Research Report

Background

According to the UK Higher Education Statistics Agency, the number of the international students in higher education is increased 9% in the UK during the academic year 2006/07. Generally, at the beginning the international students of the Academic Pre-session course are facing to adapt the new culture, social activities and academic situations in the institution or community. International students are now a very important part of the UK Higher Education institute and the institute should be concentrate properly on their specific needs. UK universities are trying to improve the services and offering many suitable facilities to attract the foreign students. However, at the beginning the international students who are studying in London are sometimes getting upset for few temporary problems. But after couple of months they could be solve their problems and adjust with the new environment, culture and feel easy to live and study as an international student. The International students get admission to the UK universities with high expectations and they definitely have a fine career goal. So, it is necessary to find out their problems and also find out the way to solve it which will help to achieve their success.

AIMS

The purpose of this research is to find out the main problems of international pre-sessional University students are having in their first few months, and secondly to see what they do to solve these problems, also try to find out which one they felt serious problem for their study and if they are aware of who they need to speak to in order to get help. A final aim was to observe do they need anything more for their new life in London.

Method

The Sample

First, I carefully select a sample of people to ask. Then the questions are designed by a small team within the department. Next the questions put into sequence and grouped together by topic. After that, we print the questionnaire and it is distribute to everyone in the sample.

The sample size was 10. These respondents size were of different ages and genders, and from different countries. They were all students of Pre-sessional Academic English course in London metropolitan university.

Data Collection

This was carried out through the use of a questionnaire. This questions about what problems the students have, what they do to solve these problems, which has helped them. There were two types of questionnaire, one type was multiple chose, and the second type was reasonable.

Initially the questions were trialled with a sample of 10 people. They were very helpful and have given all of the questions very clearly. Most of the students have been living in London from 2 weeks and others from before. A large number of students said that they got problems when they arrived in London. For example, some are faced to find out the university’s location and the majority of them faced to find an accommodation. All of the students have been thinking that part time job is necessary in London because it is an expensive

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City and they can able to bear their living expenses only by the part time job and it also helps to improve their English proficiency which is very important for their future career. Most of the problems they have solved by their friend.

Self Study

Introduction

I am from Bangladesh. This is a small country and it is the land of rivers.

I was born in Dhaka which is the capital of Bangladesh. It is a very busy and developing city. In my childhood I wanted to be a Police Officer because my dad is a police officer. But unfortunately now I am a Computer Engineer.

After finishing my graduation I lectured as a full time teacher at Daffodil-Grameen IT education LTD. Also Co-founded an IT solution company in the name of Dhaka IT Education & Solution.

For any personal development, I have always had an interest in computer networks. As a relevant certification I completed a CCNA qualification awarded by CISCO in 2005.

I am interested to peruse my further education in Mobile Communication. The growth of Mobile technology has been explosive over the past decade and experts predict it was be a high growth sector for at least one more decade as there has been very rapid penetration and easy adaptation all over the world even to the most technologically and economically challenged of the world.

I have done my graduation from Bangladesh and later moved to Germany. After finished my study in Germany I moved to London and Now I am an International student in the London Metropolitan University. I am creating this blog for my English Home Work.

Analyse of my own language abilities and needs

Speaking My average is about = 60 out of 100

Very weak 0 __________________x____________100 Very good

Writing My average is about = 40 out of 100

Very weak 0 ___________x___________________100 Very good

ReadingMy average is about = 40 out of 100

Very weak 0 ___________x___________________100 Very good

Listening My average is about = 60 out of 100

Very weak 0 __________________x____________100 Very good

Pronunciation My average is about = 50 out of 100

Very weak 0 ______________x________________100 Very good

Grammar My average is about = 60 out of 100

Very weak 0 __________________x____________100 Very good

Vocubulary My average is about = 40 out of 100

Very weak 0 ______________x________________100 Very good Academic Skills

My average is about = 50 out of 100

Very weak 0 ______________x________________100 Very good

I think my strongest skills are speaking and listening, reading is ok and my weakest skills are writing.

