Skype+Sessions+with++Olga+Kuvshinova

11.03 With O. Kuvshinova

Dear Olga--

Please add me to you contact list. Am looking forward to having our first skype session:)

Do you have any suggestions for Topics to write about? We're going to use my Ning and wiki for the project.I've added an instruction about how to use wiki to it.

If you have further questions at this point then write to me. Here is a link to mu university web-pages if you are interested to learn more about it: []http://www.leeds.ac.uk/

12.03

Dear Olga, here are the topics I have come up with for the essay I asked you to write in order to see where we are starting from:

1. Face-to-Face or Virtual Communication: Your Choice of the Medium 2. To Be Self-Employed or to Work for a Large Business Company? 3. Universities Should Serve as Training Grounds For Employment 4. The idea of going overseas for university study is an exciting prospect for many people. But while it may offer some advantages, it is probably better to stay home because of the difficulties a student inevitably encounters living and studying in a different culture. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answer. 5. Useful tips for a foreigner coming to Russia. How to become successful in everyday communication in Russia. Give recommendations for a tourist.

As you can see some of them are For & Against but some are not: I should admit that I have found F&A essay questions more difficult to formulate because they actually push you into looking at a problem from a somewhat limited perspective (questions 4-5 are questions the students taking IELTS are asked to write. Let me know if you think one of these topics will suit you, all right?

13.03

Оля, здравствуйте, как у вас дела? Как вам понравились темы для эссе, которые я вам на выбор предложила? Есть ли у вам возможность связаться с Катей Связевой и помочь мне сделать это же через скайп? OK: Здравствуйте Наталья Юрьевна! У меня все хорошо, как у вас дела? Темы очень понравились, правда я еще не выбрала. У Кати вроде бы нет скайпа, она вам должна была письмо написать или может быть уже написала. NE: Здорово, что темы понравились! Катя пока не написала, но надеюсь, что напишет. А вы бы дополнит не могли выяснить у нее как там и что если вы думаете что это приемлемо. Есть ли что-то, чем я могла бы вам помочь на данный момент? OK: Хорошо, я спрошу у нее. NE: Спасибо!

14.03

NE: Ольга, здравствуйте! Спасибо за фото! ОООООчень понравились - ваши зимние пейзажи прямо перенесли меня домой в Академ! Здорово. Я так ничего и не получила от Кати Связевой. Как-н там нельзя разузнать ненавязчиво, что и как. Буду вам очень благодарна за помощь. Мне точно нужно знать, участвует ли она в нашей эпопее или нет и если да, то выйти с ней на связь, чтобы она сделала то же, что и вы с Наташей уже сделали, за что Вам - огромное спасибо! OK: Здравствуйте, Наталья Юрьевна! Рада, что вам понравились фотографии! У меня нет, к сожалению, телефона Кати,но я завтра у нее спрошу точно в университете, просто до этого она говорила про письмо, поэтому даже не знаю... NE: Да, как все сложно! Но вы с Наташей - просто молодцы большие и я надеюсь что мы сделаем это! Хотела посоветоваться по поводу олной идеи, которая у меня появилась в свете написания эссе ОК: А какая идея? Наталья Юрьевна, напишите пожалуйста про вашу идею, очень интересно! NE: Как вы посмотрите на то, что эти работы будут поставлены в контекст работы над газетой типа One Day Newspaper. Ну, что вы будете работать над написанием своих работ в контексте вот такой вот газеты. Мы пройдем по всем этапам написания эссе от brainstorming - drafting-revising- editing. Просто мне кажется, что в таком контексте их будет легче писать и интереснее. OK: Вы имеете виду писать эссе по статьям этой газеты? если честно, не совсем понятно... NE: переустановила скайп! не знаю, что там было с ним, но не передавалось ваше изображение, а теперь - все ок. Да, я вообще-то, хотела это попозже с вами обсудить, но раз уж сама ресь завела разговор.

21.03

Hello NE: Hello Olga! How are you? Haven't heard from you recently. I need to talk with u today. Starting tomorrow I'll have some actitivites for you to get ready for the project and i need to discuss the arrangements. OK: Hello Natalya Yurievna, I am sorry that I haven't sent you an essay yet. I am so busy with my tasks. When it will be convenient for you to talk? Natalia Eydelman: when can u do it? OK: may be now? Natalya Yurievna, can you talk now? NE: yes. I was in the kitchen, sorry. Olga, i really need to have a skype chat with u or a video chat to discuss the arrangements for the next week. Any time today is good for me. Sorry I missed you. I also need to geth to Natasha and Nastya about the same question OK: Natalya Yurievna, my roommate has already fallen asleep because she feels bad. Is it possible to correspond with messages? NE: Yes.Thanks for sending your essay to me. I'm sorry i had a bad probem with some virus which got into my computer i had to go to the comp help desk to try to fix it. It was fixed hopefully. But I missed your text in skype.

