Proof of personal progress- Bart De Maere

PROOF OF PERSONAL
PROGRESS
Business English 2B
21 MEI 2015
ARTEVELDEHOGESCHOOL
Lecturer: Inge Veryheden

Table of contents
1. Riskreport + feedback................................................................................................................ 3
2. Slidesfrom the Pecha Kucha presentation .................................................................................30
3. Visual proof of the Online Communications task ........................................................................40
4. Efforts to improve my English during the semester.....................................................................40
4.1 Listen and commentate on 3 TED presentations. ..................................................................40
4.1.2 Ken Robinson – How school kills creativity .....................................................................40
4.1.3 Ismael Nazario – What I learned as a kidin jail ...............................................................41
4.1.4 Juan Enriquez : The next species of human evolution......................................................42
4.2 Follow a blogger for 5 weeks and write a report about them.................................................43
4.3 Two original English activities..............................................................................................44
4.3.1 First activity..................................................................................................................44
4.3.2 Second activity.............................................................................................................44
4.4 Anything else you have done toimprove your English...........................................................45
5. Final feedback report................................................................................................................47
5.1 Has your Englishimproved?.................................................................................................47
5.2 Have you achievedwhatyouwantedtoachieve?Compare withanyprogressmade inthe first
semester?................................................................................................................................48
5.3 Assess the course andlecturer, what would you keep/do differently (be honest) ...................48
5.3.1 Assessing the course.....................................................................................................48
5.3.2 Lecturer.......................................................................................................................48
5.3.3 What would you change?..............................................................................................49

Foreword
Aftera semester’shard work,I’vecompleted thispaperwith greatsuccess.I’m very pleased with the
result.
This ‘proof of personalprogress’istheproof of my continuouseffortsthroughoutthesemester.I hope
thatwith this paperyou will havea deeper insightof me as a person,butalso on how I felt during the
classes.
My thanksgo outto my professor,IngeVerheyden.Notonly forthethingsshehasthoughtusduring
the classesbut also forher continuoussupport with thequestionsand problemsIhad.
I wish you a lot of reading pleasure!
Bart De Maere
21/05/2015

1. Riskreport + feedback
Task 1: Risksurvey
Bart De Maere
Brent Van Nuffel
Quinten De Blust
Anne-Laure-Dupont
Phase 1
Processof the questions+some conclusions.
For our survey there were only 17 participants. When we look in the difference in
gender, we can divide them into 11 males and 6 females.
To determine whether one person is a risk taker or not, we analysed the
questions given in the survey. Given the fact that our survey was strictly
anonymous it is impossible to give names of the most risk taking student or the
least risk taking one.
A total of six students can be defined as the most risking taking ones. They
follow a style of high risk / high reward. They are not afraid of working in groups,
breaking the rules for a better chance of success. What’s also important is that
the most risk taking ones are evenly divided into three male and three female
students. So we can’t say if males take more risks than females and vice versa…
The rest of our participants lie somewhere in between. They tend to take risks
but they want to keep control over the situation and will only take risks if the
chance of failure is limited.

Draw up a full report of your findings.
1.Select your gender.
Male 11 65%
Female 6 35%
This question is key in any survey. We asked this question because we wanted to
know if there is an equal distribution of males and females and also to tell which
gender takes the most risks.
2. What's your opinion about gambling?
Boring 5 29%
Average 9 53%
Exciting 3 18%
Easy and short question, it’s important to know how young people feel about
gambling, if for example they find it exciting we can conclude that the person
tends to take more risks.
3. Are you willing to take a chance of failure (bankruptcy, losing money, health
problems..) for the sake of success?

Completely disagree 0 0%
Mostly disagree 8 47%
Mostly agree 7 41%
Completely agree 0 0%
In this question we compare the risk of failure vs the risk of success. If the
student tends to take more risk, he will answer: mostly agree. If the student is
not a risk taker he will probably answer: mostly/completely disagree.
4. Would you take a risk if there's something in it for you?
Mostly agree 9 53%
Here we want to know, if students take more risk if they will benefit from them.
The answer is clearly yes, 9 students choose to take more risks if there was
something in it for them.
5. Are you afraid that something unexpected (traffic stop, car failure, internet
fallout..) might ruin your plans?

Mostly agree 6 35%
Students seem to be very afraid that something unexpected might ruin their
plans. 9 students seem to be very afraid and only 6 seem to care less…
6. When considering a risk , I always tend to gather information.
Mostly agree 10 59%
Here we clearly see that there are only a few students who will take a risk
without gathering information. 12 students will gather as much information as
possible before taking a risk. Again referring to our conclusion, this means that
there will be a limited amount of students who tend to take risks recklessly.
7. I always try having a PLAN B, before taking a risk.

Mostly agree 6 35%
While students try to inform themselves as much a possible before taking a risk.
Having a plan B seems to be less common. 8 students don’t have a plan B before
taking a risk and only 7 students will have a plan B.
8. Would you take more risks when finding yourself in a stressful situation?
Always 1 6%
Often 7 41%
Sometimes 6 35%
Rarely 1 6%
Never 0 0%
Stress seems to affect whether or not a person takes risk or not. We can clearly
see that students who experience different levels of stress will take more risks.
And only one student will rarely take a risk when put in a stressful situation.
9. Do you tend to avoid risks?

