Course Description
This course is for students who wish to upgrade their speaking and listening skills for personal, educational and/or employment purposes. The course focuses on extending speaking and listening skills to improve confidence and develop proficiency in speaking and listening. Course activities will include speaking at Canadian Language Benchmark Levels 4 and 5 and listening at Canadian Language Benchmark Level 4 in a variety of communicative situations. The speaking and listening practice will also provide opportunities for language skill development including grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary and pronunciation elements.
Course Content
Listening Skills
To follow basic everyday communication on familiar topics:
- Identify register/style and infer some situational details including participant roles and relationships.
- Identify topic and main ideas of a conversation on a familiar topic.
- Identify specific key words, factual details and some inferred meaning in casual small talk, introductions, leave-taking and short phone calls.
- Follow sets of sequentially presented everyday instructions with longer phrases related to location, movement, manner, frequency and duration.
- Demonstrate understanding of expressions used to persuade, suggest, advise, and convince.
To listen for discrete items:
- Listen for specific information (e.g. names, telephone numbers, addresses and dates).
- Write from dictation.
Speaking Skills
To participate in conversations and paired/small group speaking activities:
- Open, respond to and close small talk and casual conversations.
- Indicate problems in communication by asking for repetition, clarification and explanation.
- Manage short, simple predictable phone exchanges and standard replies.
- Leave a short, simple phone message.
- Give sets of simple everyday instructions and directions.
- Relate stories.
- A picture story (external stimulus).
- An everyday activity or routine.
- Personal story.
- Interact one-on-one to ask for and provide information related to routine daily activities.
- Describe:
- Use language functions, including the following:
- Expressing needs, preferences, satisfaction/dissatisfaction, and likes/dislikes.
- Request/give simple advice or suggestions.
- Request/give permission.
- Extend/accept or decline invitations.
- Express/respond to compliments and congratulations.
- Work on pronunciation elements (word stress, vowels and linking) as needed.
- Assess own skills as communicators.
Accuracy
To demonstrate accurate use of:
- Verb Tenses: simple present, present continuous, simple past, simple future.
- Time Markers: past, present, future.
- Basic parts of speech and sentence parts.
- Nouns, pronouns and adjectives.
- Modals expressing requests, necessity, ability, advice and suggestions.
Classroom Skills
- Take responsibility for the following:
- Attendance and punctuality.
- Classwork and assignments.
- Participation and teamwork, collaboration in groups and decision-making.
- Follow instructions, communicate with peers and instructors and ask for clarification.
- Show an awareness of cultural differences and general features of their culture and the world.
Learning Activities
Whole and small group instruction will be combined with individual assistance and student-directed learning. Students will participate in the setting of goals by identifying their communicative and language development needs, and will participate in the selection of learning activities. Students will receive assistance with difficulties arising from lack of familiarity, structure, lexicon and cultural content. The instructor will facilitate, observe, and evaluate students’ participation in classroom activities. Students will discuss personal rights and social responsibilities in their area of study, intended occupations and personal life; this may depend on course materials used.
Means of Assessment
- Complete assigned skill development tasks. These could include:
- dictations and dictocomps (retelling of a story)
- recording onto flash drives (e.g., responses to instructor questions; monologues)
- activities in pronunciation elements
- journal entries and/or contact assignment worksheets
- Identify topic and main ideas in conversations and instructions
- Participate in pair, group, and class conversation and discussion activities.
- Complete listening activities. These could include:
- listening to pre-recorded short telephone messages for key information
- listening to simple weather reports for factual details
- Complete listening and speaking activities. These could include:
- leaving short simple telephone messages (name and number)
- conducting short simple telephone conversations with classmates
- giving and following sets of simple everyday instructions or directions
- interviewing a classmate about daily activities or routines, past activities, future plans, likes/dislikes or preferences
- Plan and carry out at least one partner/group project. These could include:
- planning a party
- planning a cultural outing/activity in Vancouver
- making a poster about a cultural outing/activity in Vancouver
- Complete oral and written tasks to a specified level of accuracy
- Complete quizzes both content and skill based
- Complete at least one self-assessment of learning strategies, progress, and classroom skills to be discussed with the instructor
Student achievement will be assessed using the mastery grading system in accordance with college policy.
Learning Outcomes
Overall Objective
Extend fluency and confidence in speaking and listening for a range of personal, educational, and/or employment purposes.
Specific Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of communication in simple contexts (e.g. everyday conversations and instructions).
- Communicate information in simple contexts (as above) about familiar everyday topics.
- Monitor and apply strategies to a specified level of accuracy in grammar, sentence structure, word choice, and pronunciation elements.
- Participate effectively in a college class.
- Assess own progress.
Textbook Materials
Students may be required to purchase a textbook to be determined by instructor.