NELI
081A/B Listening and Speaking
“The tragedy in life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” Benjamin Mays
Instructor: Dinara Fisher
Office: Room 157 Whitman Hall
Office hours: Monday, Wednesday 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Phone: 906-362-1558
E-mail:
Class time: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday – 9:20 a.m.
Classroom: Whitman Hall, Room 142
Textbook: Q: Skills for Success 2 Listening and Speaking, Oxford University Press.
Register on the website www.gonlinepractice.com to do online homework
Course Goals:
Students will improve English speaking and listening skills to prepare for standardized tests (MELAB).
1. Students will focus on increasing their vocabulary, especially academic vocabulary from Academic Word List and Oxford 300 words, through listening to lectures, discussions, radio talks, and news. Students will use new vocabulary in exercises, discussions, presentations, and group work. In this course, we will also work on speech fluency. Students will work on pronunciation, word stress, sentence stress and intonation. Students will make at least one presentation for the community.
2. University class immersion is very important. Every student will attend a lecture and take notes at least once a week. Students will learn note-taking techniques and will present these notes every Monday.
3. Students will learn about word formation (suffixes, prefixes) and derivation (creating new words).
4. Students will learn to identify the main idea and the details of a lecture, and they will learn to state the main idea in presentations. Students will learn to make predictions about the content of a listening task.
5. Students will learn to understand people and talk to them in academic environments on academic topics, understand lectures and take notes, and get ready for a standardized test.
Please refer to the NMU website for the detailed course description. See www.nmu.edu/internationalprograms/esl and click on Course Description.
The session starts on August 26. It finishes on October 11. The Midterm exam is on October 9.
RULES
See the Honor Code
ATTENDANCE
Attendance in class is expected at all times.
1. If you have any health problems or any emergency, e-mail me before the class starts. You must support your absence by bringing in a note from a doctor that you were sick.
2. You are responsible for your homework at all times. This means that you need to find out what your homework is and be ready for the class – by class time the next day.
3. If you are late, even 5 minutes, I will mark you tardy. Three tardies counts as one missed class.
4. If you miss three classes, I will notify the NELI Coordinator. If you miss four classes, you must meet with the NELI Coordinator. If you miss more than four classes, you may be removed from the program, and you will have a problem with your visa in the U.S.
5. After two absences: If you are absent you will lose all of your participation and good behavior points for that day, even if you make up all the work.
This class is designed to help students in their transition period before they are able to take credit-bearing classes at NMU. The rules for attendance are the same as in NMU’s academic environment. If a student misses the class without any notice, he/she will lose points for the final grade.
Grading system:
Behavior and Participation – 35%
Assignments – 15%
Quizzes and Presentations – 25%
Midterm exam – 25%
Grading scale:
A 100 – 90%
B 89 – 80%
C 79 – 70%
D 69 – 60%
F less than 60%
Tests: Students will write quizzes each week and have a test after each unit. Students will take a midterm exam by the end of the session. This exam will include all vocabulary you learned during the session and a presentation by you on a given topic.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
Read the Student Handbook and this paragraph in particular for the Student Code on Academic Honesty
1. Academic Dishonesty
No students shall intentionally or unintentionally participate in academic dishonesty. If a student is uncertain about an issue of academic honesty, s/he should consult the faculty member to resolve questions in any situation prior to the submission of any academic work. This regulation does not preclude an academic penalty imposed by a faculty member as provided for in Student Rights and Responsibilities, Section 1.2.3.
This is an adventure! I hope you will enjoy the experience and improve your listening and speaking skills to be enrolled in NMU! Good Luck!