Instructions for an assignment

Listen to a university teacher giving instructions for an assignment to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

I want to explain a few things about your essay.

First of all, the deadline. The deadline for this essay is October the 18th. Not the 19th, not the 28th, not two days later because your dog was ill or your computer broke – the 18th. If it's late, I won't mark it. I won't even read it – you'll fail the assignment! So, please hand it in on time. You can even hand it in early, if you like!

You can email me the essays at j.hartshorn@lmu.ac.uk. That's H-A-R-T-S-H-O-R-N. I'll reply to say I've got it. If I don't reply within a day, it might mean I didn't get it, so please email me again to make sure. You can also bring a paper copy of the essay to my office, but let's be kind to the trees, OK? Email is better for the trees and for me.

Don't forget that you must reference every idea or quote you use that isn't your own idea. And the last page of your essay should be a list of all the books you used, in alphabetical order, not in the order you used them!

And lastly, make it easy for me to read! That means use a clear font. Arial is best, but Times New Roman is fine too. Not Comic Sans please! Size 12 font for the essay, and size 14 for the titles and subheadings. And use page numbers. Any questions?

Task 1

Exercise

Task 2

Exercise

Discussion

What do you find difficult about writing essays?

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Worksheet78.64 KB

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Language level

A2 Pre-intermediate

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Hello Minh,

In my experience, the most effective way to improve your essay writing is to get feedback on your writing from a teacher, which includes implementing their advice while you're working with them, even if it is difficult and something you don't agree with at the moment.

We don't provide this kind of help at LearnEnglish, but we do have some pages that could serve as good models for you. There's an opinion essay in our B2 writing section and another couple of essays in our C1 writing section. You can also find a few models with tips in the Writing skills section of LearnEnglish Teens, especially at the B2 and C1 levels.

Good luck!

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

all because an essay is too difficult

Depends on the topic. Some topics are hards to find and connect the ideas.

for me relayes the ideas and you have to read a lot of things about it which i mean being educated

Electricity or trees, which is eco-friendly?? Σ( °o°)

what does the trees word mean? sorry i don't get it

Hi opik,

The speaker means that he prefers students to email him the assignment, not to give him a paper copy. He wants to protect the environment by using less paper (which is made from trees).

Best wishes,

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

oohhh i see, wow thank you so much sir

What I find difficult writing essays is to connect different ideas and thoughts about a topic

In my opinion, writing essay is not easy for me and also for everybody. If people want to write correct and attractive, people will practise to write it many times. On the other hand, you have been received the feedback from higher level as like teacher. Moreover, people should read a number of books that the best ways they recognize wrong or right sentences.