Level Coordinators:

Debbie Kemp-Jackson  Office E-716    Phone: 908-659-5144 E-mail: kjackson@ucc.edu

 

Other coordinators at Level 5:        

054/055  (Level 5 Grammar)	091 (Level 5 Writing I)
Debbie Pires Office E- 417  Tel: 908-659-5185 Email:  pires@ucc.edu	Maria Mattaliano Office E- 711  #4 Tel: 908-965-2354 Email:  mattaliano@ucc.edu	Mahua De Office E-718A Tel: 908-659-5143 Email: de@ucc.edu

 

Prerequisites

ESL Placement Test or ESL 045 
Co-requisites
ESL 054,055 ESL 091

 

Course Description

Level 5 Reading (ESL 081) is a full semester high-intermediate/low-advanced academic sequence for students whose native language is not English.   ESL 081 and ESL 091 meet once per week for 3 hours.  ESL 054/055 meets twice per week for 6 hours.  All three courses meet for 15 weeks including exam week.

 

Students who are successful in passing this level move on to ESL 082.  Students who need more time at this level must repeat the entire course.

 

Course Objectives/Student Learning Outcomes

·       To comprehend authentic American fiction, non-fiction and academic texts.

·       To apply reading strategies, such as skimming, scanning, finding main ideas, drawing conclusions summarizing and using context clues.

·       To be able to make connections between texts and real-life experiences.

·       To respond to texts using various writing activities, such as freewriting and double-sided journals

·       To summarize the significant ideas and/or events orally or in writing

·       To identify varied American cultural and historical themes to develop an awareness of multiculturalism through fiction and non-fiction

 

Information Literacy

By the conclusion of the semester, all students who pass this course will demonstrate, in at least one graded project, oral or written, that they are developing competency in the research process.  This should include attending a library orientation, doing basic research, evaluating sources, and incorporating those sources into the project without plagiarism. Some of the sources should be electronic, including a database and the internet.

  

Requirements

• Students will take a midterm and final exams. 
• Students will take frequent quizzes and complete homework assignments.
• Students will complete a research project which will be presented in oral or written form.
• Students keep weekly journals, responding to readings.

 

Suggested

• Students will have midterm conferences with instructors to discuss their progress. 

 

Student Resources

Textbooks  (Chosen from the list)

Academic Encounters by Kristen Brown

Reader’s Choice, Split Ed, Book 1 by Badouin et al.

Building Understanding

Academic Encounters

Novels

Outbreak by Robin Cook

Warriors Don’t Cry by  Beals

 

Supplementary materials

Articles from Newsweek, Time, other journals, newspapers, academic texts, online journals and websites, etc.

 

Suggested Final Grade Calculation

To pass the course and go to ESL 082, a student must receive a passing overall final average for the semester. Student work for the complete semester will determine the final grade.  Possible final grades are: A, B+, B, C+, C, D+, D, and F, or Stopped Attending (UF). Students who receive an F or UF must repeat the entire course. 

Midterm                                    20%

Final Exam                                20%

Homework and Quizzes            20%

Journals                                     15%

Attendance/Participation           15%

Oral/Written Research Project 10%
 

 Final Exam

Students will take exams which follow the format below:

a) Questions related to the novel(s) read during the semester.

b) A new reading from a journal, magazine or academic text, with new questions

c) Optional- a journal activity where students produce a journal entry on their exam.

 

Suggested Methodologies and Activities

Reading Strategies

Students will develop reading strategies that they will use throughout their college career.   These strategies include skimming, scanning, identifying main idea, increasing reading speed, recognizing word forms, building vocabulary, and inferencing. These will be developed through reading novels, authentic readings from newsmagazines and journals, and  chapters from the text. 

Coordination with Writing and Grammar Classes

Students discuss content and practice skills being covered in writing, listening and grammar. 

 

Popular themes from novels which have been used successfully in ESL 081:

• Biography of a notable American
• Medical themes
• Issues of Civil Rights or Minority Rights
• Comparisons of different cultures
• Women’s Rights

 Journal Entries

Students will write an assigned number of pages or journal entries per week in response to readings.  Journals will be graded by quantity and/or quality.

 Examples of Journal assignments

·       Reaction journal

·       Write a letter to a character.

·       Pretend to be a character in novel and write journal entries as that character.

·       Finish the story (if mystery or open-ended).

·       Project the end of a story (what will happen in 5 years, etc.).

·       Summarize a particular chapter or section of the book to check comprehension. 

·       Keep a vocabulary of new/important vocabulary words.

·       Make questions for your classmates from each chapter.

 

Oral Reports and Projects

Students will do a research project on a theme related to the novels being read.  Projects may follow  examples below:

 Students will use the internet, database sources and print materials to research, for example:

• Research a famous person or the era when they lived.
• Research a medical problem (a disease such as AIDS, Ebola virus)
• Research a country or culture. I
• Research a theme from the novel and present orally to class.
• Research a theme and write a summary/paper.

Students will write a bibliography of the sources they have used.

 

CALL/ALC

• Dyned, Perfect Copy,
• Internet (used to search for information related to a project),
• Word Processing
• Inspiration- an online graphic organizer program to help students organize their ideas.