I PASSED MY EXAMS! | Preparing for my second year in Oxford
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- This week's video is a rundown of all the reading I'm doing to prepare for my second year at the University of Oxford as a French and Spanish student. From old Arthurian tales to sexually charged poems, I've got it all! Unfortunately the vast amounts of reading mean that I don't have much time to practice grammar or anything else.
I opted for a Law (at Leeds) rather than a French and Spanish (at Oxford) degree many years ago, so am delighted to listen to what I missed (with some regrets - Law was not fulfilling). I must say, though, that I might have been tempted by the modern option in the second year - who would have been the authors - Javier Marias, Javier Cercas on the Spanish side?
Due to the tutorial system in Oxford the texts that you study from second year onwards strongly depend on what your tutor's speciality is. For instance, the reading list for my Medieval Spanish Paper, which has been set by the tutor I will have next year, will be different to the reading list that another student doing the same module will have. This is possible seeing as the exam questions are broad enough to accommodate various texts. Obviously, tutors will choose books that align themselves with the general topics covered in the exams rather than electing to teach random texts that won't be useful. I hope that helps :)
@@ABM-UK Yes, thank you. Many years ago I applied to Oriel College. My Spanish tutor would have been a Golden Age specialist from Magdalene; so, I might have been reading some of the material you are reading. Enjoy your fascinating studies.
Starting Oxford in October 😁 any tips for efficient note taking when reading books?
Personally I'm not a huge fan of taking notes in languages books, especially seeing as I usually don't fully understand what's going on until I get to Oxford and start lectures and seminars on the book. I find that researching for essays and discussing the story with tutors/classmates is much more fun and interesting than taking notes at home even if you do forget what actually happens in the plot by the time you get to uni. But that's just the way I like doing it and I understand it can be stressful when you don't know what's coming. Good luck for this term! :)
This is a very broad question, but what things do you discuss in lectures, seminars and tutors? And what do you discuss in your essays, do you ever compare texts?
Lectures are for general notes on a text: the context (mainly socio-historic) and then the main themes. In literature seminars, we discuss the text in more depth to help us write the essay set for that week and then in tutorials we discuss the different ways in which we tackled the essay as well as additional points to take the book even further. In French and Spanish, we don't compare the texts in first year but I think German does. Have a look at my 'Workload' and "Teaching in Oxford" videos for more information
ruclips.net/video/MvV3D3oupqg/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/6iJ8355A0Rw/видео.html
I'm starting languages in October (at Oxford) and this video was super interesting! I was wondering what your reading strategy is in terms of new vocabulary and grammar? I generally understand most of what's happening but I feel I should be learning new words I come across - the problem is there are so many!
Glad it was helpful! Before Michaelmas of my first year, I wanted to try and understand every word and every construction in all my books but now I just try and get through them as efficiently as possible. I find that even if I do look everything up, I often don't understand what's actually being said but do understand the general plot so I like to wait until I get to Oxford to go to lectures and seminars on the book because that often helps in actually comprehending the book. This is just what I like doing and I understand it can be quite stressful to not actually know precisely what's happening in a book and knowing you have to write essays on it, so I don't blame you if you like taking loads of notes... Good luck for this term! :)
@@ABM-UK Thank you for your reply!! That's actually a big relief to hear that you didn't understand everything and still survived the term and even passed comfortably in your exams (Congratulations by the way!!) I'm doing French as well so maybe bump into you at some point :)
Then again, French is the most popular language isn't it so I guess there are loads of people xD
I think there were about 150 people in my year doing it across the university but you never know...
@@edith5995 Hey, I'm also doing French (with Italian)! What college will you be going to?