` SEE University Language Centre- Basic Skills English Program Winter Semester 2010/11 Course title: Level 2 PTS
Course section: 2.01 Meeting Time: Tuesday and Wednesday Classroom: 1001.17 Lecturer: Serdal Xhemali E-mail: [email protected] Course Information Basic Skills English Level 2 is a one-semester course meeting 6 class hours per week. The full length of the course is 12 weeks. General Course Content The course will focus on the four main language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Apart from the New English File (Pre-intermediate) books, supplementary materials such as newspapers, videos, books, extra materials taken from other English Language Teaching books and other resources will be given to students. General Course Goals
Mastery Goals: Students will be able to: Talk about present experiences Talk about past experiences Discuss the weather Going shopping Using functional language for airports Using functional language for asking and giving directions Discuss future arrangements Use comparatives and superlatives to describe people or things Write a descriptive paragraph Practice basic reading comprehension skills
Assignments Different types of assignments will be counted towards the final grade, such as: workbook exercises, 2 quizzes, which will be assigned ahead of time and will count towards course grade. There will be three in-class writing assignments during the semester. Students are expected to do them and hand them in on time, during the class. The assignments can not be made up except in case of an excused absence (medical condition or other emergency). Text Books
NEW ENGLISH FILE Pre-Intermediate (Students book and workbook) Policies Attendance: Students are expected to come to class regularly and on time. The students with permanent place of residency abroad (Kosovo, Albania or other countries in the region) are exempt from the obligation to attend the classes on-site and the points for attendance and participation are awarded to them by default. However, they are expected to complete the other projects or assignments which can be submitted electronically. The students with permanent residency in Macedonia are required to attend the 50% of the on-site meetings in order to be eligible to take the final exam
Assessment: Assessment criteria are selected to measure and reward both effort and achievement, and are applied equally to all students without bias. Final course grades will be determined based on the following
grading criteria:
Attendance/Participation Homework LIBRI/email Final exam Total:
10 20 20 50 100
The writing part will be evaluated according to the following grading rubric:
Points Possible 6 4 6 2 2 Total points* 20 Points Given
Descriptive Rubric Topic developed effectively Paragraph has clear topic and concluding sentences Descriptive details (physical appearance, personality traits, sensory words, etc.) Spelling, Punctuation, Capitalization Sentence structure (grammar)
*Note: Total number of points awarded will be limited if the paragraph is off topic and/or not formatted correctly.
Final course grades will be awarded according to the following scale: 95% 86% 77% 68% 60% 59% 100% 94% 85% 76% 67% below 10.0 9.0 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0
In order to be promoted the next level in the Basic Skills English program, a student must meet the following two course requirements:
1. 2.
Have a cumulative course grade of six (6) or higher; Earn 60% or higher on the final exam.
If a student earns a final course grade of six (6) or higher but does not reach 60% on the final exam, he/she will not receive a final grade. Instead, he/she will receive an Incomplete and be required to take a make-up examination or repeat the final examinations during the following semester. (NB: If a student fails to complete the course within one academic year of receiving an incomplete, he/she will receive a final course grade of five (5) and be required to take the course again completely.)
Plagiarism. Cheating on a final exam will result in immediate expulsion from the testing room and zero (0) points on the test. The students name will also be reported to his/her faculty dean. Cheating and all other cases of plagiarism will be handled in accordance with policies outlined in the SEEU Book of Rules.
LEVEL 2
Week 1: February 15-19
Introductory week SS should know the basic requirements of the course and be acquainted with the contents of the syllabus. File 1B Vocabulary: Family and adjectives (pg. 6, pg 145 part 1) Reading: Who knows you better, your family or your friends? Grammar: Present Simple File 1C Listening: (pg.7) Speaking: (pg. 7) (Teachers can use another information gap activity instead.) Ss should be able to ask for and give basic personal information, talk about family and describe physical appearance and personality traits using the present simple. Writing: Introduction to descriptive paragraph writing Ss should be able to write a basic, first draft of introductory paragraph.
Week 2: February 22-26 (Online)
Week 3: File 6C: Elementary Students Book March 1-5 Vocabulary & Speaking: Neighbours from hell (pg. 68)
Grammar: Present Continuous (pg. 68, pg. 132) Speaking: Communication Theyre having a party (pg. 110, pg 113) To present and give practice to the present continuous developing the speaking ability of what is happening at the moment. Week 4: Optional: workbook and additional activities March 8- Writing #1 Describe a person* 12 (Activities from the Writing Handbook p.2-23 to 2-33 ) (Online) *Conferencing with students on their writing
Ss should be able to write one paragraph describing a person using the guidelines from the Writing Handbook and the vocabulary taught in the previous week.
Week 5: March 15- Vocabulary: Holidays (pg.147 ex. 1 &2)) 19 Reading: In the right place but at the wrong time (pg.16)
File 2A
Talk about past experiences
Grammar: Past Simple (pg.16) Discuss the Weather Vocabulary: Weather (p. 147 ex. 3) Speaking and writing: List activities that can be done according to weather conditions Writing: Prepare a weather report for the past five days for an assigned city/location Speaking: Participate in a dialogue discussing the weather with a classmate who is on vacation Ss should be able to talk about past events and actions in the context of holidays. Learn and use basic vocabulary for weather, create and present a weather report. Week 6: Writing #2 Describe a place* March 22- (Activities from the Writing Handbook pg.2-20 to 2-22 ) 26 Conferencing with students on their writing
(Online) Week 7: File 3A Discuss Future Arrangements March 29- Reading: Where are you going? (pg.28) 31 Grammar: Future Arrangements (going to; Present Continuous)
(pg.28) Listening: Interview (pg.29) Prepositions of time and place (p.148, ex.1) Speaking: Practical English At the airport (pg. 12) Ss should be able to discuss future arrangements and plans. Ss acquire and apply useful phrases from practical English section in the context of airport. File 3B Predictions Grammar: will/wont for predictions (p30) Listening/Speaking: (p31) Role play: A phone conversation with the ticket agent at the bus station. Ss will make predictions about what is likely to happen in given situations. Revision and Quiz 1 Ss should produce a descriptive paragraph for a place, following the activities and guidelines from the Writing Handbook. Revision of grammar (Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple,) and vocabulary (family adjectives, holidays, weather and personality adjectives) for reinforcement of learnt material for Quiz 1. Week 9: File 3C Discuss Future Arrangements April 12- Grammar: will/wont (promises, offers, decisions) (p32) 16 Vocabulary: prepositions of movement (pg. 9, pg. 148)
Week 8: April 6-9 (Online)
(Teachers may find additional activities) Speaking: Practical English Giving directions Ss distinguish and learn the different uses of will/wont. Ss learn to give and follow basic directions through listening activities from Practical English and additional handouts.
Week 10: May 3-7
File 4 B In-Class Writing #3 Describe a room* (Activities from the Writing Handbook pg.2-10 to 2-18 ) * Conferencing with students on their writing Ss should produce a paragraph describing a room.
Week 11: File 4A Going Shopping May 17-21 Reading: Teachers choice
Vocabulary: Clothes (pg. 150?) Discuss likes and dislikes about going shopping Role play Go shopping at a department store and ask for a specific item Ss will identify the English names of common items of clothing and structures such as: put on, take off. and use them in meaningful context. Week 12: June 1-4 QUIZ 2 REVISION General revision of the whole material for exam preparation.