I want to study Masters in Mobile and Satellite Communication in this February So, I want to improve my academic skills as soon as early.

I made a plan for improve my academic skills

Grammar

Everyday tries to solve some new exercise
Every week try to catch more Vocabulary

Reading

Everyday try to read Newspaper, Magazine by Internet

Writing

Always try to write some technological essay, summary
Try to use new sentence with vocabulary

Listening

At least listen to 5 times B.B.C news a day
Try to talk with British people

Speaking

Again try to talk with British people
Attend to the conversation class

Self Study

Voice

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate active and passive verb forms (present simple, present continuous, past simple, past continuous, past perfect).

Indiana stole (steal) idol from a temple, but it was stolen (steal) from him by Belloq. Then, Indiana had (have) to run from natives, who had been told (tell) to kill Indiana. While he was running (run) , he shouted (shout) “Start the plan!”

Later Indiana was asked (ask) to find the Ark before the Nazis did (do). He went (go) to find Abner Ravenwood. He found (find) Ravenwood’s daughter , Marion, in Mongolia. Marion was attacked (attack) by Nazis, but with Indiana's help she (attack) by Nazis, but with Indiana's help she ­­­­­­­­­­survived (survive).

Now, Indiana, Marion, and Belloq are (be) in Cairo. They are looking (look) for the Ark.

Change the following active sentences to the passive:

Many people have attacked Indiana
Indana has been attacked (attack) by many people.

Many people had attacked Indiana before he left for Egypt.
Indiana had been attacked (attack) many times before he left for Egypt.

Indiana was teaching the female student who wrote "love you" on her eyelids.
The student who wrote "love you" on her eylids was been taught (teach) by Indiana.

Actually a friend wrote "Love you"on the girl's eyelids.

"Love you" was written (write) by a friend.

The Germans are hunting Indiana.
Indiana is being hunted (hunt) by the Germans.

Reference:

http://www.eslgo.com/quizzes/raiderspassive.html

Idioms, Colloquialisms

Fag / A cigarette
Slept like a Log / Very well
On cloud nine / In a state of happiness

In the red / In debt

Reference:

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/f.htm

Self Study

Vocabulary

Abandon:

· The officers and crew prepared to abandon ship an orderly fashion.

· He abandoned his wife wife and children in the village, and went off to USA in DV-8 visa.

Synonyms:

· Desert
· Leave behind

Antonyms:

· Retain
· Adopt

Abash:

· Tom felt abashed by her inability to remember the lines of the national anthem ``Amar- Shonar- Bangla ``.
· Mr. T handed in a term paper that he had unabashedly copied from the Independent.

Synonyms:

· Discompose
· Disconcert

Antonyms:

· Inspire
· Encourage

Aberration:

· A snowstorm in September is an aberration.
· The chief at this restaurant is dreadful, the good meal we just had was an aberration.

Synonyms:

· Divergence

Antonyms:

· Conformity

Able:

· I wasn’t able to solve these quizzes.
· There are some extremely able and intelligent youths at the ABC boys Scout camp.

Synonyms:

· Capable
· Qualified

Antonyms:

· Incapable
· Clumsy

Abortive:

· Jerry’s attempt to climb the mountain was abortive.
·Mary and Jon made an abortive effort to bake a birthday cake, that is, their effort did not result in a birthday cake.

Synonyms:

· Vain
· Sterile

Antonyms:

· Productive
· Fruitful

Abridge:

The editor had abridge the massive book by removing the boring parts.

Synonyms:

· Shorten
· Compress
· Condense

Antonyms:

· Expand
· Amplify

Abstinent:

· Bill used to be a chain smoker, now he is abstinent.

Synonyms:

· Sober
· Moderate

Antonyms:

· Intemperate
· Indulgent

Abstract:

· In the abstract, there is nothing wrong with taking risks.

