Course Syllabus

City College of San Francisco

Fall 2022

ESL 79 - Advanced Speaking and Pronunciation

Section: 861 / CRN: 70780

Once weekly synchronous meeting on Zoom: Thursday 6:10 – 7:40

Instructor: Dr. Curtis Neal Sanford

Office hours: Thur. 9:00-11:00, Fri. 1:00-2:00 and by appointment

E-mail: csanford@ccsf.edu

Zoom link: https://ccsf-edu.zoom.us/j/99360964518?pwd=bWNEV2VTakVKdmZycVp2TWlJdVF3QT09

CLAD enrollment: ---

Our meeting schedule

This section of ESL 79 is fully online, which means that we will not be meeting in person this semester. However, we do have one synchronous meeting per week, on Thursday from 6:10 – 7:40 PM that will take place on Zoom - see syllabus for link to our weekly Zoom meetings. In addition to the Thursday night Zoom class, you will have a significant amount of outside-of-class preparation and homework that you will incorporate into your schedule at your convenience.

Prerequisite

ESL 184 or placement in ESL 186

Course description

Practice in effective communication in everyday, academic, and professional situations through the use of dialogues, role plays, improvisations, plays, interviews, debates, and individual and group presentations. Practice in communication skills and pronunciation, stress, intonation, phrasing, phrase reductions and tone as needed.

Required book

Speech Communication Made Simple - book 2– Dale

ISBN-13: 978-0-13-286169-4

Studying English online

Because all of the instruction will be happening remotely (online) this semester, it is very important that we establish clear expectations about the requirements of this course and make sure we have multiple means of communication. I will try my best to be clear about homework and assignment requirements. However, if you are unclear about something, it will be your responsibility to check in with a classmate or contact me with your question. If you need an answer or clarification for a question, you can ask me in class during our twice weekly Zoom meetings, and I’m always available to answer questions via email. Studying online may require more self-organization and self-initiative than studying in a traditional classroom setting, but I’m optimistic that we can have a very engaging and productive semester.

Student Learning Outcomes for ESL 79

Upon completion of this course a student will be able to:

A. Speak with increasing confidence, fluency, and control in formal and informal oral communication.

• Perform a variety of public speaking tasks (eg--informative speeches, persuasive speeches, demonstrations).

• Communicate more confidently, effectively and appropriately in everyday conversations, and academic and work-related situations.

• Perform essential communicative functions such as inform, report, explain, persuade, critique, justify, summarize, sell, demonstrate, teach, solve a problem.

• Effectively use visual aids, including the appropriate use of technology to produce and display visual aids.

• Effectively use and cite resources

• Use appropriate body language and tone for effective communication both as speaker and participant.

• Participate by responding from notes, asking questions, discussing, reacting, and evaluating to topics under discussion.

B. Recognize and correct pronunciation and speech problems that impede successful communication in the classroom, on the job, and in everyday life.

• Pronounce English intelligibly; control the stress, intonation, volume, and tone of their speech; speak with appropriate vowel length, linking, contractions, phrasing and reductions.

• Understand and use register, dialect, and slang.

• Use vocabulary and grammar structures effectively.

Attendance

Regular, punctual attendance is required. We will be meeting once a week for 17 class sessions and will be covering a large amount of material. More than one absence may lower your grade, and as stated above, more than two absences may result in being dropped from this class. And if you must be absent, it is your responsibility to get the homework assignments from your classmates.

Special note: Because we have a very limited amount of synchronous class time, if you are absent on a day when you are supposed to give a presentation, your presentation grade will be reduced by one full letter grade. If you must miss class on the day of your scheduled presentation, please give me as much advanced notice as possible.

Active participation in every class, in English

Because this is a speaking and listening course, each student will need to interact frequently with his/her classmates. Be prepared to participate fully in activities involving student pairs, student groups and the whole class. Please be supportive, patient and helpful with your classmates

Homework

As with all college courses, you need to spend up to 2 hours out of class for every hour in class. Since ESL 79 is a 3 unit class, that’s a total of 6 hours of homework per week. If you cannot commit to this workload, I suggest that you attend noncredit ESL classes, which don't require outside of class homework assignments. Some of the homework assignments will be checked at the beginning of the class. Some homework will be turned in to me. Late homework or incomplete homework will result in a lower grade.

Again, homework is required even when you are absent. If you are absent for a class, you must contact a classmate and get the homework so that you will be 100% prepared for the following class. Frequent late and missed homework may lower your grade. You may not do any homework during class time.

Late work policy:

I will provide due dates for all of your assignments, and I hope you will be able to submit your work on time. However, I understand that “life happens” and sometimes you may need to turn in an assignment after the due date It's always better to turn in work, even if it's late, rather than missing an assignment completely. If you must submit a late assignment, please send me an e-mail message informing me of the late submission so that I will be able to see it and give you feedback. Again, the best option is to submit all work on time so that your classmates and I can give you feedback at the same time as the others, but if you must turn in something late, just make sure to communicate with me about when I can expect the assignment.

Communication policy:

As a hybrid course, with many tasks and activities that happen both ‘synchronously’ (online, using Zoom, at the same time) and ‘asynchronously’ (offline, at your own schedule), maintaining clear and frequent communication is essential. I will do my best to be clear in my communication, and I encourage you to ask for clarification if you ever encounter something that is not clear to you. It's so much better to speak up and ask a question when something is not clear instead of sitting back and feeling unsure about something.

During our weekly synchronous Zoom classes, I encourage you to ask any question and/or raise any concern that you have about the course. Feel free to ‘raise your hand’ using the Zoom Reaction tool or send me a private message in the Chat. For asynchronous communication, the best way to reach me is through the Canvas e-mail system (Inbox). I will respond to your e-mail within 48 hours.

Course drop policy:

I follow the drop policy of the college which states that missing 2 weeks of class can result in being dropped from the course. If you know that you will be unable to attend a class session, please contact me, and let’s find a way for you to stay up-to-date and active in the class so that you don’t get behind with the course content and activities. However, if you do need to drop the course, it is your responsibility to drop the course (from your MyCCSF/MYRam student portal) so that you don’t miss any drop deadlines. See the Fall 2022 List of Important Dates at the end of the ESL 79 course syllabus.

I will drop any student who is registered but does not participate within the first 2 weeks of class (a ‘no-show’). Also, if a student stops attending for a prolonged period of time (2 weeks) without contacting me, and does not submit work or attend class, I will assume that the student does not intend to continue with the class, and I may need to drop the student. Again, if you plan to drop the course, it is your responsibility to both contact the instructor and complete the drop process on your own.

Grading

· oral presentations 70%

· homework and quizzes 30%

Presentations, homework, quizzes, and class participation will all help determine the final grade. Also, you can take this class for ‘pass’ (credit) or ‘fail’ (no credit) units if you wish. To do this, you have to fill out a Credit/No Credit Grading Request before (date).

Disability Accommodation

If you need classroom or testing accommodations because of a disability or need special learning arrangements for any reason, please contact the Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS), or make an appointment with me as soon as possible.

Advice

This course will give you 3 units of academic English. You will acquire many new skills from the class, but you have to give a lot of your time and effort to it. Because ESL 79 requires 90 minutes of class time a week, and at least 6 hours of homework a week, this course will require a lot of time and hard work from you, especially as the semester progresses. If you are having difficulty with anything in this class, please feel free to ask for help. I look forward to meeting with you, and I welcome any and all questions that you may have.

Important Dates