College English 1 is part one of a 4-skills integrated two-semester course, designed to help students to become proficient in English. The first semester course focuses on improving students’ confidence in speaking and listening. Readings provide a context with vocabulary from which to build oral skills through discussion and presentations. Listening excerpts vary in difficulty, focusing on the topic under discussion to aid in speaking production in pairs or groups. Writing primarily focuses on reflection of the topics under discussion and students’ personal responses with class lectures on how to fix common grammatical sentence-level errors. Cultural learning and discussion will be integrated throughout the units, including a three-week online course on cultural understanding, which provides the context for the group presentation. Students will continually track their own progress in English with weekly writing. Semester 1 seeks to build a foundation of speaking and listening in order to progress to more reading and longer writing tasks in the second semester.

College English I/II is a 4-skills integrated two-semester course, designed to help students to become proficient in English. Through group work and pair work, students will learn to build and maintain a balance of each skill in order to improve their English ability in a cooperative learning atmosphere.

Specific goals are listed below:

Speaking Skills: Students are expected to be able to express opinions clearly on familiar topics, summarize a news article, and participate in group discussions.

Listening Skills: Students will be trained to comprehend presentations, interviews, and radio shows related to each topic. In addition, students will become proficient note-takers in English as they write notes on presentations from classmates and other listening presentations in class.

Reading Skills: Students will learn basic reading strategies, including vocabulary-building, scanning, skimming, analyzing rhetorical patterns, main ideas, and supporting details.

Writing Skills: Students will learn to write the basic paragraph structure and write simple informative and opinion paragraphs, building a foundation for longer writing in the second semester.

Cultural Skills: Integrated into the training of the four skills of English learning will also be cultural learning and discussion. Through oral training, students will accomplish the following goals: introducing Taiwanese culture in English; respecting, examining, and understanding different cultural and personal values of others as well as their own; and analyzing differences between Taiwanese and international cultural practices and values. Students will also be required to participate in an online course on cultural understanding during weeks 11-13. During these weeks, students will work together in small groups to prepare a presentation based on the information from the online units.

Specific goals are listed below:

Speaking Skills: Students are expected to be able to express opinions clearly on familiar topics, summarize a news article, and participate in group discussions.

Listening Skills: Students will be trained to comprehend presentations, interviews, and radio shows related to each topic. In addition, students will become proficient note-takers in English as they write notes on presentations from classmates and other listening presentations in class.

Reading Skills: Students will learn basic reading strategies, including vocabulary-building, scanning, skimming, analyzing rhetorical patterns, main ideas, and supporting details.

Writing Skills: Students will learn to write the basic paragraph structure and write simple informative and opinion paragraphs, building a foundation for longer writing in the second semester.

Cultural Skills: Integrated into the training of the four skills of English learning will also be cultural learning and discussion. Through oral training, students will accomplish the following goals: introducing Taiwanese culture in English; respecting, examining, and understanding different cultural and personal values of others as well as their own; and analyzing differences between Taiwanese and international cultural practices and values. Students will also be required to participate in an online course on cultural understanding during weeks 11-13. During these weeks, students will work together in small groups to prepare a presentation based on the information from the online units.

每周課堂教學時數： 2 小時

每周預習/複習時數： 2 小時

Speaking Test: 30% (10% for each part – personal article, personal experience, group opinion)
Participation: 30% (including attendance, effort in class speaking, homework, and notes)
Mid-Term Reading Test: 20%
Final Reading Test: 20%

**Attendance is mandatory – students who are absent 3 or more times will automatically fail the course. Students who are absent still need to make up the class work and complete homework assignments on time.
** Participation is essential. The class will be 100% in English with no help from translation or dictionaries. Students must learn to use the English that they already know in practical and effective ways. This grade includes attendance; being on time; continual speaking in group and pair work; effort on note-taking and reflection writing; and attitude.

Tentative and subject to change:

9/14: Introduction; First impressions of speaking
9/21: The Importance of First Impressions
9/28: How to Make Great First Impressions
10/5: Nutrition and Health
10/12: Adopting a Healthy Lifestyle
10/19: Success
10/26: What it Means to be Successful
11/2: **Mid-Term Reading Exam**
11/9: Speaking Test
11/16: Speaking Test
11/23: Online Course – Unit 1
11/30: Online Course – Unit 2
12/7: Online Course – Unit 3
12/14: Group presentations based on units 1-3
12/21: Making Voluntary Changes; Embracing Involuntary Changes
12/28: Taking Risks and Facing Fear
1/4: Learning to Avoid Deceptive Advertising and Practices
1/11: **Final Reading Exam**

Office in Research Building 405.
Office hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 1:00pm - 1:45pm by appointment only.
Please email the professor to schedule an appointment during office hours.

No formal textbook required.
Students will receive a link for reading and/or listening for preparation of the discussions in class. Students will need to print out the articles and bring them to class. These links will be available at the teacher’s blog for English learning – http://inspireenglish.blogspot.tw

http://inspireenglish.blogspot.tw