Message from SimonBlog Postings

Dear Guys and Gals, I hope all is going well!! Sorry for the lack of posting on the blog lately. I have been waiting until I finished all the classes for Unit 3 before posting anything more. You will notice that I posted all the materils for Unit 3 yesterday , and the material for Unit 4 will posted half way though next week.

Over the next couple of days I will start posting the support materials for the previous units, i will also post re-worded versions of the Powerpoints for the Uits 1 and 2. The links will direct you to sites on the Web where you can practice some of the points that have been covered in the textbook.

Finally, just a reminder that if you need to contact me, you can always send an phone or send an email. Otherwise you can chat with me on Messenger [use my email address] or Facebook [name: Simon.Combe59]. Otherwise, as I have mentioned before, you can always find me most days in the coffee shop on the 30th floor of the Awalif Hotel. Just ask for 'Dr. Simon' and you should be able to get in for free. Just phone me first however to make sure I am there.

[the photo is of me, aged 4]

Message From SimonSubscribe to the Blog

If you would like to be notified of new postings to this blog by email, all you need to do is put you email address in the: FOLLOW BY EMAIL box to the right at the top of the blog and follow the links. The process ends by activating your subscription following an email. Its as easy as ABC. As always, if you have problems let me know and I will try to help.

Message from SimonTextbook for the Course

The textbook for the first part of this course is entitled English 1A and it has been especially prepared for the students of Taif University by a team from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. The first book will hopefully be available next week and will distributed free of cost.

There will be three other books for this course: English 1B, English 2A, and English 2B. I am not sure whether they will be free or not but, they will be available when the previous books are completed.

The books will start at what is commonly known as the Elementary Level and Conclude at the end of the Pre-Intermediate level. While the material in these books will appear to be very easy for at least some of you, we hope you will use the classes as a chance to consolidate the English you have learned up to now.

Message from SimonWelcome to the Taif University Medical English Page

Dear Guys and Gals,

Welcome to the Taif University Medical English Page! The aim of this blog spot is to provide a means to supply you with resources that will be helpful during the course of your English subjects this year. It is also hoped that you will use it as a means to comment on subjects raised in the course and to also ask questions.

Among the things you will find on this blog are:

1. links to copies of the Powerpoints and audio for each Unit of the textbook;

2. information about assessment items [exams etc..]; and

3. links to websites where you can learn more about and practice some of the vocabulary and grammar items in raised during the course of the classes.

It will also contain, from time to time, links to articles and websites related to medical issues both in Saudi Arabia in particular and the wider world.

This blog is yours as much as it is mine so please feel free to comment and make suggestions as to how it can be improved.

For now, be good and happy,

Simon

Message From Simon:Lasange & Pappadams

Dear Guys and Gals, I am having lots of questions about Lasagne and Poppadoms [there are different spellings for the latter]. Both are types of food.

Lasagna (plural: Lasagne) is a very wide, flat pasta (sometimes with wavy edges ). It is typically served in alternating layers with cheese, a sauce, and often other ingredients such as ground beef, sausage, or spinach. Typical of the cuisine of Italy.

Papadum, also known as papad in Norther India , is a thin, crisp Indian preparation sometimes described as a cracker or flat bread. It is typically served as an accompaniment to a meal in India.

This might give you a hint about what the reading in the exam will be about....

Message from Simon:Don't Worry - 4

Dear Guys and Gals, I have been having some words of concern expressed to me by many of you about the exam this morning. As always, my message is: Don't Worry!! As I have mentioned to you before Ayana and will ignore questions where we feel students might have some excuse for making a mistake. We have already, for example, agreed not to mark incorrect the answers for question 22 and 23 and may agree that we will ignore [or accept other answers to..] a number of other questions.

Please find below a link to a copy of today's exam paper. I should note that the exam was written by the authors of the textbook for this level so, it should be fair.

p.s. the photo is of me moments after leaving the exam room this morning.

p.p.s. remember also that the exam is only worth 20% of the final mark.

Link:
Mid-Term Exam Paper

Message from Simon:Don't Worry - 3

Dear Guys and Gals, I'm still getting some emails from students concerned about the exam. My message to you all, as usual, is Don't Worry!! It's not worth it.

I speak from experience in this matter. The photo on the top of this a post, is a photo of me three years ago, about six months before I came to Saudi Arabia. The photo on the bottom , is me now, after two years of living and working in Taif.

Its a lesson in the dangers of worrying too much. Take it easy!!!

