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Fall ESL 401: Communication and Teaching Strategies for ITAs
“Well done! Just keep up the good job, Sarah and Rachel.” -Student Fall 2012-
“It’s helpful, and perfect for my better understanding of pronunciation.” -Student Fall 2012-
“The class is great and I have learnt a lot of communication as well as teaching skills, much more than I have learnt in China.” -Student Fall 2012-
“I think it’s very helpful for me, and I really learned a lot from this class. And I believe I have managed some communication skills which will make me perform very well in the future TA work.” -Student Fall 2012-
Course Objectives:
- To improve students’ overall ability to communicate in English in an academic setting
- To assist students with a conditional status to complete the Oral English Proficiency Certification Process
- To assist students in producing clear, efficient, and comfortable English
- To improve students’ overall sound, rhythm, intonation, and fluency
Course Elements:
- Weekly two-hour class session: The focus will be on useful communication and teaching strategies necessary for the classroom. You will get practice, feedback and advice on presenting information in your field of study, as well as on adjusting your sound, rhythm and overall intelligibility. We will also focus on developing language-compensation skills that are useful when interacting with students.
- One-hour presentation session: Three to four times, students will attend a one hour practice presentation session to be scheduled outside of regular class time. During each session, students complete a 10-minute video recorded presentation and receive feedback from a peer and the instructor. Students can then incorporate this feedback into future presentation sessions and soundwork assignment.
- Independent soundwork: Soundwork is assigned by the instructor each week to be completed via Blackboard. It is designed to improve students’ general intelligibility and use of language. It gives the student the opportunity to focus on specific language-production difficulties and receive individualized feedback from the instructor. Soundwork consists of two parts: an initial recording, and a second recording that incorporates the feedback given by the instructor. Completing each soundwork assignment on-time is important for ongoing improvement.
Course Requirements:
In order to receive a satisfactory grade students must:
- Attend class at least 80% of scheduled class time
- Complete Independent Soundwork:
- To be considered completed, each piece of soundwork must consist of TWO parts:
a. An initial recording as assigned by the instructor
b. A re-recording based on the individualized feedback given for the original recording
- Three or four presentation sessions
- Incoming ITAD
- Final Performance Evaluation (FAQs) to be completed at the end of the semester
- There are no exams. Your grade (Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory) depends on the amount of participation and satisfactory work you completed throughout the semester.
During the Semester students will:
- practice teaching and language compensation strategies
- conduct instructional presentations
- evaluate and analyze communication and information exchanges from both the perspective of the audience and as a student instructor
- define terms, present field information, lead and participate in discussions, and support explanations with examples and analogies
- ask and field questions
- receive and use peer and instructor feedback
- make small talk with students and native-speaker colleagues
Course Materials
There is no textbook for this class. There is a course packet of handouts and other resources that are posted the ESL 401 Blackboard Site.
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