Syllabus, Assignments & Homework

Welcome to the LLCE L2 Anglais Oral Expression blog!!

Here is the syllabus and the homework assignments & grading scale.

NB: this syllabus and the grading is subject to change during the semester. Please stay abreast of changes in class and through the blog.

Week	Topic	Objectives	Homework & assignments
1 21/09	Introduction: Getting to know names etc	European Framework explained (From B2 to C1 in this year)	Read the article & find another ad that you think is “obnoxious”
2 28/09	Current events Advertising and objectification	Description & opinions	Listen to the recording online. Take notes and write down any vocabulary that you do not know. http://soundportraits.org/on-air/witness_to_an_execution/
3 5/10	Current events Death Penalty: Witness to an execution audio.	Sequencing, Modal verbs, should/must/ advice/hypothetical conditional	“Youth, Advertisers Flock to Networking Web Sites” http://www.pbs.org/newshour/generation-next/audiovideo/index.html on the right in the blue column look for the report Read the article, “Generation Now” by Tom Tressor, http://www.tresser.com/pdf/writing/Generation_Now_7-07-rev.pdf
4 12/10	Current events Generation Y & Social Networking Telephone math		Muslims Increasingly Choose Matrimony Networks http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18177126 Lonely Farmers Look for Love Online http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2007-04/2007-04-16-voa1.cfm?moddate=2007-04-16
5 19/10	Current events Dating and Marriage: Hindu marriage, online dating services	present perfect	Prepare biographies
	Vacances
6 2/11	Current events Biographies, life experiences		Start reading The Glass Dog, by Frank Baum: (for week 8) http://www.arcamax.com/fiction/b-1550-2
7 9/11	Current events Biographies
8 16/11	Current events The Glass Dog: alternative endings to stories	Role playing Brainstorm vocab for pets, animals, former professions)
9 23/11	News program (1 gr) Urban stories: Role playing (past tenses, dialogue)
10 30/11	News program (2 grps)
11 7/12	News program (1 grp) Ending comments & synopsis activities

Activites & Homework: assignments or percentage values are subject to change, for example, due to the number of students in the class. Students will be informed.

- Press Review of current events (20%): 2-3 minute press reviews of current affairs (each class period), summary of some story that has happened in the news. Give a list of the appropriate sources, i.e. dailies like NYT, Washington Post, Guardian, Independent, Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News…

- Biographies (25%): In pairs, interview an English speaking person in Cergy or in the Paris region (classmate, business person, acquaintance, etc. EXCLUDING teachers or TAs in the English department) or an Erasmus student: find out what kinds of experiences they have had, places visited, impressions, anecdotes. Present perfect (indefinite past) vs Simple Past.

- You will interview this person about his/her life in France (e.g. motivations, future plans, family, cultural comparisons, anecdotes, etc.). The interview must be in English and recorded, at least for 10 minutes. For this, you should prepare interesting and thought provoking questions (not just yes or no answers). The better your questions, the better your interview. If you do not have recording material, you may use the university’s cassette players, provided that you do the interview at the university.

- In class, you will give a summary of your interview and describe this person (5-10 minutes depending on the number of groups) in detail, telling his/her biography with ABSOLUTELY NO NOTES!! You may bring in a picture.

- On the Radio or TV (35%): in groups of 5 or 6, students create a news program, write/present and role play. Dividing the work equitably, they should work in teams. Newsreader/Anchorperson, local news, national news, politics, society pages, finance/economics, sports, art/culture. Grading both individual and team effort.

- Participation (improvised role playing, class discussion, questions, active listening, etc) (20%)

Online links to homework

Week
1 21/09	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages
2 28/09
3 5/10	http://soundportraits.org/on-air/witness_to_an_execution/
4 12/10	http://www.pbs.org/newshour/generation-next/audiovideo/index.html on the right in the blue column look for the report “Youth, Advertisers Flock to Networking Web Sites” Extra: Gen Y in the workplace. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec06/geny_12-14.html Read the article, “Generation Now” by Tom Tressor, http://www.tresser.com/pdf/writing/Generation_Now_7-07-rev.pdf
5 19/10	Muslims Increasingly Choose Matrimony Networks http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18177126 Lonely Farmers Look for Love Online http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2007-04/2007-04-16-voa1.cfm?moddate=2007-04-16
6 2/11
7 9/11
8 16/11	The Glass Dog, by Frank Baum: http://www.arcamax.com/fiction/b-1550-2
9 23/11
10 30/11
11 7/12