two thirds of
the large employers use them.
Q25
Q26
Q27
Q28
MURIEL: Which makes you think that there must be something in them.
TUTOR: That’s right. They ask the sort of questions that you might expect, like do you
like working under pressure or are you good at keeping deadlines.
DAVE: And what if people can see through them and just write what they think the
employer wants to see?
MURIEL: Well that’s always a possibility.
DAVE: I mean, it’s human nature to lie, isn’t it?
TUTOR: Well, that’s the point. Apparently it isn’t. These tests are compiled by experts
and they believe that the answers can provide a few simple indicators as to
roughly the type of person that you are .. . that people will generally be truthful
in that situation.
Q29
MURIEL: And then you can go some way towards finding out whether someone’s say,
forward-looking … a go-ahead type of person … or resistant to change.
TUTOR: Yes. And there are all kinds of (fade out)
SECTION 4
TUTOR: Right. Are we all here? OK. As you know, today Vivien is going to do a
presentation on the hat-making project she did with her class during her last
teaching practice. So, over to you, Vivien.
Example
VIVIEN: Thanks. Um . . . Mr Yardley has asked me to describe to you the project I did as a
student teacher at a secondary school in London. I was at this school for six
weeks and I taught a variety of subjects to a class of fourteen-year-old pupils. The
project I chose to do was a hat-making project and T think this project could
easily be adapted to suit any age. So, to explain the project.. . After we’d done the
research, we went back to the classroom to make two basic hat shapes using rolls
of old wallpaper. We each made, first of all, a conical hat by … er … if I show you
now . . . cutting out a circle and then making one cut up to the centre and then …
er … overlapping the cut like this this … a conical hat that sits on your head. The
other hat we made was a little more complicated … er … first of all we cut out a
circle again . . . like this . . . then you need a long piece with flaps on it – I’ve
already made that bit which I
Q31
Q32
Q33
have here – you bend the flaps over and stick them . .. with glue or prittstick . . .
to the underside of the circle . .. like this. Again, I’ve prepared this so that I don’t
get glue everywhere. The pupils do, of course, so you need plenty of covers for
the table. And there you have a pillbox hat as in pill and box. Now variations and
combinations of these two hat shapes formed the basis of the pupils’ final
designs.
Q34
The next stage of the project was the design phase and this involved, first of all,
using their pages of research to draw a design of their hat on paper. That’s the
easy part. They then had to translate their two-dimensional design into a form to
fit their head. I encouraged them to make a small-scale, three-dimensional hat
first so that they could experiment with how to achieve the form they required
and I imposed certain constraints on them to keep things simple. For example,
they had to use paper not card. Paper is more pliable and easier to handle. They
also had to limit their colours to white, grey or brown shades of paper which
reflected the colours of the buildings they were using as a model for their hats
and they had to make sure their glue didn’t show! Well, it was very enjoyable
and just to give you an idea of what they produced, I’ve brought along three hats
to show you. This one here is based on a circular stairway in an old building in
London. It uses three pillbox hats one on top of the other. This was designed by
Theresa. Here’s another one that has a simple strip going round the base of the
hat but has then gone on to add strips of paper that come out from the base and
that meet at the top of the hat -rather like a crown – making a fairly tall hat. This
was made by Muriel. And lastly there’s a combination of the pillbox or single
strip around the base and then the conical hat shape on top to form a castle
turret. This was made by Fabrice, and there are many more that I could have
brought.
Q35
Q36
Q37
Q38
Q39
Q40
TUTOR: Thank you, Vivien. That was most interesting. Now what we can learn from this
is that..