Transcript

Tutor: Well, Anita and Lee. That was an interesting presentation you made about John Chapman. There are a few points I’d like to run through before you write it up. One thing which you didn’t explain was why you decided to do a presentation on this man who spread apple varieties across the US?

Anita: Well, ages ago, we were chatting about stuff we’d read as children, and I told Lee the Johnny Appleseed story – I had these American story books when I was small. Then (21)  when we were looking into the area of domesticated species of plants for you presentation, we realized that the introduction of the apple with the settlers in the US would be a good case study…

Lee: And I remembered Chapman, so we looked up the real guy behind the legend.

Tutor: Right. I think that would have a good intro.

Anita: I thought it was too personal.

Tutor: Just a couple of minutes would have drawn your listeners in. Anyway. Now a more serious point. You didn’t mention the sources of some of your information.

Lee: We used some books and journal articles and did an internet search and found some good sites.

Anita: (22) We’ve put them on the back of the handout we gave everyone at the end.

Tutor: Ah, let me see. Oh, here it is. Johnny Appleseed: Man and Myth, 1967. Well, the thing is, you really have to make this explicit when you talk. And anything you show, data you project from your laptop, etc, you must have the source on it.

Anita: Right, OK.

Tutor: At least you have got it all documented. I was a bit concerned about that.

Anita: Sorry.

Tutor: Anyway. Now, the content of your talk. (23) What your listeners wanted to understand was whether there were apples in the US before the Europeans started to live there. You told us the early settlers had brought young apple tree but that few of them had thrived because the climate was harsh, but what about native species? I don’t think you were very clear about species already there.

Lee: Um, according to what I’ve read, there were some crab apples, but that was all. Everything that people now think of as traditional American apples, were species that the Europeans either introduced or bred by chance.

Anita: Because they tended to sow seeds rather than use grafting.

Tutor: Yes, quite. But (24) what to me was fascinating – and I saw most members of your audience start to take notes – was when you discussed how the apple genes spread via the Silk Route into Europe from the wild apple woods of Kazakhstan.

Lee: Yes, well, I’d like to have said more about the development of grafting in ancient China, as a way of producing predictable varieties. It was so early in history!

Tutor: But it’s the natural development of the original wild apple into new species that people wanted more about. Which says a lot for your presentation. You enthused your audience! So, now we need to discuss the form your follow-up work will take. Are you going to produce a paper? Or are you thinking of putting it all up on the department website?

Anita: Um, I felt we could do both. And we could do a poster of some of the data. But Lee wasn’t sure.

Lee: No, (25) I think it would be enough to use the website. We can offer a link to our email for queries. That would be save time and trees!

Tutor: I think Lee’s right. A poster would be nice, but It’d take too much time.

Anita: OK.

Tutor: Now I just want to give you a few pointers about the techniques of your presentation. Mostly it was good, but there are a few things you need to bear in mind next time you do one. (26) You both managed the hardware, I mean the projector and things, very well indeed, which is always a great help.

Anita: Good.

Lee: Thanks.

Tutor: You’d obviously checked it out carefully.

Lee: Yes. But (27) unfortunately we hadn’t finished our maps when we did the practice on my computer at home, that’s why there were some the wrong way up.

Anita: We didn’t realize the software on the laptop was a bit different from the one I have.

Tutor: But you sorted out the problem very quickly and didn’t let it fluster you, so it wasn’t a big problem. We could all read the map when we needed to.

Anita: So, it was OK, but we could have done better, we realize.

Tutor: Mm, there was a bit at the end where I felt something didn’t go as you’d planned – am I right?

Lee: We had a few maps which we ended up leaving out, because we needed to get on to our conclusions.

Anita: Yes, (28) it took longer to explain the technical aspects of grafting than we’d expected.

Lee: So, sticking to the time limit for each part of our presentation is something we didn’t manage at all. Which means we’ve definitely got to improve before we do another one.

Anita: Yes.

Tutor: Apart from that, well, (29) the handout was perfectly adequate for a seminar like this, it gave all the key information, and of course, now I realize the sources are listed at the back. But you need to do those references in the correct format, as footnotes in future.

Anita: OK.

Lee: Yes, sorry, we will.

Tutor: And finally, other students will be presenting projects later in the course. I shall be reminding them (30) how well you both spoke and that no one had any problem hearing or understanding either of you. In that respect your talk was a model that the others can follow.

Lee: Oh, thank you.

Anita: Yes, thanks very much. This feedback has been very helpful.

Tutor: Well done, both of you. See you in a fortnight.

Anita and Lee: Bye thanks.