22.03 NE: Dear Olga, please, contact me today when you log in to skype. I'd like to agree with you and the other girls about a couple of things I'd ask you to do this week in preparation for the peer-review activities you kindly agreed to take part in. OK: Good evening Natalya Yurievna, how is your computer now? I can't clearly understand how the essay should be posted. can you, please, write about it? NE: Hello, Olga! I'm here with Nstya and Natasha! NE: Yes, of course. But u have sent it to me, right? OK: Yes, I have sent it, and you've written that it should be posted in wiki. NE: Not this one, sorry. This one is for me to read and see what focus for the comments u, Natasha and Nastya will give each other wil be. I thought that commenting on everything is too much. Really? . But this is what we've done with Nastya and NATASHA before u "came". NE: I'm going to post the same informatiion for u here in a sec, ok? I wanted to ask you to do a couple of things this week. OK: So, what should I do next? NE: My suggestion for this week is for the 3 of u, you, Nastya and Natasha to practice using Word, Wiki and blog for writing and revisng your works. I thought we'll set everything up and see how it all works, Is it a good idea? I set up pages for us in PBWiki at [] This is a mini-wikipedia, you can read more about how it works at Writing For the Future Ning used [] U shou-d go to it and there is a page http://writing2gether.pbworks.com/How-it-all-works which' exp-in to you what to do OK: Yes, it is but, to be honest, I still can't understand where and how three of us should posted. I have watched these pages. NE: There are 2 options: to make comments in a way similar to how you do it in blogs.So, back to posting: u write smth in you want to post there using wordpad, booknote or Word first not to spend all the time online if this is a problem.The first two are better choices because they do not add anything to your pasted text as Word does. So, let's say u typed your essay draft in WordPad, next you should go to the PBWiki and if you want to have it on your page which you want if you're going to write your essays using a wiki, go to your page at the top of which u can see the edit function. Once u clicked on it, u can paste the text u previosly typed in Word, notepad or wordpad. Can u try to do it now by going to your page on Pbwiki at [] OK: yes, I can do it now NE: Greatl Try please. After u have finished u shou-d save it if u forget to do it your changes will be lost. How are we going to work with it? One of u will post her essay drafts there and the other two will comment on them. There are 2 options of doing it: one is similar to doing it in blogs, i.e. there's an option "comment" at the bottom of the screen; the other option is to add changes to smth another person posted by editing it directly as I've just explained. Which u'll choose, depends on you and your idea of what the best way to comment on one of the girl's essay drafts is in a partic-r context. I mean that u can choose to do it one way on one occasion and the other way on another occasion depending on your idea of what's best for the occasion. On your page there are to active links: activity tracking and assignment OK: Natalya Yurievna, I have just posted the essay on my page. NE: Activity tracking is the information I'm going to post for you to know what to do, []. The other one is assignment [] which is he information I'm going to post for you to know what to do, NE: Sorry, The 2nd version is correct: assignment option is about what to do and activity tracking is to make sure u have done what u had to. NE: Olga? Are u still there? OK: yes, I am here NE: Have u tried to do smth with your wiki page? OK: yes, I have posted there my essay. NE: Thanks. Do u want to add smth to your page to make it more personal? OK: and what can it be posted? NE: Natasha posted her poem Natalia Eydelman: Nastya has not yet posted anyhting OK: yes, I have just read it! very interesting poem NE: One thing to do is post a comment to you. Actually an interesting question for discussion emerged from our conbersation with her which I think might be interesting to discuss. She wrote that "she's not that smart yet to write poems in E, but i think Writing poems is not about being smartit's about having an ability to express oneself at least this is what I think. She thinks it is so in your own language but different in a foreign one, then she wrote that "one needs to be smart to write poem in a foreign language. Do you think it's an interesting topic to discuss? OK: yes, it is rather an interesting topic for discussion. NE: I think so too. So mu suggestion is to discuss it in wiki to become more familiar with how it works. Just post a comment to the discussion of this poem l8, tomorrow, for example. In addition, i'm going to post there an essay which I'd like us to use to learn what to comment on and how. I'm going to do it today, I mean post an essay OK: Okey, I'll post a comment tomorrow NE: tomorrow and Wd u can read it and think about your comments. I'll post an explanation what to do and how with it. So, for u 3 things to do: post smth on your page, read the essay I'll post and your comments and add some thoughts about the whether writing poetry requires you to be smart. Is this ok or too much to do? Thanks! Do u have some questions about anything we've discussed so far? If no, I'll let you go. It's getting late in Nsk. I've just realised it's close to 11 pm! How much stuff do u have to do for tomorrow? OK: So, the task for the next two days is to write comments? NE: Olga, can u wait a sec. I want to go over my conversation with Natasha not to ask u to do dif thigs, ok? Just a minute! OK: okey NE: Post a comment about whether u think u need to be smart to write poetry in a foreign language. I forgot to mention there are two active links on your page one is http://writing2gether.pbworks.com/Assignments where i posted a request for u to add smth to your page to make it more personal and the other one is Activity Tracking http://writing2gether.pbworks.com/Activity-Tracking which let's u keep track of things to do or done. So, add a comment to the discussion about, add smth to your wiki page, and read the essay i'll post for us to discuss. The purpose of the latter activity is to discuss what and how you're going to comment on each other's works. Is this all right? Do you have any questions for now? OK: Yes, it is all right. I don't have any questions now. NE: If everything seems to be clear then I'd like to let you go. THANKS a lot for being in touch and agreeing to participate in this project. Please, let me know if you have any questins about anything I'm asking you to do or problems doing it. OK: Yes, I'll tell you, but now it is more or less clear :) NE :)Thanks again, see u soon:) I mean talk to u soon:) Have a good night! OK: Thank you! Good night! NE: :)))

