Oral English II
Spring 2020
Instructor: Chris Elvin
Dear students,
Welcome to Aoyama Gakuin University Oral English II class. The purpose of this class is for you to improve your English language fluency by practicing regularly. Your success depends mostly on you, so be punctual, ever-present, and responsible, and do your best!
Attendance
The first thing you should do after entering the classroom is to sign in. (You must not sign in if you are not in class).
ATTENDANCE FORM
Your teacher will keep this file as a record of how often you came to class together with your time of arrival. If you travel to school by public transport, you should anticipate that there may be a delay, so you should plan to arrive at class early just in case.
Course Assessment and Grading Criteria
a) 40% Participation
b) 20% Serving as discussion leader
c) 20% Vocabulary tests
d) 20% Presentations
a) Participation (40)
Your participation score is based on how often you come to class, how early you arrive, and how much effort you make as discussion leader and as discussion participant.
For non-leaders:
After your discussion leader has finished, please provide feedback to her via the online form below:
For everyone:
At the end of the lesson, please reflect on today's class by using the form below:
HOW WAS TODAY? (for everyone)
b) Serving as discussion leader (20)
When it is your turn to be discussion leader you should prepare a topic for discussion in advance. You should refrain from reading while in class so that you can engage with your group naturally. Introduce yourself, if necessary, and ask others their names. Address them by name, and make eye contact and appropriate body language. Solicit opinions, ask follow-up questions, and keep the discussion flowing. The length of each discussion will typically be about twelve minutes to fifteen minutes, ideally with no Japanese and little silence.
When
An absent discussion leader is extremely costly to the success of the class, so you must attend both sessions per semester to earn 20 points. If you are present for your session you will earn 10 points. If you are absent for your session, you will be penalized 10 points (minus 10 points).
After you have served as group leader, it is your responsibility to upload three vocabulary items to the class vocabulary database via the online form below (You will have to use the form three times to submit three words).
VOCABULARY UPLOAD FORM (for discussion leaders)
For each word, you should give a meaning (in English or Japanese), and use the word in a sentence, that helps learners to understand its meaning.
c) Vocabulary tests (20)
There will be two online vocabulary tests based on all of the words that you uploaded to the database as discussion group leaders. One will be mid-term, and the other at the end of the semester.
d) Presentations (20)
There will be a mid-term presentation and a final presentation, both of which will need preparation before you speak. Research a topic. Then deliver your presentation. You will be assessed on fluency (not reading), grammar range and accuracy, vocabulary, pronunciation and content. You should speak for at least three minutes, and you should not read your speech nor bring a script.
* If you plagiarize your speech and read it, you may fail the course.
Schedule
You will normally have five or six discussions per class led by the discussion group leaders who will rotate from group to group.
Week 1: Orientation
Week 2: Group discussion 1
Week 3: Group discussion 2
Week 4: Group discussion 3
Week 5: Group discussion 4
Week 6: Group discussion 5
Week 7: Online vocabulary test, mid-term presentations
Week 8: Mid-term presentations
Week 9: Group discussion 1
Week 10: Group discussion 2
Week 11: Group discussion 3
Week 12: Group discussion 4
Week 13: Group discussion 5
Week 14: Online vocabulary test, Final presentations
Week 15 Final presentations
Anything else?
Why not visit the chat room? It is a great way to practice English.
Kind regards,
