Welcome toUniversity English

Track 1

Instructor: Chris Gunn

• Today’s class we will:(1) Discuss the course aims.(2) Discuss the course content.(3) Discuss assessment in this course.

Course Aims

• Part 1: For the first half of the course, we will work on listening comprehension to better prepare us for the midterm exam.

• Part 2: For the second half of the course, we will work on speaking and discussion to better prepare us for the midterm.

Course Content Course Textbook

Touchstone 4 Student Book by Michael McCarthy

Jeanne McCarten Helen Sandiford

Assessment

• The class will be assessed on a curve.

• In other words, there will be a relative scale. • Some of you will get As, some of you will get

Bs, and some of you will get Cs.

Our curve• The curve I give to the school will be:

A=30% B=40% C=30%

Fortunately, for track I, the school will take my curve and your midterm and make a new curve:A=40% B=40% C=20%

However, this is a track wide curve so that means on average 40% in this class will get an A

Assessment

• Your individual assessment will be based several factors.

• (1) participation in class.• (2) attendance.• (3) your notebook.• (4) your quiz score.• (5) midterm exam (track wide).• (6) final group discussion interview.

Participation in Class

• This counts for 10%.

• Good participation includes being awake, participating in discussions, asking questions, arriving on time and turning off your cell-phones.

Attendance

• This counts for 10%.

• Missing 1 hour will result in – 1%.

Illness, military, and death in the family are excused absences.

MTs and sports days are not.

1 Free Absence Policy

• You get 1 free hour of absence so use it wisely.

Your Notebook

• This counts for 18%.

• You need a proper notebook. There is a heavy emphasis on note taking skills in this course.

• Your notebook should be organized and clearly reflect the amount of work you put into this course.

Your notebook.

• Your notebook should include the dates as well as good titles and task instructions when I put them on the board as well as excellent notes from the listening selections.

• You will need your notes for writing selections sometimes weeks after you have done the listening. If you don’t have good notes you will not be able to do the writing.

Quiz Score

• There are 4 quizzes that each count for 3% of your mark.

Midterm

• This counts as 20%.

• It is a standardized test.• Every track 1 student takes the exam at the

same time.• The teachers will not know the contents of the

test ahead of time. However, the test will be based on the first 3 units of the text book.

Final Group Interview

• This counts for 30%.

• Interview format.

• Total time = 5 minutes .

• Important to use language we study throughout the course to get marks.

Today’s Activity

• In class activity: Talking about your summer.• There is a list of questions on your desk. You

will have three minutes to talk about your summer before changing partners. You must keep talking for the entire three minutes so keep asking follow up questions.

• While you are talking I will be interviewing some students to asses whether or not they belong in track I.