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
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
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.