Message from Simon:Don't Worry: 2

Dear 'Guys and Gals, I have had a couple of emails from students worried that there are exercises in the Work Book they don't understand. Don't worry!!. I realize that here are some questions in the workbook that are hard for you to understand: they are hard for me to understand as well.

I am trying to make sure however, that all the questions in the exam relate to grammar points that are fairly clear [no questions about the difference between 'will' and 'going to' for example]. As has been the case in previous exams, if there is a set of questions where lots of students make mistakes or it is clear they have been confused, we will mark them all as correct.

For now, be good and happy, Simon

p.s. the photo is one of me when I was in my first year at University. I know I have long hair. It was 1977: everyone had long hair!

Message from Simon:Practice Exam & Office Hours

Dear Students, just a quick note to let you know that am working on the Practice Exam and will try and post it later tonight. Sorry for the delay. Its been a busy week.

I also wanted to let people know that I am available most afternoons in the coffee shop on the 30th floor of the Awaliv Hotel from 5 to 8. I know that given the hours you have at college it can be difficult to get in touch with me during the week days so this is an option.

I am more than happy to speak with you and you can get in for free if you ask for me [just ask for Dr. Combe from Australia]. Its a good idea to phone me first to make sure I am there [my number is: 0590146672

p.s. the photo is of me aged four in 1963 [ahhhhh.....]

Message from Simon:Mid-Term Exam

Dear Guys and Girls [welcome back from the break]. I know some of you are worried about the mid-term exam and I want to ease your minds a bit.

1. the exam will be next week sometime
2. It will cover the first 5 units
3. there will be no listening activities in the exam
4. there will be no writing of paragraphs in the exam
5. the questions will relate mainly to the activities in the work book with some questions also related to vocabulary and everyday English usage in the Student's Book.
6. there will be 40 questions.

I will try and post a model exam in a couple of days. I will also post some information about web sites that may help you.

Remember: don't worry!!!

Message from Simon:Welcome Back

Dear Guys and Gals, Welcome Back to another semester. I hope this will be a better one for all of you. I will be away from Taif for the first four days [I am still in Australia] but I will be working away until I leave and online so if you have any questions please contact me.

This semester in Medical English 2 we will be using only one book namely New-Headway-[Pre-Intermediate] the 3rd edition. There will be original copies available for sale in the men's campus and Mrs. Faten will find out how best the girls on the women's campus can get copies. Please make sure you get the correct edition!!!!

For now, I am attaching pdf copies of the Student and Work books. Download them and have a look. You will however need to have hard copies for when work commences on them in the second week.

For now, be good and happy, and again, best wishes for the coming semester.

Links:
Students Book
Study Book

Textbooks:Medical English 1: Practical Classes

The main text book for the Practical classes in the subject Medical English 1 will be the Pre-Intermediate book in the International edition of the Powerbase series of textbooks. Along with the Course Book, there is also a Study Book which you can use to strengthen what you covered in the Course Book at home.

We are still trying to find out details about the availability of the original versions of these book but until we know for sure you can get them, photocopies of the two books together for the guys will be available on their Campus [girls, ask your teachers]. There is a shop in town - Al Hattary Stationary - that has offered to stock the book. Its address [I think] is: 25/ Street, Al-Shuhada - Al Shamalyah. The phone number of the store is: 7405160. The name of the contact person is: Mr Sanan Hasan. Otherwise you can contact your favorite book shop and see if they can get you copies.

For now, however, I am posting links to pdf versions of the books you can look at.

Links:
Powerbase-[Intermediate]-Course-Book: Deposit Files, Hotfile
Powerbase-[Intermediate]-Study-Book: Deposit Files, Hotfile

Welcome to the Taif UniversityMedical English Course

I am pleased to welcome the new students at the Taif University Medical College to the Taif University Medical English Page. The aim of this blog is to help you keep 'up to date' with what is happening in the subject. On it you will be able to find, among other things:
- Messages from the Blog Compiler,
- Lecture & Workshop Powerpoints,
- Lecture & Workshop Extras,
- Exam Updates; and,
- Online Resources related to English and Medicine.

If you want, it is possible to subscribe to the blog which means you will be notified when a new posting appears. All you have to do is go down the right hand column till you come to a section the looks like this:

Click on the Posts icon. I like to use the 'Atom' option as it places an icon in my bookmarks bar near the top of my internet page.

For now, be good and happy. Hope you have a great semester.

Message from Simon:Course/Subject Outline

Dear Guys and Gals, Please find below the Subject Outline for this semester.

