Course Syllabus

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Syllabus

Course Syllabus

ESL 120: Preparation for College Writing for 

Non-Native English Speakers (5 units) 

Cerritos College

Spring 2022

Remote: Tuesday and Thursday 8:30-10:30

                                              

Instructor: Lee Anne McIlroy

                                                                                  

Email: lamcilroy@cerritos.edu

   

Office/Hours: ON-LINE VIA ZOOM: Office hours are times that your professors keep open in their schedules so that students can visit them to ask questions or talk. You are not required to come to these office hours, but I hope you feel welcome. I can make myself available according to your schedules via Zoom by appointment                      

                         

Welcome to ESL 120!

This class is a 5-unit, UC/CSU transferrable academic reading and writing class. This class will be different from other ESL courses you have taken because we focus on advanced-level college language skills. Because you will receive 5 units of college credit that may be used to transfer to the University of California and California State College systems, the expectations of this class are high. You should already have a solid foundation in basic English grammar and vocabulary. In this class, you will move from basic communication skills to academic, formal language proficiency. This means we will be reading a lot, learning academic and formal vocabulary, writing different types of college assignments (including essays) and review sentence structure and grammar.

 

Here are the Student learning Outcomes for ESL 120. All of the work we do in this class will lead to your ability to succeed in these skills:

 

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this semester, you should be able to:

  1. Analyze, discuss, and evaluate methods of development and strategies that writers use in academic discourse
  2. Employ techniques of the writing process, including pre-writing, revising, and editing to understand and complete a writing task
  3. Evaluate and create an effective thesis statement, introduction, supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion
  4. Maintain focus, develop and organize ideas with specific details, examples and illustrations in a paragraph and expository essay
  5. Create cohesion and coherence in an essay using relevant connecting words and grammar
  6. Analyze, evaluate, and create short essays and summaries with varied sentence structure, correct grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary
  7. Summarize academic texts

 

ACADEMIC HONESTY:  

 

"Bad people don't cheat, desperate people do." Trust between instructor and student is critical, and I rely on this for the ideal learning environment. If you feel like you need to copy or use information from the neatened without citing it, then you might be feeling desperate. This might happen if you are not placed in the right class, have other distractions or obligations or anything else. If you are feeling desperate, please schedule a meeting with me so that we can ensure you have all the support you need.

Students and professors are expected to act with civility, personal integrity and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through their own individual efforts. If you submit any assignment that demonstrates plagiarism will receive a zero. You will receive a written warning and recommendations after the first violation of our college's code of conduct. Any subsequent violations will be reported to the campus authorities who oversee student conduct. 

 

Academic integrity includes a commitment to not engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty include cheating or copying, plagiarizing, submitting another persons’ work as one’s own, using Internet sources without citation, taking or having another student take your exam, tampering with the work of another student, facilitating other students’ acts of academic dishonesty, etc.

 

Please refer to our college’s code of conduct policies: https://www.cerritos.edu/academic-affairs/academic-honesty.htm

REQUIRED TEXTS AND SUPPLIES:

  1. “The Old Man and The Sea” by Ernest Hemingway
  2. Open Educational Resources (available free on our course Canvas site)

 

 

RECOMMENDED TEXT:

Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker

PREREQUISITES: You should take this class if you were placed in ESL 120 or 152 after taking our college’s self-placement assessment OR if you have passed in ESL 5. The first week of class we will do some diagnostic work to make sure you are placed into the right level for you!

CLASS ATTENDANCE AND REQUIREMENTS

To do well in class you must: 

  • attend/ participate in class each week
  • Turn assignments in on time
  • participate in class activities and discussions
  • complete Language Success Center writing assignments, homework, assignments, and compositions

 

I understand that these are unusual times; however, consistent participation is essential to succeed in this class. Students who do not check in and complete the work for the first week of class will be dropped. After that, if you miss three assignments in a row, I will contact you to discuss dropping you from the course. If you face any challenges that prevent you from doing your work, please communicate with me so that we can figure out what the best plan is.

 

Should you decide to drop this class, you need to do this yourself. Failure to officially withdraw from class may result in an "F" grade.

LABORATORY HOURS: FOR THE LABORATORY COMPONENT OF ESL 120, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO COMPLETE 18 HOURS AT THE SUCCESS CENTERLANGUAGE SUCCESS CENTER: For ESL 120, you are required to complete 8 DLA writing assignments in the Language Success Center. All assignments must be completed on your own with the tutors in the Language Success Center (LSC). Writing assignments are designed to provide you with further practice of writing strategies learned in class. Plan to schedule one to two hours a week in the LSC to complete each writing assignment. When you finish an assignment, a tutor will review it with you and check and initial the DLA. If the last page of the DLA is not signed and checked off by a tutor, you will not receive credit. See the due dates for each assignment and submit on time.

