Workshops

Spring 2025 Workshop Series

Join us for a series of workshops aimed at improving your academic communication. Come to the entire series or pick and choose what will help you the most. All workshops held in the FedEx Global Education Center #1005 on Fridays from 1:45-2:45 p.m.

Friday, Apr. 4

Using Generative AI and Translation Software (1:45-2:45 p.m.)
Come learn strategies and best practices for using generative AI and machine translation responsibly and ethically. We’ll discuss when generative AI may be helpful and what its limitations are. Bring a laptop and try it out!

Spring 2025 Pronunciation Series

For students whose first language is not US English, join us for a series of workshops aimed at improving your US English pronunciation. Learn about the phonetics of American English with ample practice time in pairs with fluent English speakers and in small groups. Workshops will focus on segmental units such as vowels and consonants as well as suprasegmental units including syllables, stress and pitch. Come to the entire series or pick and choose what will help you the most. All workshops held in the FedEx Global Education Center #1005 on Fridays from 1:45-2:45 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 31

Pronunciation Assessment (1:45-2:45 p.m.)
Come to this workshop and complete a quick assessment of your US English Pronunciation. Learn where you can best focus your energy to improve your pronunciation and comprehensibility.

Friday, Feb. 7

Why Stress? (1:45-2:45 p.m.)
Getting the stress in the expected part of the word is the most important part of making sure your spoken English is understood. Come practice and learn strategies for pronouncing new words correctly.

Friday, Feb. 14

Vowels (1:45-2:45 p.m.)
How many vowel sounds are there in US English? What’s the most common, and underappreciated, vowel sound in English? How does switching a word from a noun to a verb affect the vowel sounds? Come learn the answer to these questions and more!

Friday, Feb. 21 POSTPONED

Friday, Feb. 28

Consonants (1:45-2:45 p.m.)
Do you struggle with “v” and “th”? What about “r” and “l,” or “ch” and “sh”? Come get targeted instruction with any consonant sounds you find difficult. Practice with one of our wonderful volunteers.

Friday, Mar. 7

Bringing it all Together (1:45-2:45 p.m.)
Learn how we use focus and reductions to get our message across. We’ll look at how we can best pronounce phrases and sentences to be understood and keep audiences engaged.

Friday, Mar. 21

Consonant Clusters (1:45-2:45 p.m.)
Some consonants can be tricky, and it can be even more difficult when we start combining consonants to form consonant clusters. Come practice and improve!

Friday, Mar. 28

Pronunciation Practice (1:45-2:45 p.m.)
During our final pronunciation workshop of the spring, bring some difficult words to practice with our volunteers.

Presentation Practice & Feedback Sessions

Are you preparing for an important presentation? Schedule a 45-minute individual appointment to practice your presentation and get feedback on your slides, presentation style, and any other concerns. For international graduate students and postdocs.

Schedule a practice presentation here.

Prior Workshops

Global Grads: Communicating with Employers Series

This two part session will allow you to gain knowledge and practice in communicating with colleagues and employers for your job search.

Part 1: The Interview

Thursday, February 20, 10:30-11:45 am
Graduate Student Center

Join us to learn about the types of interviews and how to prepare, what are employers really asking, cultural expectations for behavior and interaction, and how to use the STAR method to frame answers to interview questions.

Part 2: Networking

Tuesday, March 11, 12-1:30 pm
The Writing Center, 0127 SASB North

Learn about and practice networking as a technique for meeting potential colleagues. Participants will receive advice from a successful graduate, and will learn basic information on how to identify and build your network and culturally appropriate strategies for network interactions. Lunch will be served.

Spring Break Presentations Series

Get ready for your final presentations with strategies for planning and delivering your presentation clearly and confidently.

All workshops are 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. EST on Zoom.

Monday, Mar. 10

Planning your presentation
Come to this workshop to think through audience and purpose, formality, timing, format, and feedback.

Tuesday, Mar. 11

Delivering your presentation confidently
Come to this workshop to learn techniques to control your voice when you’re a little nervous and to make your pronunciation as understandable as possible. (Join us afterward for the in-person Networking workshop. See above.)

Wednesday, March 12

Designing and describing visuals clearly
Come to this workshop to review principles for visual design along with verbal strategies that will help you orient your audience and help them focus on important elements in your slides.

Thursday, March 13

Handling questions calmly
You know that terrifying moment when you say “Any questions?” at the end of your presentation? Come to this workshop to learn ways to prepare for the questions and polite ways to respond when you don’t understand the question, don’t know the answer, or don’t want to answer it at this time.