Always 0 0%
Often 4 24%
Sometimes 7 41%
Rarely 4 24%
Never 0 0%
10 students prefer to avoid risks. And only four will rarely avoid risks. Again we
see that if there are no stress levels are benefits gained from taking risks,
students will likely try to avoid them.
10. Do you avoid working in groups because someone else might fail which will
end up causing bad grades?
Yes 5 29%
No 8 47%
Sometimes 2 12%
Interesting results, 5 out 16 students tend to avoid working in groups because
another team member might cause them bad grades and 2 out 16 students
sometimes avoid working in groups. Only 8 out of 16 students have no problems
working as a team and do not agree with the fact that another member might be
responsible for their bad grades.
11. I like to have control over the situation.

Mostly agree 8 47%
12 out of 16 students like to have control of the situation. This means they will
likely take less risks because they prefer a steady environment. Only three
students feel that the need of a controllable environment is not necessary.
12. Would you consider speeding when being late for an appointment?
Always 5 29%
Often 4 24%
Sometimes 4 24%
Rarely 1 6%
Never 1 6%
People always say that young drivers drive very fast. This statement seems to be
true. 5 out of 16 students will always drive faster than the allowed speed limited
when being late for an appointment. 4 students will often drive faster and 4
students will sometimes drive faster. Only 2 students will rarely and never drive
fast when being late.
13.Is the bottle half empty or half full?

Half empty 2 12%
Half full 13 76%
This question was asked to know whether or not the student is an optimist or a
pessimist. We can conclude that most students have a positive attitude while
only two will have a slightly pessimistic attitude.
14. Rules are meant to be broken
Mostly agree 7 41%
Half of the students finds that rules are meant to be broken while the other half
prefers not to break the rules.

Tijdstempel
1.Select
your
gender.
2.
Please
fill in
your
age
3. Please fill
in your
current
educational
programme.
4. Would
you take a
risk if
there's
something
in it for
you?
5. Are you
afraid that
something
unexpected
(traffic stop,
car failure,
internet
fallout..)
might ruin
your plans?
6. When
considering
a risk , I
always
tend to
gather
information.
7. I always
try having
a PLAN B,
before
taking a
risk.
8. Would
you take
more risks
when
finding
yourself in
a stressful
situation?
19/02/2015 Male Average
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
disagree Often
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Completely
agree
Mostly
agree Sometimes
19/02/2015 Female Average
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Completely
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
disagree Often
Mostly
agree
Completely
agree
Mostly
agree
Completely
agree
Completely
agree Rarely
19/02/2015 Male Boring
19/02/2015 Male Boring
Mostly
disagree
Completely
disagree
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree Often
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Completely
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree Sometimes
20/02/2015 Female Boring
Mostly
agree
Mostly
disagree
Completely
agree
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
disagree Always
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree Sometimes
21/02/2015 Female Boring
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
disagree
Completely
disagree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree Often
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
disagree Sometimes
Mostly
agree
Completely
agree
Completely
disagree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
disagree Often
21/02/2015 Male Exciting
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
disagree Sometimes
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree Often

Mostly
disagree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
disagree Often
Mostly
disagree
Completely
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
agree
Mostly
disagree Sometimes
9. Do you
tend to
avoid
risks?
10. Do you
avoid
working in
groups
because
someone
else might
fail which
will end up
causing
bad
grades?
11. I like to
have
control
over the
situation.
12. Would
you consider
speeding
when being
late for an
appointment?
13.Is
the
bottle
half
empty
or
half
fulll?
14. Rules
are meant
to be
broken
Rarely No
Mostly
agree Sometimes
Half
full
Mostly
agree
Sometimes Sometimes
Mostly
agree Often
Half
empty
Mostly
disagree
Often Yes
Completely
disagree Often
Half
full
Mostly
agree
Sometimes No
Completely
agree Sometimes
Half
full
Mostly
agree
Rarely No
Mostly
agree Always
Half
full
Mostly
agree
Often Yes
Completely
agree Never
Half
full
Mostly
disagree
Sometimes Yes
Mostly
agree Always
Half
full
Completely
disagree
Sometimes No
Mostly
disagree Sometimes
Half
full
Mostly
disagree
Sometimes No
Mostly
agree Sometimes
Half
full
Mostly
disagree
Often Sometimes
Mostly
agree Always
Half
full
Mostly
disagree
Often Yes
Mostly
agree Often
Half
full
Mostly
disagree

Sometimes No
Mostly
agree Always
Half
full
Mostly
agree
Sometimes Yes
Completely
agree Often
Half
full
Mostly
agree
Rarely No
Mostly
disagree Rarely
Half
empty
Mostly
disagree
Rarely No
Completely
agree Always
Half
full
Mostly
agree
Final conclusion
Report on risk survey
Executive summary
In the survey we made, we tried to check people’s risk awareness level. The survey consists
of questions that are all meant to get a deeper view in mind of people when it comes to risk
awareness. It is important to know how people think in different conditions when it comes
to risks. Not all people react in the same way. The questions vary from regular to rather odd.
Introduction
For this survey about risk taking we prepared 15 questions, to test if the students from 2
MAR08 can be defined as risk prone or risk averse. After we’ve prepared the questions,
we’ve transferred them into an online survey with the help of Google Drive and posted them
online via Facebook.
The subjects of the survey mainly asks about.
Drinking
Working as a team
Questions regarding positive or pessimistic attitude
Stress
Findings
First of all, there were very little people who participated in our survey. This could be due to
the fact that students have very little time and have to do different tasks at once.
A total of 6 students are defined the most risk taking ones. This implies that they follow the
high risk/high reward lifestyle. They are not afraid to break the rules or work in groups to
have a chance of success. Fact to note is that the risk takers are evenly divided into males
and females.

