Weeks 15/16 Tasks (TDIC Project)

Gentlemen, it’s almost over!

In week 15, please make 2+ critical comments on other classmates’ blogs. Do the same in week 16. You should post at least 10 comments in total.

Try to finish your WebCT Vista Vocabulary quizzes by the end of week 15. The deadline for completing all ten quizzes is Thursday, 1 pm, May 29. This deadline will not be extended.

Make a partner. Go to www.tdic.ae and look under “Projects”. Choose one:

1. Eastern Mangrove
2. Emirates Pearl
3. Saadiyat Island & Cultural District, Saadiyat Island
4. Abu Dhabi Creek Business Resort
5. Bridgeway at Zayed Sports City
6. Grand Corniche Hotel
7. Qasr Al Sarab
8. The Lagoon Club Hotel & Residences
9. Desert Islands
10. Al Bateen Wharf

• Read about your project at this website (www.tdic.ae) and any others you can find. Prepare a short (4-5 minute) PowerPoint, arguing that your project is the “coolest” (best). Guidelines: you need a minimum of six slides (1) cover slide/introduction 2) location/definition – what and where is your project? 3) Main reason/feature why your project is the best 4) Another main reason 5) Last main reason 6) Conclusion/review.

• Include a suitable photo on slides 3, 4, and 5 (accompanying each main point). Split the talking time equally between you and your partner. You will present your PowerPoint either Tuesday, May 20, Monday, May 26 or Tuesday, May 27.
  

• Embed your PowerPoint (use scribd.com or another method)

• Make a post entitled: “TDIC Projects”. Write a 200 (+) word comment:

- Paragraph 1. My partner (name) and I researched (Shangri-La Hotel). You can see our PowerPoint about its best features embedded below (copy paste at the end of your essay).

- Paragraph 2. The project I liked the most was (x) because … (include picture)

- Paragraph 3. The least interesting project was (y) since ... (include picture)

- Paragraph 4. Make a general (critical) comment on the TDIC projects in Abu Dhabi.

The deadline for all blog posts is Thursday, June 5, 1 pm. No extensions. I will offer feedback/editing assistance in class.

Shangri-La Hotel - Upload a doc

Read this doc on Scribd: Shangri-La Hotel

Week 14 Tasks

Hello gentlemen! This is a busy week since we have to do reading summary 3. Therefore, other tasks are easier this week.

1. WebCT Vista Vocabulary – finish up to and including quiz 8. The deadline for completion of all 10 quizzes is Thursday, May 29, 1 pm (end of week 16).

2. Blog comments. Add two more thoughtful comments to other classmates’ blogs (2 per week from week 12, so you should have 6+ by Thursday, May 15). Please spell-check!

3. Watch the Cool Cities video about developing cool cities in the UAE. Identify three good changes (adaptations) which could work well and three bad or unrealistic changes which would not work (well) in terms of practicality or environmental impact (global warming) in the UAE. You can find more arguments for and against “cool cities” in these articles from The National: "Cool ideas to beat the heat", "Building a Green Dream", and "Masder's Green Dream is not for all". Need to see the video again? Click on "Cool Cities" in the week 14 tasks of the blog project (a fast internet connection helps!).

4. Post a 140+ word blog entry called “Cool City Comments” and use subtitles “Good adaptations” and “Bad adaptations”. Write 3 main points for each (#1 below is TJ’s example only – change it!).

Good adaptations
1. Covered walkways – would reduce temperatures and not impact the environment.
2. Main point 2 – good because …
3. Main point 3 – beneficial since …

Bad adaptations
1. Using misters (water) to cool the air temperature – could be bad because water supplies are limited. It also takes energy to get water and produce mist.
2. Main point 2 – may be bad because …
3. Main point 3 - might be impractical since …

Suitable images and links to suitable videos or articles are also a plus. Try to finish #4 by Thursday, May 15 (the deadline for all blog entries is Thursday, June 6). This week, I will not be editing your work because you are only asked to write main points and, too, I am more interested in good content and critical thinking than in grammatical accuracy (although that still counts!). Plus, I will have 20 reading summaries to mark!

An Inconvenient Truth: Evaluation (sample)

In the film “An Inconvenient Truth”, presenter Al Gore, a former US presidential candidate, makes a compelling case for global warming as fact, not fiction. On the plus side, he highlights an important issue in ways that both convince and appeal to his audience. Graph after graph with alarming statistics correlating rises in temperature and C02 levels are featured, as are then-now pictures of glaciers. Furthermore, he presents in a serious but humorous manner by, for example, moving up on a machine to illustrate the projected temperature in five decades, and using cartoons throughout. Last, he weaves in sad personal events to make an emotional appeal to viewers, thereby echoing his own repeated pleas to government.

However, Gore may not practice all he preaches. To explain further, one chart on US automobile fuel “inefficiency” conveniently starts in 2002, the year Bush assumed presidency. It does not, however, show that fuel efficiency was even less in the years prior to this, when Clinton and Gore, as vice-president, were in charge. Moreover, this man may well lead a less than environmentally friendly life himself, having lived on luxurious Pennsylvania Avenue 8 years and flown all over the world, albeit for a good cause. He's even shown drinking Coca Cola in China and there’s a can on his desk in another shot. Does he often drink this American-manufactured poison? Did he get money to include it in his film? Finally, although the Gore tobacco farm did eventually close, he was actually still campaigning against labeling on cigarette packages a year after his sister's death from lung cancer and, four years later, still wanted to keep the farm (see real politics link).

To conclude, good on Gore for raising awareness of an important issue, but a few more “gory”, personal truths would make the man more real, the movie more realistic.