Pre-Intermediate English is the second in a series of four courses in general EFL (English as a foreign language) offered by the UTP’s English
. These four courses, together with the more specialized courses of Pronunciation I and II, English Conversation I and II, English Composition and Advanced Grammar, constitute the language component of the program.
GENERAL COMPETENCES
This course will empower students to:
Employ elements of English grammar and lexis for the exchange of information.
Participate in discussions and write texts in English concerning specific themes.
Effectively employ written, audio-visual and ICT materials for self-directed learning
Identify distinguishing aspects of Anglophone culture and compare these with elements of their own culture
Employ effective listening strategies to extract the basic content of messages received in English from audio recordings, live speakers, and written discourse.
Reflect critically on their own learning processes and develop individual EFL learning and teaching strategies.
SPECIFIC COMPETENCES
This course will develop the following specific competences:
Oral production:
Employ common vocabulary to construct propositionally and linguistically meaningful sentences on contextualized themes.
Formulate continuous discourse, of a limited extension, relating to familiar topics.
Identify and reproduce English phonemes, word stress, and intonation.
Participate actively in spontaneous, animated conversations with one or more speakers.
Request and give directions for completing a task.
Participate fully in interviews, either as inter-viewer or interviewee, expanding and developing points of discussion.
Perform accurately some speech acts such as expressing opinions and feelings and discussing plans, activities and life experiences.
Effectively use regular and irregular verbs in different tenses.
Give individual or group presentations, demonstrating acceptable oral skills such as correct pronunciation and intonation, appropriate body language, effective voice projection, grammatical accuracy and eye contact.
Effectively use strategies such as avoidance, code-switching, body language and non-linguistic cues to facilitate oral communication.
Listening comprehension:
Extract meaning from extended speech on a variety of academic and general topics.
Understand the main ideas of propositionally and linguistically complex speech on contextualized topics delivered in a standard dialect.
Effectively employ a variety of strategies, (e.g. predicting, listening for gist, listening for details, inferring, using contextual clues, etc.) to extract messages from live or broadcast oral input received in standard dialect.
Reading comprehension:
Recognize different types of written texts such as narrations, descriptions, academic expositions etc. according to their styles and purposes.
Apply reading comprehension strategies such as skimming, scanning, analyzing paragraph structure, predicting and inferring to effectively extract messages from written texts.
Summarize in their own words and by means of mind maps the content and organization of information in written texts.
Writing:
Produce clearly intelligible continuous writing with reasonably accurate spelling and punctuation.
Write grammatically correct sentences and join them to construct paragraphs, effectively using linking words to mark relationships between ideas.
Write affirmations and questions and construct simple, complex and compound sentences
Use writing to narrate events, give descriptions and express viewpoints.
Construct mind maps as a planning strategy to write different types of texts.
Grammar and vocabulary:
Recognize the functions of the following linguistic structures:
-Comparatives and superlatives.
-Present, future, past and past perfect verb tenses
-Countable and uncountable nouns
-Quantifiers
-Indefinite pronouns
-Prepositions of time: in / on / at / for / during / while / by / until
-Phrasal verbs beginning with give / get / come / go / carry
-Definite and indefinite articles: the / a / an
Identify and appropriately use a variety of linking words used to express situations like positive/ negative, addition, contrast, example, cause/effect, sequence, etc).
Identify cognates, synonyms and antonyms,
Identify and use in communicative contexts a limited selection of prefixes and suffixes
Cultural Awareness:
Identify some of the most common registers used in English discourse
Recognize and appropriately use a limited range of English colloquial and idiomatic expressions
Produce and respond to communicative acts such as expressing opinions and feelings, accepting and refusing, etc. in a manner appropriate to the cultural norms of Anglophone speakers
Discuss situations, events, and phenomena related to Anglophone culture
Pedagogical Component:
Discuss basic literature linked to the learning-teaching of EFL (English as a Foreign Language)
Use linguistic and pedagogical meta-language to discuss and practice the teaching of EFL
Prepare practical teaching sessions dealing with listening skills
Self-reflect on their own learning processes.
MATERIALES
Students will require, for in-class and out-of class work, the following materials:
Textbook: Upstream Pre-Intermediate B1 by Virginia Evans & Jenny Dooley (Student’s Book). Express Publishing, 2005.
A good monolingual dictionary (i.e. a dictionary that contains detailed information about word usage and shows pronunciation using the International Phonemic Alphabet. (See Bibliography for recommended dictionaries).
Texts and exercises that students will copy from documents that will be provided online, sent individually by e-mail, or left in the folder “Pre-Intermediate English” in the photocopy Center in the Medicine building. Make sure that your professor has your correct UTP e-mail address.
Portfolio: a folder in which students will keep written work completed during the course.