Tutor: So, let’s hear what you’re doing for your next project.

Student: I’ve decided to design a roof garden for a supermarket. I’ve been looking at some on the web and I think that a garden on top of a building is the up-and-coming thing.

Tutor: OK. So you’ve done a bit of reading already? What benefits would there be for the client? (21/22) Why do you think a supermarket chain would be willing to meet the expense of construction? You do realize that would be the first thing they raise.

Student: Yes, I know.  But I’d explain that in spite of the initially high expense, they would save that much in approximately five years. Well, I’d have to do sums, I mean calculate specifically…

Tutor: Yes, how would the saving come about?

Student: Mainly through lower heating and aircon bills. The extra insulation offered by having a layer of living plants in the soil would make a huge difference.

Tutor: OK. (21/22) But they might feel the expense of maintenance would be an issue. After all, supermarkets don’t normally employ gardeners.

Student: What I thought was, if they made it a community garden rather than a simple low-maintenance green roof….

Tutor: So there’d be public access?

Student: Oh yes! Then there’d be a sense of ownership in the local community and people could take responsibility for it, instead of the supermarket paying a commercial company, and It’d really boost their public relations.

Tutor: That’s a good point. And have you been looking into how rook gardens are built nowadays?

Student: I’m still exploring that, but if take advantage of the latest technologies for roof gardens, it shouldn’t be too difficult. But in any case, you have to use lightweight materials.

Tutor: But that’s a matter of making the right choices. You can even use quite traditional ones such as wood for the planting areas.

Student: Yes, that’s what I thought. It’ll look good and it isn’t too heavy.

Tutor: But the basic construction, the issue you have to address first is the material used between the building and the garden.

Student: (23/24) You mean the barrier fabric, which ensures there’s no chance of rainwater leaking down into the building?

Tutor: Yes, nowadays that is very good, and quite easily sourced.

Student: Then on the other hand, there’s the business of water within the roof garden itself.

Tutor: You mean drainage? That’s an important feature of the construction in any roof design.

Student: Yes, but I think most drainage issues have been well understood for quite a long time.

Tutor: OK, but another thing is with plants in an exposed situation, (23/24)  you usually need to find ways to optimize rainfall.

Student: Yes, because rainwater is best for the garden, if you can store it for when it’s needed. What I’ve been looking at are some buildings which use fairly conventional storage tanks, the kind that have been in use for decades, but have them linked to modern automatic watering systems.

Tutor: Sounds complicated.

Student: It’s less so in practice than it sounds, I think. I’ve been researching them and actually the latest ones definitely work very well and they can be electronically regulated to suit the local microclimate.

Tutor: Mmm, that sounds interesting. You seem to have been doing some thorough research! Make sure you reference all your source when you write it up.

Student: Yes, sure. Um, there’s one more aspect I’d just like to run past you, if there’s time? I want to include a light feature in the design.

Tutor: Of course.

Student: I’ve got a sketch here.

Tutor: Let’s have a look then.

Student: Well, I was really impressed by something I saw on a roof in Cornwall and I’d like to design something similar. Um, you have an area of planting, and l’m thinking of installing this lighting in an area filled with low-growing evergreen shrubs.

Tutor: Mmm. You’d have to have lights and things well away from anywhere children might be. How would it work? On this drawing, this is a section view? (25) You have this low wall on the right?

Student: Yes, that’s it. This is just one element and these areas would be repeated all round the planted area. I think this will probably  be a wooden wall, using reclaimed timbers, with an angled ceramic top surface.

Tutor: Perhaps even ridge tiles like they use on roofs?

Student: Oh, yes, that’d be just the sort of thing. And that’d make it weatherproof. Um and then (26) the heavy duty electric wiring comes up through the floor just outside the planted area and into the wall.  Then it’s brought through a projector low in the side of the wall, and that sends a beam of light along the fibre optic cable.

Tutor: So there’s no electricity in the actual lights. It's in the actual lights. (27) The fibre optic goes across the surface of the soil in the planting area.

Student: Yes, that’s the beauty of it. The shrubs will soon grow to cover it up, of course, and then the cable goes (28) past a wooden post which is between the shrubs, and can be a support for them as they grow bigger, and then runs up into each element of the installation.

Tutor: So (29) the light beam is carried up to the top of each element and illuminates a kind of conical glass cap?  I see! Is that the bit which would glow in the dark?

Student: Yes.

Tutor: And what’s the cap supported on? Is it a wall?

Student: No, (30) it’s a slender acrylic rod, er, like the stem of a flower or mushroom, which the cable runs up inside of.

