COURSE TITLE: General English. Course Description. Goals/Aims. General Objectives. Learning Outcomes. Assignment. Course Assessment. Evaluation. Teaching Strategies. Course Calendar. Course Calendar and Content. Additional information. Grading System

COURSE TITLE: General English

Course Description

· The purpose of this course is to enhance students’ reading, listening, speaking, writing skills, to develop students’ study capabilities, to encourage students to be autonomous learners.

· It is assumed that the students are already competent in the basic English language skills which they acquired during their study at the secondary school. Thus, the course is aimed at the mastering and improving students’ language proficiency, their academic and study skills, at the development of students’ high order thinking skills (HOTS) such as critical, creative, analytical, relational thinking. It is supposed that students will be able to apply knowledge of this course in their further study and in their future job.

· The course is based on the international course Language Leader, in particular, “Language Leader. Pre-Intermediate” by I. Lebeau and G. Rees. The course is appropriate for adult and young adult learners, thus, it will fit 1^st year university students needs who are 18- 19 years old. This course enables students to be better informed and helps them understand and express their ideas and feelings about the modern world and about themselves.

· According to the university learning plan 360 hours are foreseen for the subject “Foreign Language”: 128 hours in-class learning (64 hours per semester), 30 hours –preparing for the examination, 202 hours –independent work.

· To succeed in the course students are to get a credit at the end of the first semester (pass / fail grade), and to pass the final examination at the end of the course (2-5 mark).

Purpose of the Course/Course rationale**

The course “General English” is an obligatory university subject for all NArFU students. It is created to prepare students for the further learning of the English language within the subject “English for professional purposes”, and for the future professional engagement.

The course is designed for students of non-linguistic areas of study, in particular, for Sociology students.

It is supposed that after this course students will be confident users of the language on B1 level (CEFR).

Instructor information**

Goals/Aims

· to provide knowledge about the up-to-date themes of international interest and familiar subjects;

· to enhance students’ reading and listening skills;

· to improve students speaking skills through giving them plenty opportunities for oral practice and freer discussions;

· to improve students’ writing through analysis of text models and practice in producing of different text types;

· to reinforce students’ knowledge of grammar;

· to broaden students’ knowledge of vocabulary;

· to practice students’ pronunciation;

· to develop students study skills to encourage them to be independent learners with high level of self- and language- awareness.

General Objectives

· to familiarize students with the information about the present-day themes such as weather extremes, inspirational people, creative lives, the media etc (see the chat below);

· to practice various types of reading (for gist, for general understanding, for specific information, for detailed understanding);

· to develop students’ listening sub-skills (for gist, for general understanding, for specific information);

· to practice students’ oral fluency in class discussions and speaking activities; to develop students’ ability to express and explain his/her point of view using key vocabulary and grammar structures; to practice speaking activities using target structures, to develop students’ ability to carry on a dialogue based on familiar topics and materials;

· to master students’ writing skills through providing them the opportunity for analyzing of different text models and produce different text types, such as learning diary, review of a TV-program / TV- series etc.;

· to introduce, practice, and activate grammatical items through a number of activities (filling the gaps, reordering and completing sentences, matching, correcting mistakes, putting sentences in the correct order, word search, crosswords etc);

· to familiarize students with rules of word building, lexical sets and patterns, increase students’ passive and active vocabulary via integrated activities and via keeping a personal glossary;

· to practice students’ pronunciation, in particular, word and sentence stress, difficult sounds, contractions, and intonation through listening and repeating activities;

· to make the language learning process more meaningful and personalized through techniques of  guessing the meaning of unknown words, identifying of a personal learning style and learning strategies, of keeping a learning diary, reflective activities, self- and peer-assessment tasks.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course students will be able to:

· talk about different types of extreme weather;

· talk about the weather in their country using the practiced forms;

· understand the main idea of the reading text;

· find specific information in the reading text;

· understand all the details in short reading texts;

· use question words;

· ask and answer different types of questions;

· understand the difference between present simple and present continuous tenses;

·  use personality adjectives;

· understand the difference between past simple and past continuous;

· talk about famous inspirational and creative people, their lives and achievements, using the past simple and past continuous;

· understand the main idea of the listening text;

· find specific information in the listening text;

· organize their learning process in accordance with their learning style and learning strategies;

· keep their own learning diary for describing their thoughts and feelings about the learning process, for organizing their ideas, for realizing of their progress etc.;

· reflect on the lesson’s content, on their progress, on their difficulties,

· talk about the media using the vocabulary connected with the media;

· discuss personal use of media;

· use articles correctly;

· differentiate between relative pronouns who / that / what;

· talk about modern news companies;

· write a TV-program review;

· understand and use present perfect in affirmative, negative and question forms;

· use words connected with diets and health;

· talk about healthy food;

· write a thank you e-mail;

· express their opinion about the future of the society and family lives;

· use the modal verbs will, might, may;

· formulate their predictions;

· deduce word meaning from the context;

· use the first conditional in the sentences like What’ll you do if…

· write an article for the youth magazine on the topic “What makes you proud of your society today? ”

· check and assess their partner’s writing;

· use the modal verbs must, have to, had to, can, could;

· talk about academic subjects and their importance;

· express their own attitudes to science;

· make notes;

· describe charts and graphs;

· understand compound nouns;

· use vocabulary connected with work;

· speak about their personal criteria for a job;

· use the structure used to for past habits;

· describe a process using present simple passive;

· use words for describing world organizations and positions in organizations,

· talk about big organizations and companies like the United Nations and Microsoft using past simple passive;

· discuss the role of big companies in the modern world;

· write a for and against essay using the target structures;

· talk on causes and effects of global warming;

· discuss their opinion about global warming;

· use phrasal verbs;

· write a report using target structures;

· talk about sports in their country;

· use the second conditional asking and answering the question What would you do if…;

· talk about sports psychology;

· write a formal e-mail

· assess their own written work.

