Frustration at the Airport

Frustration at the Airport

   I had never been more anxious in my life. I had just spent the last three endless hours trying to get to the airport so that I could travel home. Now, as I watched the bus driver set my luggage on the airport sidewalk, I realized that my frustration had only just begun.

   This was my first visit to the international section of the airport, and nothing was familiar. I could not make sense of the signs. Where was the ticket counter? Where should I take my luggage? I had no idea where the customs line was. I began to panic. What time was it? Where was my airplane? I had to find help because I could not be late.

  I tried to ask a passing businessman for help, but all my words came out wrong. He just frowned and walked away. What had happened? I had been in this country for a whole semester and I could not even remember how to ask for directions. This was awful! Another bus arrived at the terminal, and as the passengers came out with all sorts of luggage I knew I could follow them to where I needed to go, and I would not have to say a word to them.

   I dropped my enormous suitcase behind being followed the group. We finally got to the elevators. Oh, no! They all fit in, but there was not enough room for me. I watched in despair as the elevator doors closed. I had no idea what to do next. I got on the elevator when it returned and gazed at all the buttons. Which one would it be? I pressed button 3. The elevator slowly climbed up to the third floor and jerked to a stop. A high squeaking noise announced the opening of the doors, and I look around.

  

   Tears formed in my eyes as I saw the deserted lobby and realized that I would miss my airplane. Just then, an old airport employee shuffled around the corner. He saw that I was lost, and asked if he could help. He gave me his handkerchief to dry my eyes as I told him what was wrong. He smilked kindly, took me by the hand, and led me down a long hallway. We walked up some stairs, turned a corner, and at last, there was customs! He led me past all the lines of people and pushed my luggage to the inspection counter.

   When I turned to thank him for all his help, he was gone. I will never know what that wonderful man's name was, but I will always remember his unexpected help. He aided me when I needed it the most. I can only hope that one day I will be able to do the same for another traveller who is suffering through a terrible journey.

Week 1 - Introductions

You can download this in a .doc file here.

Basic English Writing

Autumn 2015

Instructor: Thomas S. Avery, M.A.

Classroom: 인202 – 영어회화실-1

Office: 인526호

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 2pm-3pm. (Other times available by appointment).

KakaoID: tomsavery

Email: tavery.daejin@gmail.com

Website: basicWA15.blogspot.kr

Course Description: This course aims to provide a platform for you to push your English speaking as far as it will go in a very short time. The professor will provide the content and materials needed for your study, and provide guidance when necessary, but the burden is on students to make use of the tools provided in this class.

Course Objectives: At the end of this course, students will be able to:

1)        Engage in extended dialogues with strangers in English about a limited range of topics

2)        Identify and work on the mistakes they make when speaking

3)      Use language skills to problem solve when they do not have the language they need to understand someone or explain something

4)      Develop learning habits which will allow further English study in the future.

Required Text:

Blass, L., & Gordon, D. (2010). Writers at Work: From Sentence to Paragraph. Cambridge University Press.

Bring these to class:

Textbook
Notebook
Pen / pencil
Phone with full battery

If you do not bring these to class you will be marked as absent.

Grading:

Note: Your final score is based on relative grading. If you do very well but other students do better your grade may be lower than you wish.

Attendance                        10%

-          If you do not bring the required materials to class, you are absent.

-          If you are late 4 times, every time you are late thereafter you are absent.

-          If you are absent 5 times, you automatically fail the course

Participation                     20%

-          If you are absent, you do not get participation points unless you can prove you have studied the unit we studied in class.

-          I will watch every class and note down students who do not actively participate.

Video files and chats         15%

-          I require that you use Kakaotalk in class. You must record your screen and send me the video file AND the Kakao chat file every week.

-          You get one point for every week you send the file - these are easy points!

Midterm                            15%

-          You will be given a conversation topic or problem to solve as a group.

-          You work as a group, but your grade is based only on your performance.

-          Midterms are filmed for school records.

Final                                   25%

-          Similar to the midterm, but using everything we learn through the term.

-          Learn from the mistakes you make in the midterm to do better in the final.

Notebook                          15%  

-          You must take notes in class.

-          Prove that you use your time in class and at home learning new vocabulary.

-          I will take your notebook at the Final exam.

Syllabus

Date	Unit	Focus
Sep 2	Intro
Sep 7	1 – All About Me p. 12-16	Using “Be” sentences to write about yourself.
Sep 9	1 – All About Me p.17-22	Revising, editing, and improving - punctuation.
Sep 14	2 – Home Sweet Home p. 24 - 31	Using “there + be” or “has” to denote existence and write about places
Sep 16	2 – Home Sweet Home p. 32 - 38	Revising, editing, and improving – conjunctions “too” and “also”, focusing on articles.
Sep 21	3 – Work, Play, Sleep p. 40 - 47	Writing about routines using the present simple.
Sep 23	3 – Work, Play, Sleep p. 48 - 54	Revising, editing, and improving – Approximation of time, using “or” and “either”, checking conjugations
Sep 28	Chuseok	Class to be made up on Dec 9.
Sep 30	4 – Families p. 55 - 62	Wiring about relationships with pronouns
Oct 5	4 – Families p. 63 - 68	Revising, editing, and improving – relationship phrases, and vs but
Oct 7	5 – That’s Entertainment! p. 70 – 75	Writing about habits and hobbies using frequency
Oct 12	5 – That’s Entertainment! p. 76 - 82	Revising, editing, and improving – Making adjectives and examples with “such as”
Oct 14	Review Week	Q&A Session
Oct 19	Midterm prep and practice
Oct 21	Midterm Week	Midterm times to be decided in class
Oct 26	Midterm Week
Oct 28	6 – People p. 84 – 90	Describing other people using “like” and intensifiers
Nov 2	6 – People p. 91 - 98	Revising, editing, and improving – Synonyms and using “for example”
Nov 4	7 – Jobs and Careers p. 100 - 105	Writing about what people do and using count and non-count nouns.
Nov 9	7 – Jobs and Careers p. 106 - 112	Revising, editing, and improving – Job phrases, using “because” and “so”
Nov 11	8 – Important Life Events p. 114 - 122	Writing about your past using time expressions
Nov 16	8 – Important Life Events p. 123 - 128	Revising, editing, and improving – Sequencing using “then”, “next”, and “after that”
Nov 18	9 – Going Places p. 130 – 137	Describing experiences in the past using “when” clauses.
Nov 23	9 – Going Places p. 138 – 144	Revising, editing, and improving – Writing about the weather, using “however”.
Nov 25	10 – In the Future p. 146 – 152	Writing about dreams and plans using “be going to” and phrasal infinitive verbs.
Nov 30	10 – In the Future p. 153 - 160	Revising, editing, and improving – Ordering, titles, and topic sentences.
Dec 2	Final Exam Prep
Dec 7	Final Exam prep and practice
Dec 14	Finals	Times to be decided in class.
Dec 16	Finals

Note- The instructor reserves the right to change at any time the topics of study and/or points assigned to assignments.

Weekly Homework

Dear Class,

Every week you will have the same basic homework.

1. Send me your Kakao chat to my email (tavery.daejin@gmail.com)

2. Send me your AZ Screen video to the Class Kakaotalk.

3. Complete class notes, write examples for any vocabulary you learned.

4. Preview the next lesson, especially new vocabulary. You must be ready for the next class.

I may give you extra homework on top of this.

This is a writing class - it won't be easy! Send me a message or come and find me in my office (인526) if you need help. Students who ask for help tend to get better scores.

Good luck,

Prof. Tom