Houston Community College System
Intensive English Program, Central College
Course Syllabus
Fall 2010
Instructor:
Course:
CRN:
Course Hours:
Classroom:
Office:
Office Hours:
Office Telephone:
E-mail:
Kathleen Cook
ESOL 0346 Intermediate Reading
Tuesday and Thursday
FAC 310
by appointment
713-718-6678
Kathleen.cook@hccs.edu
Texts and Materials
Cause and Effect, 4th ed. By P. Ackert and L. Lee; Cengage
Reading Power, by Mikulecky and Jefferies; Longman.
Sarah, Plain and Tall
An English-English dictionary:Longman Dictionary of American English or
Newbury House Dictionary
Course Description
A continuation of ESOL 0342, this course develops reading skills and comprehension of
more difficult reading selections.
Course Goals
ESOL 0346, Intermediate Reading, seeks to prepare students for college level
academic or workforce study by accomplishing the following objectives:

developing reading skills and strategies such as understanding main ideas
and supporting facts

acquisition of 1000-1500 new vocabulary words

improving fluency in reading through the use of extensive reading texts

developing critical thinking skills
Classroom Policies
Students are expected to arrive to class on time. If students are absent from
class, they must ask the teacher for the assignments that they missed. When
students are absent on the day of a test, they must make up the work on the day
they return to class. As a courtesy to your instructor and the other students in
the class, please turn off any cell phones and other electronic devices before
entering the classroom. If one of these devices goes off and interrupts the class,
the instructor may confiscate it until the end of the class period.
Attendance Policy
Houston Community College requires students to attend classes regularly. Any
student who misses more than 12.5% of the class in a semester may be dropped
from the class. For Intensive English classes, this amounts to 10 hours (total) of
absence during a regular semester. If students are late 10 minutes or more, they
will be marked tardy; if students leave the classroom during class or leave before
class is finished, they will be marked tardy.
2 times tardy = 1 absence.
HCC Course Withdrawal Policy
The State of Texas has begun to impose penalties on students who drop
courses excessively. For example, if you repeat the same course more than
twice, you have to pay extra tuition. In 2007, the Texas Legislature passed a law
limiting new students (those starting college in Fall 2007) to no more than six
total course withdrawals throughout their academic career in obtaining a
baccalaureate degree. There may be future penalties imposed.
To help students avoid having to drop/withdraw from any class, HCC has
instituted an Early Alert process by which your instructor will "alert" you and HCC
Student Services of the chance you might fail a class because of excessive
absences and/or poor academic performance. You should visit with your
Instructor, an HCC counselor, or HCC Online Student Services to learn about
what, if any, HCC interventions might be offered to assist you – tutoring, child
care, financial aid, job placement, etc. – to stay in class and improve your
academic performance.
Students with Disabilities
Any student with a documented disability (e.g. physical, learning, psychiatric,
vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must
contact the Disability Services Office at the respective college at the beginning of
each semester. Faculty is authorized to provide only the accommodations
requested by the Disability Support Services Office. The office at Central is
located in the Learning Hub, room 106. The telephone number is 713-718-6164.
Academic Honesty
If a student copies sentences from another person's work without giving credit to
the writer by naming the writer as the source of the ideas and words, it is called
"plagiarism." This is a serious offense in American colleges, and it is
unacceptable. Academic honesty is expected of all college students. Any
homework, journal entry or composition that is not a student's own work will be
given a grade of 0. The student may receive an F for the course when plagiarism
occurs repeatedly.
College Grading System
Students in ESOL 0346 classes may receive a letter grade of A, B, C, IP or F. IP
means "in progress." This is not a failing grade, but it is given to students who
complete the course but who are not yet ready for the next level. Anyone who
receives an IP must take ESOL 0346 again. However, if a student has already
received an IP in this course during a previous semester, that student will receive
a letter grade: A, B, C, or F this semester.
A = 90 – 100
B = 80 – 89
C = 70 – 79
IP/F = 0 – 69
IP = progressing but not passing
*Basic Reading Requirements for ESOL 0346
Students in ESOL 0346 Intermediate Reading will have to fulfill the following
requirements in order to pass the class:



an appropriate number of quizzes and tests
a reading project
lab work
ESOL 0346 Grading Formula
The final grade for the course is calculated as follows:
Unit tests
Reading Power lab
*Reading project
80%
10%
10%
100%
*Students will be reading the short novel Sarah, Plain and Tall for their extensive
reading project.
Course Calendar
ESOL 0346 Intermediate Reading
Week 1
Introductions and first day testing
Unit 1: Chapter
Week 2
Unit 1: Chapters 2 & 3
Week 3
Unit 1: Chapters 4 & 5
Week 4
Unit 1 Test
Unit 2: Chapters 1, 2 & 3
Week 5
Unit 2: Chapters 4, & 5
Week 6
Unit 2 Test
Unit 3: Chapters 1 & 2
Week 7
Unit 3 Chapters 2, 3 & 4
Week 8
Unit 3: Chapters 4 & 5
Week 9
Unit 3 Test
Begin with reading project: Sarah, Plain and Tall
(SPT)
Week 10
Reading project
Vocabulary quiz #1-Chapters 1-3 SPT
Week 11
Reading project
Vocabulary quiz #2-Chapters 4-6 SPT
Week 12
Vocabulary quiz #3-Chapters 7-9 SPT
Test on Sarah, Plain and Tall
Unit 5: Chapter 1
Week 13
Unit 5: Chapters 2 & 3
Week 14
Unit 5: Chapter 4
Week 15
Unit 5: Chapter 5
Finish any unfinished work in Reading Power
Week 16
Unit 5 Test