This required course meets two hours a week, and only earns you one credit. But it is one that is well worth investing time and effort in.
The main goals of this course are (1) to teach you how to listen ¡V this will be done mainly by completing cloze exercises, and answering listening comprehension questions on recorded passages; and (2) to improve your pronunciation.
Listening and pronunciation are probably the two weakest links in English education in Taiwan. Rather than complain about what you didn't get in the past, we encourage you to focus on the here and now ¡V there's still time to fix things. But you must be committed. The things you learn in this class are not assignments to be completed to earn a grade and then forgotten. They will require behavior modification on your part. Anybody knows how hard a habit is to break, and poor pronunciation habits present an especially stubborn case. You will need to tire yourself out for a few weeks or months relearning the way you speak English. It will be well worth it ¡V you'll sound absolutely wonderful every time you speak English for the rest of your life! You can sound like a native ¡V but you have to really, really want it!
One very important reason to fix your pronunciation
is to show respect for other people. When you speak with a heavy foreign
accent, other people have to strain to understand you, and that makes them very
tired. When you speak clearly and correctly, you make life easier and happier
for everybody you come in contact with.
Course
Materials and Activities:
No
textbook is assigned; most class materials will be available through this Website
and the Internet. However, if you feel you need extra work on your pronunciation,
you might want to consider buying the following textbook with recordings on CD
or tape:
Miller, Sue. Targeting Pronunciation: The Intonation, Sounds and Rhythm of American English. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. 270 pp. Paper, with CDs or cassette tapes. Available at Bookman Books ®ÑªL®Ñ©±.
Handouts will be mainly be posted on this
site and will not be distributed in class.
Click
here for the Poems for Memorization handouts
for Fall 2005 and Spring
2006; click here for the poetry handout in Word
(Fall 2005) Word (Spring
2006) or pdf (Fall 2005)
pdf (Spring 2006) format
for printing out (3 pages).
Find more poems
online yourself.
Click here
for the About Poetry: English Prosody
Plus Selected Literary Terms handout. (Refer to this for definitions
of terms like iambic, doggerel, and synaesthesia)
Occasional quizzes will be given, usually dictations or ones requiring you to distinguish between correct and incorrect pronunciations.
Pronunciation and grammar journal: You are
required to keep a running record of specific sounds and other areas you need
to work on in your pronunciation in a small notebook, based on feedback you receive
in class. You are also required to note down grammar points discussed in class
and corrections you receive orally or in your written work. You are expected to
have your journal open and ready throughout each class, without being reminded.
Class
routine: Each class will begin with individual poem recitation to correct
pronunciation. Then a new poem will be presented for recitation the next week.
Next, the listening comprehension exercise from the previous week will be marked
in class, and a new exercise assigned and handout distributed. There may occasionally
be oral presentations, which may include such activities as summarizing a short
story orally to the class, or performing a dialogue from a TV show or movie.
Grades for the course will be based on: attendance,
class performance and participation, listening assignments, quizzes, progress
made, attitude, and a final exam.
Link
here to hints on how to improve and practice
your English, how to choose a dictionary, and so on. Note in particular the section
on podcasts.
Fall
2005 listening assignments
1.
Listening assignment for Sept. 19-26: Class assignment interviews.
2.
Listening assignment for Sept. 26-Oct. 3: A
Moment of Science VII: (1)
and (2)
. (There
are also A Moment of Science VI
V IV
III II
I from
previous years, if you'd like extra practice. These are not required this semester.)
3. Listening
assignment for Oct. 3-10: National
Public Radio (NPR): High School's 'Quiet Kids'
4. Listening assignment for Oct. 10-17: NPR: Whistling to Communicate in Alaska
5.
Listening assignment for Oct. 17-24: American Public Media:
"Day in the Work Life": Interview
with Leslie Slifkin, hairstylist
6. Listening assignment for Oct. 24-31: Cooking.com
cooking video: How to make basic stuffing
7.
Listening assignment for Oct. 31-Nov.7: American
Public Media: "Day
in the Work Life": Interview with Michael Roman, lawyer
8. Listening assignment for Nov. 7-14: APM: Audio Diary of Korean Adoptee Jane Trenka
9.
Listening assignment for Nov. 14-21: ChannelOne.com:
French riots
10. Listening assignment for Nov. 21-28: BBC News: Liberia's 'Iron Lady' claims win
11.
Listening assignment for Nov. 28-Dec. 5: BBC
News: UN debut for $100 laptop for poor
12. Listening assignment for Dec. 5-12: Gunsmoke: Marryin' Bertha, Part I
13.
