SEMESTER IN WHICH THIS COURSE SHOULD BE TAKEN:

This course should be taken during the first semester of the students’ university studies.

PREREQUISITE FOR THIS COURSE:

Students who have a score of at least 570 on the TOEFL test are eligible to take this course.

GENERAL GOALS:

• Students will improve their reading comprehension by expanding their vocabulary as well as by analyzing and synthesizing text contents.
• Students will learn how to write an academic paper with adequate content, structure and form.
• Students will improve their oral communication skills by giving presentations and participating in debates.
• Students will improve their research and teamwork skills.
• Students will expand their knowledge about foreign cultures.

CONTENT:

The course is built around a selection of stories from "Making Contact. Readings from Home and Abroad" and some additional readings. These texts will be explained and discussed in class and complemented by topics presentations and videos. Additionally, the course includes work on specific grammar and language problems as well as the methodology for writing academic papers in English.

As far as possible, classroom activities will be carried out by the students themselves, who will give story and topic presentations, participate in debates, and work on grammar exercises. The teacher’s roll will be limited to giving a general and methodological introduction, organizing the student’s activities, and enriching the debates by specific questions and comments. Counseling will be provided on demand outside class hours and through e-mail.

Specific Activities

Classes Dedicated to Specific Stories:

• All students will prepare the assigned texts at home by reading them carefully (including the introductions) and studying the vocabulary indicated in the corresponding list. For each reading (except those assigned for compositions), there will be a quiz on content and vocabulary at the beginning of the class.
• A team of two or three students will give a presentation of the story, including in-depth explanation of its main themes and background information on the culture it refers to as well as on the author. Story presentations should be backed up by visual aids (overheads, photos) and not exceed 30 minutes. Each team of two students will be responsible for two or three story presentations during the semester.
• After the presentation, the class will participate in the discussion on the story, make additional comments, explain different points of view, and make cross-cultural comparisons.

Classes Dedicated to Specific Topics:

• On specific topics, a team of two or three students will give a presentation including overheads, complementary resources and handouts for all students. These presentations should be based on thorough research and be both informative and interesting. The teams should be prepared to answer specific questions. Each team will be responsible for two or three topic presentations during the semester.
• The same presentations will be transformed into academic papers following MLA standards. These papers are due one week after the corresponding oral presentation.

Grammar Classes:

• As students are already familiar (at least in theory) with the structures of the English language, grammar classes will only address "problem" issues that will be selected according to the specific needs of the class.
• During grammar classes, students will work in teams of two on the selected issue.
• Students will prepare grammar issues by studying at home. The teacher may assign as homework either written exercises or preparation for classroom quizzes.

Videos:

• For illustrating specific topics, some classes will be dedicated to watching videos.

Compositions:

• As part of their homework, students will write two compositions per month. These papers will be graded and must be presented in MLA format.

Exams:

• The three monthly exams and the final exam will consist of answering one or two questions on one or several texts. For these exams, students are allowed to use their own (not their classmates’) books, papers and notes.

SUGGESTED EVALUATION:

As a general policy, evaluation will be based less on students’ proficiency in English and more on their efforts and performance during the course. Students are supposed to earn points by both individual work and teamwork. While quizzes, compositions, and exams are graded on a strictly individual basis, teamwork assignments receive only one grade for all members of the team. At the beginning of the course, the class and the teacher will decide about the forms of self-evaluation and co-evaluation to be used for each type of activity and define appropriate criteria for grading.

Monthly evaluation: teacher’s proposal final agreement

10 (approx.) quizzes etc.* for 4/ points each 40

2 compositions for 20/ points each 40

monthly grade 100 100

* Including quizzes on stories, grammar quizzes and additional articles presented in roundtable discussions.

Semester evaluation: teacher’s proposal final agreement

2/3 topic presentations 20

2/3 topic papers 10

2/3 story presentations for 5/ points each 10

3 monthly grades 45

semester grade 100 100

Extra points:

Students can earn extra points (max. 3 monthly points each) by writing reports on the conferences held outside the normal class hours or by presenting and explaining (both oraly and as a written review) interesting articles or movies.

Discipline and General Policies

• Each student has the right to be absent 12% of classes, i.e., 10 classes out of a total of 75.
• Arriving late 2 times is counted as 1 absence.
• Students who do not bring the grammar material for grammar classes will be considered as absent.
• Points for assignments handed in late will be reduced by % for each day of delay.
• Student presentations have to be done on the day assigned in the program.
• If a student is absent during a quiz, he/she can make up for it by answering the questions marked as "explorations" at the end of the corresponding story. These make-up assignments are due the session following the one missed by the students or can be handed in before.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Fowler, H. Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E.; Koster Tarvers, Jo. The Little, Brown Handbook, 6th ed. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.

Verburg, Carol J. Making Contact. Readings from Home and Abroad. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997.

Verderber, Rudolph F. The Challenge of Effective Speaking, 10th ed. Belmont, Ca.: Wadsworth, 1997.

A good English-language dictionary like Webster’s or American Heritage.

www - Homepage

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