The rest of the people lie somewhere in between safe and risk taking. This means that they
try to have control over the situation as much as possible, but are able to take risks when
needed.
Among all the students there we none, who haven’t taken risks during their lives. We can
conclude that every person, has to take a risk even if they don’t want it. Risk can hardly be
avoided and are sometimes necessary.
Conclusion
6 of the 17 people interrogated are given the term ‘risk takers’. Among those 6, there are 3
men and 3 women, which makes it evenly divided.
Risks cannot be avoided. There is no certainty in life. Even if students want to have control
over the situation or have a PLAN B. It is impossible to be 100% safe. It’s impossible to never
take a risk in life.
Recommendations
When dealing with a larger audience it’s better to ask the question: “Please fill in your age.”
Getting an age allows us to make deeper conclusions and add the fact that the risk takers are
young or old persons.
By adding the question: “Please fill in your current educational programme”, we can divide
the risk takers over their followed educational programme.
The fact that only 17 people replied maybe means that the survey was too boring and thus
not interesting, or not appealing at all. By asking questions that are related to a “fun” topic,
we should be able to keep our audience interested.
If nothing of the above has a certain impact, we can try to give rewards to people in order
for them to fill in our survey.
Phase 2
Appendix 1
Rethink the survey and add the new questions.
When dealing with such a large audience such as all students from a particular
school it’s important to add the question “ please fill in your age”. This question
will allow us to make deeper conclusions and use the variable “age” to compare if
younger or older people tend to take more or less risks.

Adding the question “please fill in your current educational programme”, again
this variable will allow us to make correlations with this variable and to give us a
deeper understand whether or not, depending on the educational programme
students follow if they take more risks or not.
Maybe add a few more questions which better fit their lifestyle to keep the
students interested throughout the survey.
1. How many cigarettes a day do you smoke? 1-5/5-10/10-15/15+
2. Do you feel safe when going out to a party (example: when walking around in
Overpoort?) Safe/Quite safe/Scared/Frightened
3. Would you take a ride with a friend who has had 10 or more beers? Yes/No
The rest of the questions seems fine and well explained, no real need to change
them…
Since our online survey didn’t get much response (even after reposting for four
times). We are thinking of adding a the possibility of receiving a reward when
filling out the survey. We feel this will increase the responsiveness.
Appendix 2
Link of the new survey
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17Gt_TpG0sGHxbeAQFpeT3EUJOeTH168Q7TEA
E_5UaUs/viewform
1.1 Risk report (corrected version)
Phase 1
Processof the questions+some conclusions.
For our survey there were only 17 participants. When we look at the difference in
gender, we can divide them into 11 males and 6 females.
To determine whether one person is a risk taker or not, we analysed the
questions given in the survey. Given the fact that our survey was strictly
anonymous it is impossible to give names of the most risk taking student or the
least risk taking one.

A total of six students can be defined as the most risking taking ones. They
follow a style of high risk / high reward. They are not afraid of working in groups,
breaking the rules for a better chance of success. What’s also important is that
the most risk taking ones are evenly divided into three male and three female
students. So we can’t say if males take more risks than females and vice versa…
The rest of our participants lie somewhere in between. They tend to take risks
but they want to keep control over the situation and will only take risks if the
chance of failure is limited.

Draw up a full report of your findings.
1.Select your gender.
Male 11 65%
Female 6 35%
This question is key in any survey. We asked this question because we wanted to
know if males and females are equally divided and also to tell which gender takes
the most risks.
2. What's your opinion about gambling?
Boring 5 29%
Average 9 53%
Exciting 3 18%
Easy and short question, it’s important to know how young people feel about
gambling, if for example they find it exciting we can conclude that the person
tends to take more risks.
3. Are you willing to take a chance of failure (bankruptcy, losing money,
health problems..) for the sake of success?

Mostly agree 7 41%
In this question we compare the risk of failure vs the risk of success. If the
student tends to take more risk, he will answer: mostly agree. If the student is
not a risk taker he will probably answer: mostly/completely disagree.
4. Would you take a risk if there's something in it for you?
Mostly agree 9 53%
Here we want to know, if students take more risk if they will benefit from them.
The answer is clearly yes, 9 students choose to take more risks if there was
something in it for them.
5. Are you afraid that something unexpected (traffic stop, car failure,
internet fallout..) might ruin your plans?

Mostly agree 6 35%
While students try to inform themselves as much a possible before taking a risk.
Having a plan B seems to be less common. 8 students don’t have a plan B before
taking a risk and only 7 students will have a plan B.
8. Would you take more risks when finding yourself in a stressful
situation?
Always 1 6%
Often 7 41%
Sometimes 6 35%
Rarely 1 6%
Never 0 0%
Stress seems to affect whether or not a person takes risk or not. We can clearly
see that students who experience different levels of stress will take more risks.
And only one student will rarely take a risk when put in a stressful situation.
9. Do you tend to avoid risks?

