Faculty of Teacher Training - English Department
Instructor: Dr. Rod
E-mail: sjrod55@gmail.com
Course description:
Applied Communications Skills is designed to focus on those who are going to be teaching core and additional subjects IN English to NON Native English speakers – i.e. Teachers who use English as a Second Language teaching subjects others than English in English. The focus of the course will be on identifying the challenges of teaching in this environment as well as the development of strategies that allow you to become an effective and successful teacher or presenter. We will be combining (integrating) the various skills in a flexible, creative manner so that students with varying needs can still meet their own academic, personal and professional objectives. To this end, the methodological approach will be communicative with pedagogical emphasis on teaching in an ESL environment.
Attendance policy:
In accordance with the university’s attendance policy, students must attend 70% of the meetings in order to be able to pass the course. If a student misses more than 30 % of the classes, the student will automatically fail the course, regardless of performance on the assignments. The dismissal of excused absences (medical appointments, family emergencies, etc.) will be taken up on a case by case basis.
Assessment:
| Attendance | 10 % |
| Homework | 10 % |
| Interview | 10 % |
| Debate | 10 % |
| Reading skill (reading for gist & reading for details) | 10 % |
| Oral interaction (conversation & argument ) | 10 % |
| Listening activities | 10 % |
| Writing assignments | 20 % |
| Quizzes | 10 % |
| Total | 100 % |
Assessment in this course will be continuous (ongoing). Students therefore should be advised that each and every meeting is crucial to their success in the course. The students will be assessed for these components:
Please be well aware that while there will not be formalized mid and final year examinations, the continuous assessments, in total, have the same effect and weigh equally.
Grading Rubric:
| Grade Description | Grade Points | |
| 95% - 100% | Excellent | 10.0 |
| 86% - 94% | Very good | 9.0 |
| 77% - 85% | Good | 8.0 |
| 68% - 76% | Satisfactory | 7.0 |
| 60% - 67% | Passing | 6.0 |
| 59% - below | Failing | 5.0 |
| Incomplete (IN) | 0.0 |
Incomplete (IN): An incomplete grade may be assigned if a student has not finished all course requirements by the end of the semester, but has completed a substantial amount of the work. It is the student’s responsibility to bring pertinent information to the teacher and to reach an agreement on how the remaining course requirements will be satisfied. If requirements are not completed within one year, a failing grade is automatically assigned.
| WEEK 1 | Introduction to Applied Communication Skills – Overview, present situation and history of ESL teaching within an multi cultural, ethnic classroom |
| WEEK 2 | The philosophy behind multi cultural classrooms and learning environments. What happens when you have 13 mother tongues in one room? How to establish the ground rules. |
| WEEK 3 | Available resources and how to use them. Challenges of those resources and how to identify which resources best meet the needs of your audience |
| WEEK 4 | Developing educational goals and outlines, establishing the expectations of: the student, the teacher/institution and client or parent |
| WEEK 5 | Presentation in groups of 2 on the first 4 weeks work. Essay on ‘The challenges and advantages of multi lingual, cultural and ethnic teaching situations. |
| WEEK 6 | Adapting available resources for an audience that cannot or does not culturally relate to the materials available vs. using available materials regardless of cultural understanding. |
| WEEK 7 | Designing and adapting your presentation techniques using all available media to get across to your student/audience the main points you are presenting. |
| WEEK 8 | Plan a sample 15 minute lesson on a topic of your choice and present it to a group of 6 students – (Three groups in the class) Rotate the teacher and topic. |
| WEEK 9 | Working with less capable students. Consideration of the home and neighbourhood environment. Family conditions. Accounting for deficits in language acquisition. |
| WEEK 10 | Presentation in groups of 2 on the second 3 weeks work. Mini project on adapting resources vs. creating resources. |
| WEEK 11 | Design a course unit for a specific group of students (assigned by the professor) – describe the challenges of the course design as well as how you overcame them. |
| WEEK 12 | Review of current educational methodologies and practical examples using videos of teachers/trainers in classroom situations – analysis by class. |
| WEEK 13 | Presentation of 15 minute lessons to and using your fellow classmates. |
All of the above is subject to change.
