Getting started

Today, at last, we were able to get started with the unit. I gave a brief overview of the aims of the unit: what you will be doing in class is developing your writing, reading, listening, talking and critical thinking skills. Each of you will develop a portfolio of work which reflect your skills in these areas.

We got things started by looking at a presentaion/pitch from the Dragons' Den series. Although the hopeful entrepeneur impressed the dragons with her ideas, she turned them off completely by her presentation style – they would like to have invested but would not have liked to work with her. So, although the content of her pitch was impressive, the style let her down. We often think that content is the only thing that matters – but very often it is the way we present ourselves (in person and in writing) that matters just as much (if not more).


Between four groups we developed a summary and evaluation of this pitch:






















So as much as I am interested in the content of work that you produce, I am also interested in how you present your work.

A few things we learned today on top of all this:

1. The correct use of the apostrophe in Dragons’ Den

Dragons’ Den = The den of the dragons

Dragon’s Den = The den of the dragon

2. The difference between a summary and an evaluation.

3. The origin of the phrase "Bob's your uncle".