Always 0 0%
Often 4 24%
Sometimes 7 41%
Rarely 4 24%
Never 0 0%
10 students prefer to avoid risks. And only four will rarely avoid risks. Again we
see that if there are no stress levels are benefits gained from taking risks,
students will likely try to avoid them.
10. Do you avoid working in groups because someone else might fail
which will end up causing bad grades?
Yes 5 29%
No 8 47%
Sometimes 2 12%
Interesting results, 5 out 16 students tend to avoid working in groups because
another team member might cause them bad grades and 2 out 16 students
sometimes avoid working in groups. Only 8 out of 16 students have no problems
working as a team and do not agree with the fact that another member might be
responsible for their bad grades.
11. I like to have control over the situation.

Mostly agree 8 47%
12 out of 16 students like to have control of the situation. This means they will
likely take less risks because they prefer a steady environment. Only three
students feel that the need of a controllable environment is not necessary.
12. Would you consider speeding when being late for an appointment?
Always 5 29%
Often 4 24%
Sometimes 4 24%
Rarely 1 6%
Never 1 6%
People always say that youngsters drive very fast. This statement seems to be
true. 5 out of 16 students will always drive faster than the allowed speed limited
when being late for an appointment. 4 students will often drive faster and 4
students will sometimes drive faster. Only 2 students will rarely and never drive
fast when being late.
13.Is the bottle half empty or half full?

Sometimes No
Mostly
agree Always
Half
full
Mostly
agree
Sometimes Yes
Completely
agree Often
Half
full
Mostly
agree
Rarely No
Mostly
disagree Rarely
Half
empty
Mostly
disagree
Rarely No
Completely
agree Always
Half
full
Mostly
agree
Final conclusion
Report on risk survey
Executive summary
In the survey we made, we tried to check people’s risk awareness level. The survey consists
of questions that are all meant to give us a deeper understanding about how people feel
when it comes to risk awareness. It is important to know how people think in different
conditions when it comes to risks. Not all people react in the same way.
Introduction
For this survey about risk taking we prepared 15 questions, to test if the students from 2
MAR08 can be defined as risk prone or risk averse. After we had prepared the questions, we
transferred them into an online survey with the help of Google Drive and posted them online
via Facebook.
The subjects of the survey mainly tackles:
Drinking
Working as a team
Questions regarding positive or pessimistic attitude
Stress
Findings
First of all, there were very little people who participated in our survey. This could be due to
the fact that students have very little time and have to do different tasks at once.
A total of 6 students are defined the most risk taking ones. This implies that they follow the
high risk/high reward lifestyle. They are not afraid to break the rules or work in groups to
have a chance of success. Fact to note is that the risk takers are evenly divided into males
and females.

The rest of the people lie somewhere in between safe and risk taking. This means that they
try to have control over the situation as much as possible, but are able to take risks when
needed.
Among all the students there were none who hadn’t taken a single risk during their lives.
We can conclude that every person, has to take a risk even if they don’t want it. Risks can
hardly be avoided and are sometimes necessary.
Conclusion
6 of the 17 people interrogated are given the term ‘risk takers’. Among those 6, there are 3
men and 3 women, which makes it evenly divided.
Risks cannot be avoided. There is no certainty in life. Even if students want to have control
over the situation or have a PLAN B. It is impossible to be 100% safe. It’s impossible to never
take a risk in life.
Recommendations
When dealing with a larger audience it’s better to ask the question: “Please fill in your age.”
Getting an age allows us to make deeper conclusions and add the fact that the risk takers are
young or old persons.
By adding the question: “Please fill in your current educational programme”, we can divide
the risk takers over their followed educational programme.
The fact that only 17 people replied maybe means that the survey was too boring and thus
not interesting, or not appealing at all. By asking questions that are related to a “fun” topic,
we should be able to keep our audience interested.
If nothing of the above has a certain impact, we can try to give rewards to people in order
for them to fill in our survey.
Phase 2
Appendix 1
Rethink the survey and add the new questions.
When dealing with such a large audience such as all students from a particular
school it’s important to add the question “ please fill in your age”. This question
will allow us to make deeper conclusions and use the variable “age” to compare if
younger or older people tend to take more or less risks.

Adding the question “please fill in your current educational programme”, again
this variable will allow us to make correlations with this variable and to give us a
deeper understand whether or not, depending on the educational programme
students follow if they take more risks or not.
Maybe add a few more questions which better fit their lifestyle to keep the
students interested throughout the survey.
1. How many cigarettes a day do you smoke? 1-5/5-10/10-15/15+
2. Do you feel safe when going out to a party (example: when walking around in
Overpoort?) Safe/Quite safe/Scared/Frightened
3. Would you take a ride with a friend who has had 10 or more beers? Yes/No
The rest of the questions seems fine and well explained, no real need to change
them…
Since our online survey didn’t get much response (even after reposting for four
times). We are thinking of adding the possibility of receiving a reward when
filling out the survey. We feel this would increase the responsiveness.
Appendix 2
Link of the new survey
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17Gt_TpG0sGHxbeAQFpeT3EUJOeTH168Q7TEA
E_5UaUs/viewform

