ENGLISH CONVERSATION 102

Course Syllabus
Spring 2018
Instructor: Sam Lin
______________________________________________________
Mr. Lin
PHONE: 18697254784
EMAIL ADDRESS: fongyuen@hotmail.com
CLASS HOURS: Tuesday 8:30-10:10 AM

A. COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is a mid-intermediate oral English class. Students are expected to be able to read and write in English but
not necessarily to be able to comprehend or speak intermediate level English at first. Therefore, emphasis will
be placed upon learning basic functional language in English, with much time devoted to practice. The focus
of language learning in this class will be creative learning based on interacting with the language through
various scenarios, games, problem solving and language activities. Because language and culture cannot be
separated, discussions and reading about culture will also be integrated into the course.

B. ORGANIZATION
The time allotted to this second-semester freshman class is seventeen weeks of classroom instruction and two
weeks, or four class periods, of mid-term and final examinations done through oral interview format. The
teacher’s role is one of both instructor as well as facilitator. About one-fourth of each ninety minute class
period will be allotted to giving directions, to giving direct explanation of English language usage, to
discussing, understanding and comparing various aspects of Western and Chinese culture, or to giving
feedback on students’ performance in oral English. About three-fourths of the class period will be devoted to
practical application.
In order to facilitate as much listening and speaking as possible, the students will practice speaking English
using various creative activities as they work in pairs or small groups. By working together, they will
simulate different natural situations or complete various functional language tasks by means of role play,
games, stories, and discussion as well as through asking and answering questions, creating dialogues, reciting
jazz chants, and solving problems. The activities will be fairly short, energizing, and creative in order to
stimulate interest and cause students to have so much fun that learning is not a chore. The activities will also
center on the objective of the unit being covered and the topic being discussed; thus each activity will be
meaningful and build in level of difficulty in order to enable the students to grow in language competency and
reach the language goals and objectives per given unit.
The teacher will do his best to create a fun, relaxing environment where it is safe to try new things with
language without the fear of embarrassment or failure. By working in small groups, students’ rapport with
each other and comfort level using oral English will grow. The teacher will also capitalize upon the strengths
of the students, such as reading and writing, by writing on the board, using power-point presentations, or
assigning reading in order to equip them to be better listeners and more competent speakers of the English
language.

C. COURSE OBJECTIVES
1. Students will relax, have fun and grow in confidence in comprehending spoken English as well as
speaking English themselves.

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2. Students will grow in their ability to listen and comprehend spoken English as they grow accustomed to
listening to English through various media as well as through interacting with their teacher and classmates
in English.
3. Students will learn how to use vocabulary and useful phrases associated with each unit’s topic.
4. Students will be able to complete the following tasks in English: express possibility, probability and
impossibility; show concentration and make interruptions politely; show attentiveness in a way a
Westerner can understand; learn ten steps to better listening; show interest or boredom; be a more
interesting conversationalist; show or detect interest or boredom from tone of voice; talk about their
personal interests; insist or urge; reassure and persuade; express condition and concession; deduce and
conclude; understand basic body language; understand how to make a good first impression; express
obligation and necessity; express curiosity and ignorance; define and exemplify; list and summarize;
predict and judge; tolerate and criticize; correct and explain; clarify and repeat; and express hope and
desire.
5. Students will grow in their understanding of both their own culture and Western culture as they explore
various ways of interacting that reflect cultural differences.
6. Students will learn about how Good Friday and Easter are celebrated in America as well as learning the
origin, history, topics and traditions associated with each holiday. They will also have an opportunity to
participate in some of the holiday festivities.