Tutor: Well, I’ll be interested to see the final drawings.

Student: Thank you! I’m looking forward to putting it all together.

Dr Erskine: Well, Cressida, that was an interesting presentation you gave yesterday on your placement at the TV news centre.

Cressida: Thank you, Dr Erskine. I did work hard on it.

Dr Erskine: Yes and (21) you did entertain that class, they enjoyed your humour, but you informed them too. But I feel there was a bit of a back story – you know, something you weren’t telling us? So how was it really?

Cressida: Yeah, well, I learnt a lot, as I said. But I think some of the lesson weren’t ones I wanted to share with the whole group. I mean (22) my expectation about what it would be like were too high. I’d been fantasizing a bit about what I’d be doing. I mean, it all worked out OK in the end… but I got off to a bad start.

Dr Erskine: Yes, I heard something similar from (23) the producer – um, Ainsley Webb – who assessed your performance. He was quite negative about some of the things you did, and your initial attitude, I’m afraid. Would you like to give me your version?

Cressida: I didn’t prepare properly is the main thing. On my first morning, I hadn’t check my commuting route properly, and I didn’t notice that it says the buses don’t start till six. I had to run all the way to the studio, but I was still late, and I looked a mess.

Dr Erskine: Well, (24) better at this stage of your career than later. To be honest, I made the same kind of mistakes when I was your age. But anyway, as I say, I think the presentation yesterday when extremely well, and I will bear that in mind when I grade your work experience overall.

Cressida: Thank you for being so understanding.

Dr Erskine: Right. Now, have you completed your diary of what you did there? (25) Professor Jenkins hasn’t received it, he says.

Cressida: Um, yes. I have finished it, but wanted to just tidy it up a bit. Some of it was written in a bit of a hurry. I’ll email it to him this afternoon.

Dr Erskine: OK. But I’m afraid he says this will have to be the last time you submit late. Journalism is all about deadlines and if you can’t manage them on your course he can’t give you a diploma saying you’re competent, can’t he?

Cressida: Oh, yes. I’ll do it straight after this. I didn’t realize.

Dr Erskine: Well, he can be a bit abrupt if he’s kept waiting. It’s the one thing he really doesn’t like. I’m sure everything is going to be fine. You’re getting very good grades on your work, so, as long as you remember that.

Cressida: Yes.

Dr Erskine: Now, did you manage OK generally, do you think?

Cressida: Yeah, OK, I think. Well, it took a while to get to grips with all the equipment. Some of it was quite old, not as fast as what we have here in college and at first I kept thinking it was my fault – I none of (26) the TV centre staff asked me if I wanted instructions. If I asked them how to do some particular operation, they were perfectly civil and would show me, and even say thank you for what I did do, but I felt awkward to keep asking.

Dr Erskine: Now, um, well, let’s just review where you are, your write-up, and what you’re going to include going forward to next term. First of all, did you eventually feel you were given enough to do?

Cressida: The first couple of days were manic, the production team was short of staff and (27) I was rushing all over the building taking messages to various people and fetching things. Of course, I didn’t know my way around, so I kept ending up in some store room or somewhere instead of the studio I was meant to be in. Or I mistook some important visitor for a colleague, because I didn’t know who anyone was. Then after that, things sort-of calmed down, so sometimes I was hanging about until someone decided to give me a choice. (28) But I had a piece of luck at the end of the week because they got a new bit of equipment which was the same as we have in the editing suite here and I knew how to use it, which none of them did. So that gave me a bit of status. Unfortunately, it meant that I spent the next three days stuck in the editing suite. But by the end, I’d shown I wasn’t just a silly student, so then, when the senior reporter needed someone to go out with him when he went to interview a junior minister, I got to go along because he knew I could handle the technical side.

Dr Erskine: Well, that’s good.

Cressida: Yes. Well, I know (29) I need to learn from my mistakes, I mean, basically I need to think more about forward planning, but on the other hand I feel much more confident now; I did survive, I didn’t ruin anything, I did actually make a contribution, according to the producer. (30) One thing I want to take forward to my final assignment, though, is some reflections on ethics.

Dr Erskine: Yes?

Cressida: I had a bit of an argument with one of the senior presenters. He was editing part of an interview and he just changed something someone said. When I questioned him he just snubbed me. And I mean, this wasn’t some public relations expert or government professional spokesperson, it was, like, a member of the public, but he said ‘Oh they never remember what they said anyway’.

Dr Erskine: Mm… you want to develop this into part of your final assignment? It would be a very positive line. I can give you some references.

Cressida: Oh, thanks, that would be great.