Freshman English Lab
Sherri Wei wyc212@ms75.hinet.net
Tues 15: 40 ~ 17: 30
AV 105
Office: SF 122
Mon. & Wed. afternoon
(Please make an appointment)
Welcome to English Lab! Thank you all for your participation last semester, and
special thanks to those who post online feedbacks, which help me to perceive your learning
from your own perspective. The course objective is still to treat listening as part of the
communication process instead of merely a passive decoding process. Please feel free to
communicate with me your thoughts and feedback so that I could modify the course to better
fit your needs. I’m all ears.
I. Grading Policy
Your grade = Participation 10% + Two Exams 40 % +
Listening Diary 20% + Group Presentation 30 %
II. Textbooks
Dunkel, Patricia & Pialorsi, Frank. Advanced Listening Comprehension. Boston: Thomson,
2005.
Stempleski, Susan; Douglas, Nancy; Morgan, James, R.; & Johannsen, Kristin L. World Pass.
Boston: Thomson, 2003.
III. Group presentation
Similar to what you have done last semester, you are going to choose a topic and work
as a group to produce a listening task. The presentation is 20 minutes and the recording
should be between 6 to 10 minutes. On the presentation day, you also need to prepare
pre-listening and after listening activities to guide your audience. One group would be
responsible in evaluating your presentation and give both oral and written comments.
IV. One-month Extensive Listening Project
We are still using the two textbooks from last semester, and try to make the most use of
them to improve your listening. Aside from the lessons, we are going to try an online
listening project in May. In this project, you would choose from a list of suggested websites
and keep a listening diary during this one month to record your progress and collect thoughts.
Further detailed explanation would be given as we approach it.
Tentative Schedule
Date
Topics
1.
2/26
Course Orientation
2.
3/4
Unit 6 Ordinary People Extra Ordinary Lives Listening to a personal
interview
3.
3/11
Chapter 5 The Women’s Movement
4.
3/18
Unit 7 Who are you? Listening to a news report
5.
3/25
Chapter 7 Classroom Communication
6.
4/1
Exam I
7.
4/8
Movie
8.
4/15
9.
4/22
Unit 8 Happy Days
Listening to a radio interview for main points
and supporting ideas
Chapter 8 Gender and Communication
10. 4/29
Unit 11 The Impact of Art Listening for
11. 5/6
Chapter 10 Genetic Engineering in the Biotech Century
12. 5/13
13. 5/20
14. 5/27
Exam II
15. 6/3 Group Presentation
16. 6/10 Online Extensive Listening
17. 6/17
Listening Diary
Course Evaluation
“Listening is not merely not talking…it means taking a vigorous human interest in what is
being told us. You can listen like a blank wall or like a splendid auditorium where sounds
comes back fuller and richer.”
by Alice Duer Miller