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From the editors
Index
Dear readers,
The Interview with Evrim, 3
In this final issue for the 2014-2015 school year, find some summer reading to start off your holiday.
The 11th issue starts with the Interview. For this issue, Aylin Adsalan and Hava Nur Yavaş talk to keynote speaker and influential businesswoman Evrim Kuran.
a keynote speaker and influential businesswoman
A Closer Look at One Department, 9 Mechanical Engineering
A Landmark, 11
Another interview is from Bariş Kırım who talks to Emin Faruk Keçeci to give us some information about the Mechanical Engineering Department. Efser Özer and Utku Ertuğral take a trip in history and detail the sights of Miniaturk Istanbul.
Looking for something to do this summer? Çağrı Özsan and Utku Ertuğral list some suggestions of websites and methodologies you can use for general and English self-study during the long summer months. Also, for the new students who will start their language education at SFL in September, Yağmur Işeri gives the down-low on what being an irregular student means for an ITU student.
Happy reading and have a productive summer.
MiniaTurk
To Be or not to Be Irregular?, 13 Being an irregular student at ITU: advantages & disadvantages
The 10 Must-Know Educational Websites for Every University Student, 15
10 Ways to Refresh Your English during the Summer Holiday, 18
the cover photo by Müge Kekeç
İlknur Karaman
www.writing.itu.edu.tr
Meridith Paterson
writing@itu.edu.tr
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The Interview with Evrim Kuran
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vrim Kuran is a keynote speaker, consultant, lifelong learner, mother and successful woman in the business world. She has many qualities, but is nevertheless quite modest. She greeted us with a warm welcome at the beginning of the interview. She kindly answered any and all questions. We hope you will enjoy reading this interview.
I was such a bad student that it was the only field I could study because of my low grades. I was a student at an Anatolian high school, so my English was good. I did not care about university. I was a naughty child and I was sure that my mother could have gotten angry if I had not been accepted by any university because it was something negative not to be accepted by a university in those days. It was time to choose school and everybody wanted to study law or international relations. However, it was hard for me to study at those departments and I had to choose a department into which I was sure that I could be accepted. I always remember that my first choice was Translation and Interpreting at Hacettepe University and then English Teaching at ODTU. I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to study Translation and Interpreting and would have to study English Teaching because I didn’t want it. Also, my third choice was English Literature.
As a person who has a successful career, did you have a successful childhood? Honestly, my life is filled with stories of failure. In my opinion, the most important thing in life is not stories of success. The most important thing in life is stories of failure and how we behave when we face failure. I think my stories of failure give form to my life. I have a lot of stories about failure. I was really an unsuccessful student at university. I was about to get kicked out of school. I finally finished school, but it took six years. How did you decide to study English Literature? beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
In the end, my university exam score was very high and I started in the English Literature department with a very high grade. Then I started to work and earn money, so I neglected school more and more. Moreover, the school was difficult in those years. Hence, I extended my 3
school. Now, when I consider my job, I realize how right my decision was because my job requires text analysis, understanding of metaphors and the mechanics of languages. I am the youth communicator and communication is the art of rhetoric about the mechanics of languages. Thus, the school contributed so much to my career. Now I am happy that I graduated from this department at Hacettepe University. After that, I was determined to do something in management. Yet, then I had a matter of the military.
naval forces in a year. On my first day, I realized that it was not appropriate for me and later I decided to leave. And this leaving process probably lasted a year. Then I began to work at the Preparatory School of Yeditepe University as an instructor. Also I started to provide companies with consultancy services in my field as a part time job. I worked in three fields in those years. Before Yeditepe University, I had already had a lot of job experiences.