25.03.2010 NE: Ольга, здр-те! Как дела? Прочитала Ваше эссе и пора порадовалась. Хорошо написали! Мне нужно с вами еще один митинг в скайпе на этой неделе по возможности провести. Нужно обсудить, как делать комментарий в MS Worde и как вы будете обмениваться своими работами. А еще у меня есть уточнение по поводу графика работы в сторону его некоторой деинтеcификации. Будем писать не 2 эссе в а - 1 в такой после-ти: 1 draft - peer cоmmentary - revision и 2 draft - peer commentary - finaл draft:) Get in touch in skype when and if you see it today or tomorrow.

26.03.2010 Olga, how're u getting on? I've now put all the materials to practise peer editing using MS Word into a folder in pbwiki. If you follow this link [] you'll find the explanation of 2 tasks to give you an idea about and let you practise editing essays in MS Word. You'll find a sample essay I've edited and another one you should try to edit in the pbwiki folder Peer Training Session. The file names are: Akhmetvalieva_My_Revision_Word.doc and KudryashevK_Your_Editing.doc. In addition, I've posted a schedule of essay writing and editing, can you have a look at it and say if it seems manageable to you []. I've just discpvered the links in the 2 messages above do not work You need to go to [|http://writing2gether.pbworks.com/Syllabus#Goals of theCourse] and scroll down to the section Preparation, Attendance, and Pacing or click on it (it's one of the sections of the syllabus. Sorry for the confusion! NУ: No, doesn't work this way either - just go to the wiki and go to Syllabus and scroll down to the section Preparation, Attendance, and Pacing or click on it (it's one of the sections of the syllabus. Sorry again! NE: You can access it either by going to All pages and files page of the wiki OK: Здравствуйте, Наталья Юрьевна! Спасибо, рада, что вам понравилось эссе. А вы сейчас заняты? Можно сейчас поговорить? NE: можем, конечно, если не позdно вам/тебе - как лучше?

In the skype session 2 next we discussed the options of adding commentary in a Word document and practised doing the fo ll owing:

a) Using the "insert" function b) Using the ba l oon commenatary on the margins c) Using the margin commentary in the frame I've created for essay commenting d) Using different colours to mark the problematic points which require a commentary. I've used "ye llow" and "purple" colours. e) In the commentary it was suggested using some of the fo llowing notations:

Gr - for grammar if you think the problem the student can easily understand what the problem is and correct it WT - Wrong Tense WF - Wrong Form WW - Wrong Word WExp - Wrong Expression

29.03.2010 NE: Здравствуйте, Ольга! Как ваши дела? Я хочу вас попросить еще раз узнать у Наташи и Насти, как у них дела - я с прош понедельника, когда мы говорили с ними в скайпе, больше не могу с ними связаться. В скайп они не выходят и не сделали то, что было запланировано, т.е. написать эссе и потренироваться комментировать в MS Word. Я очень волнуюсь по этому поводу: я уже объясняла почему. Подскажите, пож-та, как мне быть.


