Hi Everyone, Feel free to email me with any questions about the position at guts-slss@rso.wisc.edu! |
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
GUTS is Hiring!!
Kopperton Checks In
Hello everybody-
First, I would like say that I am proud of every one's work already this year. DI is continuing to be solid. AM is rocking. CE's new Give and Take program is inventive and helpful. For the first time ever, we have a commercial, and we are going to be making a another one.
I would like to tell all of you that GUTS is working on a new program. We are not ready to reveal all the details about it yet. But I can tell you that it could greatly benefit all UW undergrads.
Since I cannot share much more information about it with you, I've decided to share some other interesting information with you in the following links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/opinion/28friedman.html
This is an article by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. I look forward to reading his articles because he has the best connections in the world - no kidding. He knows everybody, from foreign politicians, to domestic CEOs, to top scientists, to influential celebrities. And, they all like him, even those in the Middle East. Although I do not agree with all of his opinions, many of his points are hard to disagree with.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ys-forbesoverpaid102309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
This is an article a friend sent me about overpaid NBA players. It points out an imbalance with big (as in tall) players' contracts and their stats. Andrew Bogut is a star of the article. Which provided me with the first piece of hard mathematical evidence to my continuous argument that Bogut was a terrible draft pick (#1 overall in the 2005 draft). Most notables picked behind him: #3 Deron Williams, #4 Chris Paul, #10 Andrew Bynum, #17 Danny Granger, and the list goes on.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0613_050613_sharkfacts.html
This article was sent to me because I was recently made a fool. I believed my friend when she said she was bitten by a shark. Idiot, right.
Enjoy,
Chris Kopp
SAGE Coordinator
First, I would like say that I am proud of every one's work already this year. DI is continuing to be solid. AM is rocking. CE's new Give and Take program is inventive and helpful. For the first time ever, we have a commercial, and we are going to be making a another one.
I would like to tell all of you that GUTS is working on a new program. We are not ready to reveal all the details about it yet. But I can tell you that it could greatly benefit all UW undergrads.
Since I cannot share much more information about it with you, I've decided to share some other interesting information with you in the following links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/opinion/28friedman.html
This is an article by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. I look forward to reading his articles because he has the best connections in the world - no kidding. He knows everybody, from foreign politicians, to domestic CEOs, to top scientists, to influential celebrities. And, they all like him, even those in the Middle East. Although I do not agree with all of his opinions, many of his points are hard to disagree with.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ys-forbesoverpaid102309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
This is an article a friend sent me about overpaid NBA players. It points out an imbalance with big (as in tall) players' contracts and their stats. Andrew Bogut is a star of the article. Which provided me with the first piece of hard mathematical evidence to my continuous argument that Bogut was a terrible draft pick (#1 overall in the 2005 draft). Most notables picked behind him: #3 Deron Williams, #4 Chris Paul, #10 Andrew Bynum, #17 Danny Granger, and the list goes on.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0613_050613_sharkfacts.html
This article was sent to me because I was recently made a fool. I believed my friend when she said she was bitten by a shark. Idiot, right.
Enjoy,
Chris Kopp
SAGE Coordinator
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
GUTS Drop-IN
Hey Everyone,
This is just a post letting everyone know that GUTS Drop-In is in full Swing at College Library and the Student Activity Center (SAC). The College Library Center is located on the first floor, and the SAC center is in room 4413. Full schedules of tutors are found at the GUTS website for both the centers so be sure to check them out, and remember that you can use the Drop-In centers as much as you want. Here's a link to the schedule: http://guts.studentorg.wisc.edu/dropinschedule.htm. We have tutors in all the most common classes (Chem, Math, Physics, Econ, and more) and the centers are open Sunday through Thursday. If anyone has any questions feel free to email me and let me know,
Lee Jastrow
guts-di@rso.wisc.edu
This is just a post letting everyone know that GUTS Drop-In is in full Swing at College Library and the Student Activity Center (SAC). The College Library Center is located on the first floor, and the SAC center is in room 4413. Full schedules of tutors are found at the GUTS website for both the centers so be sure to check them out, and remember that you can use the Drop-In centers as much as you want. Here's a link to the schedule: http://guts.studentorg.wisc.edu/dropinschedule.htm. We have tutors in all the most common classes (Chem, Math, Physics, Econ, and more) and the centers are open Sunday through Thursday. If anyone has any questions feel free to email me and let me know,
Lee Jastrow
guts-di@rso.wisc.edu
Adventures in the life of a GUTS Study Skills Specialist
Dzien Dobry to all of you avid followers of the GUTS blog. I write to you today from the brightly decorated walls of the GUTS office in the SAC. If you haven't stopped by, please do. Come critique the highly esteemed artwork or chat with whoever is in the office.