2. Slides from the Pecha Kucha presentation

3. Visual proof of the Online Communications task
Link:
4. Efforts to improve my English during the semester
4.1 Listen and commentate on 3 TED presentations.
4.1.2 Ken Robinson – How school kills creativity
I’dlike tostart off witha small resume of whatthe seminarpresentedbyKenRobinsonwas about.
The main problemthatyoungpeople face todayitthatwe
are frightenedtobe wrong,infactour whole systemat
school and lateronat workisbasedon stigmatizing
mistakes.Andthisproblemkillsourabilitytobe creative.
Insteadof teachingpeople how tobe creative andhelp
themwe are educationpeopleoutof theircreative
capacities.I’dlike torefertowhatPicassoonce said:“All
childrenare bornartists,the problemisto remainanartist
as we grow up”.
Everyeducationsysteminthe worldcurrentlyhasthe
same hierarchyof subjectsat the topwe have the
mathematicsandthe languages,thenthe humanitiesandatthe bottomwe have the arts. Our
systemmainlyfocussesonmakingsure we are extremelygoodatmathematicsandlanguagesbut we
don’tspendanyattentionstoteachingpeople aboutarts,dance,music…
We focuson teachingthe ‘heads’butwe forgotaboutthe body,thisisbecause educationwas
invented asaneedforthe industrialisationinthe 90’s.
Our currentsystemonlyproducesuniversityprofessors,whoare onlylookattheirbodyas a
transportationdevice fortheirhead.

I was extremelyfocusedduringhis19minute pitch,mainlybecause he knowshow totalktohis
audience.He doesn’tjuststandthere andtellsthe audience whathe hasto sayand hopesitwill
change theiropinions.NO!
He makesgreatuse of non-verbal languages,youcansee himmoving,usinghisarmstoexpressthe
thingshe issaying,laughingwithhisownjokes.
He doesn’tstartoff the seminarbysayingthisisthe problemandthisishow we can solve it.He
starts off withfacts,and findings.Duringthe seminarhe will talkabouthisownlife experiences
whichforus the audience isalwaysnice tohearbecause itdraws us closertothe speaker andmakes
himmore persuasive.
To make sure his seminarisn’tmonotone,he constantlyuseshumortokeepitentertainingforthe
audience whichisalwaysanice thing,Ireallylaughedathisjokes(speciallythe one he made about
hisyoungson’sgirlfriend)
You can watch the full TED presentationhere :
https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity#t-362535
4.1.3 Ismael Nazario – What I learned as a kid in jail
As a teenIsmael wassenttoNewYork’sRikersIslandjail.He alsospendupto 300 days insolitary
confinement.
Duringhisted-talkhe talksabouthisownlife,
but what’smostimportantisthat he givesus
the feelingof what iswaslike duringhistime in
prison.The fightthathappenedwiththe
guards,gave us a deeperlookonthe angerand
frustrationthathe had duringhistime,butalsoon how he usedtohandle things(problems).
He tellsusthe problemsthatyoungstersface inprison,these institutiondon’thelptorehabilitate
youngpeople backintosocietyyetthese inmatestalkaboutwhattheywill dowhentheygetout,
whichisto go back, dealingdrugs,stealing…He callsitthe “go back to jail quickscan”.He says we
have to helpthese teensbyhelpingthemdeveloptheirtalentsduringtheirtime inprison.We have
to teachthemhow to make music,learnhow toprogramme,educate them.Atthismomentwe are
doingnothingandthiswon’thelpthese youngster,once theygetouttheywill hitthe streetandstart
livingthe life thattheyusedtolive.
Duringhistime inprisonhe met the mostcreative andtalentedpeople.He hasseeninmateswho
turn regularsoapintosculpturesthatwouldmake Michelangelolikea child.
What trulyinspiredme whatthe storyaboutthe ‘airplane’withanotherinmate.(A plainwithpeople
passingusby , referringtolive flyingby),while the prisonersare here ‘stuck’behindthe walls.
I foundthe seminarveryinspirational andworthwatchingif youwanttocatch a glimpse of whatit’s
like tobe a teeninbehindwalls.
You can watch the full TED presentationhere :
https://www.ted.com/talks/ismael_nazario_what_i_learned_as_a_kid_in_jail

