ADVANCED ENGLISH CONVERSATION(1)

This course will focus on helping students develop their skills and confidence in conversational English. As such, the main focus of the course will be on providing students with opportunities to communicate in a variety of situations, e.g., pair and group activities. Students will have the opportunity to discuss a broad range of topics, give a variety of different presentations, and enhance their cultural competence in terms of appropriateness of language and idiomatic speech. They will also have opportunities to increase their competence in listening and reading comprehension, vocabulary, pronunciation, oral grammar, and conversational strategy use.

General learning goals:
1. Develop students’ confidence in their ability to speak and comprehend English speech.
2. Improve students’ vocabulary, pronunciation and oral grammar in English.
3. Introduce students to “cultural” conversation cues such as speech patterns, expressions, slang, body language, appropriateness, etc.

Students must attend every class and must do all assignments, including presentations, according to the schedule. Students must attend at least two (2) individual conversation exams in the professor's office -- missing an appointment includes a 5-point penalty as well as a grade of "0" for that assignment. Work may not be turned in late. Other specific rules for this class, including attendance, plagiarism, late work and other concerns will be discussed early and often. All class rules will be explained in the hand-out syllabus during the first week of the course and will be available on the on-line site.

This class will be taught at the "intermediate" skill level. Students in this course should already feel reasonably comfortable and competent in the fundamentals of English conversation, including vocabulary and participation.

Students will gain instruction and experience in realistic conversation situations, especially with foreigners and use of idioms and phrasal verbs, and in improving overall presentation skills.