This is the page for: Understanding English: Listening and Speaking 1 (Night)
(Course-related content will appear here in reverse chronological order: the newest things at the top of the page, and older posts toward the bottom.)
Midterm Exam
For your midterm exam, which is on the evening of April 22nd, you will be making a presentation on the following:
Imagine that, during the course of normal construction on campus, the University discovers a huge treasure of gold buried in the ground on University property. It is famous treasure, and of course will go to a National Museum. But the University will be compensated for the treasure, approximately 1 trillion won.
Of course, the majority of the money will go to construction, expansion, and improvement of University services: more books for the library, improved research facilities, more classroom, office, and dormitory space, and so on. But a certain amount — say, 5 billion won (about 5 million dollars) — will be set aside for students to decide what to do.
Your groups job is to “pitch” — that is, to suggest in an exciting way — a plan to the University. Maybe you think there should be an expanded study-abroad program? Maybe you think we need escalators on the hill between the front gate and the main campus? Or what about a fitness center for students? A bigger library? Smoking booths for smokers to protect us from their toxic pollution? More scholarships for outstanding students? A new biotech research complex that could combine ? A nicer cafeteria space?
It’s up to your group to decide on one project, and prepare a convincing pitch for it. You cannot use a powerpoint presentation or handouts, but you are allowed to use diagrams, pictures, and other props.
The best group (or, in the case of a tie, best two groups) will likely receive A (or maybe A+). Other groups will be competing for other grades as per the required university grading curve scheme. So remember, you’re not just in competition to create a great, reasonable, convincing, and exciting pitch for your project alone, but also you are competing against other groups.
Each group will have 15 minutes for their presentation as well as question-and-answers from the audience. (You should leave time and be prepared to answer questions, as your answers will also be counted towards the competitiveness of your group. Therefore, yor presentation should probably be 10-12 minutes long.)
We have already made groups for this presentation, and I will answer any more questions you have in the coming week. For now, start thinking about what kinds of realistic, exciting, and interesting projects you can suggest to your group.
Discussions Schedule
Here is the schedule you signed up for discussion leading:
15 April: Sang Woon Hong
29 April: Han-Kyu Lee
6 May: Hye-Jeong Lim
13 May: Ki-Wook Yeo
20 May: Soo Jin Kim
27 May: Jung Hee Seo
29 May: discussion of interview videos
3 June: So Ra Jo
5 June: Jung Myeong Lee, followed by Saem Yoo
10 June: Su-Hee Cho
12 June: Yong Heon Kim
Please remember to think of a topic in the next few weeks. You will have to warn the class about what you’ll be talking about, so they can prepare for the discussion, just like you have to do.
My and Sangwoon’s Discussion Topics
Sorry, I forgot to post this on the website on the weekend! Remember, we will not be meeting on Tuesday, April 8th.
I will be leading an example discussion on Thursday night (April 10th). My topic will be “Breaking Up” — about what happens after a couple breaks up.
Sangwoon’s topic, according to his email, is “Mainstream Culture.” Hopefully we can get a little more information out of him about what specifically he wants to talk about this Thursday night.
I will also discuss your midterm exam, on Thursday night, and you’ll be presenting with your group about your experiment with Time Management and your Priorities. (Following the game exercise we played last Wednesday night.)
Make-up Class Tonight
We will be meeting in Dasol Gwan (다솔관) room 220 at 8pm tonight!
See you there!
(And remember to bring some scissors!)
The Discussion Worksheet (For March 27th)
Please have a look at page 2 of this document: it’s the worksheet I mentioned in class today. Make sure you print it off, read it, understand it, and are ready to discuss it in class on Thursday night.
The Christmas Declaration (complete PDF)
Read this paper (for March 25th)
Hi everyone. I said I would post something here for you to prepare for next week. Your homework is to read this paper and think about it for our next class:
The Christmas Declaration (PDF)
Make sure you look up any vocabulary that you don’t understand before class, and that you generally understand the paper. And yes, it is strange, I know!
Next Week’s Classes (and Homework)
Hi!
Unfortunately, due to unchangeable prior commitments that I made before the last-minute schedule change that made me your teacher for this class, I am unable to teach on the evening of March 11th and 13th. We will have a make-up class later on this month.
However, I am going to assign you with some homework for next week. The homework is in two parts.
- You will meet in small groups of 3 or 4 people, taking special care to form groups with people you don’t already know. On Thursday the 13th, the night of our longer class, you will go out with this group. I don’t care what you do, as long as you are interacting. (ie. Don’t go to a movie, don’t go somewhere too loud to talk, don’t just play video games in a PC-방.) While it would be nice if your interactions were in English, as much as possible, the main point of the outing is for you to get comfortable with some of the people in the class whom you don’t know.You will write a report back to me about how it was to go out together, what you did, how you liked it, and so on.
- In two weeks, when we next meet (ie. on the evening of Tuesday, March 18th) we will be doing an introductory exercise which is designed to help you get to know classmates outside of your group. The point of the exercise is to “talk yourself up” to others — to present yourself as an interesting conversation partner and an interesting person. So spend some time thinking about which of your qualities, or which facts about you, are the most interesting.
I will discuss this homework more during our class on the evening of March 6th. See you there!
Get the Syllabus Here
I handed out the syllabus for this class earlier this week, but if you need to get a copy, you can download it in PDF format.
Welcome to the Spring 2008 Semester!
Content — including your syllabus and any homework information for the first week of classes — is coming soon! Check back in a day or two!
Thanks!