How did the idea of counseling appear? How did you decide to work in the military? I saw an announcement for the naval forces. There was also a film called G.I. Jane with Demi Moore then. I watched it and the uniforms were appealing to me. In those years there was an exam for the military in Istanbul. I decided just to try it and it was a reason for me to go to Istanbul. I mean I didn’t believe in myself because I saw myself as a disobedient person and I didn’t think that I could be accepted. Moreover, the exam was very difficult, people were trying very hard and they would accept only three people. I didn’t study, yet I was accepted, surprisingly. Then I found myself in the beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
I am a very curious person. Firstly, I really worked hard in a variety of businesses. I worked in a bazaar and antique store and sold insurance. Therefore, I loved being in the business world and I am talented in sales and marketing. Before I went to İstanbul to work in the naval forces, I had worked in foreign trade in Ankara. Therefore, I was experienced and a good English speaker. A company offered me a full time job. It was a very nice opportunity for me because I was bored. I worked at that company for six years and became a director at a very young age. We increased the company’s revenue with the team that I had built and the company which was in the packaging industry began trading overseas. However, it still wasn't 4
comfortable for me because I really knew that I wanted something else. Therefore, I started my current company Dinamo.
organizational commitment. I have been studying in this area. How did you decide to focus on this area? Because I am a bookworm. I want to get an idea about everything, and I am interested in organizational commitment. Then I decided to write a thesis about it. I looked for the best department for me to write this dissertation and I decided to start in the H.R. Management department, directly. I gave my thesis proposal successfully, but I failed finishing my thesis project due to some circumstances. My subject area was the Y Generation and Organizational Commitment. Moreover, Generation Y started school at that time. I thought that when they entered these companies, they would have a problem with organizational commitment and it came true.
How did you start to get interested in generation studies? I already started to have an interest in generation issues when I was working at Yeditepe University because I was doing my MA at Marmara University. It was weird actually because I could do my master at Yeditepe University. Education was free for members and the campus was close to me. However, I wanted to do it at a state university. Therefore, I started to study at Marmara University's H.R. Management department in 2000 or 2001. My thesis subject was generations.
How did you become so proficient about this field? I have always wondered about what organizational behavior means. What makes people happy and what motivates them and makes their performances high in the enterprise system. By the way I was already investing my money in education. I was attending all kinds of courses related to my major all around the world. I still go to these courses. In the mean time I took some really bad courses, too. Then, as I took them, I learned how to make that job better and this improved me a lot. That’s why I give importance to stories of failure a lot. I also have instructor experience.
Why? Because my curiosity is in the field of beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
Hence, I started giving lectures to companies after I started to work at my 5
own company. Yet, it was difficult to explain the next generation. Accordingly, I was putting the “next generation” issue as a module into my sales and marketing training. However, my main purpose was talking about the next generation. At that time there wasn’t that kind of awareness in Turkey. After having my post-graduate education at Marmara University, I studied at Sabancı University. I studied at a lot of universities, but Sabancı University is the only one where I work actively in the alumni association and I go there whenever they call. The MBA program at Sabancı University was really hard. For example, I even stayed on campus to be able to finish homework. You should support academic knowledge as you are working at your business. Whatever you do for work, you should be a student your whole life. I believe in that. I am a student of the subject of generation and youth.
There are many kinds of consultants in Turkey. Therefore, you should continue to learn both at university and from life itself. First, you should read. There is a quote that I like; “Every time you watch a TV series, a book from your library commits suicide.” Yet, we don’t read books as Turkish people. Thus, if a man uses his beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
brain and reads a little, he can easily make a difference and be appreciated. So, you should always keep learning I think. It is not an easy thing to start a business in Istanbul as a person who came from Ankara because Istanbul is a lobby city and I came here from outside. I mean if you work hard, you can do everything. I don’t believe in changes, factors or other things. Only working hard is the secret of success. Working and having a good sense of smell.
What is the most striking characteristic about the new generation? The new generation has grown up now. People between 16 and 35 created this generation and they share some characteristics in common. For instance, they have more fun doing anything together and have organizational strength compared to the previous generation. As an example, the previous generation doesn’t like living, eating or dressing like everybody so much. They always want to be different. The other thing is whereas the new generation gets pleasure from processes, my generation (x generation) doesn’t give importance to processes so much. We focus on the outcome. That’s why we don’t know how to enjoy things much. Our sense of fun is quite weak. We 6
always think about what we’ll gain after doing something. In learning, it’s the same; we are selflearners. Yet, I observe that the new generation takes advantage of community. Also, they attach importance to people around them enjoying, too. In Turkey, there are 27 million people in the next generation (y generation). That’s why, it is important to understand how to market to or how to convince this generation. Moreover, the old methods don’t work anymore, so all of them should be checked again. And, this is what I serve in business life. We focus on how to renew models. For this, we focus on segmentation. There are 3 kinds of segments: the Y generation: teenage years, the X generation: middle ages and baby boomers: retired years. Now we have one more segment: the Z-generation which consists of children born after 2000. They will be at campuses in 2 or 3 years. Now, we study them. They are more digital experts. They were born in a technological world. Hence, they have utterly different perspectives. Then they will grow up and the alpha generation will come, and we will study them.
