SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
SPRING SEMESTER 2009
#7022 ESL 911: BEGINNING LISTENING, SPEAKING AND
PRONUNCIATION
INSTRUCTOR: LISA SAPERSTON
SAPERSTON_LISA@SMC.EDU
9:30–12:30 WEDNESDAYS
BUNDY 236
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed for the beginning ESL student. The focus is
improvement of the student’s pronunciation and comprehension of
English through exercises which improve aural discrimination of
sounds, build association of sounds with written letters; teach
placement of lips, tongue and teeth for correct pronunciation; impart
correct intonation and stress patterns; improve conversation skills;
teach socio-cultural context for intonation and vocabulary.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK

Benz, Cheryl and Kara Dworak. Tapestry Listening and
Speaking 1. MA: Heinle and Heinle, 2000.

An English/English Dictionary (Longman or Newbury House)
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

Use basic English vocabulary to produce simple sentences.

Orally respond in English to simple commands.

Discriminate aurally between sounds of numbers and letters in
the English alphabet.

Pronounce the sounds of numbers and letters in the English
alphabet.

Identify statements, questions, and exclamations by their
intonation and stress patterns.

Respond in English to conversational cues necessary for daily
survival.

Identify culturally-appropriate responses to real-life situations
and conversational cues.

Choose appropriate synonyms and definitions for paraphrasing.

Identify the main idea in one- or two-minute listening passages.

Identify present, past, and future tenses in oral or written
passages.

Identify common American customs and traditions in oral and
written passages.

Recognize and demonstrate understanding of language
commonly used in want ads.

Recognize some basic idiomatic expressions.

Respond orally to short audio or video-taped assignments.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

In response to audio-taped sentences, students will identify
statements, questions, and exclamations by their intonation and
stress patterns.

Given a list of real-life situations and/or conversational cues,
students will distinguish between culturally appropriate and
culturally-inappropriate responses using proper vocabulary for
each situation.
INSTRUCTIONAL METHODOLOGY
30%
40%
10%
5%
10%
5%
Lecture and/or demonstration
Speaking and listening exercises (including class
discussions, small-group discussions, pair activities,
oral recitations, and/or threaded discussions)
Reading and writing exercises (including error analysis
and/or paraphrasing)
Student presentations and/or oral recitations
Audio-visual materials and/or guest speakers
Computer-assisted learning
METHODS OF EVALUATION
30%
15%
15%
10%
30%
Oral presentations
Quizzes and exams
Homework assignments
Writing assignments
Participation in classroom discussions and activities
(including reading exercises, oral recitations, small
group work, pair work, and threaded discussions)
COURSE CONTENT
Percentage
of Term
Topics
30%
Listening skills, including sounds corresponding to the
American English alphabet, sounds of numbers, simple
commands, basic English conversational cues, basic
English vocabulary, basic grammatical structures, phrases
necessary for real-life survival, intonation and stress
patterns, synonyms, verb tenses, how to identify the
main idea in a sentence, elements of conversation, basic
idiomatic expressions.
30%
Speaking skills, including basic English vocabulary, basic
grammatical structures, phrases necessary for real-life
survival, intonation and stress patterns, synonyms, verb
tenses, basic responses to simple commands, following
basic conversational cues, elements of conversation,
making short oral presentations.
Percentage
of Term
Topics
30%
Pronunciation skills, including placement of tongue, teeth,
and lips, letters in the English alphabet, numbers, basic
English vocabulary, intonation and stress patterns.
10%
American culture, including greetings, gestures and body
language, appropriate responses to a variety of cultural
situations and contexts, American holidays, American
traditions, job interview skills.
IMPORTANT DATES, DEADLINES, HOLIDAYS, AND BREAKS

Spring Semester begins Tuesday, Feb 17, 2009

#7022 ESL 911 begins Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009

Departmental Staff Development Day (No Classes) Campus
Open Friday, Mar 6, 2009

Institutional Flex Day (No Classes) Campus Open
Thursday, March 19, 2009

Spring Break (No Classes) Mon, Apr 13, 2009, to Sun, Apr
19, 2009

Memorial Day (Campus Closed) Mon, May 25, 2009

#7022 ESL 911 ends Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Spring Final Exams