I work within the Study Skills Department. We really like seeing students who want to learn better ways to effectively study. We have great tips and real world experience to enable YOU to be a superstar when it comes to studying. I've been in the office for almost a year and truly utilize the tips I teach. My favorite tip is to use a time management grid to plan your days. It helps to see that you actually have little breaks that you can use to study, instead of studying all at night.
As a Senior about to graduate in December, I encourage all of you to come utilize what GUTS has to offer! We have fabulous programs and are here to help you gain the skills to succeed in college!
-Liz
I work within the Study Skills Department. We really like seeing students who want to learn better ways to effectively study. We have great tips and real world experience to enable YOU to be a superstar when it comes to studying. I've been in the office for almost a year and truly utilize the tips I teach. My favorite tip is to use a time management grid to plan your days. It helps to see that you actually have little breaks that you can use to study, instead of studying all at night.
As a Senior about to graduate in December, I encourage all of you to come utilize what GUTS has to offer! We have fabulous programs and are here to help you gain the skills to succeed in college!
-Liz
Academic Match Update
Sign up for Academic Match tutoring will be closing THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30th! If you are still looking for a tutor, please stop by our office and fill out a tutee registration form so that we may try to match you as soon as possible! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Friday, October 23, 2009
CE Events Week of October 26th!
Monday October 26th
CE Conversation Hour, 1-2 at the GUTS office. Please come to this great opportunity to talk to peers in English! This informal discussion focuses on a varying topic week to week, this time focusing on the general theme of healthcare! Don't know anything about it? Then come and learn! No preparation is necessary!
Tuesday October 27th
NEW! CE English Lesson, 7:30-8:30 pm at the Student Activity Center. Come work with our volunteer tutor who will be teaching this class! The class will be based on a current news article through which students will practice pronunciation, learn vocabulary, and have discussion or debate about! There will also be a fun activity to work on speaking English in real life situations!
Thursday October 29th
Conversational Tea and Activity Hour, 4-5 pm at the Satellite. The conversation is always interesting at this casual event! The relaxed atmosphere makes it a comfortable place to makes it a great place to meet new faces!
Friday October 30th
ISS International Conversation and Coffee Hour, 12-2. Either meet Michael at the GUTS office to walk over together, or directly meet at Memorial Union.
NEW! CE Halloween Party, 6:00pm. Next Friday come to the Student Activity Center to celebrate Halloween with fellow CE participants! There will be a short presentation about Halloween followed by watching the movie E.T. Come enjoy some tasty treats while learning new idioms and vocabulary, and discussion among friends! And please feel free to wear a costume!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
GUTS on youtube!
GUTS' staff have put together a commercial for the very first time...
We hope you will enjoy and more importantly, join GUTS!
-- Vivian
We hope you will enjoy and more importantly, join GUTS!
-- Vivian
Friday, October 2, 2009
CE et Moi
你好 everyone…this is Michael O’Connor, the Conversational English External Relations Specialist over at GUTS. Today I’ll be blogging about some of my experiences with international students in CE.
My major itself has been shaped by my experiences with CE. I am majoring in International Studies and East Asian Studies, so the countries that captivate my interest the most are China, Japan, Taiwan, and the Koreas. This has not always been the case! For the first two years of college I found Europe much more enticing and focused my studies there. That all changed once I joined CE (although I still need to visit Ireland!). My first partner was in the summer. She was a girl from South Korea and she introduced me to Korean food and some cultural differences that she noticed between Americans and Koreans. I became much more aware of "little" things like body language, eye contact, and how horribly fast I spoke English, slurring all my words together. My friends still remark to me that they are amazed I tutor English when even they cannot understand me sometimes...
My conversational partner my junior year was from Japan and helping her practice her English was my first prolonged (one year) experience working with an international student. From her my knowledge of Japan expanded exponentially, moving beyond commonly known-about things like Nintendo (which I love) and sushi (which I also love). By the end of the year, I knew that I had an interest in visiting Japan and learning Japanese (which is sadly still TBA). Today, my former conversation partner and I are still in contact—writing letters (that’s right, with stamps and all—the old fashioned way) to each other about where our lives are heading. As a wee child I regarded Japan as a mysterious and near-mythical place and I knew very little about it beyond my avid interest towards things like Nintendo and Godzilla (or Pokemon cards with Japanese on them). Now that I have friends there and have actually visited Japan (albeit only for five days) I have a much more realistic and less nerdy interest in Japan...eh actually it's still pretty nerdy.