it. Then you apply them according to your profession. Now, there are segmentation studies in Turkey, too. Our work doesn’t finish when the y-generation grows up because this time the other generation will come. Formerly, business life would focus on how much you have in your pocket, but now it focuses on which generation you are. They serve according to the generation characteristics now. This is what we do.
How do you do generation studies? The generational system is a discipline which has been studied since the 1970s. Also, it has a science. First, you should study this science. There are significant sociologists leading these studies and it has a common language and culture. The interval of years can change from country to country, yet there is a segmented common term approach. First, you study beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
What are your thoughts on social media? How do you use social media? In my opinion, I use it better than my generation. There is not a single day that I don’t share anything. That is a very important platform and it is the showcase of the new world. Everybody needs to put a showcase of their work. My display is also social media. I don’t think that the 7
people who do not use social media have adapted to the new world and who are opposed in principle to using Facebook understand youths. I think this is ridiculous. You might not like Facebook, but the point is not to love it. If young people are there, we have to be there, too.32 million Turkish teenagers are using Facebook. 12 million Turkish young people are using Twitter. Therefore, we could say something big is going on there. We have to use social media.
life. I left my safe career to pursue my passion. My passion was generation studies and it wasn't a job that could make money at that time. Whatever your passion is, you should make it your profession. Just make sure it is your real passion. I have achieved everything that I have today because of my passion. Youngsters need to take risks. You live in a global world, so all doors (opportunities) are open to you. Go after the work you're doing with love and never stop. I never thought that I could make a lot of money in my life because if you do your job with love, you earn a lot of money. This is a side product. It is a little hard to find your passion. You will try and you will fail, but never give up. And which books do you suggest? A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink and the School for Gods by Stefano D’Anna.
Aylin Adsalan Hava Nur Yavaş
Photos were taken by İlknur Karaman
Finally, what advice do you have for young people while making vocational decisions? I hear a lot of questions of this type, but I may not recommend things that are very rational. Of course, everyone is looking at the world from their own perspective. I am a person who takes very big risks in beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
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A Closer Look at One Department
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n this issue, we will discuss Mechanical Engineering at Istanbul Technical University. We interviewed Emin Faruk Kececi who is an Associate Professor in the ITU Mechanical Engineering Department.
Thank you for accepting to do the interview with us, Dr. Kececi. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Thanks. I graduated from ITU in 1996 as a mechanical engineer. I have a mechanical engineering Master’s degree from Duke University and an electrical engineering Doctorate degree from Virginia University. After all this, I returned to Turkey. I have been researching robotic, mechatronic, mechanic design, and control. What are the qualifications of the teachers in this department? Actually, we have a huge department. We accept 250 students every year. The average of the teachers’ ages is very high. This means that they have a lot of experience in their own subjects. I don’t know the number, but most of them have a Master’s or Doctorate degree from the USA. When teachers get a good education they teach well. In addition to these qualifications, almost every teacher advises companies.