As you will notice there is information about:
* the aims of the study
* the assessment items
* the lectures and workshops; and
* the textbook

Please note that while the topics of the lecture sessions will be the same for all students, the topics of the Workshop sessions may differ from teacher to teacher. All teachers however will ensure that you are prepared to undertake the various assessment items.

Remember, if you cannot download any of the files I post anytime, please let me know by email and I will send them to you as attachments.[p.s. 'RS' and 'DF' refer to 'rapidshare' and 'depositfiles'].

As always, be good and happy, Simon

p.s. remember you can always subscribe to the blog or comments posting on it by scrolling down the column to the the left and clicking on the icons below the 'Subscribe To' heading.

Link:
Subject Outline [RS]
Subject Outline [DF]

Message from Simon:Welcome Back!!

Dear Gals & Guys, Welcome Back!! I know it was not a particularly long break but I hope you are reasonably rested and ready to get back in to studying. I want to also partocularly welcome the students from the woman's college who I am hoping will become more regular users of the blog this semester. Remember if any of you [and that includes the guys as well] have any questions about or suggestions for the blog, I am always just an email away [simon.combe@gmail.com].

As was the case last semester, I will try and keep you up the date with what is happening in the course and also try and keep you supplied as regularly as I can with Powerpoints, Handouts and other resources produced by myself [Simon Combe] and other members of the course team [Maryam Abdul, Faten Alhumyanee, Hashim Khan and Taqiyyah Yasin] we will also try and feed you links to resources on the web you find useful in helping you improve the English you will need in the future in your academic, professional and personal lives.

For now, best wishes, and als always, be good and happy, Simon

Message from Simon:Pdf of Blog

Dear Guys & Gals, I hope all is well and that you both did well in your exams and are enjoying your break. I am just writing to let you you know that as far as I know I will be back preparing the classes for next semester and so if you have any questions please send me an email, text message or phone.

I have also prepared a pdf which contains all the postings on this blog last semester. If you'd like a copy of the Blog pdf, just go to the link below. If you have any problems downloading the file, please let me know. For now, be good and happy, Ma as-salaamah, Simon

Link:
Simon's Medical English Page [pdf]

Message from Simon:Good Luck With Your Exams

Dear Friends, Just a quick message to wish you good luck with your exams this week. I'm sure you'll all do very well [just joking].

On another matter, I've had a few phone calls this week from students asking about the Practical Exam.

Please, note - and I have said this more than a number of times in class - THERE IS NO PRACTICAL ELEMENT TO THE MID-TERM EXAM.

The only exam will be the one on Tuesday.

See you there!!!

Message from SimonExam Subject Reminder

Dear Guys [and Girls for students from the women's college], I'm just writing to let you know that I posted information about the topic that will be covered in the exam a couple of weeks ago here. The subject as I said then will be the mouth [or 'oral cavity'] and the picture to the left basically is a reflection of what will be covered in the reading and listening in the exam.

On a somewhat different matter, I have included links below to a couple of medical-terminology-books you may find useful. If you have trouble downloading the books you can get them off me in class.

Links:
1. Medical-Terminology-Dummies-[EnglishTips.org]
2. Medical-Terminology:-An-Illustrated Guide-[EnglishTips.org]
3. Medical-Terminlogy-Simplified [English.Tips.org]

Message from Simon:ENT's Update and Other News

I am just writing to let you know that there may be a slight problem in making posts over the next couple of days. I am currently in Sharorah and am having problems with my Mobily connect USB [apparently STC is king here!!!]. I will however try my best.

On another matter, I have decided to divide my English Learning Tips into two with one set of posts on 'Tips' and another on 'Tools'. As a result I may change the Headings of some of the posts I have made in the last week.

p.s. the photo to the left is a shot of downtown Sharorah.

Message From Simon:Holiday 'English Learning Tips'

Dear Guys, Hope all is well. I am just writing to thanks those people who have contacted me about my traffic accident [a 'mishap' would be a better word. Both the car and myself are fine. On another matter I wanted to let you know that over the next two weeks I will try and post a series of 'English Learning Tips'. Students have been asking me "how can I best improve my English" and my answer is always the same: "People learn in different ways so you need to find the best ways that suit your learning preferences". The tips I will put forward over the next couple of weeks won't suit everybody but it is just possible that some of them may suit you. If you have any questions please send and email, phone or check out if I am on Skype [my Skype name is: simon.combe]. For now, be good and happy...drive safetly!!