Communication Skills: Speaking and Listening

Overview

This course will give you experience in common English speaking and listening skills. The first half of the semester will focus on developing conversational skills. This will involve learning and practicing in pairs the techniques of easy everyday English conversation. There will be a speaking mid-term.

The second half of the semester will focus on small-group communication skills and will include two small-group presentations.

Introduction / Pragmatics

  • English as Lingua Franca
  • Tennis vs. Bowling
  • Techniques for initiating, maintaining and concluding conversations
  • Takyu Eikaiwa

Pair Conversational Practice:

Each week in the first part of the semester, I will introduce a new conversational focus through which students will practice the techniques for keeping a conversation going, gain experience expressing their own opinions and ideas, build grammar and vocabulary in context, and develop better habits of pronunciation for communicating with global English speakers.

Presentations

Class Survey & Data Analysis (small-group presentation)
GapMinder Talk (pair presentation)

Class Schedule

  1. Introductions, course outline, fundamentals, topic 1: Family
  2. Food
  3. Work
  4. Friends
  5. Fears
  6. Dating & Marriage
  7. Beliefs
  8. Opinions, Mid-term Prep & Schedule
  9. Mid-term Conversation Assessment (30%)
  10. Class survey assignment 12/11
  11. Survey Presentations Prep 12/18
  12. Class Survey Presentations (30%) 1/08
  13. GapMinder Presentation Assignment 1/15
    1. Hans Rosling TED talk
  14. Presentation Workshop 1/22
  15. GapMinder Presentation (30%) 1/29
  16. Final Reflections & Make Ups 2/5

Mid-Term Conversation Assessment

Observed Pair Conversations to assess:

  • the techniques for keeping a conversation going,
  • the ability to express one’s own opinions and ideas,
  • grammar and vocabulary in context,
  • and understandable pronunciation for communicating with global English speakers.

Presentations Assessment

Survey

  • Introduction /5
  • Graphs /20
  • Analysis /5
  • Total /30

Grading

Mid-Term 30%
Presentations 2@ 30% each
Class Participation 10%

Important Note:

3rd and 4th year students are often very busy, especially late in the semester. If you will be absent during an evaluation, please contact me as soon as possible to make different plans.