English 245A3

 

Class Time:     Spring Semester, Monday 10.50~12.00             

Room:             MH2, Language Center


Course Aims

  1. BulletThis course gives you an opportunity to develop all your English skills - Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Each class is based on a video of people giving presentations in English from the TED TALKS website (http://www.ted.com/talks ) and the TED ED website (http://ed.ted.com/).

  2. BulletDuring the semester you will develop your debating and presentational skills in order to make you an effective communicator in English. You prepare for each class by watching the videos and/or reading some written material. In class we will discuss the content of the video and have debates based on it.

  3. BulletAlso, during the course you will work in small groups on a research project about one of the issues discussed in the class and present your group’s findings to the rest of the class in English.

  4. BulletAt the end of the course you will have a speaking test in a debate-style format.


Class Materials

Weekly worksheets and will be provided by the teacher. Students should CLICK HERE to access the materials


Course Topics

  1. BulletUniversity education in Japan and abroad                                 

  2. BulletThe Impact of the Internet

  3. BulletE-learning and the education system                                 

  4. BulletGender roles and the Workplace

  5. BulletCensorship

  6. BulletMulticulturalism

  7. BulletGlobalisation and Culture

  8. BulletCross-cultural communication

  9. BulletPromises and contracts

  10. BulletCrime and punishment

  11. BulletReligion and Belief


Group project – Current Affairs Issue

During the course students work in small groups to investigate an issue in the news which involves a difficult decision for national or local society (e.g. nuclear power, English learning, whaling, eco-cars, retirement/pensions, the voting system, stimulating the economy, bullying in schools, education at OUC (curriculum, credits, length of classes). Groups will present the problem to the rest of the class in English, explaining two or more possible solutions. Then they choose one of these solutions, which they try to persuade the rest of the class is the best.


Homework

Watching Videos; Reading news articles/opinion pieces; Weekly essay on class topics; Project preparation


Grading

Presentation: 30%   Written work:  40%    Speaking test:  30%


Regular attendance is expected. Absence limit = 3 times


Grading Bands

「秀」(90%): Able to communicate about general and academic matters with a very high degree of fluency. Able to write very accurately, fluently and in detail in English on the weekly homework topics. Extremely confident and able when giving presentations in English .

「優」(80%): Able to communicate in English about general matters fluently and with good accuracy. Able to write fluently about the weekly homework topics, with few accuracy problems. Good presentation ability in English

「良」(70%): Reasonably confident and accurate when speaking or writing in English on general topics, but shows vocabulary or grammatical problems when faced with more challenging topics. Able to give reasonably clear presentations in English, but may suffer from fluency problems , showing a limited range of vocabulary

「可」(60%): Displays sufficient speaking and writing skills in English to be able to communicate general ideas with reasonable level of accuracy and fluency, but sometimes struggling to attain the standard required in written or spoken tests. Able to give short presentations in English, but with slow, hesitant speech, and a tendency to use short, memorized utterances.



TED TALKS

Steven Schwaitzberg: A universal translator for surgeons

Andy Puddicombe: All it takes is 10 mindful minutes

Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

Kate Gardoqui  - How did English evolve?