AE Real Talk Companion

Breaking the Ice

Some of us may already know each

other from a previous semester, but

others may be joining us for the first

time. At NOVA, we like to consider

ourselves to be one big, happy

family. So, let's let our hair down

and start building relationships.

Please share whatever you wish as

I'm sure that the rest of us would be

delighted to hear what you've got to

say. Why don't we begin with a

creative Wordle display of what we

consider to be important in our lives

these days. Go to www.wordle.net

to enter some details about your life

to share while mingling with your

classmates. I recommend that you

use Internet Explorer to do this as

Firefox has some compatibility

issues.

Oral Interview Test

At the end of each semester,

students who are enrolled in

speaking and listening classes

must take an oral interview which

consists of 5 questions. The first

and second are fairly basic

questions. The third involves

describing what is happening in a

picture. The fourth involves a

social or public issue, and the fifth

requires the student to listen to an

excerpt of a news story after which

the student must relay as much of

the story as possible. The passing

score for this test from 1974 into

1975 is 60, however students must

pass the other components of this

course in order to be advanced to

the next level. With regards to

passing the interview test, students

should practice in the OI Test Prep

section of Blackboard regularly.

See a sample of this on the OITP

page.

1974 Presentations

Real Talk Units

Real Talk

Chapter 1:

What's in a Name?

Chapter 2:

Let's Get Away!

Chapter 3:

Looking for Love

Chapter 4:

Music to my Ears

Chapter 5:

Getting the Job Done

Chapter 6:

To Your Health!

Chapter 7:

Shop Till You Drop

Chapter 8:

Do the Right Thing

Real Talk Companion / Chapter Sub-Pages

1974 Real Talk Tests

There are 4 major Real Talk tests

that must be passed, or have an

average score of 75% in order to

pass this course. These tests

occur every two chapters:

Chapters 1 & 2 test, Chapters 3 & 4

test, Chapters 5 & 6 test, and

Chapters 7 & 8 test. Click the test

link below to see what is on each

test.

There are several presentations that

students must perform in order to

successfully complete this course.

Among them, some are group

presentations while others are

performed individually. Topics that

have been used in previous

semesters are The World's Strangest

Animal, Package Tour, Personal Ad

(video), Global / National Issue,

Informative Speech, and a

presentation concerning class

research related to the 1974 field trip.

Presentations

All four of these tests will be done

on Blackboard during our lab class.

Students must have their headsets

and be ready to log in. Unprepared

students will receive a zero. There

are no make up tests.

Real Talk Companion

Getting to Know Your Teacher

My name is Albert VanLanduyt, and I have been teaching English as a second language for over 15 years now. While I live in Woodbridge, teaching ESL at the Annandale Campus was a better choice than in my hometown because the program is much stronger here, and it includes a more diverse population. At George Mason University, I gained my Master's in applied linguistics with a TESL certificate in 1999. Over the years, both Hungary and South Korea are places that I've called home. While I've been to over 20 coutries throughout my life, there yet remain many places for me to visit.

Other than traveling, studying foreign languages is one of my passions. Over the years, I've studied Spanish, German, Russian, Farsi, Hungarian, and Korean, though I hardly claim to speak these languages. My two best are Spanish and Korean. As you probably know, without regular practice, your linguistic abilities weaken quickly.

In addition to the above, earth's creatures are a long held love of mine. Although I've never been able to warm up to snakes or spiders, I've had a number of beautiful pets: dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, chipmunks, star finches, fish, bearded dragons, and now chameleons. My dog is above, and her name is Buci. She was a gift from a Korean couple who were friends of mine. My chameleons can be viewed in the Xtras section of this site. Just click on the chameleon photo. Please let me know if you'd be interested in attending a local reptile expo this semester.