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What are the opportunities that the department has? If a student wants to learn, he learns. We sell education for free here. English courses or department lessons are very expensive and you cannot find such professors easily. The students should appreciate that there are many laboratories and other opportunities here. Have you ever seen a 3D printer? These are too expensive for a university. We are working on a robot which can use sign language thanks to it. As long as students want it, there are numerous things to do here. Moreover, there are enough opportunities and resources to learn what is needed for doing them. What do you think about the job opportunities and the future of the mechanical engineering students? Firstly, many areas will be popular such as robotic, control, mechanical, and biomechanical. I think a combination from these is essential for the future. Classical standard mechanical engineering is losing popularity. It will be necessary to add at least one more skill such as electrical engineering. One mechanical engineer and one electrical engineer are not as efficient as a mechatronic engineer. Secondly, I am sure that everybody will graduate and find a job. Maybe it can take 10 years, but everybody graduates. The main point is whether they improve themselves. The people who have not graduated have no value in this country. Seeing that you have come here for a quality education, you have to improve yourself. Some of our
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students might continue to study in Canada to study for free.
different things if you want a luxurious career for the next 30 years in the future.
Do you believe that the department is very difficult?
Last question: Do you have any advice for the students who want to study Mechanical Engineering?
The department is not difficult enough. When I was a student, it was said ITU is hard but mechanical engineering is harder. Furthermore, it was said not just by mechanical students, everybody was saying that. The mechanical engineering department is very hard, but we don’t make it hard. The job is hard because the machines are everywhere and everyone has different functions. There are many materials students need to learn about. There is also a time when the information increases. For mechanical engineering, this time is 8 years, it may change for every engineering department. For instance, if there are 100 books about mechanical engineering, after 8 years, there will be 200. The value of your information will be halved.
It is so important that you must be sure. The engineers are very different from each other. You must decide whether you really want to be a mechanical engineer. I think if you don’t want it, you shouldn’t be here. Nobody should come here by just looking at the name of the University. I have a principle that if you have said that I will do this, you have to do this with excellence.
Barış Kırım
What are the points about which the students should be careful? I have a saying about it. I believe that the University is a buffet. You take what you want. If you want, you can get a pretty good education. I advise my students, and to you also, to find their interests as quickly as possible. They should study hard for the first 2 years and then, they should start a project which is relevant with their interests by getting help from their teachers. Engineering, I can say for mechanical or electrical, is something that can be learned by performing and practicing. You must experience many beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
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MiniaTurk
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stanbul is a well-known city, and attracts many tourists from all around the world because of its various unique features. However, Istanbul is not the only city which has amazing places and constructions. Besides, there are many constructions to see in Turkey. If we are lucky we might be able to see most of them. However, most people have neither time nor money to visit all those constructions. Because of this, the government of Turkey has built a construction resembling a wonderland named MiniaTurk.
MiniaTurk, which is located in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, gives us all the opportunity to see those wonderful constructions in Turkey in just a few hours. Also, you can find not only constructions in Turkey but also some other places which are related to the Ottoman Empire. If you are confused about how the government built all those constructions in a 60 thousand square meters area, they only constructed the smaller size of those constructions. Nevertheless, being smaller in size does not mean that they are built without care because they have all the details of the original constructions. Furthermore, every model has their own devices which tell about their features. You can easily swipe the card you get from ticket office to the device, and listen to their stories which are read in your language. In addition to all this, the first crystal museum was built beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
at MiniaTurk. This museum has 16 historical buildings of Turkey made from crystal glass with laser technology. Finally, the Panorama Victory Museum was opened in 2003 as a reminder of the establishment of the Turkish Republic.
Peri Bacalari Peri Bacalari is a natural formation which was formed from tuff in Cappadocia. Also, they were used for houses in the past, and you can see Cappadocia by flying with a balloon.
Anitkabir Anitkabir is a monument which was built for Atatürk who was the greatest leader and the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Therefore, it’s very emotional for us to remember the greatest leader is not alive anymore.
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same. After Ataturk, this palace has been kept as a museum, and is open to visitors.
Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence was very challenging for both children and Turkish women as well as for the soldiers. Children were needed to become a soldier at a young age. In the picture below there is a woman who takes the place of an ox to continue her way and it shows us how hard it was for Turkish women to live in that situation.
Galata Tower Galata Tower was built in 528 as a lighthouse, and is located in Galata, Istanbul. From Galata Tower, you can see Istanbul in a panoramic view. Also, according to a story, Hezarfen Celebi flew from Galata Tower to Uskudar by crossing the Bosphorus.
