The Language Institute of Thammasat University

TU 105 Communication Skills in English

EL 172 English Course 3

Course Outline 1/2016

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Course Description:

Development of English listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, focusing on the ability to hold a conversation in exchanging opinions, as well as reading comprehension of academic texts from various disciplines related to students’ field of study.

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • have a broad understanding of general academic English usage;
  • be familiar with a broad range of academic disciplines;
  • develop skills which enable them to deal with unknown vocabulary;
  • discuss and give opinions on academic and controversial topics;
  • improve their understanding of key standard English Language functions;
  • understand how learning English is empowering and become more autonomous;
  • use a number of English academic skills beneficial to subsequent TU classes;
  • be a little wiser about the world in general through the English Language;
  • foster positive relationships towards English Language Learning;
  • connectto the target culture and to raise their awareness of cultural differences in relation with Thai culture.

Teaching Methods & Materials:

Teaching Methods: Student-Centered Learning, Autonomous/Self-Directed Learning, Discussions, Pair Work, Group Work, Oral Presentations, Media Application

Materials:

  1. CoursebookTU 105: Communication Skills in English

Scoring Criteria

Attendance 10

Assignments 30

Speaking Assessment 10

Final Exam 50

TOTAL 100

Tentative Schedule

Date / Unit / Content / Concept/Language Function
1 / Aug 15 - 19 / Unit 1 – Time Organization /
  • Course Outline
  • Let’s Break the Ice: Introducing Yourself
  • Successful Time Management
/
  • Reading I
  • Comprehension and Vocabulary
  • Stressed Syllables
  • Time Collocations

2 / Aug 22 - 26 / Unit 1 – Time Organization /
  • Teens Use of Time
  • Asking Questions
  • Writing and Conducting a Survey
/
  • Reading II – Scanning for Information
  • Conducting a class survey – “The average student.”
Assignment I – Group Report of Survey findings (5%)
3 / Aug29-Sep 2 / Unit 2 – Discrimination /
  • What is discrimination?
  • News Reports - Listening for Details
/
  • Vocabulary - Synonyms
  • Cross-cultural Misunderstanding

4 / Sep 5 - 9 / Unit 2 - Discrimination /
  • Dual-Pricing: Is it discrimination?
  • Understanding and giving opinions
  • The Unpleasant Flier
/
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Writing opinions
  • Communication Activity: Is that Discrimination?
Assignment II – Discrimination Poster (5%)
5 / Sep 12 – 16
*Sep 15 WaiKru Day / Poster Presentations
Unit 3 – Business Innovations /
  • Group Poster Presentations
  • Weird Inventions
/
  • Describing Things
  • Active sentences
  • Passive sentences

6 / Sep 19 - 23 / Unit 3 –
Business Innovations /
  • Reading – Presenting a new product
  • Listening – The Dragon’s Den
  • Sales Pitches
  • Smart Phone App’s
/
  • Reading - Matching Headings
  • Positive Adjectives
  • Presentation Language
  • Exploring the merits of success
Assignment III - Create an App (10%)
7 / Sep 26 – 30 / Unit 3 –
Business Innovations
Presentation Day /
  • Dragon’s Den Style Business Pitches where groups present their app’s to the class.
/
  • Language of presentation
  • Sales pitches

October 2 – 5, 7 – 10, 2016 Midterm Week
8 / Oct 10 - 14 / Unit 4 - Antibiotic Apocalypse /
  • Pair Quiz – What do you know about antibiotics?
  • Documentary – Antibiotic Apocalypse
  • Solutions to the problem
/
  • Watch the programme and capture the main ideas
  • Medical Vocabulary
  • Reading – BBC News
  • Individual web-based research

Date / Unit / Content / Concept/Language Function
9 / Oct 17 – 21 / Unit 4 – Antibiotic Apocalypse /
  • Writing Cause and Effect
  • Asking Questions in the Past
  • Interview Speaking Activity
/
  • Using because (of) and so
  • Identifying cause and result
  • Sentence writing
  • Information gap – Alexander Flemming
Assignment IV – Mini Essay (10%)
10 / Oct 24 – 28
*Oct 24 Substitution for King Chulalongkorn Day / Unit 5 – An Ageing Population /
  • Discussion: Changing Demographics
  • Reading: A Billion Shades of Grey
  • Reading Comprehension
/
  • Language of expressing opinions
  • Reading Skills: Skimming
  • Compound nouns/adjectives
  • Prefixes
  • Heading Matching

11 / Oct 31-Nov4 / Unit 5 – An Ageing Population /
  • Paragraph Writing
  • Paragraph Organization
  • Connectors
  • Solving Japan’s age problem
/
  • Creating a coherent paragraph
  • Listening: Innovative Products
  • Group Project: Creating an innovative project.

12 / Nov 7 – 11 / Unit 6 – Ethics In IT /
  • Discussion: Movie Previews
  • Reading: Hacking and Privacy
  • Speaking: What you’re your friend/teacher do?
/
  • Identifying trends in technology
  • Vocabulary: Synonyms and Antonyms
  • First Conditional
  • Survey – What will you do if ..?

13 / Nov 14 - 18 / Unit 6 – Ethics In IT /
  • Critical Listening: Every Breath You Take
  • Discussion Language
  • Structuring an argument
  • Debating
/
  • Song facts and vocabulary
  • Fact or Opinion?
  • Strong and Weak Reasons
  • Agreeing and Disagreeing
  • Debate Activity: Rebuttal Tennis/Balloon Debate

14 / Nov 21 – 25
* Nov 21 Commencement Day
* Nov 23 – 24
TU Academic Expo / Course Conclusion /
  • Review Activities and Games

15 / Nov28-Dec 2 / Final Group Interview and Discussion /
  • Group discussions with teacher. Giving Opinions, agreeing and disagreeing. Demonstration of course content understanding.
/
  • Speaking Assessment (10%)

Final Examination
Wednesday Dec 7, 2016 from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m.

Important Notes:

-80% mandatory class attendance;

- Absence for more than 3 class meetings subjected to an automatic “F” grade in the course;

- 1 pointdeducted for one absence / 0.5 pointdeducted for one lateness;

- Any lateness or absence for assignments will result in 0 points (unless medical note provided);

- Cooperation and being considerate towards your teachers and classmates is a course requirement; -Class disruption (i.e. chatting, social networking) may adversely affect the attendance score.

Thammasat University strongly discourage plagiarism, i.e. an act of copying someone’s ideas or work and presenting them as if that were yours, without referring to the original sources of authors. Therefore, any (Speaking & Writing) assignment that is considered (partially or entirely) plagiarized will be given a score of zero.

No Classes on the following holidays:

-Thursday, September 15, 2016(WaiKru Day)

-Monday, October 24, 2016(Substitution for King Chulalongkorn Day)

-Monday, November 21, 2016(Commencement Day)

-Wednesday, November 23, 2016(TU Academic Expo)

-Thursday, November 24, 2016(TU Academic Expo)

Add/Drop periodAug 22 – 26, 2016

Drop “W” periodOct 17 – 24, 2016

Midterm WeekOctober 2 – 5, 7 – 10, 2016

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