4.1.4 Juan Enriquez : The next species of human evolution
Juanstarts off withhispresentationwithashortintroductiononwhathe will talkabout,firsthe
givesusan insightview onthe
currenteconomicsituation.To
expresswhat’sgoingonhe
doesn’tuse boringgraphs,
numbers,all thisboring stuff.
Insteadhe makesuse of funny/
satiricpictureswhohelpsupport
the general ideaof whathe is
saying.
Throughoutthe firstpart of his
presentationaboutthe economy,
he reallydoeshisbesttoexplain
the big issue that’sbeengoingon
insomewhatsimple termssothat
everybodycanunderstandwhat
he’stryingto say.
Nextoff he istryingto give usa glimpse of the future andwhatthe ‘ultimate reboot‘will looklike.I
will talkaboutthree future projectsandexperimentsthathave taken place overthe previous25year
here at TED.
1. Abilitytoengineercells
2. Abilitytogenerate tissue
3. Robots
I couldgo on an explainthe detailsof everysubjecthe spoke of butthat’snotthe main purpose of
whyI am writingthiscomment.
Juanreallyknowswhathe istalkingabout,youcan tell that he has an economical backgroundbuthe
alsoknowshispresentationinsideout,thoughouthisTED talkhe neverlooksathisPowerPoint
behindhim,whichispleasanttowatch.
As saidbefore,he makesuse of satirichumortokeepthe audience entertainedandtokeephis
subjectinterestingbecausewe all knowthattalkingabouteconomicsmaysometimesbe boringif
youstick to the theoretical side.
I founditveryinformative andthere were momentswhere Ialmostdiedlaughing.Butinall
seriousness,hispresentationwasstructured,easytocomprehend,andI’mveryexcitedforwhatthe
future hasto offer.
You can watch the full presentationhere :
http://www.ted.com/playlists/85/what_does_the_future_look_like

4.2 Follow a blogger for 5 weeks and write a report about them
As a fitnessfanaticmyself I’ve beenfollowingLee Haywardsfor
over3 years.I discoveredhimwhenIwaslookingforexercises
on You tube.Iimmediatelyfell inlove withhispersona.He isa
lifestyle/bodybuildingcoachwhoinspiredme tokeeppushing
myself andhe made intothe personI am today.
Allow me totell youmore aboutmy favourite bodybuilder.
AfterwatchingArnoldSchwarzeneggerinthe Conanmovies.He
was impressedbythe physique of Arnoldandhe wantedto
devote hiswhole life tolookjustlike him.Fromthatdayon he
startedto workout,doingsimple exerciseslikesit-upandpush-
upsat home.Asa Christmaspresenthe receivedhisfirstweight
set,he usedit every dayandbecause hisdad wasan active
personhe helpedhimwithhisworkouts.
His passiondidn’tstophere,whenhe wenttohighschool he kepton workingoutconsistentlyandhe
wouldreadeveryfitnessmagazine he couldgethishandson.Duringhislastyear of highschool he
competedinhisfirstreal bodybuildingcontest,he was17 yearsold.Afterhisshow he kepton
competingandhe has wonseveral awards.
Whenhe finishedhighschool,he studiedcomputerscience inCollege.Shortlyafterhe graduatedhe
createdhisownwebsite toteachand educate people aboutbodybuilding.Nowadayshiswebsite is
amongstthe top fitnesswebsite inthe worldyoucanvisithiswebsitehere :
http://leehayward.com/blog/
So whatmakeshimspecial?Well firstof all we have hisYou tube channel withover150k subscribers.
Whichis quite alarge amount fora fitnesschannel.There are adiversityof video’savailableforfree,
that containinformationandtipsthathe himself hascollectedthroughouthisyearsof training.For
example youhave video’son‘howtoloose fat‘,’chestworkout’,‘legworkout’,‘home gym
workouts’,‘nutrition’,‘supplements’andthe listgoesonandon.
On hiswebsite youcanfindhisblogswhere he goesmore intodetail aboutcertainsubjects,the
blogsare writtenverysimple,withalotof imagestosupportthe text.It’sa veryclearand well-
structuredblog, and I love it!
He doesn’tonlymake video’sandwrite blogs.Onhiswebsite youcanbuyclothing,workoutvideos,
supplements,gymequipmentandmuchmore.
To wrap thingsup,for me Lee isa true inspiration.He remainstrue tohimselfeventhoughhe earns
a lot of moneywithhiswebsite andYou tube video’she stillremainsthe same oldLee whoImet
three yearsago,a down-to-earthguywhoreallydoeshisbesttoinspire andmotivate youtostay
healthyandworkout!

4.3 Two original English activities
4.3.1 First activity
For thisparticularactivityIcoveredthe mostrecentpatch whichis(5.9) of the online game thatI
play(League Of Legends).AndImade a commentaryvideo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQdiBAPmQ-w
4.3.2 Second activity
I’mgivingyoua quicksneakpeakin the life of abodybuilder.
Thisis howmy daylookslike.
8.30 : Wake up . Because youknowthe earlybirdcatchesthe worm.
8.45-9.00: Start of myday with120 gramsof oatmeal.Thisismypowerfoodbecause itprovidesme
with12 grams of proteinsanda lot of carbohydratestoboost myenergylevels.
9.15 : Preppingmygymbag.This includesmakingsure Ihave mygymclothes(tanktop,sweatpants),
proteinpowerforaftermyworkout,myliftingbeltif I’mgoingheavywiththe weightsandmy
membershipcardbecause withoutitIwon’tbe able to enter.
9.30 : Mostlyeatingbetween5-6slicesof brownbreadwithchickenwhite.Againveryhighincarbs
but alsoinprotein.
9.45 : Ridingthe bike tothe gym.
10.00: Enteringthe gymand startingthe workout.TodayI will doa double workoutwhichmeansI
will trainmychestbut alsomy triceps.
11.30: Done withthe workout,takinga showertogetrid of all the sweat.Almostforgottotake inmy
proteinshake butI justgot itright ontime.
11.50: All cleanedup,puttingonfreshclothesandridingbackhome.
12.10: Once I get home,Iput the dirtyclothesinthe washingmachine.WhenIarrive home Ialways
eat a bananato keepthe energylevelsbalanced.
12.30: Doingsome stuff forschool,mostlyportfolio’sandpaper.Deadlinesforthe examsare
drawingnearso I’mfeelingalittle bitof stress.
14.30: Readyfor mysecondmeal,whichis150 gr of brownrice togetherwith250 gr of chicken
breast.I do thisto keepmymusclesfueledafterthe workout.
15.00: Takinga table of multivitamin.Andwatchingsome Youtube video’sbecause the workoutwas
heavierthanIexpectedsoIneeda bitof rest.
16.00: NowI have to make sure there isnew coffee andcookiesbecause momanddadare coming
back fromwork.
16.20: Theyarrived,nowwe sitat the dinnertable andtalkabout eachother’sday.
17.00: Dad isstill hasto do some stuff forworkwhilstmomismaking dinner.OnthisdayI decidedto
helphermakingpotatoeswithbeansandbeef.

