Dear students,
Today is your mid-term test. You should speak for at least three minutes per person, and you will be assessed on fluency, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and content. Each category is worth two points, for a total of ten. Most people will earn one point for each category, so the average score will be about five out of ten points for the class.
Good luck!
Chris Elvin
Thursday, 26 May 2016
Thursday, 19 May 2016
May 26th class
Dear students,
Today you will prepare for your presentation. If there are some groups who want to present today, you may do so. Otherwise you will present the following week on June 2nd.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin
P.S. You all did well on the test. The average score was 19.15 and the lowest score was 18.
Today you will prepare for your presentation. If there are some groups who want to present today, you may do so. Otherwise you will present the following week on June 2nd.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin
P.S. You all did well on the test. The average score was 19.15 and the lowest score was 18.
Mid-term Vocabulary Test
Dear students,
When your teacher tells you, you may click on the link below and start the vocabulary test.
Mid-term Vocabulary Test
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin
When your teacher tells you, you may click on the link below and start the vocabulary test.
Mid-term Vocabulary Test
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin
Thursday, 12 May 2016
May 19th lesson
Dear students,
Today you will finish the first round of group discussions. After that you will have an online 10-point vocabulary test based on the words in the database that you created. There will be twenty questions of twenty definitions, and you should choose the answer, a word, from a drop-down list of the same fifty words for each question. (Your browser or phone may not necessarily support drop-down menus, but you should still be able to answer the questions).
After the test, you may prepare your mid-term presentation. You should be ready to talk for at least three minutes per person, and your light, show and tell speech will be assessed for content, fluency, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
The groups are as follows:
9 10 14
26 19 25 28
22 23 12
8 18 2 5
17 21 4
11 1 16 13
20 15 6
27 3 24 7
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin
Today you will finish the first round of group discussions. After that you will have an online 10-point vocabulary test based on the words in the database that you created. There will be twenty questions of twenty definitions, and you should choose the answer, a word, from a drop-down list of the same fifty words for each question. (Your browser or phone may not necessarily support drop-down menus, but you should still be able to answer the questions).
After the test, you may prepare your mid-term presentation. You should be ready to talk for at least three minutes per person, and your light, show and tell speech will be assessed for content, fluency, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
The groups are as follows:
9 10 14
26 19 25 28
22 23 12
8 18 2 5
17 21 4
11 1 16 13
20 15 6
27 3 24 7
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin
Thursday, 28 April 2016
New Course Outline (vocabulary notebooks, and attendance policy)
Oral English II
Spring
2016
Instructor: Chris
Elvin
Email: chriselvin@gmail.com
Course Description
Welcome to Oral English. This class is designed to accomplish the following:
1) Discuss stories in
the news.
2) Keep a vocabulary
notebook.
3) Research a topic, and
give a group presentation of it.
Course Assessment and Grading Criteria
a) 20% Serving as discussion leader
b) 30% News summary writing
b) 10% Vocabulary notebook
d) 20% Group presentations
e) 20% Vocabulary final test
a)
Serving as discussion leader (20)
You should introduce yourself to
the others, address the others by name, make eye contact, and use body language
to communicate.
Choose a news item from a
newspaper, or an online source. Prepare your summary before class. Orally
summarize it in class to your group (do not read from notes). Solicit opinions
from others about it. Ask follow-up questions. Paraphrase others. Express an
opinion in your summary if you wish to do so.
How did you do? Rate yourself
using the “assessing discussions” guidelines below.
If you are not group leader, you
may still engender a lively talkative group by agreeing, disagreeing, asking
opinions, interrupting, clarifying, asking questions, and giving reasons. You
are encouraged to do so.
Discussion leader homework:
After you have served as group
leader, you should upload three vocabulary items to the class vocabulary
database, which you may access from the blog (April 3rd, 2016
entry). 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.
b) News
summary writing (30)
After every lesson you should summarize
one of the day’s six discussion topics. (who, what, where, when, why, how).
Write about the others’ opinions, too. Conclude with your opinion. Each summary
writing exercise should be about 150 words.
c) Vocabulary
notebook (10)
Keep a vocabulary notebook of new
words that you learned in class. Write their definitions in either English, or
Japanese, or both. Use your words in a sentence to demonstrate your active
knowledge of them. You should add at least ten words per week to your notebook.
If you did not learn as many as ten new words per class, you should use the
database words to make up the difference. Write the database words in a
sentence to demonstrate you understand of their meaning.
d) Group
presentations (20)
There will be a mid-term
presentation and a final presentation, both of which will need some preparation
time inside and outside of class. Research a topic with your group. Then
deliver your presentation. You will be assessed on fluency (not reading),
grammar range and accuracy, vocabulary, and pronunciation.
e) Vocabulary
final test (20)
At the end of the semester, there
will be an online vocabulary test based on all of the words that you uploaded
to the database as discussion group leaders. (You may access the database for study
from the April 3rd blog entry, or by clicking the green spreadsheet
icon on the original Google form).
Attendance
Policy
You are expected to attend ALL
classes.
A typical lesson plan
If all goes, well, you will have six
discussions per class led by the discussion group leaders, who will rotate from
group to group. Your group members will be chosen at random by the teacher.
After the discussions, there will be time for summary writing, vocabulary
notebooks, or studying the words in the database.
If the class needs an extra
activity, I will upload something to the blog for you to download. Hopefully,
this will not be necessary.
Anything else?
