ESL-092-M36 Reading and Writing Skills
Credit Hours: 1.0
Prerequisite: TOEFL 400 (Part III)
Course Text
Materials packet
Course Description and Objectives
This course is designed around weekly themes and topics of current interest, and texts will be selected from a variety of very different sources, including magazines, novels, poetry, and other educational material. This will be accompanied by brain-stretching creative activities, humor, and the joy English-speaking culture expression.
The aims of this course are to increase reading speed and efficiency, and to enhance the forgotten art of appreciating the written word. Naturally, vocabulary building, learning strategies, and skills such as inference, interpretation and literary analysis will be constantly lurking between the lines.
Grading/Attendance Policy
This course is graded P (Pass) or NP (No Pass). Attendance, class participation and completion of homework and in-class assignments are required of all students, without exception. Performance in these areas and on quizzes and partial and final exams must be satisfactory (grade of “C”) in order for students to receive a “P” grade. Those students who demonstrate unsatisfactory performance will be notified by the professor and reminded that continued problems and/or excessive absences will jeopardize their opportunity to continue their academic studies at Saint Louis University. More than six unexcused absences may result in an automatic “No Pass.”
Please remember that the purpose of the ESL courses is to aid students in improving their level of English in order to be able to handle academic study at the college level in English. Students will need to achieve the required level of proficiency in English by the end of their 3rd semester, or they will not be allowed to take other academic courses at the university.
Outline of Themes
Week 1
Love
Week 2
Education
Assignment: 1-2 page explanation/example essay
Week 3
Health and Magic
Week 4
Travel
Assignment: 1-2 page descriptive paper
Week 5
Jobs and professions
Week 6
Money and consumerism
Assignment: 2-3 page cause/effect paper
Midterm exam
Week 7
Tastes and preferences: individualism
Week 8
The media
Assignment: 2-3 page classification paper
Week 9
Prejudice, tolerance and justice
Week 10
Sport
Assignment: 2-3 page comparison/contrast paper
Week 11
Ecology and apocalypse
Week 12
Creative writing project
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