Syllabus Semester II L3 2013-2014
Important Information
Instructor: Annika Gielen
Email: annika.gielen@univ-angers.fr OR amgielen@gmail.com
Class Blog: englishclassdesk.blogspot.fr
Office Hours: Room #503 IMIS-ESTHUA building (by appointment)
Class Expectations and Grading Policy
· Attendance – 5 %
Attendance is mandatory in accordance with the University of Angers standards as well as the IMIS-ESTHUA policy. No absence is excused without a valid doctor’s note, transportation strike, or emergency. You will lose points for not coming to class or for consistently arriving late.
· Participation – 10 %
Participation, specifically speaking, is extremely important to learning English. The more effort you put into your class the more you will get out of the class. Participation includes individual and in-class assignments (both written and oral), your efforts pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and syntax, displayed level of comprehension and your ability to express yourself.
If you miss any classes*, be sure to check the blog to get the information!
*N.B. If you do not come to class it is likely that you will not pass this class, you will not have the information needed to answer test questions and you will lose automatically 15% of your grade.
· In Class Group Presentation –30%
Together with a group you will prepare an oral presentation that will be presented in class. You will have some time in class to work on this.
· Final Exam – 55 %
This exam will cover all the subjects that we have learned in class throughout the semester and will be on the last day of class.
Class Objectives
Purpose: Each class will have an introduction that will layout the goal of each course and the important points you should try and learn from the class.
Grammar and Vocabulary: Each class will cover some specific grammar points and vocabulary that will help you to complete the in-class activity or to discuss a topic. This is not a grammar class so all grammar will be to help you to build on your existing knowledge.
Expression and Conversation: The overall goal of this class is to improve your ability to express yourself correctly and with confidence. It is important to participate as much as possible to improve your speaking abilities so that in your future job you will have the confidence to succeed.
Topics Covered
· Tourism: this includes the traditional ideas of tourism as well as new ideas such as ecotourism and trekking. We will also go a little bit into food and wine cultures.
· Technology: today the tourism world is extremely technological. We will explore the use of the internet and tourism including travel websites, blogs, etc. We will also cover this topic on a broad scheme.
· Culture: tourism is about sharing cultures so I will try and explain some of the interesting aspects about my own culture, the American culture. We will use culture to learn about grammar and correct ways of speaking.
English Resources
Anglophone Places in Angers
· English Language Library / Bibliotèque Anglophone
60 rue Boisnet 49100 ANGERS / www.ellia.org / 02 41 24 97 07 / Tues – Sat: 1:00pm – 6:00pm
Library with a wide variety of materials in English including manuals to study for the TOEIC exam, bulletin board for language exchanges, tutors, private lessons and other various activities in English. Sign up for the monthly news letter. First year university students and foreign students – free / students L2 and up – 12€
· My Favorite Place
4 rue l’Espine 49100 ANGERS / 06 63 06 52 78
Café owned by an Irish woman in Angers. Hosts weekly English conversation groups for students on Tuesdays from 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Dictionaries
www.dictionary.com / www.thesaurus.com : English-only resources
www.urbandictionary.com : modern slang dictionary for American English
www.wordreference.com : multi-language dictionary with forums for idiomatic phrases. Extremely helpful resource complete with verb conjugations.
Translators
N.B. DO NOT USE THESE FOR ASSIGNMENTS OR PROJECTS, I CAN TELL
http://translate.google.com
Finding Information
When looking for English-language resources on the internet, be sure to use websites in English or the English version of a website. Ex: instead of using google.fr use google.com or google.uk.
Wikipedia is not a reliable source; it is a good place to start. In university assignments and projects, Wikipedia should not be your only source, you should have at least two other sources! Remember: you are not allowed to copy and paste information from any website and use it as your own in your projects, this is plagiarism and is not expected. For questions concerning plagiarism please feel free to ask me at any time.
Article databases and scholarly databases are a great and reliable way to find information.
http://www.npr.org/collections/articles-databases
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat
Listening Resources
Free streaming information on the radio is a great resource to boost your oral skills:
www.npr.org – National Public Radio of the United States that covers all topics. (Podcasts, downloads and streaming)
www.bbc.co.uk/radio/ - Same idea but with the British accent and cultural aspects, the choice is yours!
Reading Resources
Blogs are an excellent and interesting way to practice your comprehension skills because you can find one about anything these days so there is sure to be one that interests you such as art, fashion, celebrity gossip, travel, politics, music, etc. If you are really motivated you can even start your own! I recommend following some blogs, if you aren’t already. Don’t forget the class blog!
Video Resources
Watch your favorite television shows and movies in V.O. Every bit helps, if you don’t know any shows I have some tourism based recommendations: No Reservations, An Idiot Abroad, or Globtrekker
These can be watched on:
www.natgeo.com
www.travelchannel.com
www.PBS.org
Where have you been? Where have you travelled?
As tourism students, you are all interested in travelling and enjoy discussing your experiences in far off places and in different cultures. Today, we are going to learn how to correctly discuss travel experiences in English using correct grammar and phrasing.
Common Vocabulary of Travel
- Vacation (US)/ Holiday (GB): these are considered as leisurely trips, one where relaxation or fun are the main goals. They can be long or short but are never considered as difficult or extremely life changing.
*Be careful not to confuse the two, in America, a holiday is a special occasion such as Christmas, President’s Day, Thanksgiving, etc…
“I was on vacation in California last week.”
“We took a vacation to Mexico two years ago.”
“The French often are on holiday during the month of August.”
- Trips/Cruises: trips are another way of saying vacation or holiday but can be used for a specific type of vacation such as a road-trip or a vacation on a ship. Road-trips can be taken in any sort of vehicle from a car or motorcycle to a bus or camper/RV. Cruises are often themed such as cruises for senior citizens, families, singles, adventure or sight-seeing cruises.
“We took a cross-country road-trip last summer, it was an adventure.”
“We are going on a sight-seeing cruise to Alaska next week.”
- Journeys and Voyages: these are the most commonly misused terms by students of English. Journeys and Voyages are long and often difficult, the main purpose of these trips are not usually for relaxation.
Journeys are often seen as long trips with multiple stops:
“I took a backpacking trip to Europe, it was a real journey.”
“Marco Polo journeyed to China.”
Voyages are similar but are on boats.
“Christopher Columbus took a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to discover new land.”
Activity
Ask your partner questions to find out where they have been and where they want to go, use the follow up questions to enrich the responses and conversation. Be sure to take notes because you will be presenting your partner to the rest of the class.
“Where have you been?” “Where would you like to go?”
You can ask this question many different ways: You can ask this question in many different ways:
Where have you travelled to? Where is your dream destination to travel to?
Where have you lived? Where do you plan on visiting next?
What countries/cities have you visited? Where is a place that you haven’t been that you would like to go?
Where are you from?
Follow-up Questions Follow-up Questions
What did you eat there?/ What did you do there? Why do you want to visit there?
How many times have you visited this place? How do you plan on getting there?
How did you get there/ how long did it take? How long are you going for?
Was it expensive? What will you be doing while you are there?
Where is the worst place you’ve been to? Do you prefer to travel for leisure, touristic sites or adventure?
Where is the best place you’ve been to?
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