Why
not visit the chat room? It is a great way to practice English.
Assessing
Discussions
Circle any of the nine pass
criteria below. Score one point for each pass mark circled (maximum nine
points). How many marks did you award yourself?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Explaining
Pass a) Described the main points of the article without reading
Pass b) Explained vocabulary when needed, using only English
Pass c) Paraphrased partners’ comments accurately
Fail I read the article aloud. (zero points for this category)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Questioning
Pass a) Asked partners questions, used their names, and encouraged
their participation
Pass b) Used follow-up questions and rephrased them as necessary
Pass c) Employed questioning to direct the discussion and to clarify
points
Fail I read the questions aloud. (zero points for this category)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Non-verbally Communicating
Pass a) Frequent, natural eye contact
Pass b) Appropriate, helpful gestures
Pass c) Good posture and sensitivity to the body language of other
group members
Fail I made no eye contact, nor gestures. (zero points for this
category)
Aoyama
Gakuin University Attendance Policy
Your absences may affect your
final grade. There is a ceiling depending on the absences you have from class.
Between zero and three absences
per year: no effect
Four or five absences per year:
maximum grade; A
Six or seven absences per year:
maximum grade; B
Eight or nine absences per year:
maximum grade; C
Thursday, 7 April 2016
Course Outline
Dear students,
Here is your course outline:
Oral English II
Spring
2016
Instructor: Chris
Elvin
Email: chriselvin@gmail.com
Course Description
Welcome to Oral English. This class is designed to accomplish the following:
1) Discuss stories in
the news.
2) Keep a vocabulary
notebook.
3) Research a topic, and
give a group presentation of it.
Course Assessment and Grading Criteria
a) 20% Serving as discussion leader
b) 30% News summary writing
b) 10% Vocabulary notebook
d) 20% Group presentations
e) 20% Vocabulary final test
a)
Serving as discussion leader (20)
You should introduce yourself to
the others, address the others by name, make eye contact, and use body language
to communicate.
Choose a news item from a
newspaper, or an online source. Prepare your summary before class. Orally
summarize it in class to your group (do not read from notes). Solicit opinions
from others about it. Ask follow-up questions. Paraphrase others. Express an
opinion in your summary if you wish to do so.
How did you do? Rate yourself
using the “assessing discussions” guidelines below.
If you are not group leader, you
may still engender a lively talkative group by agreeing, disagreeing, asking
opinions, interrupting, clarifying, asking questions, and giving reasons. You
are encouraged to do so.
Discussion leader homework:
After you have served as group
leader, you should upload three vocabulary items to the class vocabulary
database, which you may access from the blog (April 3rd, 2016
entry). 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.
b) News
summary writing (30)
After every lesson you should
summarize one of the day’s six discussion topics. (who, what, where, when, why,
how). Write about the others’ opinions, too. Conclude with your opinion. Each
summary writing exercise should be about 150 words.
c) Vocabulary
notebook (10)
Keep a vocabulary notebook of new
words that you learned in class. Write their definitions in either English, or
Japanese, or both. Use the word in a sentence to demonstrate your active
knowledge.
d) Group
presentations (20)
There will be a mid-term
presentation and a final presentation, both of which will need some preparation
time inside and outside of class. Research a topic with your group. Then
deliver your presentation. You will be assessed on fluency (not reading),
grammar range and accuracy, vocabulary, and pronunciation.
e) Vocabulary
final test (20)
At the end of the semester, there
will be an online vocabulary test based on all of the words that you uploaded
to the database as discussion group leaders. (You may access the database for
study from the April 3rd blog entry, or by clicking the green
spreadsheet icon on the original Google form).
Attendance
Policy
You are expected to attend ALL
classes.
A typical lesson plan
If all goes, well, you will have six
discussions per class led by the discussion group leaders, who will rotate from
group to group. Your group members will be chosen at random by the teacher.
After the discussions, there will be time for summary writing, vocabulary
notebooks, or studying the words in the database.
If the class needs an extra
activity, I will upload something to the blog for you to download. Hopefully,
this will not be necessary.
Anything else?
Why
not visit the chat room? It is a great way to practice English.
Assessing
Discussions
Circle any of the nine pass
criteria below. Score one point for each pass mark circled (maximum nine
points). How many marks did you award yourself?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Explaining
Pass a) Described the main points of the article without reading
Pass b) Explained vocabulary when needed, using only English
Pass c) Paraphrased partners’ comments accurately
Fail I read the article aloud. (zero points for this category)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Questioning
Pass a) Asked partners questions, used their names, and encouraged
their participation
Pass b) Used follow-up questions and rephrased them as necessary
Pass c) Employed questioning to direct the discussion and to clarify
points
Fail I read the questions aloud. (zero points for this category)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Non-verbally Communicating
Pass a) Frequent, natural eye contact
Pass b) Appropriate, helpful gestures
Pass c) Good posture and sensitivity to the body language of other
group members
Fail I made no eye contact, nor gestures. (zero points for this
category)
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May 21st lesson
Dear students, You have been invited to Google Classroom. Please accept the invitation sent by email. I will probably stop using the blog f...
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Dear students, You have been invited to Google Classroom. Please accept the invitation sent by email. I will probably stop using the blog f... -
Dear students, Here is your course outline: Oral English II Spring 2016 Instructor: Chris Elvin Email: ... -
Dear students, Today, and every lesson, the first thing you will do will be to sign in. Your time will be recorded. ATTENDANCE FORM The...