D. COURSE TOPICS
1. Possibilities, Probability and Impossibility
2. Concentration, Attentive Listening and Interruptions
3. Interest and Boredom; Tone of Voice
4. Personal Interests; Becoming a Better Conversationalist
5. Insisting and Urging
6. Sight-seeing in the UK and US; Culture
7. Reassuring and Persuading
8. Conditions and Concessions
9. Deduction and Conclusion; Basic Body Language
10. Obligation and Necessity; Making the World a Better Place
11. Curiosity and Ignorance; Superstition
12. Defining and Exemplifying; Listing and Summarizing
13. Predicting and Judging; Weddings and Marriage
14. Tolerating and Criticizing
15. Correcting and Explaining; Clarifying and Repeating
16. Expressing Hope and Desire
17. Holidays—Valentine’s Day (and Love), Good Friday and Easter

E. TEXTBOOK AND REQUIRED SUPPLIES

1. Challenge to Speak, Book 2 (英语⼝口语教程2，第3版)

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F. GRADING PLAN
Class score: Your score for this class will be made of two parts:
1. Daily score: attendance, punctuality, participation and attitude, presentations and homework.
2. Exams: mid-term and final, given as one-on-one interviews.
The office will determine the final percentages of your grade. It may be that the daily score will equal
60% of your grade and the final exams will equal 40%.
Extra-credit Activities:
1. Book reports: Students are encouraged to give book reports of the English books they have read. Book
reports should include the title of the book, author, when and where it was written, a brief summary of the
story, if they liked it or not and why, and something they learned. Students should talk with the teacher
ahead of time to schedule their report. It should be between 5-10 minutes long and should be said in their
own words, not read.
2. English corners: Students are encouraged to attend various English corners offered either at the school or
around town.
Five extra-credit points can be gained by attending each extra-curricular activity, including the English
department’s English corner. (Bring a signed written note from the English teacher hosting the English
corner to prove you attended.) If you are concerned about your grade, you may see the teacher for
additional extra-credit assignments given at the teacher’s discretion.

G. CLASSROOM RULES
1. Come to class on time every week. You may not be absent without giving me an official signed
permission slip (请假条) from your class advisor (班主任).

• Lose 5 points for each day you are absent with a permission slip.
• Lose 10 points if you skip class without a permission slip. Your name and record of your absences
will be reported to the advisor or dean after two such absences.
• Being late = ½ absence (lose 2 points)
• Sleeping = absent (lose 5 points)
2. Bring your textbook, paper, and pencil or pen to class.
• Lose 2 points if you do not bring all of these to class.
3. Complete your homework before class begins.
• Lose up to 5 points if your homework is tardy, incomplete, or unsatisfactory.
4. Listen politely and quietly when the teacher or other students are speaking. If you are talking when you
should be listening, you will lose 2 points every time it happens. If I don’t know who is talking instead of
listening, everyone in the class will lose 2 points each time.
5. Participate in activities by speaking, listening, and helping your classmates.
6. Turn your cell phone on vibrate and do not use it during class. You may use a cell phone dictionary. If you
have an emergency situation or are waiting for an important call, you may ask the teacher for permission
to answer the call.
• Lose 5 points if you use your cell phone during class to make a call, send a text, chat or play games.
• Continued violation of the cell phone rule may result in confiscation of the device until the next
class.
7. Speak English during class.

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8. Preview the unit before class so that you can learn the vocabulary.
9. Answer questions when the teacher calls on you.
10. If you make up the homework by the next class, you can gain back the points you lost.

SCHEDULE

Date Unit and

Class Objective Learning Activities
Topic
3/6 Introduction Students will get a preview Welcome and Roll Call
of the work and Dialogues: “How was your winter break?”
requirements that will be Exercise: Begin developing blog post about winter break.
covered this semester. HW: Preview Unit 1, Part A; write blog post in electronic
format with accompanying pictures.
3/13 Unit 1: Students will learn and Instruction: Demonstration of Assessing Possibility
Expressing practice expressing Exercise: In small groups, practice the assessing possibility
Possibility possibility, probability and dialogue
and impossibility in life Exercise: Occupations
Impossibility; situations. HW: Read Ten Steps to Effective Listening. WeChat recording:
Ways of Describe a good (or bad) conversation you had recently. You
Traveling should say:
-what made the conversation good (or bad)
-how the other person demonstrated they were listening to you
(or not listening)
-how you demonstrated you were listening (or not listening) to
them.

