FACULTATEA DE AUTOMATICĂ Ș I CALCULATOARE

SEMESTRUL I – SEMINAR 1

INTRODUCTION
Dear students,

This academic year our first meeting is a special one, because we meet on-line, without knowing
each other face to face. Fortunately, technology helps us and we are going to meet on-line and use
all the required technological and digital support. We do not need copies or textbook, because all
the course support, exercise, assignments can be found on Teams platform

This unusual situation, which tends to be permanent does not change the curriculum, so as usual our
first seminar is one in which we introduce ourselves one to another. It has the same main points as a
face-to-face seminar. What is different is that we are able to recuperate the first seminar, which
took place on October the 5h, on the same day as the Opening Ceremony.

A long the first 4 points I present what ¬Politehnica University offers (A- D) The last ones are
designed in order to initiate a dialog between teachers and students. The dialog will take place on
another platform where we can initiate a meeting where we can see each other.

As you can see on Politehnica University site our department is called Modern Languages and
Communication, which means that developing communication is a very important part of our
curriculum.

SEMINAR STRUCTURE
A. Introducing myself
B. About curriculum
C. About assignments
D. Rights and Duties
E. Students’ expectations
F. Need analysis
G. About you

A. INTRODUCING MYSELF

My name is Maria ALEXE and I am an English lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages and
Communication. I have a master in Educational Management and a PhD in cultural Studies. I have
been teaching seminar and courses for students in technical faculties for many years (Politehnica
since 2012). I started teaching I eLearning system in 2001, which makes me a veteran of long
distance learning in Romania.

I like to work with students in order to develop both their vocabulary and communication skills. In
order to achieve this goal is very important to have a good use of grammar and that is why in the
first semester I try to check and then to systematise your previous knowledge. I am aware that in
high school, some of you had marvellous teachers and others had 5 teachers in 4 years. The
grammar lessons are meant to help you to become a homogenous group ready to receive new
knowledge.

B. ABOUT CURRICULUM
English is studied in:

 SEMESTER 1 - 7 seminars (14h)

 SEMESTER 2 -14 seminars (28h)
 SEMESTER 3

For the moment we focus on SEMESTER 1

The learning material is divided in units and lessons. There are 4 main topics (units) and 6 seminar
for learning

Seminar 7 is for evaluation and debate about weak and strong points of each of you.
FACULTATEA DEAUTOMATICA SI CALCULATOARE

SEMESTER I – FALL SEMESTER

UNIT 1 - INTRODUCTION
 Introducing yourself
 Knowing each other

This lesson’s purpose is to be a kind of ice -breaker. We need to know each other in order to improve
efficiency and to avoid redundant practices.

Communication

Unit 2 - DESCRIBING (2 seminars)

 A person
 A place you live/work/ want to visit
o Universitatea Politehnica
o Your home town
o A place you visited/want to visit – transportation
 An object/device/installation
Even if it looks a little bit boring, this vocabulary topic is useful in your professional life. If you have to
design a brochure or a leaflet for your company, you have to describe. If you register in a summer
course or in a contest, you have to describe
Unit 3 - EVALUATION
 Self-evaluation – for exams, job hunting, personal development
 Evaluating an object – criteria
 Evaluating other persons
 Projects evaluation

In this topic, we are going to talk about evaluation criteria, skills and qualifications for being an
evaluator, evaluation and professional evaluation institutions. Sometimes your life achievement
depends on a good evaluation.

Unit 4 TECHNOLOGY BETWEEN HEVEN AND HELL – debate (2 seminars)

 Science and technology
 Technology as part of our life
 Positive aspects – versus negative ones
 Technology versus art (visual art, music, literature, photos and movies))

Technology is part of our daily life, so is obvious that we cannot live without it, but is this good or it
is bad? Is technolo gy a dragon ready to destroy art and artists? Are some of the questions to which
we will try to find an answer.

GRAMMAR SUPPORT
In academic institutions, grammar is not a main subject; it is connected to vocabulary topics. Most
of you have done a lot of grammar in high –school, so it is difficult to teach you something new. My
intention is to organise your knowledge and to put grammar rules in communication context. In each
vocabulary unit we will focus on a certain grammar problem.