18.00: We gatherat the dinnertable toenjoyourmeals.We alwaysleave the radioonbecause it’s
relaxesusaftera longday of work.
18.20: Me and my brotheralwaysdothe dishes,we like togive ourparentsamomentfor
themselves.Ialsostore some leftoverstoeatonthe nextday.
19.00: Watchingthe news.
19.30-20.30: Randomlyswitchingchannelsif Igetboredlike Ididon thatday. I go playmy favourite
game League of Legendsorwatch some live actiononTwitch.
20.30: Whilstplayingmyonline game,Ialwayseatanut-mix (peanuts,hazelnuts…)+350 gr of
cheesylike yoghurt.Theyprovide mybodywithnatural fatsandproteins.
10.30-11.00: Time to sleep,butbefore I doI alwaysdrinka glassof waterand take my final protein
shake so I have enoughproteinsuntilthe nextmorning.
4.4 Anything else you have done to improve your English
There are manyfactors that contribute tothe improvementof myEnglish.Ithinkit wouldbe easierif
I justenumerate themandtell youwhytheyhelp.
o Anime
I am a big fanof anime whichare Japanese orientatedseries.ThisyearI’ve completedwatching
the Naruto serieswhichhasover720+ episodes,(eachepisode isroughly20-25min). I’mnot
goingto explainwhatthe anime isaboutbecause If Ido I wouldkeepgoingforhoursandhours.
But thisanime helpedme improve myEnglishbecausethe charactersspeakJapanese butthe
subtitlesare English.SowhilstIdon’tlike readingbooks, if youcountall the subtitlesI’ve read
whilstwatchingthe showitwouldbe aboutone or twobooks.
o League of Legends
Thisis an online computergame thatI’ve beenplayingfor3-4years.For people whoare livingin
Belgiumthere isonlyanEnglishclient,exceptforthe FrenchtheygetaFrench client…Butwhat
doesthisgame have to do withthe improvementof myEnglish?Well ,eachtime youplayyou
will getmatchedwith9 otherpeople.If youare playingonEUW like I do, the mainlanguage
usedingame by otherplayersisEnglish.If youcalculate thatI’mplaying 4-5 hours ona daily
basis,thisisa handytool to keepmyEnglishup-to-date.
o Reading forums
As youprobablyknowfrommyblog,I love readingaboutbodybuildingandhealthingeneral.
Duringclass,afterschool,eveninmyspare time youcan findme lurkingaroundthese forums
alwayswillingtolearnmore aboutmy passion:fitness.If youdidn’tknow the bestbodybuilders
are fromAustaliaandAmerica.Soobviouslyall the forumsandthe blogsthattheywrite are
writteninEnglish.
Notonlybodybuildingforumsinterestme,butalsoworldnewsandinterestingnew articles.
That’s whyona dailybasisIlookat (www.reddit.com).Whichisacollectionof different
subredditsall puttogetheronone website.Andbecause the website was foundedinSan
Francisco,Californiaeveryarticle andcommentiswritteninEnglish.

o Skype
I don’tlike playingalone,that’swhytroughoutmy ‘gamingcareer’I’ve mettonsof people from
all aroundthe world.Fromtime totime I playwiththem.Most of my contacts live inthe US,
that’swhyif we talkviaSkype itis obviousthatI speak Englishbecause theydon’tlearnDutchat
school.NowadaysIthinkmyEnglishisveryfluent,butwhenIwasyoungeritwas alwaysnice
that my online friendshelpedme improvebyhelpingme if Ipronouncedsomethingwrong.Via
thisway of communicationIwasreceivingimmediate feedback!

