*Note. No class at Week# 7 (April 2 national holiday), and at Week # 14 (May 21 school activity)

Miss Flora Huang

111601030@nccu.edu.tw

ATTENDANCE, PUNCTUALITY & ASSIGNMENT/EXAM POLICIES

Attendance is important, and students are expected to come to class ON TIME! (Attendance/Lateness policy will be explained in the first class.) Students who are absent for more than half of total class hours without an appropriate reason will receive zero for both Attendance and Class Performance portions, and CANNOT partake in the final exam. All required assignments must be submitted to the instructor before the due dates. Note that no assignments will be accepted after the deadline. No make-up final exam will be given unless you have received the instructor’s permission in advance.

To successfully complete the course, you must prepare the assigned homework prior to class and, while in class actively participate in class discussions and pair/group work. Your final grade is determined by the following course components:

• Participation: 20%       (Attendance 10% + Class performance 10%)


• Group project: 20%      (Group video 10% + Collaborative writing 10%)


• Speaking activities: 20%  (Group presentation 10% + Speaking assignment 10%)


• Essay Writing : 10%   


• Final exam: 30%

Participation

Your participation grade will be based on your attendance (10%), homework preparation, and the contribution you make to the learning experience of others. Contribution (10%) includes your questions to the instructor, insights and comments regarding class content, answers to the instructor’s questions, and reactions to other students’ contributions in class. Taking part in the online courses (Moodle) will also be counted as class participation. 

Group project

For this project, you and your group members will record a short discussion/interview/drama (about 5 minutes) on a chosen topic regarding a (controversial) national or global issue. In this video (10%), you will have to report and explain the issue, and express your opinions (e.g., support or reject an argument) accordingly. Each group should present their outline, discuss the topic with the instructor, and submit the proposal (5%) before recording the video. The link of the video must be uploaded to the class website by the deadline. Following the group video project, each group will receive a video from the instructor. After watching that video, you and your group member will discuss, analyze, and express your opinions about it in class and will collaboratively write a report (5%) with guided instructions.

More details will be provided in class. The grading rubric (attached below) for the group video (speaking assignment) is available on the class website.

Speaking activities

There are two speaking activities: a paired speaking assignment (10%) and a group presentation (10%). For the paired speaking assignment, you will conversate with one of your classmates on a given topic and record it (3 to 5 minutes). Based on the topic, you will have to analyze the phenomenon, comment on it, and explain your viewpoint. The audio recording must be uploaded to the class website by the deadline. For the group presentation, you and your group members will find relevant information about a topic assigned. Your group will lead the class and share your findings on the topic (WITHOUT reading any notes). This formal presentation should be approximately 30 minutes, including a discussion session or an interactive activity. Each group could meet with the instructor two weeks prior to the presentation to discuss their topic and outline if need be. While presenting, each group will be evaluated by the instructor as well as by other groups. More details will be provided in class. The grading rubrics for the speaking assignment and group presentation (attached below) are available on the class website.

Essay Writing

You will write an argumentative essay, and this assignment (10%) should show you have learned how to write a short, well-structured essay. Before writing this assignment, the instructor will explain, give examples and provide guidelines. More details will be given in class. The grading rubric for the writing assignments (attached below) is available on the class website.

Final Exam

All materials, including the readings, handouts, and information provided in class will potentially be included in the in-class final exam. It contains listening/reading tasks and vocabulary/grammar questions.

• Textbook: 

Perspectives 4 by Amanda Jeffries, Lewis Lansford, & Daniel Barber (2018)

National Geographic Learning

• Supplementary writing handouts: To be distributed later.

• Resources:

VoiceTube: https://tw.voicetube.com

BBC Learning English: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish

National Public Radio: https://www.npr.org/

TED talks: https://www.ted.com/talks

LTTC BESTEP: https://bestep.tw/