The Importance of Being Prepared

Make sure you do the background readings so that you know about the topic. Work up a list of useful questions and opinions/comments before you go so that you have some ideas for things to say. If the lecturer gives you some tutorial questions, answer them before the tute. Then, when the lecturer says ‘Does anyone have a comment on this?’ you will be ready with something to say.

Being prepared helps you dive in right at the beginning, which is a good idea; once you have spoken once, you won’t feel so nervous—which is very common, particularly at the beginning of the year. Focussing on the content, rather than how nervous you feel, will help you get more involved.

The importance of being engaged

Particularly if you are very shy, you don’t have to talk to participate. You can show that you are engaged by looking interested in the activities and discussion. That means:

· looking at the person who is talking,

· showing by your body language that you belong to the group (e.g. moving your chair to be part of the group, trying not to hide behind other people, leaning forward slightly)

· showing your reactions to what people are saying in your facial expressions (e.g. smiling and nodding in agreement, raising an eyebrow or frowning slightly if you don’t agree).

Be aware that it's incredibly rude to be checking your mobile phone or texting during a tutorial. Your phone should remain off or on silent and stay in your bag until the session is over. Don’t be shy to ask people to explain what they mean, or to speak more slowly.

If English is not your first language, you might increase your confidence and your speaking ability by attending the ASP's Speak for Success workshops: pronunciation and speaking skills workshops for students from a non-English speaking background.

The importance of getting involved

In order to get involved meaningfully in tutorials, you could try the following plan of action:

1. Start planning what you want to say while someone else is speaking.

2. When the speaker is beginning to wind down, start to move forward in your chair—look as if you want to say something.

3. Start to speak immediately the other person stops, making sure that everyone can hear you.

Whatever you say is valuable, and everyone’s opinion should be respected. If you are an international student, your experience of other cultures and viewpoints will often be very interesting to the group. People may agree or disagree with your idea, and that’s okay; discussing ideas (even arguing) is often a productive way of developing new ideas. So, if someone disagrees with you, that’s probably a good sign! It means you’ve given people something to think about. There are many ways you can contribute meaningfully to the discussion, including:

· giving an example to illustrate what someone else has said

· agreeing, but adding some additional comments or suggestions

· disagreeing—and giving your reasons

· comparing what has been said to something else you know about (perhaps something you have read)

· asking a question

· introducing a new topic

(From Participating in Tutorials. Academic Skills Centre University of Canberra)

III Developing background knowledge (B1/B2/C1)

B PRACTISING SKILLS

TEXT 1 (B2)

Put the word(s) in brackets in the right form.

Managing Knowledge Effectively: Culture