Syllabus-Spring 2014-ECI-1(N)

Spring 2014

Yeungnam University

ECI-1(N)

Your teacher:            Whitney P. Altizer    

                        Email: mrwhitteacher@gmail.com

                        Blog: http://whitsclassroomcommunity.blogspot.kr/

                        Office: FLI 221

                        English Help Desk: Monday, 9:00-10:30

Course Description: This is an integrated skills course that aims to improve students’ speaking, listening, reading, and writing abilities in English. Through varies themes, students will be practicing these four skills. This course is at the low-intermediate level and is rooted in the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) methods. The focus is on assisting students to activate their language in an engaging and meaningful way.

Required Texts:

Q: Skills for Success-Listening and Speaking. Margaret Brooks. Oxford University Press, 2011.

Q: Skills for Success-Reading and Writing. Joe McVeigh and Jennifer Bixby. Oxford University Press, 2011.

*Please get your own copy! Do not share books!

Grading Breakdown:

Attendance                                                     10%

Class Participation and Homework:               20%

Midterm Exam (Written):                               15%

Midterm Exam (Oral):                                    15%

Final Exam (Written):                                     20%

Final Exam (Oral):                                          20%    

Attendance:

Come to class and be on time!

You will lose marks if you are late or absent. You will fail the course if you get 8 or more absences. No exceptions!

Class Rules:

·         Be brave!

·         English only.

·         Ask questions.

·         Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

·         Pay attention.

·         Relax, enjoy, participate!

ECI-1 Course Schedule
Week 1	Introduction; Writing complete sentences	Week 9	R - Unit 3; W - Supporting Sentences
Week 2	Unit 1 L/S	Week 10	Unit 4 L/S
Week 3	R Unit 1; W Formatting and Punctuation	Week 11	R - Unit 4; W - Concluding Sentences
Week 4	Unit 2 L/S	Week 12	Unit 5 L/S
Week 5	R Unit 2; W - Writing Topic Sentences	Week 13	Unit 5 R; W - Opinion Paragraph (Unit 4)
Week 6	Unit 3 L/S	Week 14	Review
Week 7	Review/ Written Exam	Week 15	Make up Week/ Written Exams
Week 8	Midterm Oral Exams	Week 16	Final Oral Exams

How to get a good participation grade.

Here are three important things to say about your participation grade:

1.      Your participation score is your responsibility! Your teacher does not “give” you this grade – you earn it.

2.      Working hard in class is really important, but…

3.      To get an A for participation, you need to work hard outside of class, too!

In this class, your teacher will give you points for the work you do both in class and outside of class.

At the end of the semester, you can add up your points to find your grade.

Points	Grade
180+	A+
150-180	A
120-150	B
90-120	C
80-90	D
Less than 80	F

In class points:

Task:	Points Reward
Buying an English-only notebook within the first two weeks of term:	10
Come to class on time, with all your English books and a pen	1 per class
Use English only	1 per class
Don’t use your phone (teacher should not see it or hear it!)	1 per class
Complete assigned homework	1 per assignment
Winning Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal for participating in class (for example, answering questions, helping team members in English etc)	3, 2, or 1 per class

Outside of class points:

(For the first 2 of these, you must write a 50 word minimum summary in your notebook).

Task (see overleaf for examples):	Points Reward
Visit the English Help Desk, with a partner, for 15 minutes	7 per visit
Complete a learning activity online (see the back of this paper for more details)	7 per time
Read and write a review about an English language book or article	7 per time
Watch and write a review about an English language movie or TV show	7 per time
Write an article on a topic of your choice (examples overleaf)	7 per time
Complete a vocabulary record for each class	1 per class

Here are some examples of outside-of-class tasks:

Visit the English Help Desk: The Help Desk is near Mountain Coffee in the FLI Global Lounge. It is open every day from 9am – 4.30pm, and you can go any time. It is there to help you practice your English. You should not only go if you have a problem! It’s a fun way to practice.

You must:

1.      Choose a topic which you want to talk to a professor about, together with your     partner – any topic is ok. Films, TV, music, foreign culture, how to improve your English… etc.

2.      Write a 50-word (min) summary of your conversation, including the time you     went and the name of the person you spoke to. For example:

I went to the Help Desk on Thursday 33^rd Octember with..., and had a conversation with Professor Jimmy about…. I told Jimmy that… He said… It was interesting/fun/boring because… I felt good/nervous/confused because… I learned…

Complete a learning activity online: There are loads of great learning resources online. Here are some:

Learn English: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/

Learn English Teens: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/

Breaking News English (for reading): http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1402/140224-security-guards.html

Listen-and-Write (for listening): https://www.listen-and-write.com/

Cambridge English Online (language games!) http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/

BBC Learning English (everything!) http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

You need to write a 50 word summary of this! What did you do? When? What did you learn?

Reviewing books, articles, movies, or TV shows: Anything is ok to review, as long as it is in English (for TV/movies, you can use Korean subtitles to help you).

You need to write a review of 100 words or more. The review should have two parts:

1.      A summary of the book/article/movie/TV show (what was it about?)

2.      Your opinion about it (Did you like it? Why, or why not?)

You should write the two sections in two different paragraphs.

Write an article on a topic of your choice: Tell me your opinion about something. Anything is fine. For example, write an essay about Kim Yuna; or describe your feelings about coming to university. Try to write at least two paragraphs; minimum 100 words.

Complete a vocabulary record: In your notebook, make a note of new words that you learn in class. Your vocabulary map will help you with this. You should include (as a minimum):

l   The word in English

l   The Korean translation

l   The word’s part of speech (noun, verb, adjective etc).

l   An example sentence including the word

l  The meaning in English

Good luck – I hope you all get A+!