Module #9 Course Design: Course syllabus & Cover letter

Cover Letter
I am currently teaching the 1^st graders in high school who are in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom in Korea. According to student's English proficiency, the class is divided into three levels; elementary, intermediate, and advanced. I'm in charge of advanced class and have little difficulty in teaching English with various authentic materials from internet or any software.

Despite the different English levels, my school makes it a rule to use the same textbook called high school English.  In addition, under the circumstance of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), I can't help focusing on English listening and reading. In CSAT, English grammar and vocabulary are so important that most students want to study and concentrate on these two parts. Ironically, this book does not provide enough vocabulary specially for advanced students. After some deliberation, I have designed this course to supplement a couple of problems by including some supportive worksheets for my advanced students. I developed Today's Advanced Vocabulary worksheet and weekly quiz.

Each lesson consists of four sections; listening, speaking, reading and writing largely and takes up 5 classes in a week. On the first day of each lesson, three functions and three forms are introduced and students are exposed to these by listening, speaking, reading and writing throughout the whole lesson. Also, various authentic and advanced materials from multimedia are provided according to the subject of each lesson.

I believe that this course would fit the advanced students and fill in the shortcomings of the textbook. I hope this curriculum could be the guideline to instruct the advanced class.

10th Grade English Language Course Syllabus

Course Title: Advanced English Language Course

Instructor: Ju Hyun Lee

E-mail: juhyun2010@gmail.net

Year: 2010

Grade Level: 10th in EFL

Proficiency Level: Advanced

Class Meetings: Five times a week

Time: each class 50 minutes

Duration: 12 weeks

Course Overview

This course enables students to build their vocabulary, comprehension skills and to get the practical use of English. It is designed for advanced students who desire to achieve the high-level English skills. It provides a variety of authentic learning materials out of multimedia and therefore, it shows advanced students the way to the sophisticated and practical English.

Course Outline by Topic

Lesson 1. Our Time Management?

Lesson 2. English as a Global Language

Lesson 3. Health Questions: With Dr. Williams

Lesson 4. The Meanings of Colors

Lesson 5. Grameen Bank

Lesson 6. Animals' Sense of Danger

Lesson 7. Dream On

Lesson 8. Ethical Fashion

Lesson 9. Camp Misery

Lesson 10. Science and Technology for Sports

Lesson 11. Fun with a Pencil

Lesson 12. Korean Ondol

Course Goals

Goal 1: Students are able to recognize the need for communicating in English.

Goal 2: Students are able to communicate effectively about the topics of daily lives and general topics.

Goal 3: Students are able to be aware of a variety of foreign information and utilize them.

Goal 4: Students are able to understand various culture through English learning and introduce Korean culture in English.

Course Objectives

1. Students are able to improve communicative skills by listening and speaking.

2. Students are able to build vocabulary skills through supportive worksheet.

3. Students are able to understand the main idea of each reading context.

4. Students are able to carry out different tasks of the reading activities.

5. Students are able to acquire the authentic English through various multimedia.

6. Students are able to understand the impact of culture on language learning.

Course Requirements

This course is for advanced leaners. Students are expected to preview and review. Students will take a vocabulary and grammar test after finishing each lesson. Students are required to be active and to do comprehension check up with the worksheet during class. 

Required Text

Lee, W. K., Lee, S. J., Kim, S. Y., Jung, E. S., Na, W. C., Lee, B. I., & Caldwell R. T. (2009). High School English. Seoul: Geumseong Publishing.

Course Policies

1. Please be on time in class.

2. Please bring your textbook.

3. Please submit assignment on time.

Course Evaluation Plan

Weekly assignment 10 pts x12

Weekly test 20 pts x 10

Midterm test 60 pts

Final test 60 pts

Attitude 30 pts

Participation 40pts

Total 510pts

Point value and letter grade equivalents:

510-450 = A  399-350 = C

449-400 = B  349-300 = D  < 229 = F

Course Calendar

Module #8 Evaluation of Curriculum (Textbook)

The Summary of Curriculum Evaluation

:  While organizing the evaluation of curriculum rubric, I couldn't help thinking about the textbook that I was teaching with. Wondering if the textbook would best fit for the rubric, I did evaluate its curriculum. After that, I also used the Yellow rubric for evaluating the same textbook. The important thing that I realized, evaluating with two different rubrics, is the subdivisions of rating scale. The more subdivided the rating sclae is, the more accurate the evaluation is. If I had made the rating scale subdivided more like Yellow rubric, my rubric could have been better, for which I feel so sorry.

The Similarities Between Two Rubrics

:  My rubric and Yellow rubic has focused that...

• The goal and objectives of content has to be appropriate and stated clearly.
• The material has to be well-organized and easy to follow.
• The activities of lessons has to engage students in the four skills.
  

The Differences Between Two Rubrics

: My rubric is somewhat different from Yellow ruburic in that...

• My rubric consists of five criteria; framework, content, instructional, dissemination, and assessment characteristics, while Yellow rubric is made up of five categories like instructional content, material design, instructional resources, assessment and summary of curriculum evaluation.
•  Yellow rubric has the sections for the comments and the recommendation, but mine doesn't.

  As a whole, I should have been more considerate and thoughtful on the rubric.

The Necessary Information

• Leaners' age: 15 (10th grader)
• English proficiency level: Advanced
• Course content/skills target: Four skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing)
• Environment: English classroom equipped with computers, cassette/CD players, and a variety of softwares

The Recommendation of the Material
:  I recommend this textbook for all levels of English proficiency since it is organized for the beginner, intermediate and advanced. This includes three divided sections for the three levels. If the instructor add and remove some materials, it can be fit to every level of English class.

Module #7 Rubric Final Draft (Evaluation of Curriculum Materials)

Module #6 My Reflection on Chapter.5 (Graves, 2000)

Normaly and usually at the beginning of every class a teacher let students know the goals and objectives of the class. I believe this is much help for students to achieve a successful class learning. I have competed in 'Star Teacher Contest' conducted by the local office of education several times. Once for the contest, I prepared a very detailed teaching plan about American culture, escpecially for Christamas. The goal of that lesson is that students are able to realize how important the knowledge of culture is to understnad the context and the lauguage. And the objects are like these; (a) Students are able to know American Christmas Culture through various multimedia, (b) Students are able to carry out different tasks of the reading activities, (c) Students are able to simulate the situation which can possibly happen on Christmas day. By letting my students the class goal and objectives, my class was done successfully and excellently and I won the 2nd prize. Once again that made me notice the importance of goals and objectives for the meaningful and rewarding class.