Course Syllabus

ESL 480 Intermediate 3 Syllabus

Course Syllabus: 

ESL 480 Syllabus Word

ESL 480 Syllabus Adobe

Course location:

Santa Ana College, Centennial Education Center

Address: 2900 W. Edinger Ave. Santa Ana, CA 92704

Room F-106

Please refer to the area map for details on the site location.

Students are also welcome to attend free computer classes at Centennial Education Center. The lab is open Monday through Thursday: 11 am – 5 pm. On Friday and Saturday, the lab is open 8 am – 12 noon.

Instructor: Professor J. Janio

The easiest way to contact me is via email: janio_jarek@sac.edu. I respond to emails within 24 hours.

If you wish to call me, my office number is: (714) 241-5773.

My office hours are Monday and Wednesday, 9am – 11am. You are welcome to request a meeting with me at other times as well.

Weekly class schedule:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Class meeting

8 – 11am

Class meeting

8 – 11am

Class meeting

8 – 11am

Class meeting

8 – 11am

Computer lab

8 – 12 noon

Computer lab

8 – 12 noon

Day off

Location:

Room

F-106

Location:

Room

F-106

Location:

Room

F-106

Location:

Room

F-106

Location: Centennial Education Center

Location: Centennial Education Center

 

Important due dates for the course:

Wednesday, June 28, 2018 – midterm presentation due

Wednesday, August 1, 2018 – final presentation due

Course Description:

The course emphasizes creative oral language activities, initial critical thinking skills in reading comprehension, and written tasks which begin to focus on academic skills.  This is the fifth course in the Continuing Education ESL continuum.  Five High School elective credits may be granted if student passes the ESL posttest for this class with a score of 75% or better.  Open entry/open exit.  

Course Content:

Listening

Identify the main topic of conversation in familiar material. Demonstrate understanding of non face-to-face speech in familiar contexts such as simple phone conversations and routine announcements. Recognize words that signal differences between present, past, and future events.

Speaking:

Make present, future, and past statements related to basic needs and common activities using previously learned phrases and simple sentences. Communicate personal information (tell others about self, etc.). Ask for simple directions and for meanings of unknown words and expressions. Ask about present and past activities. Ask questions about basic needs based on previously learned vocabulary

Reading:

Interpret narrative and descriptive passages on familiar and some unfamiliar topics. Scan for specific information in simple life skill materials related to immediate needs. Predict meanings of unfamiliar vocabulary in highly contextualized materials. Interpret abbreviations for words previously learned. Recognize some basic prefixes and suffixes. Use alphabetical order. Use dictionary guide words, pronunciation key, index, tables of context. Skim for general meaning and scan for specific information in short   passages. Begin to use critical thinking skills in reading comprehension activities.

Writing:

Expand group revision and some editing strategies. The full cycle of the writing process is introduced. Develop sense of audience and register. Perform communicative and realistic tasks (write short telephone messages and thank you notes, complete forms, etc.). Perform creative/academic tasks (take guided notes on material presented orally, write short autobiography, write a personal opinion based on class reading or discussion, etc.)

Pronunciation:

Recognize reduced forms of would and will. Identify endings: s, th, d; Contrasts: t/r, p/f, b/w. Practice intonation, pitch, stress, and length of syllable patterns for meaning. Learn the similarity of tt, d, t, dd in the medial position (ladder, letter, trader, traitor). Distinguish vowel sounds that interfere with communication

Language Structure and Grammar:

  1. Introduce: Verbs followed by gerunds and infinitives. Complex sentences with adverb clauses of time and reason. Connecting words of chronology. Tag questions
  2. Review and expand: Adjectives and adverbs. Prepositions. Modal verbs. Word order. Wh- questions. Count/non-count nouns. Reflexive pronouns. Compound sentences.

Course Textbook:

Step Forward, Level 3. Student Book and Workbook.

The book can be purchased from:

Oxford University Press,

Amazon.com,

Textooks.com

Reminder: Please remember to check out the used books sections on each site, if you want to save money.

Additional online resources:

Dictionary.com

Thesaurus.com

English pronunciation site

English verb tenses site

 Required hardware and software:

Students will need access to a newer (not older than five years) computer or a tablet running the latest updates of Microsoft Windows or Mac operating systems.

Adobe Reader software can be downloaded and installed for free:

Adobe for Windows and Adobe for Mac

Microsoft Word or other word processing program.

If you need to purchase any software, you may want to start with CollegeBuys.org.

 Student Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Interpret information based on a conversation.

Report on a group project using visuals

Read complex sentences

Explain ideas using three to five sentences

Students can expect to work in pairs and small groups on class projects.

Assessments:

Standardized tests

Teacher observations

Student self-assessments

 Course Policies:

Course Attendance and Participation Policy: 

In this online course, attendance is going to be measured by class participation. This means that students are expected to log on to the course, post their original responses to the prompts posted by the instructor, give feedback in a timely manner to the discussion posts, and submit all assignments on time. Students are expected to participate in the discussions within the time limits assigned by the instructor. For example: if three separate and original posts are required for a week between Monday and Sunday, please adhere to this time frame and plan your daily and weekly activities accordingly.

Drops:

Because this is a noncredit course, students may drop the course at any time and they come back to it later as well. If at all possible, I would appreciate a notification from you about your plans for the course. If you think you are going to leave the class for good at some point during the semester, please let me know so that I can update the class roster and a new student can take your spot in class.

Plagiarism and Academic Honesty:

Please remember that all sources of information must be disclosed and given appropriate credit. You may never copy another student’s work or use their work as your own.

Late work:

If you should experience difficulty finishing the assigned tasks on time, please let me know and I will be happy to help you. Otherwise, I will accept for review all work submitted within a week after the initial deadline.

Communication:

This policy is very important in this class, simply because we learn English to communicate. Please make sure that you attempt to communicate with your classmates and the instructors as much as possible during the face-to-face class meetings. You are expected to post at least three times during the week in online discussions. Please write one response to the prompt posted by the teacher and two responses to  your classmates’ posts.

Students with special needs:

Santa Ana College provides accommodations for students with disabilities through its Disabled Students Program and Services (DSPS) office located at the Village on Santa Ana College Campus in room VL-204. Their phone number is: (714) 564-6295. You can also reach the DSPS office by email: dsps@sac.edu.

Please follow the link to DSPS office for more information.

All course participants are expected to adhere to the Santa Ana College policies.

.Please let me know if you have any questions about any of these policies:

Jarek Janio, janio_jarek@sac.edu

 How to get help:

Please refer to the ESL Department web site, if you wish to find out more about classes offered at Centennial Education Center.

If you need help with any other topic, please contact the instructor.

 

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due