Dolmabahçe Palace The construction of Dolmabahçe Palace was completed in 1856. It’s located in Kabataş, Istanbul. This palace has many remarkable features such as its very special view and tremendous rooms. Also, Ataturk died in this palace, and the room that Ataturk died in was kept exactly the beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
Efser Özer Utku Ertuğral
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To Be or not to Be Irregular?
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here is a topic about which our friends studying English in B1 or B1+ classes need to be informed of: Should we be irregular? To answer this question we interviewed 2 regular students, 3 irregular students and 4 students who became irregular in January 2015.
After reading this article, you can decide whether to be irregular or not because there are good sides and bad sides of being irregular. Therefore, you will make your decision after reading about both of these sides.
Let’s start with the good sides of it. When you are not irregular and you start your first classes from the fall term, your lessons are automatically chosen for you. However, you have to choose your lessons by yourself for second term. In this point, irregular students have priority to choose their own lessons before those students do. That means you have an advantage against them. You can learn when the course selection will happen by checking the ITU Academic Calendar; moreover, you can choose your term and select your lessons by accessing the ITU System. You shouldn’t forget to prepare your schedule before you select your lessons by checking the courses, quotas and classes on the ITU website. You should note the CRN of the lesson which you have chosen since you beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
have to write the numbers of the CRN during course selection. I will give you a hint to be fast: you can copy-paste the CRN on the box during course selection.
Another positive side of being irregular is that you can graduate after 4.5 years, and it means that you will graduate in the middle of the academic year. However, some irregular students extend the period to 5 years as they think that if they had studied English in preparatory class for one year, they would have graduated from university after 5 years; hence, it is not a big loss to extend their academic years to 5 years. Of course, there is an advantage of this; you don’t have to take a course overload; thus, you can intern or hang outside in a more comfortable way. However, only 4 years(8 terms) are given to students for the license period by a university, so if you don’t graduate after 8 terms in your license time, it means that if you choose to extend your terms to 9(5 years), you have to pay money for tuition for every additional term.
On the other hand, there are some negative sides of being irregular. One, the department lessons without common lessons such as Math, Physics and Chemistry are usually open in only a certain term. It means that if there are any department lessons that you have in the fall term, you can’t select these lessons for the term you start because you have started your license course in the spring semester. Nevertheless, you can select
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them the next term. Moreover, you pass your first class at the end of the second term, and coincide with the spring semester again when you start your second class. At this point, you will start your second class by selecting the second term department lessons of the second class since many department lessons of the second class which are open in fall term won’t be open in spring semester. This situation will stay the same in the following years, and you will have your classes moved from second term to first term.
Now, we hope it may be helpful for you while you are making a decision.
Yağmur İşeri
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The 10 Must-Know Educational Websites for Every University Student (or Anybody Who Wants to Improve Themselves)
lesson easier to understand for every visitor. Hence, while you are surfing on www.khanacademy.org.tr, just remember that those lessons were created by engineers and professors.
1. TED Organization TED is a nonprofit organization, which has a remarkable goal: sharing all those valuable ideas with the whole world. They usually do it with short form TEDx talks (18 minutes or less), and they have translators from more than 100 countries. Therefore, it’s really easy to reach those ideas without a big effort. They began sharing those videos online in 1984, and have been sharing ideas about technology, entertainment, design, architecture and so on since then. Also, they visit as many countries as they can so that they can find and share more remarkable ideas. However, they do not only share videos, they also have websites for blogs, educational lessons, books, studies and so on. What you need to remember is that you should stay creative. To do so, enjoy surfing on www.ted.com, while perusing other interesting features of that website.
2. Khan Academy Khan Academy is basically an online school for everyone. The title of that website is “You only have to know one thing: You can learn anything.” They offer lessons about math, science, computer programming, economics, history, art history, and more. They have awesome teachers, and those teachers try their best to make any kind of beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
3. Slideshare As you can guess from its name, slideshare.net is a website where you can share and find presentations, infographics, documents, PDFs, videos, and webinars about topics ranging from art to science and from entertainment to lifestyle tips. They have more than 60 million visitors, and they are among the top 120 mostvisited websites in the world. There are really fascinating presentations on www.slideshare.net, so you can have fun while you are studying.