Listening assignment for Dec. 12-19: Gunsmoke:
Marryin' Bertha, Part II; prepare Christmas
carols; choose three you like especially well to request in class.
Webpage on plural and past tense formation rules
in English.
14. Listening assignment for Dec. 19-26: NPR:
More 'PostSecrets' Revealed, in Book Form
Christmas carol sing! Bring
an instrument to accompany us! Hand in pronunciation and grammar summary on December
26.
15. Assignments for Dec. 26-Jan. 2,
2006: Hand in class and self-evaluation, English study plan on January 2.
Final exam:
January 9, 2006, 3:30pm-5:20pm, AV Center room 103.
Winter
break listening assignment: (1) Choose
a poem suitable for memorization in class, and e-mail it to Ms.
Chung; no children's poems, please, and also try to choose a poem that
hasn't been taught before (previous poetry handouts available here);
remember to give the source of the poem; (2)
Listen to a recording(s) of spoken English on the Internet, on tape, or on
CD totaling one hour. You may choose whatever topic and format you like. You
can get some ideas on what to listen to on the Extras
page. Write a brief summary/ies of the recording(s). Make sure you give
the title, author/reader, and source (e.g. Web site name and
URL, or library call number) of the recording(s). The summaries are
to be handed in the first day of class of Spring semester.
Spring 2006 listening assignments
1. Listening assignment for February 20-27:
APM's Future Tense: Guy Kawasaki on how to write better
electronic mail; from these two interviews, find 10 examples each of
the vowel sounds [ɛ], [æ],
and [eɪ], write out the complete
sentences in which they occur, circle the sounds, and give the
KK symbol for each. Prepare to recite the poem "Stars, Songs, Faces",
and read up on Carl Sandburg's life; print out "The Raven",
and learn a bit about the life of Edgar Allan Poe; look up the new
words in "The Raven" to prepare for reading the poem aloud
in class. Mark the stresses in the CNN news report, "Iranian
bakeries rename Danish pastries" to prepare for reading it aloud
in class. Also prepare to share with the class what files you chose for your winter
vacation assignment.
2. Listening
assignment for February 27-March 6: Country-pop song:
Black Cadillac by Rosanne Cash; find 5 examples each of the
vowel sounds [ɛ], [æ],
and [eɪ], write out the complete
sentences in which they occur, circle the sounds, and give the
KK symbol for each. Prepare to translate and read aloud Part I (the
first nine stanzas) of The Raven; note new link with correct version. Prepare
vocabulary for Part II of The Raven. Mark the stresses
in the CNN news report, "Iranian
bakeries rename Danish pastries" to prepare for reading it aloud
in class.
3. Listening assignment for
March 6-13: NPR: 'Dear Elders' Dispense Advice
Online; prepare to read aloud Part II (the second nine stanzas)
of The Raven; note new link with correct version.
4.
Listening assignment for March 13-20: New Scientist.com
podcast: Anonymous sperm donors exposed Transcribe sentences containing
ten examples of the vowel [eɪ],
and circle the vowel. Pay attention to which
words have this sound and practice saying them correctly.
5.
Listening assignment for March 20-27: "ABC
News Shuffle" podcast: Daily realities of Iraq
6.
Listening assignment for March 27-April 3: ABC News
Good Morning America podcast: Maligned customers suing Walgreens
7. Listening assignment for April 3-10: No class
on April 3, but memorize your poem and do the listening assignment.
8. Listening assignment for April 10-17: NPR:
Interview with Deborah Tannen on her book: You're Wearing That?
9. Listening assignment for April 17-24: NPR:
Abigail Washburn: Chinese Lyrics, American Roots
10. Listening assignment for April 24-May 1:
NPR:
A Nation in Debt;
also, choose partners, choose a clip from Seinfeld to act out;
do a transcription of clip; check your transcription against script of the episode
on the Internet; correct all your mistakes with a red pen; mark all the stresses
in your lines; turn in your transcription (one for each group) next Monday.
11. Listening assignment for May 1-8: BBC:
Vatican 'may relax condoms rule'
12. Listening assignment for May 8-15: NPR:
India Adds Spice to Globalization
13. Listening assignment for May 15-22: BBC:
British man attempts to walk around the world
14. Listening assignment for May 22-29: NPR:
Left-Handed Brain
15. Listening assignment for May 29- June 5:
Write
your own listening assignment.
16.
Assignment for June 5-12: NPR:
World's Tallest Building to Open in Taipei
Hand
in pronunciation/grammar summary,
and course and self-evaluation, and future
English study plan.
The final
exam will be held on June 19.
Online KK symbol editor page (for pronunciation summary): http://ipa.typeit.org/