COURSE SYLLABUS
Department of Applied English
Fall, 2011
Course Name：Western Drama
Course Number: 11A051341 Credits: 2
▓ Required □ Elective
A. COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will focus on the reading of plays in English. There will be instruction in
reading strategies such as predicting, skim reading for the gist of a text and reading
for specific information. Moreover attention will be paid to theme, character and plot
and students will be given relevant background information to aid in understanding of
the plays while at the same time broadening their knowledge of different cultures and
periods. Finally students will be given instruction and practice in actual performance
with the intension to improve oral proficiency and greater English cultural awareness.
B. COURSE OBJECTIVES
- To give students instruction in both top-down and bottom-up reading
strategies such as predicting what a text will be about, reading to understand
the main idea of a text and reading to find specific information. The focus
-
here is on understanding both the purpose and meaning of a text.
To develop and expand student’s vocabulary by introducing them to new
words and phrases. Students will also be encouraged to participate in their
own learning by using strategies such as looking at the context in which a
word is used to predict its meaning and generally learning more about word
structure and form.
- To give instruction in pronunciation of new vocabulary when needed. Focus
will be given choral reading and role plays of the texts as they are being
studied.
- Ti give instruction and practice in oral production so that students can
improve their English stress and intonation and there make their English
begin to sound more natural.
C. ASSESSMENT WEIGHTING OF CORE CAPABILITIES
School Level
Creativity
Competitiveness
Benefaction
Morality
Communication
Weighting
30%
20%
10%
10%
30%
College Level
Creative Thinking
Digital
Team Working
Aesthetics
Linguistic
Technology
Appreciation
Skillfulness
Weighting
25%
10%
20%
15%
30%
Department Level
Creative thinking
Professional
Cooperation,
Humanistic
English
and problem
English u sage
teamwork and
thinking
communicative
solving
Weighting
social service
20%
30%
15%
competence
15%
20%
D. COURSE TOPICS
1. Famous examples of English drama: Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice,
Chekhov: The Bear, Glaspell: Trifles, Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest
E. TEACHING APPROACH
This class will be comprised of reading tasks that will be loosely divided into prereading, while-reading and post-reading activities. Each play will begin with
background activities, character analysis and interest generating activities. While
reading the plays students will be given a variety of activities including plot
predictions, comprehension questions, text analysis and value judgments. Each play
will finish with class discussions on the meaning of the text and how much the
students learned from it and enjoyed it. Finally each play will contain a homework
assignment: role plays, conversation homework etc.
F. GRADING PLAN
Grading item
Participation
%
50%
Mid-term
25%
Final
25%
Assessment
Sub-items Descriptions
Attendance
10%
More than 3 absences will zero
result in zero for this section
Homework and
reading
assignments
40%
-
Mid term test
25%
Written test
Final test
25%
Written test
Five assignments
Weekly reading
G. TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Week
Chapter Contains
Assignment
Note
H.
1
Introduction
2
Rowan Atkinson’s:
Shakespearian acting
3
Rowan Atkinson’s:
Shakespearian acting
MP3 assignment 1
4
BBC’s: Horrible Histories
‘Vicious Vikings’
MP3 assignment 2
5
The Two Ronnies
MP3 assignment 3
6
Monty Python
MP3 assignment 4
7
Abbott and Costello
MP3 assignment 5
8
Susan Glaspell: Trifles
Review for exam
9
Mid-term exam
10
Susan Glaspell: Trifles
Reading assignment 3A
11
Susan Glaspell: Trifles
Reading
12
Anton Chekhov: The Bear
Reading assignment 3B
13
Anton Chekhov: The Bear
Reading assignment 3C
14
Anton Chekhov: The Bear
Reading assignment 3D
15
Shakespeare: The
Merchant of Venice
Reading
16
Shakespeare: The
Merchant of Venice
Reading
17
Shakespeare: The
Merchant of Venice
Reading assignment 3E
18
Final Exam
TEXT AND REQUIRED SUPPLIE
1. Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice,
2.
3.
4.
5.
Chekhov: The Bear
Glaspell: Trifles
Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest
Handouts for selected comedy review material
I. REFERENCES
Scripts and video websites
J.
PRE-REQUISITES
N/A
K.
ASSOCIATED TEACHING RESOURCES
Class handouts, selected video, Online websites
L.
CLASSROOM RULE S OF CONDUCT
1. Attendance is required each week. Missing the class for three times without inadvance notice or six times with various reasons will get zero in the class
participation & attendance.
2. All texts must be read in total or students will lose 20% of their grade
Attachment 1 (N/A)
Attachment 2 (N/A)