4. Coursera On Coursera, you can find all kinds of lectures created by universities and some other schools. Coursera is basically an educational website, but what makes it special is unlike many other educational websites, they offer their visitors online teachers. Also, they give you feedback, listen to your questions, and help you as soon as it is possible. You can sign up for any kind of lecture from www.coursera.org and become an expert about it.
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5. Calm Even though it’s not an educational website, I felt like it would be a crime not to share this website, too. Due to being a student, we all come across challenging situations such as getting bored of exams, getting tired of studying, and lack of motivation, and those problems cause us to feel depressed. However, even though many of us do not remember that we can have fun while we are studying, this site reminds us that we should allow some time to relax and be calm. www.calm.com does this for us by offering us nature sounds and nature images. Hence, whenever you feel depressed, use this kind of website to keep calm because life would be a terrible place if everybody was depressed.
to find what you are looking for with just one click.
7. EdX www.edx.orgis a website on which you can find any kind of lecture created by the highest quality university teachers. The topics of lectures include biology, business, chemistry, computer science, economics, finance, electronics, engineering, food and nutrition, history, humanities, law, literature, math, medicine, music, philosophy, physics, science, statistics and more. EdX is a nonprofit online initiative created by founding partners Harvard and MIT. Furthermore, online courses from MITx, HarvardX, BerkeleyX, UTx and many other universities can be taken from this website.
6. Wolframalpha Wolframalpha offers its visitors all the important information about any kind of topics with just one search. To illustrate, if you search Eiffel Tower, they give you its city, height, floors, completion date, architect, related firms, images, exact location, location on a local map, current weather, current local time, a short history, and so on. However, this website does not only have information about arts and structures, they have all kinds of information about topics including science, entertainment, food, sports and sport games. Instead of gaining all this information from various websites, you can use http://www.wolframalpha.com/
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8. Memrise Memrise is all about learning. Unlike other websites which are based on learning, memrise has three simple ingredients: science, fun, and community. First of all, in relation to science, they are obsessed with using brain science to help people learn faster with some certain expert help. Their courses are designed in a more memorable way. Secondly, for fun, they try to make learning become our favorite playtime activity. As they know that we learn best when we are relaxed, curious, and confident, they design special courses about that. Thirdly and finally, about community, they support that learning 16
should be rich and varied, so with their community they are building a kind of multimedia wonderland of learning, where videos, audio, usage, mnemonics, etymologies, and much more bring our learning to life. Therefore, you will be relaxed and enjoy the time you spend on www.memrise.com.
9. Mind Meister This website is mainly designed for creating presentations with awesome mindmaps, and for working together with people online. Their slogan is: “Mindmapping works. For everyone.” Therefore, they draw attention to creating better mindmaps by using the newest web technology, and the best help. The main reasons why mind mapping is the key for success is that they enhance productivity, make us see the big picture, make us creative, and make our memories better because they are visual. Basically, you can create your mind map and start working on it, and then you can even ask if the other people online have some other ideas about your work.
The benefits of this website for students are writing a better essay, creating an amazing presentation, and getting a chance to meet new and creative people. The list can go on depending on your usage. Also, with this website, you can create your work without using any office programs. One other unique feature of this website is that they allow you to share your work with people through beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Most of the other websites on which you can create presentations do not allow you to share without paying money. Of course this website has a pricing system, but they allow many tools for free. The features of this website are not limited to the ones I wrote above, so you will find many other benefits of it if you spend some time on www.mindmeister.com.
10. FutureLearn www.futurelearn.com is like an openuniversity project. They are working with the highest quality universities like the University of Birmingham, University of Basel, The University of Edinburgh, and so on. They started to launch courses in September 2003 and since then, 1.6 million people have joined them as a learner. They really care about the learners’ ideas about their courses, so they have a feedback tab on the left of every page. If you have any kind of problem or even a suggestion, they will listen to you. Unlike many other learning centered websites, it will not be a waste of time if you start visiting this website.
Utku Ertuğral
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10 Ways to Refresh Your English during the Summer Holiday
be hard to understand clearly, but their skills can improve by listening to them regularly. Never give up!
