National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology

Applied Foreign Languages

English Department

4th Year Advanced Listening/Speaking Course II

Spring 2004

 

Class Meetings:Fridays, 1:30-4:30 pm

3 credits

 

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Instructor: Aiden C. Yeh

Email: aidenyeh@yahoo.com

NKFUST 4th year Speaking and listening Course: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ALS2_groupB 

NKFUST Email: ALS2_groupB@yahoogroups.com

Note About this Course: This class was taught by another professor at NKFUST last semester. For reason unbeknownst to me, I was asked to teach this class for the second semester. There will be a lot of ‘catching up’ to do, I do hope, however, that the students will gain new insights and learn new approaches in enhancing their speaking and listening skills.

 

 

Course Aims and Objectives

 

1.      To develop the students’ listening comprehension and critical thinking skills through an integrated approach to learning

2.      Students will be introduced to Webquests and other online educational tools

3.      To gain an understanding of American values and culture as they develop their listening skills

4.      To train students to present their opinions and arguments through oral presentations, this will build up their confidence and minimize stage fright

5.      To engage students in online conferences, lectures and live discussions with foreign teachers to develop their analytical and communication skills

 

Course Assignments and Requirements

Attendance, completion of students’ projects

 

Evaluation and Grading

LATE ASSIGNMENTS get 60 points

NO assignments= 0

 

30% Attendance and Participation, Project Feedback

70% Projects/ Presentations, Midterms and Finals

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100 points

 

Course Texts

 

Numrich, C. 1995. Consider the Issues: Advanced Listening and Critical Thinking Skills. Longman.

 

Recommended Texts:

Richards, J. 2001. Passages 2.

 

Make use of the Internet to help you gather information for all your projects and presentations.

 

Schedule

 

2/20/04           Introduction. Setting up yahoogroups. Creating yahoo accounts, subscribing to ALS2_groupB@yahoogroups.com

2/27                Unit 4. Is it Sculpture, or is it Food? What do you know about genetic engineering? What fears might genetic engineering provoke in people? Listening tasks, Discussion activities, and Impromptu debate.

 

3/05                Telling True Stories: An Online Chat Event with Webheads. Based on the lesson plan created by Aiden Yeh, published in IATEFL Computer SIG journal In-class task-based activity: students organize their thoughts in relation to telling their story by writing it down on a piece of paper. After 10-15 minutes, they will share their stories in class. Avoid reading your work.

3/12                Unit 5: Gang Violence. Do gangs exist in Taiwan? Why do you think teenagers join gangs?  Practice using tone of voice to express emotion. You will discuss the given situation, improvise lines and roles and will present your skit in class. Be creative.

3/19                Unit 6: Create Controversy to Generate Publicity. What makes an ad successful? Can you think of companies that have used controversial advertising? What was different about their ads? Listening/Discussion activities. Understanding this lesson well will help you prepare for you project to be presented on April 2.

3/26                Students Presentation: Controversial Advertising-Taiwanese Context)

 

4/2         Webquest

4/9                   Branding and Brand Names. Discuss brand names and what you like/dislike about them. You will read and discuss the context of text about brand naming and complete related vocabulary building exercises. Lastly, you will create and brand your own imaginary product which you will present to the rest of the class on April 16. Based on the lesson provided by BBC and the British Council, 2004

4/16                        Midterms: Branding and brand Names: student presentation

4/23                Unit 7: Women Caught in the Middle of Two Generations. Do all the member of your family live together? Do Taiwanese children live with their parents when they get married and have children? What happens to old people as they begin to require care? Do they live in nursing homes or children or friends take care of them? We will look at the American culture and how different it is from the Taiwanese way of life. Possible Online chat discussion with Webheads

 

4/30                Movie Review: Shawshank Redemption. Scenes Analysis- We will critically analyze the scenes, the roles, the lines which make this movie a good learning material that can teach us about the meaning of life, freedom, and friendship. Your written analysis will be collected after class. No make-ups- so please do not be absent

 

5/7                   Unit 10: What constitutes a family? We will look at the traditional American family and will compare it with a typical Taiwanese family. We will discuss about Gay or same-sex couples and their rights (if any) to form a family. Is it recognized by law and by the society? We will learn more from Webheads about this issue on an online discussion that will help us gain a deeper understanding of how people and the world are changing. In retrospect, we will look at our own culture, the Taiwanese, and how it is changing.

5/14                        Webquest: Video Resume

5/21                        Finals: Student presentations

 

 

Goodluck!

 

Aiden Yeh, February 2004

Go back to dcyeh.com/sy0304/2ndsem