Linguistics

Dear students,
Our next unit will be about linguistics.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Hall's Classification of Cultures

Dear students,
The print for next lesson may be downloaded here:

Hall's Classification of Cultures

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Academic Skills Course Videos

Dear students,
If you would like to watch and listen to the course videos, they are available here:

http://vimeopro.com/user13420562/academic-skills-videos

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Welcome to Chris Elvin's Aoyama University Academic Skills class

Dear students,
Welcome to the course. Please access the blog before and after class to check for news, updates, and homework assignments.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

COURSE OUTLINE

Academic Skills

Spring 2018

Instructor: Chris Elvin

Email: chriselvin@gmail.com

Blog: http://ascelvin.blogspot.jp

Course Description

Welcome to Academic Skills. The class goals are:

i) To participate in seminars in junior and senior years.

ii) To have further practice in the four English skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.

iii) To learn how to make good notes.

iv) To classify certain types of questions such as cause/ effect, comparison/contrast, definition and illustration.

v) To give opinions and evaluate other opinions.

vi) To study literature, linguistics and communication.

Course Assessment and Grading Criteria

a) 30% extensive listening portfolio

b) 20% mid-term lecture listening quiz

c) 20% final lecture listening quiz

d) 20% student led listening activity
e) 10% attendance

Extensive listening portfolio: You are required to keep a record of ten listening activities that you do outside of class. These activities should take between nintety minutes and two hours to complete. You may listen to TED talks lectures, for example, or news stories, documentaries or movies. What you choose to listen to is up to you. Your portfolio should include notes, and a summary and a comment for each assignment. At the end of the semester, please hand in your portfolio to your teacher (30 points).

Option 1



Option 2

Mid-term test: This lecture listening quiz will be similar to the listening exercises of the course book (20 points).

Final test: Your final quiz will also be similar to the listening tasks of the course book (20 points).

Student led listening activity: Each week one person, pair, or group should prepare a thirty-minute listening activity for the class which should be a meaningful listening exercise and learning experience (20 points).

Attendance: Please keep your class work in a portfolio separate from your extensive listening portfolio as a record of your attendance (10 points).

The textbook you will use is available online here: Academic Skills.pdf

Good luck!

Chris Elvin

May 16th lesson

Dear students,
If you attended Ben Crystal's talk last week, please hand in your notes and summary at the beginning of the lesson.
Today, you will learn more about Shakespeare, so please download the print and bring it to class.
Unit 3 Shakespeare
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

May 9th lecture

Dear students,
Today, please go to building 4, room 420, at 16:50, to listen to a lecture about Shakespeare by Ben Crystal. You should make notes as you listen, and write a summary of his talk, which should go in your portfolio.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

May 2nd lesson

Dear students,
Today you will start Unit 1 (The Mirror Images). Please download and bring the prints to class.
The Mirror Images
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

April 25th lesson

Dear students,
Today you will carry on with the lecture about culture. If we finish, you may work on your listening portfolio.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

April 18th lesson

Dear students,
The course grading criteria has slightly changed. Your portfolio will now be worth 50 points. This should contain the 10 lectures that you watched and studied at home (download below), the work you did in the first lesson, and any other class work that your teacher asks you to include.

Homework portfolio: You are required to keep a record of listening activities that you do outside of class. These activities should take up at least twenty hours of your time. You may listen to TED talks lectures, for example, or news stories, documentaries or movies. What you choose to listen to is up to you. Your portfolio should include notes, questions and answers, and a summary and a comment for each assignment. At the end of the semester, please hand in your portfolio to your teacher.

Grading

a)    40%   extensive listening portfolio

b)    25%   mid-term lecture listening quiz

c)    25%   final lecture listening quiz
d)    10%   class work that your teacher asks you to include in your portfolio

Download homework portfolio here:
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/portfolio.pdf

Today you will start Unit 1 of the Academic Skills textbook, which you can download here:
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/Hall's_Classification_of_Cultures.pdf

You may download the course book here:
http://www.cl.aoyama.ac.jp/~dias/pdfs/Academic%20Skills%202012.pdf

If you want to listen to the lectures again, the course videos may be accessed by clicking on the link below:
http://vimeopro.com/user13420562/academic-skills-videos

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Welcome to Chris Elvin`s Academic Skills

Dear students,
Welcome to the course.