UNIT 1 VERB
 Verb Tenses – revision and systematization
 Modal Verbs and their role in communication
 Passive Voice

UNIT 2 - DETERMINERS
 Adjectives, adverbs, pronouns – English/Romanian – differences
 article

UNIT 3 - LINKING WORDS AND PHRASES

 The term covers a wide range of words and phrases which make text easier to understand
 Those words help you to organise information
 They help you to explain reasons, develop a point of view, making generalisation.
UNIT -4 – CONSOLIDATION
SEMINAR 7 – Final evaluation

C. ABOUT ASSIGNMENTS

Assignments are designed in order to check both your communication skills and grammar
knowledge. A good grammar is a key for a clear text, therefore for a communication without
communication gaps.

During Semester 1 you have two assignments:

a. A questionnaire you have to give personal answers

b. An essay about technology and its impact

Each of them is evaluated

D. RIGHTS AND DUTIES

A. RIGHTS – t
1. o ask for extra materials if they need it;
2. to ask for written materials if they are not able to attend the
seminar for technical or personal reasons;
3. to ask for an extension ( max 1 week) for assignment delivery
B. DUTIES

Attend the seminar regularly

Send their assignments on time

Each week you have some tasks. Send the answers regularly. I shall correct each
time 6 of them.

Students are evaluated along the semester and by a final test. They receive grades for the
homework, attendance, assignments (70%) and for the final test (30%)

E. STUDENTS’ EXPECTATIONS

Most of you have studied English for more than 10 years. Some of you have different English
certificates. So what can this seminar bring new?

Most of the students expect to learn technical/scientific language. But generally speaking you do not
master this vocabulary in Romanian. In your case, as future IT specialist there is another problem,
most of the vocabulary is in English and nobody translates it.
So I am waiting for your answers. You may refer to topics, competences or way of communication.
We cannot change the evaluation way, which was decided by the faculty senate and has to be
almost the same for the whole university
THIS IS PART OF YOUR FIRST HOMEWORK – Ex 1 –

F. NEED ANALYSIS

At the end of these course notes you will find a questionnaire, please answer honestly. Your answers
will contribute to increase the seminar efficiency. Beside this is part of your first homework

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Which of the language skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) is your strong point?

2. Which of the language skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) is your weak point?

3. Have you ever used English outside the classroom?

4. When and where do you expect to use English for professional reasons?

5. Which is the best way to enlarge your vocabulary?

6. How much time (per week) would you spent to improve your English?

G. About you - Introduce yourself. Possible answer to interview question: Tell

us something about you

THIS IS PART OF YOUR FIRST HOMEWORK – Ex 2

Name ----------------
Where are you from------------------------- High school graduated_________________
Do you have some special certificates-------------------------------------------------------------
Are you a volunteer? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why did you choose this faculty?----------------------------------------------------------------------
Which are your hobbies?---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 GRAMMAR SUPPORT THE VERB (revision)

When we talk about English verbal system, we have to remember that:

 It has a different category- the aspect; each tense has two forms – simple and continuous
 It has a different type of verbs – modal verbs, which shows ability, necessity permission,
suggestions
 It has a form and a meaning. For example past perfect form is have+3d.form and its meaning
is shows that the action started in the past but influences the present.
 Different adverbs help us to use the correct tense. For example: yesterday needs past-tense;
yet asks for present perfect, everyday needs present – simple; now= present continuous

Why about verbs again?

 No matter which language you study, you should start with verbs.

 Verbs represents the pillar of any communication act.

 Verbs and nouns are the most important grammar categories in communication. The verb
says something about the noun. A sentence can exist without noun, but not without verbs.

 This seminar is not about new knowledge is systematisation of your previous knowledge

 The present approach is mainly a contrastive one, comparing L1 (Romanian) with L2 (English)
in order to avoid confusion

Tense forms Meaning

Present simple-verb’s dictionary form; P.SFacts that are always true, General truth, Habits,
Identical with short infinitive States, Repeated, customary actions
It may be accompanied by adverbs or adverbial
phrases of :indefinite frequency -always, usually,
often, frequently, sometimes, occasionally, seldom,
rarely, never, ever
define frequency – every day/week/month, year, once
a day, twice a week, each Monday
Other use
Making declarations , Head lines, Instructions and
itineraries, Historic present, Summaries (in Romanian
–past)
Present continuous to be+ ing form P.C refers to: An action which are happening
PRESENT  At the moment/now
 Are in progress at the moment
 Are temporary
 Complaints and annoying habits
 Verbs describing change and development
PREZ. P refers to:
1.An action or situation, that started in the past, and
Present perfect -to have continues in the present. 
+3form “I  have lived  in Bristol since 1984.”  (= and I still do.)
2.An action performed during a period, that has not
yet finished. 
“She  has been  to the cinema twice this week.”  (=
 and the week isn't over yet.)
III. A repeated action in an unspecified period,
between the past and now. “We  have
visited  Portugal several times.”

