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The World Conference on Computers in EducationThe World Conference on Computers in Education took place in Switzerland last month. This Congress brought together more than 1000 people concerned with their development and use in primary, secondary and university education, as well as in vocational training. This Conference was organized by the Swiss Federation of Automatic Control, on behalf of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), and had the backing of UNESCO and the Intergovernmental Bureau for Informatics (IBI, Rome), which were offering to support participants from developing countries, preferentially those who wished to present a paper. In addition to the Congress, a youth world computer programming tournament was being held in different countries; the national winners were invited to present their entry at the Conference. At the same time, an exhibition was set up to present educational material and a range of hardware and software, going from the smallest personal computer to the largest distributed informatics network, a concrete illustration of the multiple resources of these techniques applied to teaching and education. The Conference put the accent on the relations between informatics and the teaching of other disciplines (computers in the teaching of physics, humanities at school, engineering, economics and social sciences), on instructional techniques (large scale experiments in computer aided learning - CAL) and on the impact of new technologies. Moreover, the social impact of informatics on teachers and students, as well as on leisure was discussed during the conference. Other contributions presented reviews of national policies and models of computer education; a special emphasis was put on the identification of the needs of developing countries and on the definition of the means to meet them.
Exercise 2. Read the text again and find the answers to the following questions: 1. When did the World Conference on Computers in Education take place? 2. This Congress brought together people concerned with the development of computers in education, didn’t it? 3. How many participants took part in the Conference? 4. The Conference was organized by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), wasn’t it? 5. What organization offered support to participants from developing countries? 6. A youth world computer programming tournament was being held in different countries, wasn’t it? 7. The national winners of this tournament were invited to present their entry at the Conference, were they not? 8. What exhibition was set up at the Conference? 9. What did the Conference put the accent on? 10. The social impact of informatics on teachers and students, as well as on leisure was discussed during the Conference, wasn’t it? 11. Did other countries present reviews of national policies and models of computer education? 12. Special emphasis was put on the needs of developing countries, wasn’t it?
Exercise 3. Learn and act out the dialogue. Make up your own dialogue on the same subject: A: I’m looking forward to your paper very much. B: Thank you. I hope it will be useful to you. A: I’m sure it will. May I ask you a few questions before they start? B: Sure. Perhaps, we’ll find an empty room. There are still some twenty minutes left. A: That’d be just fine.
Exercise 4. Make up dialogues on the following situation. If possible use the terminology of your own field of science. A Ukrainian scientist is introducing his young collaborate to a foreign colleague. The young researcher has heard a lot about the foreign scientists. Key phrases: congratulations; to be a real success; I’d like you to meet my young colleague; to be one of the best young researchers at the university; How do you do? I’m very happy to meet you; I’ve read many of your papers and books on computers in education; to find them extremely interesting; I’ve just finished a new book; to be published next year; I’ll send it over to you as soon as it comes out; it would be wonderful; We are trying not to miss anything interesting in this field; to have a good command of three foreign languages; Oh, I wish I could read Russian literature.
Exercise 5. Fill in the gaps. 1. An academic conference is a conference … researchers … present and discuss their work. 2. Together … academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel … exchange … information … researchers. 3. Generally, work … presented … the form … short presentations lasting … 10 … 30 minutes, usually including discussion. 4. Depending … the theme … the conference social or entertainment activities may also be offered. 5. Conferences are usually organized either … a scientific society or … a group … researchers … a common interest. 6. A professional conference is a meeting … professionals … a given subject or profession. 7. They are normally sponsored … the professional society … the field, and usually are organized … a national basis. 8. Others … held as a onetime event, and … usually devoted … a specific topic. 9. It has the function … bringing together small groups … recurring meetings, focusing each time … some particular subject. 10. Normally, participants must not be beginners … the field … discussion. 11. It is relatively informal, … least compared … the lecture system … academic instruction. 12. … some European universities, a seminar may be a large lecture course, especially when conducted … a renowned thinker. Exercise 6. Answer the questions. 1. Who is any academic conference established for? 2. What do people usually do at academic conferences? 3. What are the forms of presentation of scientific works? 4. What meetings are termed workshops? 5. Why is it so important for researchers to participate in scientific conferences? 6. What social or entertainment activities may also be offered at conferences? 7. What categories do academic conferences fall into? 8. How does a professional conference differ from an academic one? 9. Who are professional conferences normally sponsored by? 10. What form of academic instruction do we call seminar? 11. What are the requirements for participants of any academic conference? 12. Have you ever presented your own materials for a conference? Exercise 7. Complete the sentences: 1. Every year conferences ... in our university. 2. This year I ... in the conference which was held ... . 3. I had to ... the abstracts covering the problem of ... . 4. The time limit was ... and I had ten minutes to.... 5. My report ... the problem which ... much attention. 6. Of... interest were the reports presented by X and Y.
Exercise 8. Work in pairs. Ask for and give information about your participation in a conference/symposium/congress. Exercise 9. Work in a group. Date: 2016-01-05; view: 1245 |