Today you will watch a video about population growth.
https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_on_global_population_growth#t-578780


Please download the print below for your listening worksheet.
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/in-class.pdf


Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

May 31st lesson

Dear students,
Today you will study about Shakespeare. The following week, June 7th will be your mid-term test, which is worth 25 points.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

May 10th lesson

Dear students,
Today you will finish the lecture about mirror images, starting from page 7. If there is time, you may do your listening portfolio, so please be prepared to do so.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

April 26th lesson

Dear students,
Last week you watched a lecture about the origins of camels. Today you will start the textbook chapter that was originally scheduled for last week about culture.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin
P.S. If you need extra copies of the lecture listening print, you may download it from here:
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/in-class.pdf

April 19th lesson

Dear students,
Today you will read your summary of the TED talks lecture about population control that you started in class last week. For homework, you should start your portfolio, too.

Download portfolio template here:
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/portfolio.pdf

Today you will start Unit 1 of the Academic Skills textbook, which you can download here:
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/Hall's_Classification_of_Cultures.pdf

If you want to read any other part of the textbook, you may do so here:
http://www.cl.aoyama.ac.jp/~dias/pdfs/Academic%20Skills%202012.pdf

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Course Outline Spring 2016

Academic Skills

Spring 2016

Instructor:               Chris Elvin

Email:                    chriselvin@gmail.com

Blog:                     http://ascelvin.blogspot.jp

Course Description

Welcome to Academic Skills. The class goals are;

i)              To participate in seminars in their junior and senior years.

ii)             To have further practice in the four English skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.

iii)           To learn how to make good notes.

iv)           To classify certain types of questions such as cause/ effect, comparison/contrast, definition and illustration.

v)             To give opinions and evaluate other opinions.

vi)           To study literature, linguistics and communication.

Course Assessment and Grading Criteria

a)        10%     lecture comprehension, notes and summary class exercise

b)        40%     extensive listening portfolio

c)        25%     mid-term lecture listening quiz

d)        25%     final lecture listening quiz

Attendance: You are expected to attend ALL classes. Your first two absences will be penalized by one drop in grade. Your third and fourth absences will be penalized by subsequent drops in grade. If you are absent five times, you will fail the course.

Lecture comprehension:            You will listen to a Ted Talks lecture in class, take notes and write a summary.

Homework portfolio: You are required to keep a record of listening activities that you do outside class. These activities should take up 20 hours or more of your listening time. You may listen to the news, documentaries or songs. You may watch movies, or presentations on TED, for example. What you do is up to you, but you should make sure to keep a record of what you do. Your portfolio should include notes, summaries, vocabulary items, and personal comments, and you should hand this in to your teacher at least one week before the end of the semester.

Mid-term quiz: This challenging lecture listening quiz is worth 25 points.

Final quiz: Your final quiz will take place during the last lesson of the semester. It is also worth 25 points.

Good luck!

What did you think of Academic Skills?

What did you like and not like about the course?
Do you have any suggestions to make it better?

Summary and Reaction

Write your summary and reaction to the movie here please:

Your summary may be in bullet point form or a paragraph, and it should include most or all of the elements below:

setting
characters
mood
point of view
plot
conflict
climax
symbols
irony
theme

Your second paragraph should be your opinion about the movie.

June 30th lesson

Dear students,
Thank you for your contributions in class and to the blog.
We didn't have time to discuss what we will do today, but there is not much time. One lesson will be your final test, and you will also need to hand in your listening portfolios soon.
Today, you will either start a new topic from the textbook, or another TED talks, or if you prefer, you could watch a movie and write a summary and reaction to it. If you bring a DVD which you think is suitable to watch and listen to in English, please do.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

How movies teach manliness - TED Talks

What did you think of today`s presentation? The Bechdel test? Are modern movies really so bad?
Post your comments below please.

June 23rd lesson

Dear students,
Today you will do the quiz at the end of the unit on Shakespeare. After that you will listen to a TED Talks lecture that you will choose in class. Please add your notes, question and answer and summary to your portfolio.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin