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What are English Conversation Circles? A few months ago, I had no idea, but when I started working at the Writing and Communication Centre (WCC) one of my roles was to facilitate the English Conversation Circles (ECC) program. I assumed ECC would be a program that Individuals used to strengthen their English conversation skills, and I was excited to be a part of this support team. Once I started working on the program, I learned quickly that ECC is a support system for international students here at UW.

Image of Nikolay Videnov wearing a dark coloured shirt and smiling at the camera

Last semester, Nikolay Videnov won the Best Presenter award at the University of Waterloo and the University of Strathclyde’s Virtual Research Colloquium. We love to see UW students succeed at presentations, so we thought we’d reach out and have a short conversation about how that presentation came together, and to pick Nikolay’s brain about the process.

Alongside the rest of UWaterloo, the Writing and Communication Centre (WCC) has been working hard to transition our services into an online format for the Spring 2020 term. Our team is tirelessly striving to ensure that we can continue to support you as much as possible throughout the changes brought by the ongoing pandemic. As a result of these efforts, we are excited to announce that on June 1st, we will be launching the Spring 2020 WCC workshops on a new LEARN website!

Image of a cup of coffee, pen, and lined paper

It’s always hard to write. Even as someone who loves writing, I hate sitting down to actually do it. Especially now, with the paradoxical pandemic life of being exhausted, wired, busy, bored, lonely, and completely overwhelmed with Zoom-based social activities, it’s really, really hard to write my seemingly endless dissertation.

Homer simpson to Marge: "See, the problem is communication. Too much communication."

The title of this post is misleading. It implies that productivity and self-care are separate and opposing things. But they aren’t. We can’t be productive without taking care of ourselves. This relationship between productivity and self-care is particularly important right now, during a stressful, frightening situation where expectations on all of us nonetheless remain high. While we navigate the coronavirus pandemic together, we can try three simple things to tackle our research and writing:

Have you ever tried getting Google Translate to rap before? It’s probably one of the funniest things you can do with translate, outside of totally messing with Disney songs. When I’m not using translate as a means to laugh though, I’m using it to revise my essay by having Google read it out loud to me. Granted, that usually is also very funny, as the automated voice has a habit for tripping over lengthy sentences as well as butchering incorrect spelling of words. Use that last bit with caution though, Google Translate does have a habit for pronouncing everyday words like “get” very wrong.

Painting of William Shakespeare surrounded by different punctuation marks

When I was younger, the more pieces of punctuation I could add to a written work, the more I felt like some sort of literary genius. “Yeah, I’m ten and can use a comma, period, exclamation mark, and question mark within two sentences. I’m just that cool.”

How to get yourself in a creative mindset

Why is creativity so elusive? We see artists and poets and marvel agape at their powers of creation, but in truth creativity is a learned thing – a practice of insight and introspection. You too have the potential to produce art almost as good as the greats, if only you look in the right places. It doesn’t matter that no one’s listening.

Cartoon dash saying, "But wait—there's more!"

Punctuation marks. We use them to form our sentences, to turn our incoherent thoughts into organized prose. But what if these signs and symbols had minds of their own?

Visit the place where the magic begins and the fun never ends. Every day is a nail-biting adventure inside A WRITER'S MIND™!

Breath-taking beauty awaits you in this rainbow-land of fantastic ideas and colour-splashed coping strategies. Consider how grand it might be to pitch-tent upon the blissful symbolic plains of the subconscious.

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Breaking Assumptions: What I Learned About ECC From Being a Facilitator

Interview with UW’s award-winning graduate student presenter, Nikolay Videnov

WCC Workshops Go Online!

Getting the most out of Virtual Writing Cafés

Balancing Productivity and Self-Care in Grad School During COVID-19

Revising your assignment ft. Google the rapper

Forgotten Punctuation and Shakespeare

The poetics of originality: how to be creative

If punctuation marks were people

A writer's mind: visit today!

Visit the place where the magic begins and the fun never ends. Every day is a nail-biting adventure inside A WRITER'S MIND™!

University of Waterloo | Writing and Communication Centre

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