Jose's PowerPoint slides

Here you find the slides Jose used during his presentation.

Mario's PowerPoint slides

Here you can find the slides for Mario's presentation.

Franck's PowerPoint slides

Here you can find Franck's PowerPoint slides.

Silvia's PowerPoint slides

Here you can have access to Silvia's PowerPoint slides.

Make, do, get and have

Here you can find some information and exercises on the use of the verbs 'make', 'do', 'get' and 'have'.

Minutes

Here is a document on writing minutes. 

 

Here you can find an example for minutes.  Source: Market Leader Upper Intermediate Business English Course Book by David Cotton, et al.

Four sources for audio and video streams

Here you can have access to the NPR of the NYC region.  It could be useful if you want to improve your listening comprehension of American English.  You can listen to the live FM broadcast or go their show archives.  I personally like Radiolab, Selected Shorts and Fresh Air among the shows they air.

Here you can have access to the BBC website, which also airs on the WNYC in the mornings Brussels time.  It could be useful to improve your listening comprehension of British English.  They also have links under "Learning English", where you can find numerous tools for learners of English as a second language.

Here you can have access to the audio and video streams on The Economist website.  This again is a good source for improving British English listening comprehension.

Here you can have access to TED, which is a good source for numerous talks on a very wide range of topics.  Most talks are given by Americans and Canadians, but there are also other speakers of different nationalities, including some British.

More tips on PowerPoint presentations

Here you can find list of do's and dont's for PowerPoint presentations.

The dont's for PowerPoint

Here you can find Don McMillan's standup on the dont's of a PowerPoint presentation.

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Here you can find Guy Kawasaki's recommendations on the length (10 slides), duration (20 minutes) and font size (30 points) in a PowerPoint presentation.

Here you can find a stream of his pitch. ('Bozo' means 'fool'.)

Lists of three and the rule of three: three speeches

Here you can find the first part of Steve Jobs's iPhone product launch speech.

Here you can find Barack Obama's inauguration speech.

Here is Steve Jobs's famous Stanford commencement speech submitted by S.  Thank you S!

In both of them, please pay attention to the usage of the lists of three and the rule of 3.

Here is a stream where the rule of 3 is explained among other useful tips on making presentations.

Here is another article on the rule of 3 submitted by E.  Thank you E!

Political situation in Belgium

Here you can find a stream, which gives an overview of the political and administrative system in Belgium.

Here you can find an article from The Economist, which is a commentary on the political situation in the country. I do not think it has changed significantly since the article came out.

Here is a more recent article from The Economist.

Here you find a Wikipeadia page submitted by S.  Thank you S!

Journalistic titles

Here you can find a brief explanation on journalistic titles used in, e.g., newspaper headlines.  We, however, should not use this style for our titles in administrative writing.  How would you change the headlines provided as examples in the hot-linked document into administrative style titles?

Living in Belgium

For our next session, we will be talking about living in Belgium.  In this context we can table some of the best kept secrets of this country for day and/or weekend trips.  We can also talk about the cultural activities on the offer in Brussels.  Finally, we can exchange some unique experiences we have had living in this country.

You can hereby have access to Agenda, the weekly magazine for the cultural events in Brussels. The website seems to be only in Dutch and French, but the paper version is in three languages, i.e., English, Dutch and French.  If you live in Brussels, you can get a free subscription for home delivery.

Is the EU a real democracy?

Here is a page from the UN website on what democracy is.

Here is a BBC piece on the three main European Institutions.  It aired before the Lisbon Treaty.

Here is a page from the Commission website on improving transparency and democracy in the EU after the Lisbon Treaty.

Here is a webpage with a call for more democracy in the EU.

For those of you who have the time to watch it, here is a documentary on the role of lobbyists in Brussels.

Moreover, here is you can find a Eurobarometer survey on the perception of the EU by citizens. Thank you F!

We can start the session by defining what democracy is. Then, we can talk about the power dynamic among the three main institutions.  Afterwards, we can discuss the apparent disconnect between the average European citizen and the EI. Finally, we can talk about the role of the lobbyists in the legislative process in Brussels, i.e., of course if we have enough time.

History and future of EU integration

Here you can find some information on the website entitled "Europe in 12 Lessons".  I know it sounds a bit like the 12-step programme, but I think it can be quite useful to refresh our memories.

Here is an article on the future of the EU considered within the context of the eurocrisis.

Is the UK going to stay in the EU?

Here you can find Cameron's speech posted on The Guardian website.

Here you can find the transcript of his speech. Thank you F!

Here is an article from The Economist.

Here is another article from The Guardian.

Here  is a 12-minute BBC interview on the same topic.

Signposting and survival tactics

Here you can find a four-page document with exercises on signposting and some survival tactics, which could come in handy during a negotiation. (Source: Presenting in English by Mark Powell)

Basic negotiation skills

Here you can find the handouts with some basic negotiation skills.

Opinions, agreeing and disagreeing

Here you can find some phrases which can be used to express your opinions, agreements and disagreements along with some exercises.

BBC on negotiations and meetings

Here you can have access to the BBC website on negotiations, where they have useful expressions and/or phrases contextualized in short dialogues available as audio streams with transcripts.

Here you can have access to the BBC website, where they provide some examples for interruptions contextualized in a short dialogue available as an audio stream with a transcript.

Here you can have access to the BBC website, where they provide some examples for agreements and disagreements contextualized in a short dialogue available as an audio stream with a transcript.

Turkey in the EU

Here are three links to different articles that recently came out on EU-Turkey relations:
- BBC
- The Economist
- The New York Times

Here you can find more information on Turkey's accession process. Thank you S!