3/20 Unit 2: Students will become aware
Showing of cultural differences in the
Concentration ways people show they are
and Making attentively listening, will
Interruptions learn simple phrases that
show attentiveness, and
practice listening to each
other in an active way.
3/27 Unit 3: Students will understand
Expressing how tone of voice as well
Interest and as the words chosen
Boredom indicate interest, boredom,
or other emotion. They will
learn some questions and
techniques to make
themselves a more
interesting
conversationalist.
4/3 Easter Students will gain an
Holiday understanding of the
historic events behind the
Easter holiday through
watching a film.
Instruction: Showing Concentration and Making Interruption
phrases
Exercise: In groups, act out the Ten Steps of Effective
Listening
Activity: Telephone Charades about student reactions to the
short film Lava
HW: Preview Unit 3, Part A.
Instruction: Demonstrate tone of voice.
Exercise: “It was the way she said it”; Practice intonation,
stress & rhythm.
Video: Stop Being Boring
Exercise: Fill in cloze and come up with interesting questions
Exercise: Dissection and Dialogue
HW: Read Part D A Short Story (25) and Notes #3 Afternoon
Tea (26-27). Watch the English Afternoon Tea video. WeChat
recording: Describe something from the reading and video that
interested you & something that disinterested you and the
reasons why.
Movie: Risen
HW: Write a blog post describing your reaction to the movie.
You can choose to answer any of the following questions:
-Who was your favorite character in the movie and why?
-What parts of the movie did you like best? Are there any parts
of the story you did not understand?
-Do you think faith is important? Why or why not?
-Like Clavius, do you have trouble believing something you
have experienced, seen, or read?

4/10 Unit 5: Students will learn phrases Instruction: The Art of Persuasion
Reassuring useful for persuasion and Exercise: Dissect and Dialogue
and use various activities to Activity: Choose Your Own Adventure
Persuading practice persuading others HW: Preview Unit 6, Part A
to do something or to agree
with them.

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Date Unit and
Class Objective Learning Activities
Topic
4/17 Unit 6: Students will understand Instruction: Expressing Condition
Expressing the meaning of a Exercise: Use patterns on CTS 53 to practice expressing
Condition and concession, identify and use condition.
Concession them in dialogues and Instruction: Finishing conditional sentences
discussions, along with Activity: Chain of Events
conditions. HW: WeChat recording: First impressions are very important.
What factors influence your first impression of someone?
What are some things that give you a good first impression of
someone? What about a bad impression?

4/24 Unit 7: Students will continue Warm Up: Students share the last time someone made a good
Deducing and learning about & discussing or bad impression on them.
Concluding; body language, while Video: Five Body Language Tricks
Body recognizing that body Exercise: Review the 5 Tricks and then simulate conversation
Language language is cultural. They using (and not using) them.
will also understand how to Exercise: Play 3 video clips, using the CTS patterns (62),
make deductions & HW: None! Enjoy your week!
conclusions from facts and
principles.
5/1 NO CLASS LABOR DAY HW: Study for the Mid-terms
5/8 Mid-Term English Language Assessment: Each student will be told
Exam which topics to prepare and what to expect during the
interview. Students will given a five-minute time slot. The
exam will cover material in Units 1-7.

