English 0346                                  E-mail: [email protected]

Course Syllabus                            Phone: 832-606-1346

CRN#   54776                                  

Instructor:       Christian Jioni De Los Santos        Classroom #:205

 

                                       

English 0346

 

 

Texts and Materials

Focus On Grammar 4, 3^rd edition, by Fuchs and Bonner

Focus On Grammar 4 Student Workbook, 3^rd edition, by Fuchs and Bonner

loose-leaf notebook paper

a stapler ,red and black/blue pens  ,  an email address    

a one-inch ring binder,  four divider sheets with tabs , a highlighter

one Scantron (for the final exam)                                                

English-only dictionary (recommended: the Collins Cobuild Dictionary)

                                                                                                           

 

Course Goals

English 0346 helps English as a Second Language (ESL) students prepare for the reading and writing assignments in college classes. Students learn basic grammar, simple sentence and some basic compound/complex structures, vocabulary, and paragraph writing skills. English 0346 is part of a sequence of classes (English 0340, 0341, 0346, 0347, and 0349). After students pass these courses, they should be ready for English 1301 and other college credit courses.

Specific course objectives are to:

• identify parts of speech & understand word families
• write simple sentences: S + V + O
• write compound sentences with coordinating conjunctions
• use common complex sentences (when, while, before, after, because, if )
• write a well-developed paragraph
• understand the role of: topic, title, topic sentence , supporting details
• use present and past tenses accurately
• use verbals accurately: gerunds, infinitives, base forms
• use auxiliary and modal verbs accurately
• use the present real, present unreal, and past unreal conditional
• use direct and indirect speech
• expand vocabulary, including phrasal verbs
• write short (3-paragraph) essays about 300 words long
•  

Quizzes

There are 4 grammar quizzes based on the textbooks. If there is time, the class will have a review session and a short practice quiz during the class period before the actual test day. It's important that students come prepared to ask questions about the grammar that they don't understand well. In addition, the instructor will give vocabulary quizzes as needed.

 

Compositions

Students will write a total of 4 compositions (comps.) and the Final Comp. The first four comps. are written twice; the first draft is written in class, and the second draft is written for homework. The grade for a comp is recorded after the second draft is written and evaluated. Therefore, students must write draft 2.  No late second drafts of comps. will be accepted. All comps must be written in blue or black ink, double-spaced, and the front side of the paper.

 

Homework

Homework is a very important part of ENGL 0346. Students must have a binder in which they keep their work for this course. Some homework will be collected, and some of it will be checked in class. Students must complete the homework before coming to class and be prepared to turn in some exercises during class. Because these assignments do not receive a letter grade, the homework grade is based on the total number of complete assignments. The teacher will pick up and check the binder at random, so students should always bring it to class and keep it up to date. The binder may not be turned in late.

 

Journal

Students will practice expressing ideas in English regularly, usually once per week. Students should write freely, without fear of penalty. The journal is not graded like a composition. It is part of homework. The grade at the end of the semester is based on the total number of entries when the journal is collected. Sometimes the teacher will give the journal topic, and sometimes the students will choose a topic. The journal may not be handed in late. The journal will be collected at random, so you must keep journal writing in the binder and bring it to class everyday.

 

 

Final Examinations

The Final Exam has two parts: a comprehensive, multiple-choice grammar test and a Final Comp. The finals will be given on two different days at the end of the semester.  See the Final Exam dates on the Course Calendar.

 

Classroom Policies

Students are expected to arrive in class on time. If students are absent from class, they must ask the teacher for the assignments that they missed. When students are absent on the day of a composition, they must make up the work on the day they return to class. A make-up composition will not be on the same topic as the original comp that was missed. There are no make-up tests or quizzes; however, the lowest quiz grade will be dropped for each student.

As a courtesy to your instructor and the other students in the class, please turn off any cell phones and other electronic devices before you enter the classroom. If one of these devices goes off and interrupts the class, the instructor may confiscate it until the end of the class period. No Ipods, Ipads, or laptops are permitted in the class.

 

 

 

Attendance Policy

Houston Community College requires students to attend classes regularly. Any student who misses more than 12.5% of the class in a semester may be dropped from the class. In 0346, this amounts to 8 hours (total) of absence. If students are late 10 minutes or more, they will be marked tardy; if students leave the classroom during class, return from a break late, or leave before class is finished, they will be marked tardy.

2 times tardy = 1 absence.

 

 

College Grading System

Students in English 0346 class may receive a letter grade of A, B, C, IP or F.

IP means "In Progress." This is not a failing grade, but it is for students who complete the course but who are not yet ready for the next level. Anyone who receives an IP must take English 0346 again. However, if a student has already received an IP in this course during a previous semester, that student will receive a letter grade: A, B, C, or F this semester.

 

Students who have a 70% or higher class average before the Final Exams but who fail both parts of the Final will have a team of teachers review their work and determine their readiness to pass into English 0347.

 

 

 

English 0346 Grading Formula

The final grade for the course is calculated as follows:

 

Homework:    10%                            Comp. 4:        15%

Quizzes :       15%               

Comp. 1:        10%                            Final Comp:  20%

Comp. 2:        10%                            Final Exam:  10%

Comp. 3:        10%

 

 

 

Academic Dishonesty

If a student copies sentences from another person's work without giving credit to the writer by naming the writer as the source of the ideas and words, it is called "plagiarism." This is a serious offense in American colleges, and it is unacceptable.  Academic honesty is expected of all college students. Any homework, journal entry, or composition that is not a student's own work will be given a grade of “0.” The student may receive an F for the course when plagiarism occurs repeatedly.

 

 

 

ENGLISH 0346 16-Week Course Calendar                      

(See the Table of Contents of Focus On Grammar: High-Intermediate for page numbers.)

Week 1            Introduction to AESL program; course syllabus; diagnostic assessment.

                        Begin Unit 3: Simple Past, Present Perfect, Present Perfect Progressive

 

Week 2            Continue diagnostic assessment, as needed; finish Unit 3

 

Week 3            Unit 4: Past Perfect and Past Perfect Progressive, including pp. 43-45

                        Write C1D1 (Composition #1, Draft #1) Descriptive Paragraph

 

Week 4            Unit 12: Phrasal Verbs (separable and inseparable)

 

Week 5            QUIZ 1 on verb tenses: present, past, progressive, present and past perfect

Begin Unit 9: Gerunds and Infinitives, including Appendix 2—6

 

Week 6            Continue Unit 9

 

Week 7            Unit 10: Causative verbs let, make, have, help, get; QUIZ 2 on gerunds, infinitives, and causative verbs

 

Week 8            Write C2D1, Short Opinion Essay

Unit 16: Modal Verbs—Past Advisability

 

Week 9            Unit 17: Modal Verbs—Past Speculations and Conclusions

 

Week 10          Review of Auxiliary Verbs: be, do, have;

Quiz 3 on auxiliary verbs and modals

                        Introduction to Compound Sentences (FANBOYS conjunctions)

                        Begin Unit 8: so, too, neither, not either, but

 

Week 11          Continue Unit 8; Introduction to Time Clauses, pp. 79-81

                        Write C3D1, Short Narrative Essay

 

Week 12          Unit 23: Present Unreal Conditionals

                        Unit 24: Past Unreal Conditionals

 

Week 13          Unit 28: Indirect Questions;

Write C4D1, Short Example Essay

 

Week 14          Unit 29: Embedded Questions;

QUIZ 4 on independent and dependent clauses and Indirect and

Embedded Questions

 

Week 15          Review for the Final Grammar Exam; Write Final Composition

 

Week 16          Final Grammar Exam (See Schedule of Classes for date and time.)