 

Additionally, you are required to complete two ESL, English, or Reading workshops or Grammar Directed workshops. Workshops are approximately one hour and will be offered in the morning, afternoon, and evening throughout the semester. For each workshop that you attend, you will also need to write a summary of what you learned.

 Student Success Center Requirement and Lab requirement:

The DLAs must be accessed from the Success Center website. Please submit all assignments here. Your laboratory work will be included in your final grade for the lecture portion of the class.

DLA G029 (Word Forms)

DLA G005 (Sentence Types)

DLA G003 (Compound Sentences)

DLA G006 (Subordinating Conjunctions)

DLA G009 (Reducing Sentence Errors)

ESL 120.1

ESL 120.2

ESL 120.3

 

GRADING AND ASSIGNMENTS: All assignments will be announced in class and posted on Canvas. Grades will also be posted and updated regularly (Tuesday and Fridays) on Canvas. If you have any questions about your grades, please see the comments, e-mail me or “visit” me during my office hours. 

GRADING                                           

400 points = Four Formal  Essays

120 points = 10 DLAs and workshops

120 points = Two timed “in-class”practice  essays 

200 points= Class Assignments                                                                      

200 points = Quizzes and Tests 

100 points = Final Exam (in-class/ timed essay)                           

You will have the chance to earn up to 50 points of extra credit throughout the class. Extra credit will be in the form of surprise quizzes and assignments. EXTRA CREDIT WILL NOT BE ANNOUNCED AHEAD OF TIME.

 

*I reserve the right to make adjustments to this breakdown of final grades. Some assignments may be deleted form this, but none will be added.

FINAL GRADES: 90-100% = A/ 80%-89%= B/ 70-79%=C/ 60%-69%=D/ Below 59%= F 

                                                              

You have the option to re-write THREE of the essays for a better grade ONLY if you turned in the assignment on time and as long as the essay meets the minimum requirements for word count. You must also schedule a Zoom meeting to discuss the essay with me and explain the changes you will make.

QUIZZES AND TESTS:  Each quiz and test will be slightly different from one another. Usually, quizzes and tests will require that you will write. Quizzes and tests are announced on our class schedule and on Canvas. There will also be several surprise assignments and quizzes that count towards extra credit. You may NOT make-up any extra credit points, and you will not lose points if you do not do well on those assignments. I offer extra credit so that students who understand the course material can earn points for their mastery of course material. The purpose of extra credit is not so that students can just “get some extra points” so that they can pass the class. Because of this, you may find that the extra credit assignments and quizzes are particularly challenging.

ASSIGNMENTS: Assignments are to review and practice. Be prepared to spend at least 2-3 hours each week of studying for each unit you take. Therefore, since ESL 120 is a 5-unit course, you should expect to spend 10-15 hours a week studying for this class.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS: All work for the first week of class must be turned in that week, and by the end of the first week and cannot be turned in after Friday night (February 5). After that, you may turn in assignments up to one week late without a penalty. If you could not submit an assignment within that 1 week grace period, please fill out a form that I will e-mail to you and schedule an appointment with me to make sure you have all the support you need.  If you have any issue that prevents you from turning in your assignments, please schedule a private zoom meeting with me so that we can find a solution. NO WORK WILL CAN BE ACCEPTED AFTER FINALS WEEK (May 21 at midnight) .

GRAMMAR& EDITING: Advanced grammar and sentence structure will be reviewed in this class. Should I notice other grammatical issues in your writing, I may refer you to a DLA or website that will increase your understanding of the grammar or sentence structure issue. Before submitting each composition, you will be expected to proofread for grammatical correctness on your own or with a tutor and apply the grammar and sentence structures learned in class. Do not expect tutors in the Success Center to correct every grammar mistake you make. They may indicate where you have grammatical errors and the type of error it is, but it is not their job to correct all of your errors. Practice and be sure that you understand the grammar explanations and exercises in lectures and the textbook. If you do not understand something, always ask questions in class, ask tutors and classmates, or meet with me during my office hours. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

I look forward to a great semester with you all. There will be challenges and successes, frustrations and breakthroughs. Please know that I feel very lucky to be your professor, and my goal is for you to all be successful. Try not to compare yourself with other students. Instead, I encourage you to focus on your own individual progress. I do not expect perfection, and as I said at the beginning of the syllabus, I value honest mistakes because I know that this is how we learn. Please know that I am here to support you through this class, especially when it becomes very challenging. You are welcome to my office hours, and you are welcome to ask questions. I cannot wait to see what you all accomplish this semester.

 

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IMPORTANT COLLEGE WEBSITES

 

 

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