 * 17-18.04.2010**

Dear Olga--

I'm writing to ask you whether you are willing to share your essay drafts for peer-editing with Julia Oreshnikova. The thing is that I've been trying to reach Natasha Shulga and Nastya Venchikova for more that 2 weeks now. They do not respond to my mail messages (I sent a couple). Neither can I catch them on skype. I don't know what the problem is. One of them, of course, can be that they have no time. Another one that they have no money on their account. Still one more is that they haven't written the entry essay and ....I have actully found a way around it with the entry essay if this is the problem. I can use one of their essays from the end-of-the-last year portfolio. Can you let them know about all this?

There of course can be many more problems, which are more serious than these. Can you ask them to let me know as in the next couple of days whether they are going to participate in this project or not. I'd not be so insistent had I more time or if I were not dependent on the the content the you generate as the study participants. I've explained to you and the girls that your participation in the project is crucial. Without it I won't be able to complete it. I just need an honest "yes" or "no" to make a decision about what to do next because I'll have to complete my research project one way or another.

So, back to my request about sharing your works with Julia Oreshnikova. She is a 3rd year student from Moscow and studies at the higher school of economics, department of public administration. You can have a look at her profile and photos on the Ning both of you are memeber of. She's going to write her essay using the wiki option. She is going to post essay draft in the wiki you can access at She's going to do it over the weekend. She wrote to me she'd try to do it Sun and/or Mn. I'll let you know when she does it, is this all right?

My suggestion then is that you comment on her essay draft in the wiki when she posts it, and she will comment on yours and send your essay with her comments to you. I am not sure aboiut the third option I have the one writing in a blog. I was hoping Nastya or Natasha contacted me by now but...

Many-many thanks for your participation. I hope you find it useful for yourself. One of the things I can certainly do for you is giving you some suggestions about how to improve your writing. Are there any books by some authors that you would like to have? I can buy them here and send them to you. Please, let me know if there are some you want to have, all right?

Stay in touch:)

Best,

Natalya Yu. Eydelman

Dear Natalya Yurievna, Certainly, I agree to share my drafts for peer-editing. With great pleasure! As for the girls, Nastya is participating in the Japanese caraoke contest in Irkitsk, so she will return, probably, this Sunday or next Monday. I think, she has no opportunity to go on the Internet, that is why she has not written to you.

I told Natasha several times about your request to write... but I don't, actually, know the exact reason why she can't write to you.

Natalya Yurievna, I have one question about my essay. I am not quite sure,about the theme of my essay. Is it appropriate? You have suggested us to write about the university life or about our relations with parents and friends, but I've written my essay about the most treasured thing for me, because I've found it difficult to write about my relations or achievements... And one more question, about Skype. When are you on-line? Please, write me when it is suitable for you to talk.

Sincerely, Kuvshinova Olga


 * 16-17 Apri l **

Dear O lga--

Thanks for your message and keeping me updated. Thanks for contacting the girls too. Much appreciated. Nastya has just sent me a message via skype to say she was in Irkustk. Hope to hearv from her more in the next coup le of days.

About your essay topic. I think it's all right. Its topic was a bit of a surprise to me first but then I thought why not. This is actually something you might discuss with Julia and Nastya (Natasha too if she joins). The main thing is are you happy about your topic yourse lf and is it interesting for you to see it through. If yes, then I don't see any reason why you shouldn't work on it.

As for our skype session. Can you see my online status in your skype window? I think you should. If yes, I'm actully always online only not always at the computer. I've posted a message to you in skype about possible arrangements about our skype session. I'm repeating it here:

I'm at my desk today all day. Will prob leave to do some shopping briefly but then'll be at my computer anyway.Same tomorrow. When do you come from the univesity tomorrow? let's say if it is after 6 pm Nsk time, it's 12 an on here. I'll be available then. Actually other than going to the library across the road from my residence for about an hour in the morning, I'm planning to be working on my assignments, which means I'll be at my computer and can talk to you any time.

So, let's agree once you see this message here, you'll drop me a line about your preferred time to talk to me and then we'll. All right?

Looking forward to talking to you in skype and also looking at your progress with your essay and peer-editing.

N. Yu.

2010/4/17 Olga 

19.04.10

Had my first interview with Olga for the study today about her peer-editing experience and features of it she finds positive or negative. Will have to transcribe the recording and use the information for analysis in the critical study.