This is the account of Day 3. 

1. The diary entry for Day 2 is presented by Olga Groza.  

2. Rod Bolitho presents the objectives about setting Syllabus Framework and the schedule for the day. Rod distributes handouts about easifying and simplifying. Then he starts a discussion about the core of the course for Academics. The discussed issues are the following:

• Diversity in higher education and difference of discourse in Pure sciences and Humanities
• Searching for common ground for scientists from different areas
• Number of hours for the course which probably will be a 72-hours face-to-face course for Academics who have already reached B1+ level of General English
• Using tests to identify the level of General English and, if possible, interviewing the applicants

3. The discussion ends by building the essential core of the course which can be covered within 72 hours:

• Listening
• Academic reading
• Spoken interaction (for discussions, seminars)
• Spoken production (for presentations, lecturing)
• Professional Correspondence
• Glossary (on-line)

4. Some of the participants share links of websites which can be used in creating materials for the textbook:

• Tatyana tells about 1) Google.docs where users can create documents and share their work on-line and 2) VoiceThread.com which is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in different ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam).
• Svetlana presents 1) Corpuseye website useful to work with collocations and 2) Anki – a programme which helps to remember new words easily.
• Ludmila tells about Visuwords.com – online graphical dictionary with opportunities to produce diagrams.
• Lidia shows Corpus.byu.edu which helps to find out how native speakers actually speak and write; look at language variation and change; find the frequency of words, phrases, and collocates; and design authentic language teaching materials and resources.
• Olga presents a website SpellingCity.com which mission is efficient learning of literacy skills and word study.
• Olga Barnashova shows the TeachingEnglish website where on the Russian page there’s a blog about intensive work of creating a textbook for Academics.

5. Christian Duncumb, Deputy Director British Council Russia, emphasizes the importance of this international project and speaks about the perspective of collaboration among Russian Universities and those from other countries.

6. Three groups of participants (The Athos Group, the Porthos Group, the Aramis Group) give their presentations on Presentation Skills

The following points are raised:

• Key features of a good presentation.
• Pros and cons of using a model presentation.
• The nature of the audience for different types of presentations.
• The role of visual support and technology.
• The balance between reading a presentation and interaction with listeners.
• Cultural conventions.

General guidelines are developed for the teacher.

7. Rod Bolitho presents the final version of the questionnaire to be used with the target audience of the materials to be produced.

• The survey should have been conducted by May 15th. 
• The group decides to make both printed and online versions in Russian and administer it in their universities and online (SurveyMonkey).

8. Focus on the third team writing task – analyzing the structure of an academic article. Regrouping.

• A short input from Rod on the necessity of understanding what is going on in the text in terms of its organisation and language.
• Participants are re-grouped and get a thinking tool. Now they have to work in smaller groups of 2 or 3.

9. Interviewing. Rod and Olga invite the participants to a short conversation about their intentions, time which they can contribute to the project and their attitude to the collaborative work. Interview is a bit challenging for the participants.