Speaking Level 3

Syllabus
Professor Information:
Shaaxi University of Science and Technology
2018 Fall
Tuesday& Thursday 9-11:30 am
Teaching building A 303
Xiangshan He
Student Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 2-4 pm
If I am here, my door is always open.
Also, remember there are participation
points for coming by. J
Phone: (619) 343-7153
Email: xiangshanhe@sandiego.edu
Fun fact about me: I skydived!!

Course Description:
Welcome to Speaking Level 3
When you think about spoken English class. What comes to mind? My guess is that you
thought about activities, games, and a lot of talking. Not bad for the first impression, but there
are many other materials, topics, contents and skill buildings you will experience in this course.
This course is designed for students like you who want to develop better oral skills and listening
comprehension, which will primarily be achieved by detailed instructions on pronunciation.
Our focus will be on (1) producing fluent, accurate and intelligible English, (2) becoming more
comfortable listening to rapidly spoken English, (3) learning common expressions, gambits, and
idioms used in both formal and informal contexts, and (4) becoming an expert in pronouncing
the phonetic symbols.
Topics Covered:
• Daily life questions and answers
• Basic person and place descriptive abilities used in small talk
• Number, time, quantity, and cost use
• Daily life receptive understanding skills
• Written usage to express situations, give instructions and explanations, communicate
opinions, and narrate and comprehend stories
• Specific terminology use based on students' needs

Classroom rules:
• I believe myself and my ability to do my best.
• I embrace challenges and mistakes because they help me learn.
• I can speak. I will speak. I must speak.
• I will work as a TEAM because Together Everyone Achieves More!
• I will be respectful, responsible, and ready to learn.
• I will not turn in work late.
• I will not cheat.
• I will not use my cell phones during class as a negative distraction.
Grading Policy:
Exams and assignments are necessary to assess your mastery of the speaking skills. I use the
point system of grading because I think it is easy for both you and me to read. Every
assignment I give to you is worth a certain point value. Your final grade in the class is
determined by dividing the sum of your earned points by the sum of the possible points on all
of the assignments. Sounds tough? Just think it is a video game and you need the points to
win. The prize is you being able to speak English beautifully. How about that? A breakdown of
the typical point values of assignments is listed below for you to check them out:

Attendance & Participation

Value: 10 points
You should attend every class but extenuating circumstances arise that can make this difficult.
If you cannot attend a class, please let me know. If circumstances make you miss more than 3
classes during the semester, you may be overextended and should drop the class per the
University attendance policy. I hope you actively participate in this course. I say this because I
found it is the best way to engage you in learning the skills and it makes the lectures more fun.
You are expected and welcomed positively contribute to discussions and activities, and honor
your classmates by truly listening, reflecting, considering, and responding respectfully to their
contributions.

Phonetic Symbols Assessment

Value: 10 points
You are expected to be assessed on phonetic symbols which you will learn throughout classes.
I know learning the phonetic symbols sounds boring, but trust me, I planned a lot of activities
and games for you to practice the phonetic symbols. You will be asked to identify and be able
to pronounce the phonetic symbols in the “mouthing, listening and pronouncing” assessments
as in class quizzes during the semester.
Duty Report & Audio Reflection
Value: 20 points
Each class period, we will begin with a presentation about a certain topic. For this part, you will
present on your own. It will be individual work. I will not assign you the topics which means you
can be creative! Yay! You can present on the current events you heard on the news. You can
present your favorite books, movies, celebrities, or music. You can present on some topics you
are comfortable sharing with the class as long as it is appropriate. I will grade you on your
language fluency, accuracy and complexity. One thing to remember: you don’t want to read
the PowerPoint or you lose points. L

Midterm
Value: 20 points
On May 30, you will have to work with one or two partners to present information about a
country. Culture, language, food, and custom of the country are the content you want to talk
about. You and your partners will have 15-20 minutes to present, and 2-5 minutes for me and
your classmates to ask you some questions. I will also grade you on your language fluency,
accuracy and complexity, only for this time. I am looking forward you using the oral
presentation skills which we will talk about in class in week 3.

Final Project
Value: 40 points
You will be working with three teammates in class. I will give you an interesting topic and
enough materials. Your team will be assigned a side by flipping a coin and you will have 10
minutes to prepare your arguments. Relax. The topic will be very easy. Each side should be
aware from the very beginning that you’ll require an introductory argument (5 minutes),
rebuttal (2 minutes), second rebuttal (2 minutes) and conclusion (2 minutes). Each one of your
group will be required to manage one of these arguments. The jury (me and rest of the class)
will pick a winner team and I will give each member of the winner team 5 extra credits. I will
also grade you on your language fluency, accuracy and complexity.
Duty Report schedule:
Please fill in the chart below before May 8th
Student 1(May 9) Student 2(May14)
Student 3(May16) Student 4(May 21)
Student 5(May 23) Student 6(May 28)
Student 7(June 4) Student 8(June 6)
Student 9(June11) Student 10(June13)
Student 11(June18) Student 12(June20)
 Schedule


Week Monday Wednesday

May 9th
Duty Report: Student 1
May 7th
/ɑ:/ / ʌ//ɔ:/ /ɒ/

-In Class Welcome

1 -Verb forms and other grammatical structures
-Syllabus
-Intro to This class -Introductions and greetings

-Asking for information

May 14th
May 16th

Duty Report: Student 2

Duty Report: Student 3
/i:/ /ɪ/
/ɜ:/ /ə/
2
-Offering
-Comparative language
-Requesting
-Vocabulary building for people and places
-Inviting
 May 23rd
May 21st

Duty Report: Student 5

Duty Report: Student 4
/U:/ /ʊ/
/e/ /æ/
3 -Time, quantity, cost and numbering
-Communicative structures for
vocabulary
expression of opinions
-Presentation Skills
-Asking for descriptions
-Buying and selling structures
May 28th

Duty Report: Student 6

/eɪ/ /aɪ/ /ɔɪ/ May 30th

4 -Requesting and giving the time

MIDTERM
-Various numerical expressions
including cardinal numbers, fractions,
decimals etc.
 June 6th
June 4th

Duty Report: Student 8

Duty Report: Student 7 /ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/
/əʊ/ /aʊ/
5 -Identification of equipment required,
-Listening comprehension focusing on intensive vocabulary training
varying elements of vocabulary and
-Descriptive language development of
structure
equipment use and functions
June 11th
Duty Report: Student 9 June 13th
/p/ / t/ / k//b/ /d/ /g/
/f/ /θ/ /s//v/ /ð/ /z/ Duty Report: Student 10
/ʃ/ /h//ʒ// r/
-Development of basic speaking skills
applying studied grammatical /ts//tʃ//tr/ /dz/ /dʒ//dr/
6
structures
-Instruction flow speaking skills

-Standard speaking formats including

-Narrative speaking structures to express past
formal and informal words
events

-Expression of opinions in speaking

 June 18th June 20th

Duty Report: Student 11 Duty Report: Student 12

/m//n/ /ŋ/ /j//w// l/
7
-Narrative speaking structures to -Integrated interrogative and discourse use
express present events with targeted vocabulary and functions

-Narrative speaking structures to -Language formation for instruction in, and

express future events explanation of basic equipment use
June 25th
8
FINAL PROJECT