F
inally, we are at the end of the preparatory school year in which we have learned only English. During this year, we learned grammar, listening, speaking and writing in English, but we have a long summer holiday ahead of us. If we consider the fact that English is important to pass the department courses and have a good job in the future, we should keep our English skills fresh all the time. However, the duration of the summer holiday is very long to maintain it. However, as Bobby McFerrin said, ‘don’t worry, be happy!’ There are some activities which take only one hour per a day or every two days for keeping our English level high and not throwing away our struggle. It may even be possible to improve.
2. Working at the job where you can find the opportunity to communicate with tourists If there is no one to speak English with and you don’t want to speak with your reflection in the mirror, having a short work experience at places located near the seaside or in parts of your hometowns which have a high density of tourists is very beneficial to refresh your speaking skills.
3. Watching TV series 1. TED Talk In other words, the only fish in the sea for you to refresh your English. It is a website which includes socio-cultural and scientific lectures and conferences in English. It is certain that everybody can find lectures about their interests. These lectures may beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
If I say that you can study English while watching TV, how will you react to it? Yes, what you read is true. Watching TV series which include daily dialogue such as How I met your mother, Friends or Two broke girls is very beneficial to learn daily speech in English. Moreover, when you cannot
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find the definition of some words heard in TV series in dictionaries, you can check ‘’Urban Dictionary’’ which includes daily idioms.
5. Reading scientific articles
4. Reading books According to a great majority of teachers, the best way to learn English is getting involved with it in your lives, not living only at the study tables. Thus, reading books is the most effective way to do it with your capacity of words becoming wider due to learning words which you do not know. However, reading books which are suitable for your English level is important, so you have to improve step by step. Moreover, you can learn your level athttp://www.seviyetespiti.com/ and then buy the edition of the correct book in English from ‘’Kapadokya.’’
‘’How can I read an article? Our English level is not enough to read one.’’ If you think like this, please do not! Any learners having the same level of English with you cannot understand completely an article, but can push ourselves to improve by trying. We can both transmit English to our lives and prepare ourselves for our departments’ classes with a little pushing in order to understand. Moreover, if you want to have a high enough English level to read articles, you have to start reading. It is worth trying! The web sites Science daily and Scientific American are beneficial. A little science does not kill anyone!
6. Reading news on websites in English If I say that you can be informed about news issues all around the world while studying English, how would you react? If you like this idea like me, news sites are beewriter ITU Writing Center Student Magazine
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perfect for you. When you enter these websites for the first time, you can take a placement test and according to your level you can read and listen to recent news. You can check a dictionary to learn news words for your improvement.
8. Keeping a diary in English You can keep a diary in order to remember your memories and relax while writing difficult things you face with. If you do this in English, it is perfect!
9. Finding online foreign friends 7. Review the grammar rules Yes, I know that grammar is the most boring part of learning English, but you should know grammar to learn English well. Thus, reviewing grammar is a good idea. I am glad to recommend Thomson and Martinet’s A Practical English Grammar and the more advanced Cesur Ozturk’s Building Skills for Proficiency to refresh your grammar skills. If you say that you do not like books, you can study at http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/
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It can be seen as an unsafe way to practice English but, there is surely someone safe and friendly to help you improve your English. Facebook is good for it.
10. Listening to podcasts & radio Podcasts are downloadable listening files which can be listed to on smart phones and computers. Especially for readers who want to begin to improve their listening skills, https://yadi.sk/d/QlmzBPykHVzw9 is good for them. Furthermore, this website helps you to improve your pronunciation. For radio, http://www.ingilizcekulubu.com/index.ph p?option=com_weblinks&catid=34&Itemi d=23 which includes several web radio stations is very useful.
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That is all I advise you. Language skills are the most useful skills to use all around the world. Please do not let it abandon you. Try, catch and hold it strongly. Good luck to everybody entering the Proficiency Exams on June 2-4, 2015. Çağrı Özsan Photos were taken from: http://goo.gl/7wwELc http://goo.gl/xWkm7e https://goo.gl/gwNyXs http://goo.gl/OI0IGW http://goo.gl/5mb3eX http://goo.gl/JyCgZ8
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