International Students NZ

Today’s picture: The daunting project to construct a new library in the middle of the academic year nears completion!

Part 1: Today's word

If a task is daunting, it makes you feel anxious because you know it will be a big challenge. Examinations can be daunting, but if you find out what you need to do in the test and revise the key information step-by-step, they should become manageable. Massey students who find they are suffering from a lot of stress at this time of year will find sympathy and practical support at the
Health and Counselling Centre.

Click here for interactive exercises on academic vocabulary and writing.

Part 2: Test

Here are FOUR sentences with the word of the day. But only THREE are correct. Which is the Odd One Out?

Giving my first public presentation of my research was a daunting prospect, but good preparation and encouragement from my supervisor helped me through it.

Although problems are daunting to their highest level in years, we remain confident in our ability to meet our targets.

Meeting the daunting challenge of launching a new business in the midst of a deep recession will require 100% commitment from everyone in the team.

Statistical analysis and interpretation of this huge amount of data is undoubtedly a daunting task for an inexperienced researcher.

Part 3: Practice Questions:

What is the most daunting personal or professional challenge facing you this year?

Do you find public speaking a daunting prospect?

Part 4: The Idiomatic Five

push the boat out
make an effort to celebrate
They really pushed the boat out on their 25th anniversary.

a bone of contention
a sensitive and controversial issue
Actually, the question of who flew the first airplane is a bit of a bone of contention between the United States and Brazil.

have a bone to pick with you
tell someone you have a complaint
Hey, I’ve got a bone to pick with you. Is it you who keeps leaving the door of the building wide open?

the bottom line
the basic consideration
The company can talk all they like about their mission in society, when everyone knows the bottom line is sales.

get to the bottom of
find out the truth about
Everyone has given up the search for the lost money, but I’m going to get to the bottom of it if it kills me.

Part 5: Kiwi Quiz Question

When did people first settle in New Zealand (according to most evidence)?

3200 years ago
1500 years ago
700 years ago
150 years ago

For a summary of the evidence on this click here

Part 6: Today's online listening:

This is the fourth programme in the BBC series on how to listen to lectures. It contains useful advice about what to listen for in the introductions to lectures.

Complete the missing words in these selections from the programme.

We argued that the first section, the introduction, is c __________ because this is where the speaker s __________ the scene and o ____________ the content of their talk

The first part of a lecture has a number of functions. Speakers use the
introduction to set the lecture in c ___________: in terms of what’s gone before and
what’s coming later in the series. They may also i ____________ the relative
importance of today’s topic within the subject area as a whole.
Now, we’ve said before that students can prepare for a lecture by reading
through the course outline and r _____________ on the title of the lecture. The
introduction is a good opportunity to start matching your p ___________ with
reality.

The sort of ingredients you might find in the introduction – apart from the lecturer giving an idea of the organisation so the student knows when different sections are finishing and starting – perhaps the d ___________ of key terms, the scope of the lecture, how much work students will have to do by themselves after the lecture is over. And perhaps why the lecturer is interested – it's often s _____________ to know why people are enthusiastic about a subject, and what personal relationship they’ve got with it;

Even though lectures play a key role in university teaching, many students find
that they’re the most d ___________ aspect of university life. This is often because
they find it difficult to listen and take effective notes at the same time.

Good note-taking technique is a matter of confidence. It's no good trying to write down
everything because you won’t then understand what’s important and what can be l _____ o _________. What is important is to understand how things fit together. So it’s trying to keep a balance between understanding and having detail – in other words, knowing what the general ideas are and having concrete examples to b ________ u _______ those ideas.

Today’s musical suggestion:
Somewhere over the Rainbow performed by an undaunted young lady called Connie Talbot
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