PAST Past tense simple – Past tense simple It is used for past actions which are
verb +ed finished (complete action, habits, states); background
descriptions in narratives
Past tense continuous Past tense continuous refers to progressive/habitual
past form to be+ ing form actions interrupted by another past action
It is used to talk about past habits and states, which
are now finished and are not going to happen again.
An action which happens before other past actions
USED TO Used to - action which happened in the past and
would never happen again.
When we refer to things that happened before past
Past perfect simple time we use past perfect
had + 3d. form (past participle)
Past perfect continuous
FUTURE Simple Future Gives information about the future;
Shall/will + infinitive Guess or calculate –tomorrow; next Sunday
Predicting
Used for giving orders
Attitudes, offers, request
Future continuous Sometimes in the future you will be in the middle of
Will /to be+ ing form an action
Future of intention – GOING TO Action in progress
Going to + infinitive
Future with going to underlines that communication
refers to:
• Intention (something we decided to do)
• Plans
Future in the past • Things that are on the way
• Events outside people’s control
Used - To say that something was still in the future at
a certain past time
Structures that are used when we talk about future
but we make the verb forms past (is going to – was
going to) EX: Last time I saw you, you were going to
start a new job.

MODAL VERBS
General Characteristics
1. Modal verbs have the same form in all persons. NO S for 3d. person – I must do this
homework/ He must write
2. They do not take the auxiliary do in questions and negatives.

3. They do not have forms for all tenses

 CAN – could
May – Might (is not a past form) It express great doubt – It might rain today (10% chances)
Must _

4. For other tenses they have substitutes –

CAN – TO BE ABLE TO – I can speak French / I’ll be able to speak Spanish after a course
(future)
MUST – HAVE TO – I must go to school/ I’ll have to go to school on Saturday
MAY – TO ALLOW - I may come / Will you allow him to come

5. They are followed by short infinitive –

 I must learn for the exam
 I may go to Brasov during the weekend
 I can speak three foreign languages

CAN
 Permission – Can I leave this here? Note that Could I or May I are more formal and polite
then Can I
 Mental Ability – I can speak English fluently
 Physical Ability – I can swim.
 Request - Can I have a sandwich please? Could you help me? Would you help me? Note that
could you or would you - are more formal and polite then Can you.
 Possibility depending on real circumstances – I could get only two tickets
 in interrogative and negative questions express doubt and surprise – It cannot be true
COULD

 past – I could pick up a lot of apples from this tree last year.
 more polite permission – Could you pass me the salt?

MAY

 permission in negative sentences

May I smoke here? – Yes, you may / No you may not

MIGHT – it is a past form but, is not used to express permission in the past

I didn’t ALLOW you to stay here, did I?

supposition and uncertainty –

It may snow
It might snow in May
MIGHT
1. express reproach and irritability - You might paint better.

.MUST - Just one form - MUST

1. duty, obligation and necessity

Must we do all exercises for the exam?
You must put it away
2. supposition and assurance –
It must be cold outside

3. negative form
a. prohibition
Hotel guests must not use home appliances in their room.
Children under 12 must not stay alone.

For negative answers, use NEED

Must I do my homework for tomorrow?

No, you needn’ t to do it now.
The form is present, but it may refer to past actions
Tom must have been here some hours ago.

Exercise 3 - PRACTICE

1. Who is more likely to go London tomorrow?

Joe – I may be going to London tomorrow/
Mary – I might be going to London tomorrow.

2. Which expression can end the sentence?

She lives in France; That;s why…….
a. ….she can speak French
b. ….she may speak French
3. Could, might or both?
When I was young people ____________smoke in office

1. Choose the right word from the words in brackets

a) Excuse me, _____________________(could/ may/ shall) you tell me how to get to the University?

b) Are you sure you ________________________(can, may, would) find her house?

c.) __________________(Shall/could/would) I speak to Mr. Smith, please?

d.)Do you think we ___________(can/ may/would) eat our sandwiches here?

e) _____________________(couldn’t/can’t/wouldn’t) you read?