June 2nd lesson

Dear students,
Today you will have a mid-term test prepared by the Univeristy. It is worth 20 points.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Education - May 26th

How was today`s TED Talk? Post your comments below please.

May 26th lesson

Dear students,
Today you will listen to a TED talks that you will choose together as a class. The worksheet that you will need is here:
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/in-class.pdf
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

May 19th lesson

Dear students,
Today you will start learning about world Englishes.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

May 12th lesson

Dear students,
Today you will listen to a lecture, make notes, answer questions and write a summary. After that you may work on your portfolio.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

April 28th class

Dear students,
Today you will listen to a lecture, make notes, listen and write down the questions you hear, and finally write a brief summary. This exercise is similar to what you should be doing for your portfolio except that there is no visual component; just an audio file.
After that you will start learnig about world Englishes or carrry on with your portfolio. Please download and bring the file below to class.
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/World_Englishes.pdf
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

How was Hall`s classification of culture unit?

Write your comments below here, please. (click on the comment box and type your opinion).

April 21st lesson

Dear students,
Today you will carry on with Hall`s classification of culture, and if there is time work on your listening portfolio,
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

April 14th Class

Dear students,
Today we will study Hall`s classification of cultures. Please download the print and bring it to class.
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/Hall's_Classification_of_Cultures.pdf
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

academic skills textbook

http://www.cl.aoyama.ac.jp/~dias/pdfs/Academic%20Skills%202012.pdf

Listening homework portfolio template

Dear students,
You may download and print a copy of your homework portfolio template here:

http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/portfolio.pdf

Kind regards,
Chirs Elvin

Welcome to Academic Skills - Spring 2015

Academic Skills

Spring 2015

Instructor:             Chris Elvin

blog:                     http://ascelvin.blogspot.jp

Course Description

Welcome to Academic Skills. The class goals are;

To participate in seminars in their junior and senior years.

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

To learn how to make good notes.

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

To give opinions and evaluate other opinions.

To study literature, linguistics and communication.

Course Assessment and Grading Criteria

a)        50%     extensive listening portfolio

b)        25%     mid-term lecture listening quiz

c)        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.

Listening 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!

June 24th lesson

Dear students,
Today we will probably finish the unit about Langston Hughes. After we have finished, we will start learning about second language acquisition.
Please download the file if you need to do so.
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/First_and_Second_Language Acquisition.pdf
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

June 10th Lesson

Dear students,
Today we will start Langston Hughes.
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/Langston_Hughes.pdf

Despite what I told you in class on June 3rd, I have decided to keep with the original plan for your grades. The mid-term is worth 25 points, the final test is worth 25 points, and your two homework assignments are worth 25 points each. Please use the worksheet below for your assignments.
http:www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/homework.pdf

If there is any time after finishing the units on Langston Hughes and Second Language Acquisition, we will practice listening to TED Talks in class. The download for this exercise is below.
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/in-class.pdf

Sorry for the confusion.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

June 3rd lesson

Dear students,
Today you will finish off the unit about Shakespeare, and then start learning about Langston Hughes.
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/Langston_Hughes.pdf
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

May 27th lesson

Dear students,
Today, you will have your mid-term test. The lecture will be similar to previous ones, and you will be asked to make notes, answer questions, and write summaries.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

May 13th lesson

Dear students,
Today we will look at world Englishes. The file for this unit is here:
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/World_Englishes.pdf
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

April 22nd lesson

Dear students,
Today you will start the second unit on classification of cultures.
http://www.eflclub.com/aogaku/as/Hall's_Classification_of_Cultures.pdf
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Welcome to Chris Elvin's - Aoyama Gakuin - Academic Skills Class

Dear students,
Thank you for coming to class yesterday, and sorry for the confusion.
I will be using this blog to communicate with you about the course, so please either subscribe to this blog, or visit it before you come to class.
In our next class, we will continue to study "Mirror Images", so if you want to print out a copy of this unit, please do. (Otherwise, you may work with the onscreen version)
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Unit 1 print download - Mirror Images