North Seattle Community College
ESL 055.01 Spring Quarter 2009
SYLLABUS-RWG5
TIMES: 12:00-1:50 PM
DAYS: Monday through Friday
DATES: April 13 –June 19 2009
CLASSROOM: IB 1308
OFFICE HOURS: by appointment
INSTRUCTOR: Richard Alishio
E-MAIL: ralishio@sccd.ctc.edu
Cell Phone: 206-696-4294
OFFICE: classroom
TEXTBOOKS & MATERIALS: The following textbooks have been ordered for this course
and are available for purchase at the North Seattle Community College bookstore:
 Marjorie Fuchs & Margaret Bonner, Focus on Grammer 4, 3rd ed.
 Milada Broukal, Weaving it Together 4, 2nd ed.
In addition to your course textbooks you will need to acquire the following:
 A good English-English dictionary from a reputable publisher, such as Cambridge,
Collins, Longman, Oxford, Random House, or Miriam Webster
 A supply of white, ruled, 8½ by 11-inch paper and a 3-ring binder for your writing
portfolio.
 One blue or green exam booklet for your reading journal (get it in the bookstore?)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to help you develop the English
grammar, reading and writing skills you need to succeed in further college and university
study in the US.
We will practice using context clues and our general knowledge of English to understand
increasingly complex texts, locate and evaluate information, make inferences and
predictions, and demonstrate our understanding of what we have read. We will explore
various techniques for generating ideas in writing and practice organizing and expressing
them in coherent and, above all, interesting essays. We will strengthen our understanding of
English grammar, focusing some of the important but less frequently used verb tenses,
modal verbs, the passive voice, determiners, and more complex sentence structures.
As you progress through the quarter, the tasks will require you to use skills that we have
previously studied. Therefore, it is important that you work hard throughout the course, keep
up with the assignments, and do your best. If you do, you are sure to improve your English
skills and make progress toward your goals.
ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION: Attendance is important. You are expected to attend
class each day, on time and prepared to participate in the day’s lesson. If you arrive late,
you may interrupt and delay the work of others. If you are unprepared, you cannot
participate effectively in the classroom activities and you may become an obstacle to the
progress of other students. Participation also includes your ability to respect and
cooperate with others.
If you cannot attend class for any reason, you should inform the teacher in advance by
email. Please note that you are still responsible for any homework assigned in a class you
may have missed. Therefore, you may need to contact another student and arrange to get a
copy. Take a moment now to write the names and contact information of at least two
students in this class whom you can call to find out the homework assignments and other
information if you are absent.
Name
Phone
E-mail
Name
Phone
E-mail
HOMEWORK POLICY: All homework assignments must be completed by the beginning of
class on the date due. Late homework may be corrected by the teacher but will not receive
credit. Corrected homework will be returned to the student as soon as possible, but bear in
mind that not all homework assignments will be corrected.. If you are not present when a
homework assignment is returned in class, your individual homework may not be returned
to you; however. you will still receive credit. In addition to specific editing or other
comments, you teacher will grade your homework as follows
Check plus(+): Exceptionally good effort or results
Check (): Satisfactory effort and results
Check minus (-): Insufficient effort or results
Zero (0): Late or no credit
GRAMMAR: Grammar is fundamental to your success in all English skills. Knowledge of
grammar helps you understand what you read, and your ability to create grammatical
sentences makes it possible for others to understand what you write. We will work on
grammar in class each day, and you will have daily grammar homework. You will frequently
be asked to turn in written grammar homework. When your teacher returns it to you, you
may be asked to make corrections and re-submit the work. It’s a good idea to save this
work in your portfolio as well so you can review it in the future. Reviewing your corrected
homework is an especially useful way to prepare for quizzes tests. We will have a number
of grammar quizzes during the quarter, along with a midterm and final exam.
PORTFOLIO: You should purchase 3-ring binder to serve as your portfolio and the record
of your work in this course, primarily of your writing. At the end of the quarter, you may be
asked to submit your portfolio to the teacher who will use it to determine your writing grade.
During the course, your teacher may give you specific instructions on other material to
include in your portfolio.
LOFT WRITING CENTER: You are urged to take advantage of this unique center, located
upstairs in the NSCC library. The Loft is staffed by trained tutors and equipped with
computers loaded with many programs that can help you with your work for this class. All its
facilities are free and available on a drop-in basis.
ELECTRONIC TUTORING: NSCC also offers electronic tutoring through the etutoring.org
website. To use this service, register at http://frontpage.northseattle.edu/etutoring/. You will
receive an email confirmation within 48 hours providing you with your account information.
Afterwards, you will be able to submit essays for feedback and interact with tutor live online
to get help with your writing assignments.
PLAGIARISM POLICY: When you do work for this class, whether written or otherwise, it
must be your own work. You may not plagiarize, which means that you must not take the
words or work of another person and present it as your own work. In American academic
culture plagiarism is considered dishonest and is taken very seriously. Plagiarized work will
not receive credit. Students can be disciplined (or, in extreme cases, even expelled) for
plagiarism.
FINAL EXAM: The final examination will test your understanding of grammar, your ability to
comprehend what you read, and your ability to write effectively in English. The exam will be
given in the regular classroom during regular class time in the last week of class. The exact
date will be announced later. There will be no make-up exams.
GRADING POLICY: At the end of the course you will be given a numerical grade based on
a scale of four points, on which 4.0 is the highest possible grade and 2.0 is the lowest
passing grade. Individual assignments or tests may receive a numerical score. In these
cases 75% is generally considered the minimum passing grade.
Your teacher will determine your grade for the course on the following basis.
25% Attendance and participation
25% Homework and preparation
25% Quizzes and exams
25% Writing improvement