Scott's lecture was very interesting, because I learnt a lot of things about communication between humans and especially, between men and women. First of all, he introduced us to the study of male and female communication patterns with some aspects of linguistics and pragmatics, and discourse analysis. He said that natural conversation is representative of a community and that there are cultural differences concerning conversations.

In the first part of the video, Scott talked about many experiences that were run to learn more about communicative patterns. For examples, different groups were tested to find out the conversational differences between males and females. Same gender pairs of friends were matched and had a conversation during twenty minutes. It was observed during the study that boys used many different topics and spent little time on one topic, compared to girls, who talked about just a few topics, but spend more time to chat on one topic. The physical alignment was also observed.

In the second part of the video, Scott talked about TV debates and achieving "Expert status". The status is how important you are in the society. First of all, he introduced us with the comparison between status and connection. After that, he talked about indirectness: requests for action, direct vs. indirect requests, and imperatives and indirect imperatives. The study of conversation styles showed that one style is more male, and another is more female.

book project

1.I cannot say I'm satisfied with the book ending, because this book is divided in several stories and there's no real end. It doesn't really put the whole book together, even if there's an evolution of the characters throughout the book. Many questions are left unanswered on the characters.

2. medical school, travels, relationships, health

In some way, the story feels real because Vincent Lam is an author who has an extended knowledge about his subject. He is an emergency physician and it shows. Indeed, he describes the operations with a lot of details, he knows about the codes used in the hospitals and describes carefully the different kinds of illnesses we are faced with in the whole book. The events in the book could be part of a real person's life.

3. I could identify with the characters. They could exist because as I said, the author knows much of his subject and was inspired with his own life. The relationships between the characters could represent real relationships. Even if the book is fiction, the characters don't seem like fiction.

4. There are several plots in the book, as the book is divided in several stories. At least, there is an evolution of the characters. They enter into medical school, and then the rest of the book describes some moments in their respective career and the difficulties they encounter. There are many questions unanswered, which is frustrating for the reader. I think the story focuses on every day life situations and characters, but not on dramatic suspense. There is no specific plot. Some stories in the book are interesting and some others are really boring. I can't say that I was thrilled until the end. There were a lot of details, but not too much because I don't know anything about medical careers and at least, I learnt many things about hospitals, patients, and health.

Andrée-Anne

language learning unit

June 28

I found the language learning unit interesting because previously, I had classes on language acquisition at university and I noticed differences and similarities between the theory I studied at school and between the explained theories on the tapes we had been listening to in class. They pointed out that it's better to learn a language very young.

Also, it was interesting to hear different theories of language learning from other students when we were working in groups. It was rewarding and it was a good way to develop our ability to summarize. Furthermore, we learnt a lot on the subject by reading and answering questions.

plans for the week-end and language learning

June 22,

This week-end, as it is the St-Jean, I am going to see several shows with a friend at the "piknic electronik", sunday in the afternoon. This is a popular event that occurs each sunday at parc Jean-Drapeau. Also, sunday in the evening, I will probably go to parc Maisonneuve to see the show of the St-Jean. And if it is sunny tomorrow, I'll probably be at the beach of Cap Saint-Jacques. It is a really nice place.

A good language learner is someone who is willing to learn and who does his or her homework. Also, to learn a language, it's important to read books, magazines and newspapers in the target language in order to improve the fluency and to extend the knowledge. Of course, it's necessary to be on time to every class, to participate and to ask questions. Finally, a good language learner should be motivated to study or work in a country where the target language is spoken by the locals. To pratice a language everyday is always the most effective technique to learn.