Freshman
Aural-Oral Training (Lab) Fall 2007/Spring 2008 Monday 3:30-5:20pm Audio-Visual Building 103 Professor: Karen Chung Jump to listening assignments: Fall 2007 Spring 2008 |
Fall
2007
Total class meetings:
There will be 15 class meetings
this semester.
No
class meetings September 2007
October
1, 8, 15, 22, 29;
November 5, 12, 19, 26;
December 3, 10, 17, 24, 31;
January 2008 7.
Important
dates:
Class assignment interviews (no class on
Monday, September 17)
Mid-Autumn Festival make-up holiday (no class):
Monday, September 24
Mid-Autumn Festival (no class): Tuesday, September
25
Cancel-add: October 6-12
Application period for withdrawing from a course: October
8-December 14
Double Tenth National Day (no class): Wednesday,
October 10
Online application for exemption from advanced English class: October
19-26
Mid-semester online student course evaluations: November
6-12
Anniversary of the Founding of Taiwan University (no class) Thursday,
November 15
Mid-terms: November 13-17
New Year's Day/Founding Day of the ROC (no class): Tuesday,
January 1, 2008
End-of-semester online student course evaluations: December
28, 2007-January 11, 2008
Last day of class: January 11, 2008
Final exams: January 14-18, 2008
Lab final exam: Monday, January 14, 2008 in AVC
103
Winter break begins: January 21, 2008
Chinese New Year's Eve: Saturday, February 6, 2008
Spring
2008
Total
class meetings:
There will be 17 class meetings this semester.
February
18, 25;
March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31;
April 7, 14, 21, 28;
May 5, 12, 19, 26.
June
2, 9
February
28th Memorial Day: (no class): Thursday, February
28, 2008
Cancel-add: February 25-noon March 8
Online application for exemption from advanced English class: March
25-28
Tomb-Sweeping Day (no class): Friday, April 4
Application period for withdrawing from a course: March
10-May 16
Mid-semester online student course evaluations: April
16-22
Mid-terms: April 14-18
End-of-semester online student course evaluations: May
30-13
College
and department transfer exams: June 5-27
Last day of class: June 13
Dragon Boat Festival: June 8
Final exams: June 16-20
Freshman lab final exam: Monday, June 16 in AVC
103
Summer vacation begins: Monday, June 23, 2008
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 – this will be done mainly by listening to audio and video files online and answering comprehension questions on them; and (2) to improve your pronunciation.
Listening and pronunciation are probably the two weakest links in English education in Taiwan (though even those of you who have been educated in English abroad may find you have things to learn from this class). 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. Producing the correct sounds in class is easy – using them consistently when you're supposed to is the tough part! 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 handout for Fall
2007; click here for the poetry handout in pdf
(Fall 2007) 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 of you will introduce
yourself on the first day of class. Thereafter, 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. There
may occasionally be oral presentations, such as performing a dialogue from a
TV show or movie, or improvisation.
Grades
for the course will be based on: attendance and punctuality, class performance
and participation, listening assignments, quizzes, progress made, attitude,
and the 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
2007 listening assignments
September
17: Class assignment interviews
(no class).
September 24: Mid-Autumn
holiday (no class).
1.
Listening
assignment for Oct. 1-8:
A
Moment of Science IX: (1)
Where "Yum" Comes From
and (2)
Tips for Predicting Baseball Scores.
(There
are also A Moment of Science VIII
VII VI
V IV
III II
I
from previous years, if you'd like extra practice. These
are not required this semester.)
2. Listening
assignment for Oct. 8-15: VideoJug:
How to Remember People's Names
3. Listening assignment for Oct.
15-22: Mixed
Bean and Vegetable Soup
4. Listening assignment for Oct. 22-29: APM:
Guy Kawasaki on how to write better electronic mail
5.
Listening assignment for Oct. 29-Nov. 5: Popular
song: It's a Mad World
6.
Listening assignment for Nov. 5-12: BBC
video: Fire winds ease over California
7.
Listening assignment for Nov. 12-19: Fox
News podcast: A Few Moments with Jewel
8. Listening assignment for Nov. 19-26: BBC:
Musharraf imposes emergency rule
11.
Listening assignment for Nov. 26-Dec. 3: BBC: Musharraf
imposes emergency rule
12. Listening assignment for Dec. 3-10: NYT:
Life After Rehab
13. Listening assignment for Dec. 10-17: NYT:
From Ladles of Molten Metal
14.
Listening assignment for Dec. 17-24: Print
out and bring to class words to the Christmas
carols. html
with MIDI and other audio files
Christmas carol sing on
Monday, December 24 (Christmas
Eve) Bring
an instrument to accompany us!
15. Listening
assignment for Dec. 24-Dec. 31, 2007: Country-Western-Rap
song: I Wanna Talk About Me
16. Assignments for Dec.
31, 2007-Jan. 7, 2008:
(1)
Listening assignment: NPR:
Whistling to Communicate in Alaska
(2) Hand in pronunciation
and grammar summary, class
and self-evaluation, English study plan on January 7.
17. January
7, 2008: Hand
in pronunciation
and grammar summary,
class and self-evaluation, English
study plan.
Final exam on January 14, 2008. Web page that
may be helpful in preparing for the final exam: 34.
Phonological rules for English plurals and more
18.
January 14, 2008: Final exam 3:30pm-5:20pm,
AV Building room 103.
Listening
portion of the final exam
Winter vacation assignment: Listen
to 10 minutes of English every day, and keep a
record of what you listen to, to be handed in on
the first day of class next semester.
1.
February 18-25:
Transcribe the dialogue of the pilot episode of "The Gilmore Girls"
up until Lorelei says, "Drive safe". Mark
stresses and intonation. Theme
song "Where
you lead", from Carole King's "Tapestry"
album, 1971.
2.
February
25-March 3: Print
out, practice reading aloud, and bring to class: NPR report, Hotel
Maids Challenge the Placebo Effect
3. March
3 -10: Continue
work on "The Gilmore Girls" in pairs; mark stresses, prepare to read
aloud NPR
report, Hotel Maids Challenge
the Placebo Effect
4. March
10-17:
Continue
work on "The Gilmore Girls" in pairs; mark stresses, prepare to read
aloud NPR
report, Hotel Maids Challenge
the Placebo Effect
5. March
17-24:
Complete
this cloze exercise on "The
Gilmore Girls", part 2.
6. March
24-March
31:
7.
March 31- April 7:
8. April
7-14:
9. April
14-21:
10. April
21-28:
11. April
28-May 5:
12. May
5-12:
13. May
12-19:
14.
May
19-26:
Two
American Folk Tales for oral reading practice; MP3 audio file of
"Why
Opossum has a bare tail"
15. May
26-June
2:
16. June
2-9:
17.
Final exam: Monday, June 16, 2008, 3:30-5:20pm,
AV Center room 103.
Audio dictionary with standard British (RP) pronunciation:
http://www.howjsay.com/
Online KK symbol editor page (for
pronunciation summary): http://ipa.typeit.org/
Copy-and-paste IPA symbols:
http://linguiste.org/phonetics/ipa/chart/keyboard/