ESOL 840 Syllabus for Spring 2008

Link to Course Grades

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Teacher: Daniel O'Connell Course : ESOL840   English For Speakers of Other Languages IV   Section : AA CRN: 35152 Room: 8-8308 Time: 8:10-9:50 MWF 8:10-9:25 TTH   Units : 6.0 (non-transferable and not applicable to AA degree)   Office : 5113  Office Hours : 10:00-11:00   M,W,F, 9:30-11:00 TTh or by appt. Telephone: (510) 378-7301 ext. 19179 to leave message E-Mail :   oconnelld@smccd.net Website : www.smccd.net/accounts/oconnelld/

Texts:     

•  Hartmann & Blass.  Quest 3, Reading and Writing

•  Blass & Hartmann.  Quest 3, Listening & Speaking (Including the audio CD)

•  Altman, Caro, Merge-Egan, Roberts.   Sentence Combining Workbook

•  Rowlings, J. K.  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

•  Lau. Modules for Speakers of Other Languages

Recommended dictionaries (not required):

•  The American Heritage English as a Second Language Dictionary

Materials:

•  Two 80-page blank notebooks, Steno size or larger

•  One HBA folder (the beige color is for ESOL)

•  Three folders with pockets

Catalogue Course Description : ESOL 840 ENGLISH FOR SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES IV (6)  Nine lecture hours per week. Recommended: Satisfactory completion of ESOL 830 or both 831 and 832,or completion of ENGL 873 with a grade of C or better or appropriate skill level as indicated by ESL placement test and other measures as necessary.

  This course is for advanced students who have studied the grammatical structures, reading skills, and elements of paragraph writing in ESOL 830, or 831 and 832. Emphasis is on thematic reading, discussion, and writing from paragraph to essays, supplemented by exercises in proofreading. (Units do not count toward the Associate Degree.)

Student Learning Outcomes : ESOL 840 is a 4-skills class with instruction and practice in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  Upon completion of ESOL 840, you will be able to:

  1.For listening, identify and understand new information in lectures on academic topics, especially when prepared with class activities.

  2. For speaking, make yourself understood in discussion with attentive listeners about academic topics, sometimes adding details or rephrasing to increase understanding.

  3. For reading, apply reading strategies to unabridged academic texts and demonstrate critical thinking in summaries and comprehension questions

  4. For writing, demonstrate an ability to make a point supported by comprehensible, organized, developed text.

Placement: Advisory placement by LOEP placement test (scale score 141-183, raw score 45-56) or completion of ESOL 830 with a C or better or completion of both evening ESOL 831 and ESOL 832 with a C or better.

Grades: Grading will be: A (89.5-100%), B (79.5-89.5%), C (69.5-79.49), or D (below 69.5%), which is not passing, based on in-class work, quizzes, writing assignments, and other graded assignments such as homework.    20% of the final grade will be based on the in-class final. In general, for this level the department writing standard for a B grade is "Organization but some grammar errors."  To earn an A grade, your work must show "Fluency, control in organization, few grammar errors."  This is what we aim for in this class.   It may have distracting grammar but not so severe as to interfere with content.

         Grades for all coursework will be provided online at the instructor's website-- www.smccd.net/accounts/oconnelld/ . Students will have access to their grades as they develop.   Please use this website to keep track of your progress.  No extra credit will be available.    Regardless of the coursework online, students who fail both the in-class writing final and the in-class grammar final will not pass this class (see below)

          Students are expected to take all tests and hand in all the homework for the class.   Contacting the teacher about missing class work is each student's responsibility.   Please contact me in class, through e-mail, or call a classmate if you miss something so that a makeup date can be arranged.   Missing class work without notifying the teacher will result in a zero grade for the assignment. No late papers will be accepted after the essays have been graded and returned to students.

          The last day to drop semester length classes without record is February 15th, and the last day to withdraw from semester length classes is May 1st.  

Support Services : The Learning Center (building5) provides support for writing, math, and other subjects.   Sign up for LSKL800 or LSKL 853for reading and writing support through the center.   Librarians, on the 2 nd floor of building 5, can assist with research projects and library questions.   Academic counselors, health services, and other student support services are available in the Student Services Center in building 2.

         It is highly advised to use the tutors at the Writing and Reading Lab as you work on your papers.  We also have ESL specialists in The Learning Center that can help you with ESL grammar.  If you have grammar habits that you want help on, go the TLC and sign up for a ESOL 655 class, even after the end of registration.

Discipline And Academic Integrity:  You are responsible for adhering to the Code of Student Conduct outlined in the Skyline College Catalog and the Skyline Student Handbook, available online.   Behavior is not a problem in this class.  My expectations are that you come to class every day and on time.  Please don't talk when someone else has the floor, since the sound echoes and you make hearing impossible for your classmates.  Please limit your eating to foods so small and quiet that no one can notice.   And never talk on a cell phone in the classroom!

          In college essays we are interested in your ideas.  You must never copy some other person's ideas --out of a book or the Internet, for example-- and present them as if the ideas were yours.  This is called plagiarism.   The work you submit/present must be your own.   All paraphrases and quotations must be cited appropriately.   The Skyline College Catalog has a complete statement defining cheating and plagiarism as does the Student Handbook, available online.   If you are caught cheating or plagiarizing another person's work, you may be disciplined in one or more of the following ways:

•  You may be given an F on the assignment.

•  You may be given an F in the course; or

•    You may be referred to the College Disciplinarian for further sanctions which range from a warning to expulsion from Skyline College

In-Class Writing and Grammar Final Exam : Instead of the day scheduled in the time schedule, your final exam will be given early in the last week of regular classes.   This semester the writing exam will be Wednesday May 21st, and the grammar exam will be on Friday, May 23rd.

Attendance: Coming to class every day and on time is necessary for this class.  If you miss more than 10 classes you can be dropped from the class list.  Two late arrivals are counted as an absence. 

Course Description : This class is the fourth in our ESL sequence of classes.  You will be working on all of the English skills: reading, writing, speaking, and grammar.  We have organized your classes this way to increase your learning by taking the grammar and vocabulary you use in one skill, such as reading, and reusing the same vocabulary and grammar in other skill areas, such as speaking or writing.

         One difference between ESOL 830 and ESOL 840 is that instead of a grammar book we will use a writing book.  This reflects the increasing importance of the skill of composition as you get closer to the native-speaker English classes required of college graduates in California.

          Reading is an important part of this class.  In addition to the reading exercises and tests, we will read a Harry Potter book together and you will also read two more English books put on reserve in the library.  These books are on two-week reserve.  You need to get a library card and you must be sure to return the books on time or you will be fined.  If you lose a book you must buy a replacement for the library.

         The big project for this class will be to put out an edition of a student newsletter. To make our newsletter, we must learn to send files using appropriate Word files and e-mail.  This newsletter will be published on the Internet on my faculty website.   See the previous newsletters posted on the website listed above to see examples.

         In addition to coursework, there is an additional assignment of 16 hours by arrangement.   This means that students are expected to study one hour per week--or 16 hours total for the semester-- using the ESOL Lab or as directed by the instructor.

Disability: In coordination with the DSPS office, reasonable accommodation will be provided for eligible students with disabilities.   If you do not have an accommodation letter, please contact the DSPS Office at 650-738-4280.

A Sample Grading Rubric for ESOL 840 :   (Each essay will have its own rubric specific to that essay)