5/15 Unit 8: Students will learn how to Instruction: Expressing Obligation

Expressing express obligation and
Obligation necessity and will be given
and Necessity; various topics to discuss
Making the which will facilitate using
World Better these functions.
5/22 Unit 9: Students will learn how to
Expressing express curiosity about
Curiosity and things they don’t know and
Ignorance would like to understand as
well as learn how to admit
their ignorance about a
topic and express interest in
learning more. Time will
also be given to the topic of
superstition.
5/29 Unit 10: Students will be able to
Defining & define words, exemplify
Exemplifying; (use good examples to
Listing & illustrate their point), use
Summarizing patterns to list and be able
to summarize their point.
Exercise: Show a picture, students express what they think
they obligation in this scenario would be using the patterns in
CTS 73.
Dialogue: Small group discussion on the topic: “What is your
obligation as a good Chinese citizen?”
HW: See CTS 75 Practice 2 Discussion. WeChat recording:
Answer either question 1 or 2.
Instruction: Expressing Ignorance
Exercise: CTS 87 Practice 1, have the students turn #1-5 into
questions and have their partner express ignorance.
Activity: Questions about a Statement
Activity: Numbers in My Life.
HW: Write a blog post describing something that you are
really curious about. You should say:
-what it is you are curious about
-why are you curious about this thing/topic/person, etc.
-how would you go about satisfying your curiosity?
-how would you use this new information in your life?
Instruction: Defining and Exemplifying
Activity: Jeopardy
Activity: Martian
HW: CTS 98 Practice 1 Question 2. WeChat recording: Give
your friend some advice on which smartphone to buy. You
should say:
-what brand smartphone would you recommend and why?
-why would you recommend this smartphone over other
brands?
-in what ways would this smartphone improve your friend’s
life?
-summarize your points at the end

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Date Unit and
Class Objective
Topic
6/5 Unit 11: Students will be able to
Predicting & predict possibilities using
Judging; reason as a learning
Weddings and strategy. They will also be
Marriage able to judge or form an
informed opinion.
6/12 Students will gain an
understanding of the
importance of tolerance and
the destructive results of
intolerance from this
historical drama about
Martin Luther King, Jr.
6/19 Unit 12: Students will be able to
Tolerating & express tolerance and lack
Criticizing of tolerance towards others.
They will learn about
constructive and non-
constructive criticism and
be able to express criticism
in appropriate ways in
English.
6/26 Unit 13: Students will learn the
Correcting & skills of correcting,
Explaining; explaining, clarifying and
Clarifying & repeating through various
Repeating activities and topics,
including explaining
cultural concepts to a
Westerner.
7/3 Unit 14: Students will be able to
Expressing express both personal hopes
Hope & and dreams of the past and
Desire of the future, thinking
through the reasons and
some practical steps that are
necessary in order to
actualize their dreams.
Students will also discuss
and define “The Chinese
Dream.”
7/10 Final Exam Teacher will assess each
student’s ability to answer
questions in English from
the units covered during the
semester.
Learning Activities
Instruction: Judging and Predicting
Exercise: CTS 107, Practice 2, practice in pairs
Activity: students will be given something which they will
need to make judgments/predictions about.
Video: Just a Dream
Exercise: students will make judgments about this music
video and predict what happened to these two young people.
HW: Read CTS 111 Notes #2 Marriage and Relationships.
WeChat recording: Describe what marriage and relationships
look like in your own culture following the pattern of this
passage.
Movie: Selma
HW: To Be Determined
Instruction: Tolerating and Criticizing
Exercise: Using the patterns from CTS 117-118, act out the
conversation Part A 1-3.
Activity: simple drawings depicting eastern and western
culture will be presented to the students. In pairs, form a
tolerant opinion and a critical opinion of either representation
and discuss.
HW: Preview Unit 13, Part A.
Instruction: Correcting, Explaining, Clarifying, & Repeating
Exercise: CTS 128, Practice 2, students will role play a
foreigner and a Chinese person.
Activity: Odd One Out
Activity: Stereotypes about Chinese people
HW: WeChat recording: Choose a common stereotype about
Chinese people that you would like to correct or explain. You
should say:
-what is the stereotype
-why do you think this stereotype exists
-how would you explain or correct this stereotype
Instruction: Expressing Hope and Desire
Warm-up: Childhood dream.
Exercise: Identify the desire or hope expressed.
Exercise: Talk about your career hopes and dreams.
HW: See CTS 137 Practice 2 Role Play. WeChat recording:
How would you answer a reporter’s question about your view
on the Chinese Dream? You should say:
-in your opinion, what is the Chinese dream
-what does it mean to Chinese people to have their own dream
-is this dream achievable in your own life?
-what would it look like for you to achieve the Chinese
dream?
English Language Assessment: Each student will be told
which topics to prepare and what to expect during the
interview. Students will given a five-minute time slot. The
exam will cover material in Units 8-14.
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