I've been lecturing at Griffith College Dublin for the last two weeks, in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) as well as teaching occasional classes in General English as a foreign language. In EAP, the focus in this semester is on offering students (who come from such disciplines as computing, business, finance, accounting and law amongst others) for whom English is not their mother tongue, insights into academic writing, particularly with a view to essay composition but also in anticipation of writing theses and dissertations. We're exploring characteristics of academic writing as opposed to less formal styles within other types of discourse, and putting the use of those features into practice through exercises and examples. Students are also being shown how to plan essays, carry out research, draft and revise essays, write paragraphs, introductions and conclusions, and how to cite and reference according to the Harvard system of bibliographical referencing.
In the second semester, the focus will be on listening skills and note-taking in lectures, and on speaking skills as applied principally to the delivery of presentations.
I'm really enjoying teaching EAP at Griffith. I'm using some examples of my own academic writing within translation studies, to give instances of academic prose.
So the first two weeks at GIL have been a very positive teaching and lecturing experience - long may it continue.
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