o Classes
As youmay hopefullyhave noticed,Ireallytrytodo mybestduringthe Englishclasses.Because I
feel the more youtalkthe more you learn.I’ma bigfan of the language andI’mnot ashamedto
raise my voice.
o You tube and othersocial media
Most of contact on skype I’ve addedon Facebookbecause theyare friendof mine.Mostof the
time theirpostsappearonmy wall.Theircommentorstoriesare in Englishsoeverytime they
postsomethingIwill readandif interestingenoughIwill commentorshare theirpost.
I alsowatch tons of video’snotonlyfitnessbutalsootherchannels.Suchas(EpicMeal Time)
(Boogie2988) and manyothers.These are all Englishchannelssothiswayit’seasyto learnhow
wordsare pronounced.Andbywatchingyouwill unconsciouslyfix the wordsyouare
pronouncingwrong.
Twitch.tvisa platformwhere peoplestreamtheirvideogames.Ispendabout1-2hours daily
watchingstreamersIlove suchas : Qtpie,Forsen,Dyrus.These people live inthe US,so againthis
isa greatway to improve yourEnglish.
5. Final feedback report
5.1 Has your English improved?
If I lookbackone year ago,I can trulysaythat my Englishhasimproved.Fromagrammatical
perspective therewere some wordsthatIusedtostruggle withe.g.(through,which,customers,of
course, forexample…).Ittookme a longtime before Icouldwrite these wordswithoutanymistakes.
But by continuouslyusingtheminpresentations,documents,I’vefinallymasteredthemandnow I
can write themright!
From an oral perspective,I’vedefinitelyimproved.Due toa problemwithmyfrontteeth,it’salways
hard for me use wordssuch as (months,clothes,flaws…).I’mnotafraidof themanymore!Athome I
try to pronounce these wordsona dailybasissothat if I speakduringpresentationspeople will
hardlynotice thatI struggle withthese particularwords.SometimesIstill catchmyself struggling.But
I won’tgive up,I’ll keepone goingandone daythe accent will be completelygone.
Due to all the social channelsandvideo’sIvisitandwatch,I’m learningsomethingnew everyday,so
yesmy Englishhasimprovedandevenwhile writingthispaper,I’mlearning.
“Whena personhas an accent, it meanshe can speakone more language than you” – Fernando
Lamas

5.2 Have you achieved what you wanted to achieve? Compare with any progress made
in the first semester?
When I look at the difference in presentingskills, I feel thatI’ve madesome improvements. I’mmore
relaxed when I’mpresentingin front of a class. This helpsme a lot when I’mtalkingas well because
one semester ago youcouldhear a bit of stressin my voice now it’s almostcompletely gone.
Thanksto the PechaKuchapresentation, I’velearned that I don’tneedto put 10 wordson my Power
Pointslides. I learned to use simplepictures, with a strongmeaning to supportmy message. (I would
like torefer tomy persuadingyouraudience presentation), for this presentationI hardly usedany
keywordsonthe slides and still managed togive an interesting presentation, If I forgotsomethingI
just hadto look at the image from my Power Pointand I instantly rememberedwhat I wanted to say
to my audience.
When we hadEric Pollet as our professorin the previoussemester he never gave any feedback which I
really disliked. I don’tknowwhy he wouldn’tgive it, because feedback is an importantway to improve
yourself. When youfinished a presentationhe just said : “next one or who is willing to go ?”. Nowthat
we haveInge Verheyden as ourprofessor it’smuch better because sheprovidesus with immediate
feedback after yourpresentationwhich I find essential! Youcan usethis feedback to improveyourself
duringthe next presentationorclass.
5.3 Assess the course and lecturer, what would you keep/do differently (be honest)
5.3.1 Assessing the course
Well English will always be my favorite class. What is liked duringthis semester is that we didn’thave
any lessonswhere we would just makeexercises on grammar. WhatI also liked was that we hadto do
many presentations, becauseI feel youcan only learn a language throughtalkingwith each other. By
usingthis type of methodyoucan get immediate feedback from the teacher as well as yourfellow
students.
There was a broadvariety of subject given to usvia class or assignment. I really enjoyedmakingthese
tasksbecause they ask youtostep out of yourcomfort zonesuch as the groupconversation, Pecha
Kucha, Risk report, persuadingyouraudience. These task require hard work but in the end youare
able to learn from themand that’swhatreally matters.
I would haveliked to have more groupconversationsinclass instead of makingthe cases from our
book. Sometimeswe had to work in pairs, butI would prefer to work in larger groups, thatis just my
personalopinion.
5.3.2 Lecturer
Inge Verheyden, I woulddescribe her as a firm butfair person. Meaningthat for example if youhand
in a task toolate or youare not presentin class you won’tearn any points. Which I think is a good
think. We, the studentsare all grown-upswe have to take ourresponsibility, later on at work if your
tasksare not finished in time or youare notpresent at work youwill be fired, simple as that.
But sheis also gentle with a great senseof humor. Whenshe providesfeedback, she always does it
very calmly andwith the greatest respect for the student. Duringclass she is able to laugh at our
commentsor jokes in ourpresentationwhich I feel is also an importantaspectfor a teacher.

She is always ready to answer yourquestionsregarding assignmentsorschool related. Her lessonsare
structuredand well prepared. You won’tfind her lookingfor papersare getting lostand notknowing
what to say duringclass. If I had to give her score I would give her 8.5-9/10.
5.3.3 What would you change?
- As said before I would love to work more in larger groupsinsteadof pairs. This way new students
have the opportunity togetto knowone another.
- Maybelet the studentswho don’tsay as muchas the other duringclass, talk a bit more. I feel like
some studentshavedonemostof the talking duringthe semester. Otherstudentsare just more quit
thanothers butI feel they haveto overcome thisfear, pointedthem outmore often would be better I
think…(Don’ttake this toopersonal)

Proof of personal progress- Bart De Maere

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