Synonyms:

· Summary
· Withdraw
Antonyms:

· Concrete

Abstruse:

· The professor’s lecture on the meaning of 2 “Meaning” was very abstruse.
Synonyms:

· Obscure
· Recondite

Antonyms:

· Intelligible

Self Study

Derivatives:

Act= Action (Noun), Actor (Noun), Actress (Noun)
To act (Verb), To activate (Verb), Activators (Verb),
Inactive (adjective), Active (adjective).

Agree= Agreement (Noun), Agree (Verb), Disagree (Verb), Agreeable (Adjective).

Bore= Boring (adjective), Boredom (Noun), Bored (Adjective).

Continue= Continuous(ly) (Adjective), Continuity (Noun).

Satisfy= Satisfaction (Noun), Satisfactory (Adjective), Unsatisfactory (Adjective)

Hope= Hopeful (Adjective), Hopeless (Adjective)

Decide= Decision (Noun), Decisive (Adjective), Decidedly (Adverb).

Phrasal Verbs:

Take off= He took off his shoe.
Took off from the diving board.

Cut in= Interrupt (transitive and intransitive verb to interrupt when somebody is speaking).
Cut us in on the profits.

Do in= Do well in health.
You are doing my head is!

Get on= She gets on well with the neighbours.
Get on the train.

Go off= We decided to go off early.
Tea goes off very early in this weather.

Make up= I have made up a packed lunch.
It takes her two hours to make up for the role.

Set up= Claims she was set up.
Her family set him up in business.

Compound Noun:

Birthday-party, Lie-back, Soft-food, Trade union, Hardware, Take-over, Junk-in, Alarm clock, Police station, Life-jacket.

Question: What is the superlative and how is it formed?

Answer:

Superlative

The superlative form of an adverb is used to say what thing or person does something to the greater degree within a group or of its kind. Superlatives can be preceded by 'the'. In general, the superlative forms of adverbs are the same as for superlative forms of adjective.
The rule for forming the superlative of an adverb is if it has the same form as an adjective add the suffix -est to the end.

For example:-

Fast - "Jill ran the fastest."
When an adverb ends in -ly, most is put in front of the adverb.
For example:-
Frequently - "Jill did her homework most frequently."
The following irregular adverbs are exceptions:-
'well' becomes 'the best'
'badly' becomes 'the worst'
For example:
"Jill did the best in the test."
"Jack did the worst in the test."

Question: What is an auxiliary verb and how many are there in English?

Answer:

Auxiliary Verb:

An auxiliary verb is a verb that combines two characters.

The three most common auxiliary verbs are:

be, do and have

be= am/is/are, do= did/does, have= has/had.


I am leaving = Leaving is the main verb. Am is the auxiliary.

She has arrived = Arrived is the main verb. Has is the auxiliary.

Do you smoke? = Smoke is the main verb. Do is the auxiliary


Question: When do we use apostrophes?

Answer:

The apostrophe is one of the most misunderstood and misused pieces of punctuation in the English language.

The apostrophe has three uses:

1) To form possessives of nouns
2) To show the omission of letters
3) To indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters.

How to make a noun possessive: To see if we need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example:
the boy's hat = the hat of the boy three days' journey = journey of three days
Once you've determined whether you need to make a possessive, follow these rules to create one.
1. add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s): the owner's car; James's hat
2. add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s:
the children's game; the geese's honking
3. add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s:
houses' roofs; three friends' letters

Showing omission of letters: Apostrophes are used in contractions. A
contraction is a word (or set of numbers) in which one or more letters (or
numbers) have been omitted. The apostrophe shows this omission. Contractions
are common in speaking and in informalwriting. To use an apostrophe to create
a contraction, place an apostrophe where the omitted letter(s) would go. Here
are some examples:

don't = do not
I'm = I am
he'll = he will

Forming plurals of lowercase letters: Apostrophes are used to form plurals of
letters that appear in lowercase; here the rule appears to be more typographical
than grammatical, e.g. "three ps" versus "three p's." To form the plural of a
lowercase letter, place 's after the letter. There is no need for apostrophes
indicating a plural on capitalized letters, numbers, and symbols (though keep in
mind that some editors, teachers, and professors still prefer them).
Here are some examples:

p's and q's = a phrase indicating politeness, from "mind your pints and quarts"?
Nita's mother constantly stressed minding one's p's and q's.
the 1960s = the years in decade from 1960 to 1969
The 1960s w the 1960s = the years in decade from 1960 to 1969
The 1960s were a time of great social unrest.
ere a time of great social unrest.

