Struggling to understand an assignment

Page 1 of 1 [ 6 posts ] 

Alycat
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 Oct 2007
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,690
Location: Birmingham, UK

19 Sep 2008, 6:21 am

Our first assignment is to 'learn something new related to your subject area'. We are supposed to learn something we don't know, and then write reflectively about it.
However, I am struggling to think of WHAT to learn. My subject area is English, and anything that would be classed as my subject area I already know (because it's my subject area). The more I think about it, the more confused I become, and I don't want to fail my first assignment.
How can you learn something new about your subject specialism? The idea behind the assignment is apparently that we should experience what it is like for a child to learn something they struggle with and know nothing about, but I cannot struggle studying a topic that is my speciality.
:x



PilotPirx
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

User avatar

Joined: 8 May 2008
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Posts: 237
Location: Amsterdam, NL

19 Sep 2008, 7:03 am

Quote:
My subject area is English


Seems a large enough subject to learn something new about it every day for the rest of your live.
Nobody is perfect in such a large area and if it's about languages, then every single book you read can tell you something new about how this language can be used, how details in arranging words or accentuation can make a big difference in style. How is everyday language different from book language. How is the language a news speaker uses different from a fashion magazine? What kinds of grammar errors are allowed in what kind of text (eg news headlines)? What about historical changes in the use of language? Language use in different cultures?


_________________
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before (E.A.Poe)


schleppenheimer
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Age: 64
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,584

19 Sep 2008, 7:28 am

What about recent slang words that have become part of the dictionary now? i.e. such as using Google as a verb -- "I googled that subject." Words like that . . .



Sedaka
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 16 Jul 2006
Age: 42
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,597
Location: In the recesses of my mind

19 Sep 2008, 8:05 am

what's your area? can't help without more specification.

your cup should never be full.... and it rarely is anyway... which is probably the point of this assignment.


_________________
Neuroscience PhD student

got free science papers?

www.pubmed.gov
www.sciencedirect.com
http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl


Alycat
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 Oct 2007
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,690
Location: Birmingham, UK

25 Sep 2008, 3:02 pm

I think my problem is that the assignment was changed. Well, actually our tutor was originally unsure of what the specifications were and told us it didn't have to be to do with subject area. I came up with an idea, and then he told us it had to be subject area. I think I'm finding it difficult to come up with something because I have that original idea fixed in my head now.
He has suggested looking at an 'aspect of theatre'. I've already studied Greek theatre and Shakespearean theatre, so if anybody has any ideas of which area I could look at then please say.
I'm also tempted to ask the tutor if he can be clear about the topic before he tells us so I don't get annoyed, but then that might make me look even stranger than I do already.


_________________
If you don't believe in dragons it is curiously true, that the dragons you disparage choose to not believe in you.


barber
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 May 2007
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 653
Location: buncrana co.donegal ireland

25 Sep 2008, 7:00 pm

the major problem i have is no so much the subject as understanding it i mean the first essay titel i got was "word and what they mean to me" to me this is easly one of the most anoying title they could have given me as every time i tryto contuine on for one draft to the next i find my self starting again because it such a wide topic it so wide it frustrating you know what i mean