Oral
Training II Fall 2005
Audio-Visual
Center 305
Tuesdays 10:20am-12:10pm
Instructor:
Karen Chung
There
will be 15 class meetings this semester: September
20, 27; October 4, 11, 18, 25; November 1, 8, 22, 29; December 6, 13, 20, 27;
January 3.
No class on November 15 (NTU
Founding Day); cancel-add: October 3-7; mid-terms: November 7-11;
last day of class: January 6, 2006; final exams: January 9-13, 2006;
winter break starts on January 16, 2006. Chinese New Year's Eve:
January 28, 2006.
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. We will be doing quite a few
cued improvisations in class. Each student
must keep up a pronunciation and grammar journal,
in which you record pronunciation and grammar points discussed in class and corrections
made in your spoken performance and written work. A summary of your notes will
be required at the end of the semester.
Note
that this syllabus is subject to change.
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.
Click
here for the Poems for Memorization
(html) handout for Fall 2005. Click here for the poetry handout
in Word format pdf
format for printing out (3 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.)
Dictionaries:
See the Freshman
English syllabus for hints on choosing a dictionary. You are encouraged
to use the audio files of the online Merriam-Webster
dictionary to check the pronunciation of any word you are the least bit unsure
of. This link, along with links to many other dictionaries, is also available
on the homepage and on the Linguistics
Links page.
Podcasts:
If you have an MP3 player or iPod, podcasts are a great way to listen to class
listening files anytime, anywhere. You can also unload an enormous variety of
files you choose yourself. You can even do your own podcast for others to listen
to!
iPodder is excellent free software
for downloading podcasts automatically from the Internet as they become available:
http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php
Here
are some pages with podcasts to choose from, subscribe to or download, then copy
to your MP3 player:
BBC podcast feeds:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/subscribe.shtml
NPR
podcast directory:
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php
iPodder podcast directory:
http://www.ipodder.org/directory/4/podcasts/categories
podcast.net
directory:
http://www.podcast.net/
Syllabus:
September
20: Introduction,
limericks; passage for reading aloud: MPR:
The big bubble blowers; link to audio from this page:
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/08/26_newsroom_bubbles/
Listening
assignment: A
Moment of Science VII: (1)
Blindness and Better Hearing and (2)
Brain in Love. (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.)
Prepare: Prepare
bio of Langston Hughes. Get and use an NTU e-mail account; send a quote to Ms.
Chung so we can put together a class mailing list. Prepare passage to read aloud.
September
27:
Recite limerick; intensive individual pronunciation correction; mark "A Moment
of Science" (VII) listening exercise; discussion on clichés; hints
for reading "The big bubble blowers" aloud.
Listening
assignment: National Public Radio (NPR):
High School's 'Quiet Kids'
Prepare:
Prepare bio of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Oral reading of "The big bubble
blowers", joke, think about skill for skill presentation assignment.
October
4: Recite
"Dreams"; mark NPR: Quiet Kids; oral reading of "The big bubble
blowers".
Listening
assignment: NPR:
Whistling to Communicate in Alaska
Prepare: Prepare
poet bio. Joke; prepare skill presentation outline ("Cooking with Fu Pei-mei");
put in Ms. Chung's mailbox before Thursday. You have about 5 minutes for your
presentation. Possible skills: cooking, dance steps, a musical instrument, macramé,
a card or magic trick, how to apply make-up, CPR skills, yoga, taichichuan. Do
not demonstrate how to wrap a present!
Prepare
a 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.
October
11: Return
skill outline. Last readings of "The big bubble blowers". Discussion
of assignment. Joke telling.
Listening
Assignment: American
Public Media: "Day in the Work Life":
Interview with Leslie Slifkin, hairstylist
Prepare:
Prepare bio of poet Theodore Roethke. Prepare skill presentation. Choose movie
to review, partner. Watch "Siskel and Ebert" video in AV library for
ideas on how to structure your movie review.
October
18: E-mail Ms. Chung
the name of your movie review partner (and your own name too, of course!), and
the title of the movie you will review. Joke telling. First skill presentations.
Listening assignment:
Cooking.com cooking video: How to make basic stuffing
Prepare: Prepare
poet bio. Skill presentation; ghost story (no notes allowed); movie for review.
October 25:
Tell a ghost story in class. No notes!
Listening
assignment: American Public Media: "Day
in the Work Life": Interview with Michael Roman, lawyer
Prepare:
Prepare poet bio. Finish joke telling. Skill presentation. Movie review.
Skill
presentation order: 1. Melanie (done), 2. Samuel (done), 3. Simone,
4. Acacia, 5. Parker, 6. Sally, 7. Nicola, 8. Rachel, 9. Jenny, 10. Michaelia,
11. Ballack, 12. Jessica, 13. Angela, 14. Joe, 15. Vivian, 16. Eddie, 17. Terry,
18. Rock
November
1: Finish joke telling, ghost story telling;
skill presentations.
Listening
assignment: APM: Audio Diary of Korean
Adoptee Jane Trenka
Prepare:
Prepare poet bio. Skill presentation; movie review.
November
8: Skill presentations.
Listening
assignments: (1) ChannelOne.com:
French riots (2) BBC
News: Liberia's 'Iron Lady' claims win
Prepare:
Prepare poet bio. Skill presentation, movie review.
November
22:
Skill presentations.
Listening
assignment: BBC News: UN debut for $100
laptop for poor
Prepare:
Prepare poet bio. Skill presentations, movie review.
November
29: Skill presentations.
Listening
assignment: Gunsmoke: Marryin' Bertha,
Part I
Prepare:
Prepare poet bio. Skill presentations. Movie review.
December
6: Skill presentations.
Listening
assignment: Gunsmoke: Marryin'
Bertha, Part II
Prepare:
Prepare poet bio. Movie review.
December
13: Movie reviews.
Listening
assignment: Print out Christmas
Carol handout and bring to class; choose three favorites. If you play
a musical instrument, please bring it to class to help accompany us when we sing!
Prepare: Prepare
poet bio. Christmas carols. Movie review.
December
20: Christmas carol
singing.
Listening
assignment: NPR: More 'PostSecrets'
Revealed, in Book Form
Prepare: Prepare
poet bio. Movie review; class discussion. Pronunciation/grammar summary and class
evaluation.
December
27: Movie reviews. Hand in pronunciation/grammar summary.
Prepare:
Prepare poet bio.
January
3: Movie reviews. Hand in class evaluation.
January 10: Last-day-of
class activity
Winter
break assignments: (1) Listening assignment: Listen to a recorded work
or works in English (no video or movies), totaling at least one hour in
length, on tape, CD, or the Internet, and write a brief summary of it/them; make
sure you give the title and source of the recording(s); (2) read
a novel with acknowledged literary value in preparation for an oral book
report; no Harry Potter, Little Prince, Lord of the Rings, Tales of Narnia,
or children's books; (3) prepare one English, one Chinese (you will translate
this yourself), and one original poem for a class poetry reading. The listening
assignment summary and novel title and author are to be handed in the first day
of class Spring semester.
Online
KK symbol editor page (for pronunciation summary): http://ipa.typeit.org/