Spring Semester ends

Commencement
Tue, Jun 9 - Tue, Jun 16, 2009
Tue, Jun 16, 2009
Tue, Jun 16, 2009
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

FAQ ABOUT NON-CREDIT ESL:
HTTP://WWW.SMC.EDU/APPS/PUB.ASP?Q=1444&B=1




Take the Big Blue Bus for FREE: It’s free to current SMC
students, faculty and staff with ID (need current semester
sticker). For help finding the route you should take, please go to:
http://www.bigbluebus.com/ or check out the PARKING and
TRANSPORTATION link on the SMC homepage
http://www.smc.edu/transportation/ . Visit the Bursar’s office
on campus to pay your fees and get your semester sticker.
Park for FREE at our Satellite Shuttle Lots: You can park for
free at any of the satellite campus locations or the Olympic
shuttle lot and ride the Big Blue Bus for free to and from the
main campus. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A MAIN CAMPUS
PARKING DECAL, you will need to get a FREE SATELLITE
PARKING DECAL from the Police or the Bursar’s office to
put in your car.
Links to all the details: For more detailed information about
parking and bus routes, please visit the SMC website at:
http://www.smc.edu/transportation/ . For a link to campus
maps with addresses and parking lot specifics, go to:
http://www.smc.edu/apps/comm.asp?Q=195.
The Food for Thought, Thoughts on Food speaker series will
feature three faculty members:Geography professor Pete
Morris: Beer—Global Beverage, Local Passion Thursday March
12; Communications professor Jacki Horwitz: Sandwiches
Worldwide—Think Inside the Bread Thursday, April 2; Art
history professor Walter Meyer: Food, Consumption and
Consumer Culture—From Vanitas Still-Life to Flying Spam
Thursday, May 14All three talks are in HSS 165 during
the Activity Hour—11:15-12:35The Global Connections
speaker series will feature these speakers from off campus:
Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins "15,000 Plastic Bottles: Junk
Rafting to Hawaii" Thursday, February 26 HSS-165 Dr. Steven
Kwon "Soybeans and Service: Nutrition for the World"
Thursday, March 5 Art 214 Dr. Amir Hussain "Contemporary
Muslim Societies in North America" Tuesday, March 31 HSS 16.
All three talks are during the Activity Hour—11:15-12:35
ESL 911 BEGINNING LISTENING, SPEAKING AND
PRONUNCIATION
CLASS ACTIVITIES
WHICH WEDNESDAY???
WHICH TAPESTRY CHAPTER??
FEB. 18
INTRODUCTION TO ESL 911
FEB. 25
CH.1 MEETINGS AND
GREETINGS PP.2-25
MARCH 4
CH.1 CONTINUES
MARCH 11
CH.2 FINDNG YOUR WAY
MARCH 18
PP.26-51
CH.2 CONTINUES
MARCH 25
CH.3 A FULL LIFE PP.52-77
APRIL 1
CH.3 CONTINUES
APRIL 8
CH.4 IT’S RAINING CATS AND
DOGS PP.78-105
APRIL 15
SPRING BREAK
APRIL 22
CH.4 CONTINUES
APRIL 29
CH.5 TO YOUR HEALTH
PP.106-131.
MAY 6
CH.5 CONTINUES
MAY 13
CH.6 A HUMAN RAINBOW
PP.132-157
MAY 20
CH.6 CONTINUES
MAY 27
CH.7 MY HERO PP.158-181
JUNE 3
CH.7 CONTINUES
CH.8 GET A JOB! PP.182-211
JUNE 10
SMC FINAL EXAM WEEK
THE INSTRUCTOR HAS THE RIGHT TO MODIFY OR CHANGE THE CONTENTS
OF THIS SYLLABUS AT HER DISCRETION AT ANY TIME.