METHODOLOGY
Methodology will be based on readings and exercises proposed in the textbook Upstream:Pre-Intermediate B1 and its corresponding workbook, but activities will be selected and adapted from these – and other sources – in accordance with the aims of the program. Classroom activities will emphasize cooperative learning by means of pair and group work. Class sessions, however, will constitute only one part of the complex, autonomous learning process that students must actively pursue both inside and outside of the classroom. Students are expected to participate enthusiastically in classroom discussions and tasks, exert themselves to use and understand English in teacher-student and student-student interchanges, conscientiously complete out-of-class work that is assigned, and develop autonomous strategies for practicing the language and for maximizing their own learning
EVALUATION
Grades for this course will be determined in the following manner:
• 1st Partial Evaluation – A formal test that will represent 15% of the definitive grade.
• 2nd Partial Evaluation – A formal test that will represent 20% of the definitive grade
• Final Evaluation – A formal test that will represent 40% of the definitive grade.
• Portfolio (Work in and out of class) – quizzes, exercises, workshops, expositions, homework assignments, etc. The individual grades for these items will be averaged and together will represent 25% of the definitive grade.
The criteria for assigning numerical grades will be as follows:
0.0 Not presented or not accepted
1.0 – 2.9 Presented but below-standard
3.0 – 3.4 Achieves minimum standards
3.5 – 3.9 Satisfactory (average) in quality
4.0 – 4.4 Above-average in quality
4.5 – 5.0 Excellent (of the highest quality)
Students will evaluate and reflect upon their own learning and that of their peers, and will evaluate the efficacy of the course by means of periodic “journal” entries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Texts:
COUNCIL for Cultural Cooperation, Education Committee, Modern Languages Division. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge University Press, 2001. 418.007 C734 E.2
EVANS–DOOLEY. Upstream Pre-Intermediate Level B1. (with audio CD) Express Publishing, 2004. 428
MURPHY, Raymond. English Grammar in Use: A Self-study Reference and Practice book for Intermediate Students. 3rd edition. Cambridge University Press, 2004. 428.24
PHILPOT, Sarah. New Headway Academic Skills: Reading, Writing, and Study Skills. Oxford University Press, 2006.
SOARS, Liz and John. New Headway English Course: Intermediate Students’ Book, Oxford University Press, 2003. 428
UR, Penny. Teaching Listening Comprehension (Cambridge Handbooks for Teachers) Cambridge University Press 1984 428.83
WHITE, Goodeth. Listening (Resource book for Teachers) Oxford University Press, 1998. 428
WILSON, J.J. How to Teach Listening (with audio CD) Pearson-Longman, 2008. 428.34071
Dictionaries:
CLIFF, Peter. The Oxford English Dictionary Online, Available from the Internet: http://www.ariadne.uk/issue23/oed-review/.
Macmillan English Dictionary. Macmillan Publishers, 2002.
Oxford Quick Reference Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 1998.
Some useful Internet Resources:
Headway Online www.oup.com/elt/headway
English Student Resources http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/teacher/technology/index.html
Hotchalk Lesson Plans Page http://www.lessonplanspage.com/index.htm
BBC Learning English http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
B@E Better at English http://www.betteratenglish.com/be-episode archives/
British Council / Learn English http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/
www.ManyThing.org. Interesting Things for ESL Students http://www.manythings.org/
TEFL Games.com / Interactive Games: Matching Words http://www.teflgames.com/msie1v_opposites1.htm
Activities for ESL Students http://a4esl.org/
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
-Please arrive punctually and remain until the class finishes. If you miss all or part of a class session, it is your responsibility to find out from your classmates what you must do to prepare for the next class.
-Check the blog “Pre-Intermediate English, UTP” http://prinenut.blogspot.com regularly for information, announcements, and supplementary course materials.
-Quizzes and other graded class work not presented due to unexcused absence will receive a grade of zero (0.0).
-If you miss a partial evaluation because of illness, you must present a valid medical excuse* within five working days (días habiles).
-Out-of-class work that is not presented on time will be penalized one point (1.0) for each day it is late. Missing class, (except for excused absences) does not exempt you from presenting
assignments on time.
-Wait for your professor inside the classroom; if you arrive late, enter the classroom quietly.
-Observe respectful, professional conduct toward classmates and professors. Abstain from activities that distract your attention from the lesson or disrupt the normal conduct of the class.
-Abstain from eating and chewing gum during class activities.
-Turn off and put away cell phones and personal audio equipment before the class begins. If you expect an urgent call, set your cell-phone to “vibrate” and take your call outside of the classroom.
-Visit the Language office (H 402) if you need extra help or if you have personal matters to discuss that require concentrated attention. If you cannot come during scheduled office hours you can look for your professor at other times or make a special appointment.
-Partial and final exam papers remain on-file in the Languages office. Students may not keep them or copy them. Exams that are not returned immediately after they are reviewed in class will receive a grade of 0.0.
-Keep quizzes, graded homework assignments, and other returned work in your personal portfolio. This will help you to follow your academic progress and will facilitate correction of errors in computing grades.
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* Note: According to the Reglamento Estudiantil, a medical excuse is acceptable only if it is validated by Bienestar Universitario.