Assignment

1) In every Unit students are to make a “product” (individual tasks):

· Unit 1 – Collage about the weather in their country;

· Unit 2 – Presentation about a famous person;

· Unit 3 – Review of a TV-program / TV-series;

· Unit 4 – Poster about healthy food;

· Unit 5 - Article for the youth magazine;

· Unit 6 – Make and describe a chart;

· Unit 7 – Schematically represent and describe a process;

· Unit 8 - For and against essay;

· Unit 9- Report;

· Unit 10 – Questionnaire about personality.

Every student work is assigned with “1” point or “0” point.

Course Assessment

Students are assessed in the following way:

1^st semester

Attendance: 10 points

Individual tasks: 5 points

Keeping a learning diary: 5 points

Keeping a personal glossary: 10 points

Progress test 1: 20 points

Progress test 2: 20 points

Credit lesson (oral discussing of one of the topics): 30 points.

Total: 100 points.

If a student has less than 50 points he / she does not get a credit.

2^nd semester:

Attendance: 10 points

Individual tasks: 5 points

Keeping a learning diary: 5 points

Keeping a personal glossary: 10 points

Progress test 1: 20 points

Final test: 30 points

Final examination (oral discussing of one of the topics): 20 points (marks 2-5).

Total: 100 points.

If a student has less than 50 points he / she does not pass the exam.

Evaluation

Regular and final feedbacks are planned for the course. Teacher organizes and expects students’ reflection and oral or written feedback after each lesson (in form of answering questions or filling in a table). The learning diaries give students and the teacher more opportunities for giving and getting a regular feedback.

At the end of the course teacher evaluates the course, gives a detailed commentary on students’ performance during the course, paying special attention to his/her current progress, and highlighting and explaining key problematic aspects for future work.

Teaching Strategies

Communicative methodology (role-plays, dialogues, interview, group discussions etc),  text and task-based approach (text reading and discussion, students achieve learning goals and objectives by reading and doing course tasks and activities), student-centered learning (Students are in the centre of the learning process, they express their opinions in written and oral form about the learning process, they share the results of self reflection with the teacher, they formulate their needs, they recognize their deficits and difficulties, they convey their ideas about how the lessons could be improved and how they can be more successful in the learning process. Teacher pay attention to students’ opinions, acts as a facilitator and a guide, giving directions for learning and making corrections/explaining something if it’s necessary), active learning (discussions, pair and group work, solving a problem –tasks, decision making, guessing and predicting etc. ), reflective learning (self reflection activities), pair and group work, product-based (individual task for every Unit when students are to produce something, e. g. to write a review, to make a poster etc. ).

Resources (Materials and Equipment)**

· Coursebook: Language Leader Pre--Intermediate, by I. Lebeau and G. Rees, Oxford University Press.

· Workbook: Language Leader Pre--Intermediate, by I. Lebeau and G. Rees, Oxford University Press.

· Class CD which provides all the recorded material from the Coursebook.

· Test Master CD-ROM which provides the progress tests (one “A” and one “B” test for every three units) and the final test (one “A” and one “B” version).

· Computer/laptop supporting CD.

Course Calendar

Course Calendar and Content

Additional information

· Attendance is essential and required (legitimate excuses are considered). The critical level of missed lessons is set up at 20%. If a student misses more than 20 % of the lessons he / she does not get points for attendance.

· Students are to keep their personal learning diary on a regular basis (twice a month). Teacher collects diary once a month, writes his/ her feedback, and gives “1” point or “0” point for students’ work with the diary once a month.

· Students are to keep their own glossary (400-450 lexical items per semester). Maximum point a student gets for the glossary is 10 points. It means that the student know 100% of lexical items in his / her personal glossary. If he / she knows less than 100% he / she gets less points, e. g. about 80% - 8 points, 50% - 5 points etc.

· At the end of the course students are to prepare a power point presentation as an evaluation of the course and as a self evaluation and to present it for the class.

Possible points to ponder on:

1. What are my impressions on the course?

2. What was interesting for me (topics, activities, tasks etc)?

3. What was boring for me?

4. What was difficult for me?

5. What have I learned?

6. What can I do now (in reading, listening, speaking, writing)?

7. What I still cannot do?

8. What can I do to be more effective in learning English? etc.

· At the end of the course teacher gives a detailed commentary on students’ performance during the course, paying special attention to his/her current progress, and highlighting and explaining key problematic aspects for future work.

Grading System

According to the university grading policy at the end of the course every student gets a mark - 2 / 3/ 4 / 5/

Mark “2” (poor) means that the student did not succeed in the course and has to take the final examination again. He / she may try twice to pass the exam (for the first time - orally, with the teacher, for the second time – in a written form, with a commission of three university teachers).   

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