Oral
Training II Fall 2004
Language
Center 117
Tuesdays 10:20am-12:10pm
Instructor: Karen S. Chung
There
will be 16 class meetings this semester:
September 14, 21; October 5, 12, 19, 26; November 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; December
7, 14, 21, 28; January 4.
No class on Mid-Autumn Festival, September
28. Cancel-add period: September 27-October
5. Mid-terms: November 8-12. Last
day of class: January 7. Final exams:
January 10-14. Winter break starts on January
17.
Routine
work: We will learn and recite one English
poem a week, and there will also be a weekly listening
assignment, which may or may not be the same as the listening assignment
in this year's lab and freshman English classes. Each student must keep up a
pronunciation journal; a summary of your
notes will be required at the end of the semester.
Note that this syllabus is subject to change.
Click
here for the Poems for Memorization
handout for Fall 2004. Click here for the poetry
handout in Word format for printing out (4 pages).
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.)
E-mail
the instructor
if you need to miss class or be late for any reason, or have other concerns
or questions. Otherwise, you will be marked for an unexcused absence
or tardiness. More than three unexcused absences or five tardinesses is grounds
for receiving a semester grade less than that required to pass the course.
Syllabus:
September
14: Introduction,
limericks; passage for reading aloud: Hurricane
Ivan. US English BBC
report direct
audio link
Listening assignment:
Listen to the BBC's five-minute news summary and write a one-sentence summary
of each news item:
BBC
World Service radio summary Click on Summaries: Audio Latest.
Prepare: Prepare
passage to read aloud. Prepare clean joke to tell. Things to pay attention
to:
(1) Stand confidently in front of your audience,
don't make any distracting movements, make eye contact, smile.
(2) Make sure you explain any unfamiliar or difficult
words, expressions or names to the class before you start telling the
joke.
(3) Make sure you know your joke backwards and
forwards so you don't hesitate, forget, or get confused about what you're trying
to say.
(4) Slow down and speak especially clearly
at key words and names, and most importantly, at the punchline, and pay special
attention to connecting with your audience at these points. Timing is
the key to telling a good joke. Make sure your story doesn't drag on too long,
or that the punchline doesn't slip by without everybody getting it, or even
hearing it clearly. Hopefully you will get a big laugh for your efforts!
Here are a few sites with some more tips on how
to tell a joke: 1
2
3
There are some links to clean joke sites here.
Prepare skill presentation outline ("Cooking
with Fu Pei-mei"). You have about 5 minutes for your presentation. Possible
skills: cooking, dance steps, a musical instrument, macramé a card or
magic trick, how to make up, CPR skills, yoga, taichichuan. Do not demonstrate
how to wrap a present!
September
21: Oral
reading of "Hurricane Ivan".
Listening assignment: Minnesota
Public Radio: Black manes rule among lions in the Serengeti
Prepare: Joke; skill presentation; get
and use an NTU e-mail account; send a quote to Ms. Chung so we can put together
a class mailing list.
October
5: Finish
oral reading of "Hurricane Ivan"; joke telling; return skill outline.
Listening Assignment: ChannelOne.com:
Living with alcoholism.
Prepare: Prepare skill presentation; choose
movie to review, partner.
October 12:
Last "Hurrican Ivan" readings; joke telling; skill presentation, if
there's time.
Listening assignment: Make
a 10-inch berry tart; or other online video recipe of your choice.
Prepare: Skill presentation; ghost story;
movie for review.
October 19:
Finish joke telling; skill presentations.
Listening assignment: The
Larry Elder Show: Interview with Vili Fualaau
Prepare: Ghost story without notes; movie
review.
October 26:
Tell ghost story in class. No notes!
Listening assignment: Minnesota
Public Radio: Neighborhood friction is a sign of the times
Prepare: Skill presentation; movie review.
November
2: Skill presentations.
Listening assignment: Popular
song: Father
and Son by Cat Stevens;
(See LINGUIST post on
phantom Chinese phrase in this song and mondegreens at: http://linguistlist.org/issues/11/11-2294.html#1
and http://linguistlist.org/issues/11/11-2462.html#1)
Prepare: Skill presentation,
movie review.
November 9:
Skill presentations.
Listening assignment: Chicago
Public Radio: Embroidery Felon
Prepare: Skill presentations, movie review.
Watch "Siskel and Ebert" video in AV library for ideas on how to structure
your movie review.
November
16: Last two-and-a-half skill presentations.
Discussions on past two assignments.
Listening assignment: NPR
All Things Considered: Spelling Bee
Prepare: Movie reviews.
November 23:
Movie reviews.
Listening assignment: BBC
video report: Atrocities uncovered in Darfur
Prepare:
Movie reviews.
November
30: Movie reviews.
Listening assignment: CBS
video report: The Early Show: Reporter's Cancer Video Diary
Prepare:
Movie reviews; choose three topics for class discussion.
December
7: Movie reviews.
Listening assignment: National
Geographic Presents: Europe's Fascination with Native Americans
Prepare: Movie review; class discussion.
December
14: Movie reviews.
Listening assignment: NPR
All Things Considered: Yushchenko Was Poisoned, Austrian Doctors Say
Prepare:
Movie reviews; class discussion on "Plans after I graduate"; outline
for 60-second TV commercial.
December
21: Last
two movie reviews.
Listening assignment: Listen to an audio
or video file of your choice and write a short (less than one A4 page) summary
of it.
Prepare: Class discussion on "Plans
after I graduate"; 60-second TV commercial.
December 28: Class
discussion on "Plans after I graduate".
Listening assignment: MPR:
Rachel's School Diary
Prepare: 60-second
commercial. Pronunciation summary and class evaluation.
January
4: Hand
in pronunciation summary and class evaluation. 60-second
commercial.
Listening assignment: WPR:
Mom & Dad Growing Old: "Stuff"
January
11: Last-day-of class
activity
Winter break assignments: (1)
Listening assignment: Listen to an entire recorded work in English (no
video or movies), at
least three hours in length, on tape, CD, or the
Internet, and write a brief summary of it; (2) read a novel in preparation
for an oral book report; no Harry Potter, Little Prince, Lord of the Rings,
or children's books; (3) prepare one English, one Chinese (you will translate
this yourself), one original poem for poetry reading; (4) write outline
of play idea; (5) choose a topic for a class debate. The listening assignment
summary, the debate topic, and the outline of your idea for a play are to be
handed in the first day of class Spring semester.
Online KK symbol editor page (for pronunciation
summary): http://ipa.typeit.org/