Question: What is a Modal verb and how many are there in English?

Answer:

Modal verbs are used to express ideas such as possibility, intention, obligation and necessity.
Common Modal Verbs : Can, Could, May, Might, Must, Ought to, Shall, Should, Will, Would.

Question: What do Past simple and Past Participle form of burn, dream and dwell, Learn?

Answer:

Burn: Burned (Past simple), Burned (Past Participle).
Dream: Dreamed (Past Simple), Dreamed (Past Participle).
Dwell: Dwelt (Past Simple), Dwelt (Past Participle).
Learn: Learnt (Past Simple), Learnt (Past Participle).

Question: What is the Past simple and Past participle form of the verb Spin?

Answer:

Spin= Spun (Past simple), Spun (Past Participle).

Question: What is the Past simple and Past participle form of the verb Overdo?

Answer:

Overdo= Overdid (Past simple), Overdone (Past Participle).

Question: How do you say £27.36?

Answer: Twenty-Seven pound thirty six pence.

Question: How do you say the year 1998?

Answer: Year Nineteen hundred ninety eight?

Question: How do you say the year 2000?

Answer: Twenty first century?

Question: What is the International Telephone code for the United Kingdom?

Answer: 0044.

Question: What are most important judges in Britain?

Answer: Lord chancellor?

Question: How do you play cricket?

Answer:

Steps:

Choose the batsman and bowler. A team consists of eleven players. Depending on his or her skills, a player may be selected as batsman or bowler.

Choose the wicket keeper. Teams nearly always include a specialist wicket-keeper because of the importance of this fielding position. A wicketkeeper is almost equivalent to a catcher in baseball without the fingering signals.

Choose the umpire. Two on-field umpires preside over a match. One umpire will stand behind the wicket at the end from which the ball is bowled, and adjudicate on most decisions. The other will stand near the fielding position called "square leg", which offers a side view of the batsman, and assist on decisions for which he has a better view. When you choose the umpire, he or she should come from the players, who will be resting or waiting for his or her number to come and play. But try to select the person who knows the basic rules from all 42 Laws of Cricket.

Choose the match type

There are 3 types of matches:

ODI (One-Day International) and

Test Match - The most common one is ODI, because in this type of match, each team has to play 50 over’s (6 Balls per over) and it is played for one-day only.

Twenty/20 matches are the same as ODI's but only contain 20 over’s.

Friendly Match - This match doesn't contain over’s, and the fielding team has to get out all the other players on the opposite team.

Choose which team plays what. Selecting which team will play what (batting/bowling-fielding), is decided by making a coin toss between the captains of the two teams. The captain who wins decides which play to take whether batting or bowling-fielding.

Start playing!

Question: Do British people usually shake hands when they meet?

Answer: adults usually shake hands only when they meet for the first time.

Question: What is a ‘full English Breakfast ‘?

Answer: "A full English breakfast" usually consists of bacon, sausages, egg, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, sausage and fried bread.

Question: What do British people remember on November 5th?

Answer:

On November 5th British people remember the day when a plot was foiled to blow up the houses of parliament and the King, James I. The conspirators were horribly put to death, and one of them, Guido Fawkes, (known as Guy Fawkes) as the fall guy (is that where the expression comes from?) is remembered in the tradition of burning his effigy on top of the bonfire on November 5th. You see many children hanging around shopping centres etc. with their home made dummies (known as Guys) asking for "A penny for the guy" in order to buy fireworks.

M Arifin

I studied Computer Science and Engineering in Bangladesh. Now I am an International student in the London Metropolitan University. I am creating this blog for my English Home Work.