Japan:
My “conversion” to Asia was fully completed that summer, when I went to China to teach English to children in a cram school. There I spent a significant amount of my free time studying Mandarin. I found it much more engaging than French (the language I had previously studied) although I wasn't really sure why. It was just fun and different. Upon my return to Wisconsin and my studies, I received a new CE partner--a grad student from China. My new partner, although a student in physics, was very interested in international politics and was eager to talk me about China. He and his wife are also qualified to be Chinese teachers, so I was able to consult them with questions about Mandarin (which I had frequently). Over time, meeting with him and his wife multiplied my interest in China (and the love of its food). One year ago I looked at spicy food with disdain but now I love it (minus the heartburn)! Although I had left China thinking that the foreign language I truly wanted to learn was yet to be found, by the end of the year with my Chinese tutee Mandarin was back on my plate.
Me in China:
As another consequence, I took (and still am taking) many more China-oriented classes in History, Political Science, & Sociology. Lastly, French has become a thing of the past (desolé, mes amis français) and I am now enrolled in Chinese. One of my favorite hobbies has become annoying my American friends by speaking to them in Chinese and annoying my Chinese friends by constantly berating them with questions about Mandarin.
In this new year, I have gone full circle. My new tutee is from South Korea again and now that I am much more interested in East Asia I look forward to learning as much about it as I did for Japan and China.
w00t,
Until next time.
-Michael
My major itself has been shaped by my experiences with CE. I am majoring in International Studies and East Asian Studies, so the countries that captivate my interest the most are China, Japan, Taiwan, and the Koreas. This has not always been the case! For the first two years of college I found Europe much more enticing and focused my studies there. That all changed once I joined CE (although I still need to visit Ireland!). My first partner was in the summer. She was a girl from South Korea and she introduced me to Korean food and some cultural differences that she noticed between Americans and Koreans. I became much more aware of "little" things like body language, eye contact, and how horribly fast I spoke English, slurring all my words together. My friends still remark to me that they are amazed I tutor English when even they cannot understand me sometimes...
My conversational partner my junior year was from Japan and helping her practice her English was my first prolonged (one year) experience working with an international student. From her my knowledge of Japan expanded exponentially, moving beyond commonly known-about things like Nintendo (which I love) and sushi (which I also love). By the end of the year, I knew that I had an interest in visiting Japan and learning Japanese (which is sadly still TBA). Today, my former conversation partner and I are still in contact—writing letters (that’s right, with stamps and all—the old fashioned way) to each other about where our lives are heading. As a wee child I regarded Japan as a mysterious and near-mythical place and I knew very little about it beyond my avid interest towards things like Nintendo and Godzilla (or Pokemon cards with Japanese on them). Now that I have friends there and have actually visited Japan (albeit only for five days) I have a much more realistic and less nerdy interest in Japan...eh actually it's still pretty nerdy.
Japan:
My “conversion” to Asia was fully completed that summer, when I went to China to teach English to children in a cram school. There I spent a significant amount of my free time studying Mandarin. I found it much more engaging than French (the language I had previously studied) although I wasn't really sure why. It was just fun and different. Upon my return to Wisconsin and my studies, I received a new CE partner--a grad student from China. My new partner, although a student in physics, was very interested in international politics and was eager to talk me about China. He and his wife are also qualified to be Chinese teachers, so I was able to consult them with questions about Mandarin (which I had frequently). Over time, meeting with him and his wife multiplied my interest in China (and the love of its food). One year ago I looked at spicy food with disdain but now I love it (minus the heartburn)! Although I had left China thinking that the foreign language I truly wanted to learn was yet to be found, by the end of the year with my Chinese tutee Mandarin was back on my plate.
Me in China:
As another consequence, I took (and still am taking) many more China-oriented classes in History, Political Science, & Sociology. Lastly, French has become a thing of the past (desolé, mes amis français) and I am now enrolled in Chinese. One of my favorite hobbies has become annoying my American friends by speaking to them in Chinese and annoying my Chinese friends by constantly berating them with questions about Mandarin.
In this new year, I have gone full circle. My new tutee is from South Korea again and now that I am much more interested in East Asia I look forward to learning as much about it as I did for Japan and China.
w00t,
Until next time.
-Michael
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