English4
TeachersSUGA, Harumi
Grade, SemesterYear 2 2nd semest [General Basic Subjects]
CategoryGeneral Basic Subjects
ClassesA, バイオ
Elective, CreditsRequisites 1credit
 Syllabus Number0A214

Course Description

This course aims at the balanced development of four skills in communicative competence in English. First, we will use a textbook to improve listening. You will engage in listening exercises, practice saying the dialogue lines in pairs, and study tips for listening. Next, you will practice reading by learning vocabulary, skimming, and recognizing important grammar. After this, you will make sentences including the target grammar of the unit, and express your opinion about the content of the reading.
 Apart from the textbook, you will experience extensive reading with an e-book website. You will read e-books in and outside of class. Selecting the e-books you are interested in, you will practice reading at your own speed. After reading each book, you will answer the comprehension quizzes. These activities will steadily enlarge your vocabulary and improve your reading rates. Each of you will also write a composition about the book you recommend.
 This class is designed to achieve Learning Goals 1, 2, and 3 of the General Basic Subjects, incorporating active learning.

Course Objectives

The purpose of this course is to enable students to attain an advanced level of proficiency in English. By the end of this course,
students will be able to:
1. read and understand a passage including 4000-word-level vocabulary of "New JACET 8000."
2. listen to a clearly spoken conversation or passage with liaison, assimilation, and elision including some intermediate vocabulary.
3. choose appropriate graded readers for students' proficiency and read them 30 minutes in class and more than 30 minutes outside class.
4. answer three quizzes after reading each graded reader.
5. write a composition about a book with no fewer than 80 words.

Grading Policy

Final examination (40%), the Number of Words Read & Quizzes (29%), Composition on the Book I Recommend (8%),
VELC Test (10%), Improvement in the VELC Test Score (5%), Book Reports & Participation (8%)

Textbook and Reference

KindTitleAuthorPublisher
Textbook"AMBITIONS Pre-intermediate"
ISBN:978-4-7647-4055-6 C1082
Tetsuhito Shizuka, Masamichi Mochizuki, & Takaaki KumazawaKinseido (¥2,000 +Tax)
References

Requirements(Assignments)

[Preparation with the textbook]
1. You can download the voice data file of the textbook from the Internet. Listening to the voice data, try answering the questions in the listening section.
 Check unfamiliar expressions. (20〜25 minutes)
2. Unfamiliar expressions in the reading section should be checked before class. (25 minutes)
3. Try answering "Check the Points," "Practice More," and "Say What You Think." (15-25 minutes)

[Review]
1. You will practice giving correct answers to the questions you have mistaken. (10-20 minutes)
2. Practice saying the dialogue in "Check the Details" naturally. (5-10 minutes)
3. Listening to the voice data of the passage in "Find Out" as they are and reading the passage at the same time help you raise your reading rate.
  (10 minutes)

[Extensive reading]
1. Read e-books suitable for your interest and proficiency outside class. (More than 30 minutes per week)
2. Jot down the title of the book you like. (after reading, whenever you find a good one)
3. You will check your grades and corrections of the book reports and the composition through the LMS on your smartphones, etc. (5 minutes)

Note

・Bring in English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries for each class. (Either paper or electronic dictionaries are OK. If you are
 an international student, the dictionaries that translate English into your mother tongue and vice versa are preferable.)
・You can borrow a tablet at school, but if you prefer your own tablet or PC, bring it to class.
・Bring earphones in order to listen to the audio of the e-books.
・If you feel your eyes tired easily, prepare glasses that block blue light to reduce your eyestrain.

Through various activities in this course, I hope that you will be able to improve your communicative ability in English.

Schedule

1Orientation (the outline of the course, preparation, evaluation, etc.), about VELC Test, Writing about This Summer Vacation
Extensive Reading with E-Books
2Unit 9. Japanese Culture (guessing the content to be spoken while listening, vocabulary exercise)
Extensive Reading with E-Books, Book Report 1
3Unit 9. Japanese Culture (Identifying references of pronouns)
Extensive Reading with E-Books, Book Report 2
4Unit 12. Environmental Issues (stressed rhythm of English language, vocabulary exercise)
Extensive Reading with E-Books, Book Report 3
5Unit 12. Environmental Issues (temporal discourse markers such as "in," "during," and "since then")
Extensive Reading with E-Books, Reading Comprehension Quiz ①
6Unit 11. Health & Medical Issues (sound pairs that are similar in Japanese but distinctive in English, vocabulary exercise)
Extensive Reading with E-Books, Book Report 4
7Unit 11. Health & Medical Issues (discourse markers or transition signals such as "however," "firstly," and "for example")
Extensive Reading with E-Books, Book Report 5
8Making a Draft of the Composition "The Book I Recommend"
Unit 8. Global Issues (stress on contrasted words, vocabulary exercise)
Extensive Reading with E-Books, Book Report 6
9Submission of the Composition "The Book I Recommend"
Unit 8. Global Issues (guessing meaning from context)
Extensive Reading with E-Books
10Unit 15. Science & Technology (words linked with /r/, vocabulary exercise)
Extensive Reading with E-Books, Book Report 7
11Unit 15. Science & Technology (reading topic sentences for skimming)
Extensive Reading with E-Books, Book Report 8
12Study Guide for the Final Examination
Unit 7. Art (weak form of "of", vocabulary exercise)
Extensive Reading with E-Books
Course Evaluation
13Unit 7. Art (guessing the part of speech of an unknown word from context)
Extensive Reading with E-Books
Questionnaire on Reading ②, Reading Comprehension Quiz ②
14Final Examination & the Roundup of the Whole Course
15VELC Test