Syllabus
Code fore Teams: gvrb40b
For the moment and until further notice, this course is to be taught on-line from the beginning of the semester. There are three specific elements to this course: learning and talking about how to write a really structured argumentative 10-page essay, a skill which can be used in any of the classes at university and in post-university employment in writing structured emails or memos; instruction and practice in making the perfect 25-minute presentation; advanced and fluent conversation in discussing the issues chosen by the other students for their essay and in discussing the whole process of how to write the perfect essay, all at a level of C2-C1 English.
There will be two classes of up to 20 students. Both classes receive the same material.
The main aim of the course is to make clear and convincing statements and arguments in fluent English.
They will be taught in the following way:
(1) Five Units all together will be sent to all students by email, during the course of the semester, indicating the major elements involved in making perfect presentations and writing the perfectly structured essay;
(2) an 80-minute Consultation period will exist for each class at the normal times 11.00-12.20 and 12.30-1350, when I schedule a specific time to talk to students once every three weeks throughout the semester in groups of 3. Students will discuss among themselves and me the different aspects of the topics they have chosen for their essay and presentation. This would also be the time for students to bring up any issues stemming from the Units.
(3) if the course remains on-line for the whole semester, students will complete an exemplary presentation (on the same topic as the structured essay) and send it to my email by 31st December 2020. If we return to the classroom, then the presentation will be made to the others students in class during the exam period in January-February 2021 and will count as the final exam;
(4) students will send to me the structured essay on their chosen topic by the end of the exam period, whether or not the course remains on-line or returns to the classroom.
(7) assessment for the course will be 34% the exam, 33% for the presentation and 33% for oral competence in English demonstrated in the various Consultation periods during the semester.
Annotation
This is a course taught by an English national to improve students’ communication skills, with a view to their being able to read quite complicated texts, fully understand the meanings of those texts and then themselves produce short paragraphs and one longer piece of writing in perfectly structured and coherent English.