Guidelines
There are three questions in this assignment. Question 1 and Question 2 are listening tasks based on recordings which are contained on your TMA CD. Question 3 is a speaking task. The Listening and Speaking parts of the assignment each carry 50% of the mark for TMA 1. Before you complete this assignment, you are advised to review both the listening and the speaking skills covered in Units 1 and 2.
You must submit your responses to all three questions by post to your tutor’s mailing address.
Please write or type your responses to Questions 1 and 2 on A4-size paper and record your spoken answers to Question 3 on a CD or USB drive.
Part I: Listening (50 marks)
Listen to the two recordings on your TMA CD for TMA 1. Both recordings are talks. In the first talk, the speaker describes an older colonial part of Guangzhou, and how attitudes towards colonial heritage in China are changing. The second recording is a talk about the new phenomenon called the ‘smart phone walk.’
Listen to the recordings carefully before you attempt the questions/tasks below. Respond to the questions/tasks using complete sentences written in your own words. Marks will be deducted for poor grammar, vocabulary and spelling. Try to avoid simply transcribing the content of the recording, but instead summarize and paraphrase what you hear. Your responses should be based on the information you hear in the recordings, not on your existing knowledge or on information gained from other sources.
Question 1 (20 marks) a Explain what the speaker means by the expression ‘one place where time seems to be standing still.’ (2 marks) b What makes the husband-to-be feel uncomfortable? (2 marks) c Outside how many buildings does the speaker see couples posing? (1 mark) d Name the buildings in question (c) above. (4 marks) e Explain what the speaker means when he says the great old Hong Kong and Shanghai trading houses ‘have left their mark here.’ (2 marks) f In what way is the area the speaker describes ‘unlike the rest of Guangzhou’? (2 marks)
5
g What difference is there between attitudes to colonial buildings now and two decades ago?
(4 marks) h Why does the speaker consider the situation in Hong Kong to be ironic compared to that in
Guangzhou? (3 marks)
Question 2 (30 marks) a Describe the ‘new skill’ that people living in Hong Kong have learned recently. (3 marks) b How does the ‘sea of people’ crossing at Shibuya in Tokyo avoid crashing into each other?
(3 marks) c What does the speaker hope to see, and why does he believe that he might see it? (4 marks) d What accounts for the rapid rise in smart phone use in Japan, according to the speaker?
(4 marks) e What is another name for the ‘smart phone walk’? (1 mark) f What is a ‘glacial pace’? (2 mark) g Apart from pace, what is the other impact on those who do the ‘smart phone walk’?
(3 marks) h How did NTT Docomo obtain information about the likely impact of all those crossing at
Shibuya doing the ‘smart phone walk’? (3 marks) i Explain why Michael Kushak believes the ‘smart phone walk’ will not be a problem in the long term. (3 marks) j Why did the speaker not get hit by other pedestrians when he did the walk? (2 marks) k Why did the couple not want to give way to the speaker when he was doing the walk?
(2 marks)
Part II: Speaking (50 marks)
Question 3 (50 marks)
Describe the changes in behaviour which have come about because of the popularity of smart phones in Hong Kong. Give your own views on these changes: Do they improve the quality of people’s lives? Are there problems associated with these changes? Should some sort of government regulation be introduced to control them? Illustrate your views with examples from your own experience as appropriate. Try to use the techniques you have learned in Unit 2 to express opinions and arguments persuasively.
Your recording should last between 4 and 5 minutes, and should be on either a standard CD in a computer format that can be played on ‘Windows Media Player’ or ‘Real Player,’ or in the form of an mp3 file stored on a USB drive.
Whether you choose to submit a CD or USB drive, make sure you write your student number, group number and name on a label on the CD or drive. There should be nothing else on the CD or
6
drive other than your recording. Your tutor will comment on the content and language skills (e.g. your pronunciation, pace, stress and intonation, fluency, choice of words and use of transitions).
Please note that the assignment must be done solely by you. Your recording should be spontaneous, and you will lose marks if you sound as if you are reading aloud from a script.