My last post Dec. 15

Hi everybody,
OK. Grades are ready. You will be able to check them out on the materials page, clicking at the corresponding link.
Here are some notes:
About the final paper. Most of you did a great job. Some analyses were very insightful and creative, bringing new ideas to understand the novel you chose. I particularly enjoyed reading Leidy, Carlos, and Angela's papers: some that I remember right now.
About the Proficiency test, many of you seem to have sinned by overconfidence. I have never had so many people failing one of my classes!!!

Just kidding!! Nobody failed this class!!!

Feel free to pick up your final paper before next week or I will use it as raw material for an "Año Viejo"!!

It was great to have you in class! Keep working hard and be DISCIPLINED if you wanna get anywhere!

Exams on Friday UPDATE ORAL TEST

Hi everyone,

the listening and oral test will be on Friday.
The listening test starts at 8:30 am. which means you must be at 8:20 outside the lab room on the second floor of ECL. If you are late or you arrive when the door is closed, you won´t be allowed in. Don't insist please.
After the listening section, you will take the oral part.
Make sure to check what professors you are assigned to for the oral test.
See you soon
José A.

UPDATE
Here´s the list of professors and where you have to go to take the test

Morning Students (9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.)

Professors : ClaudiaToro – Andrés Valencia

Office 2033

·       Daniela Alarcón

·       Danilo Álvarez

·       Natalia Melissa

·       John Stivel Esteban

·       Natalia Herrera

·       Laura María Hurtado

·       Valentina Mazabuel

·       Laura Mellizo

Professors : Nancy Pedraza – Jinit Desai

Office 2036

·       Leidy Arango

·       Juan Camilo Betancourt

·       Manuela Cardona

·       Daniel Castaño

·       Mario Esteban Castro

·       Ángela Cordero

·       Paola Córdoba

·       Carlos Eduardo Cárdenas

Professors : José Aldemar Álvarez V. – Aura López

Office 2014

·       Andrea Mercado

·       Brenda Millán

·       Nathaly Monedero

·       Daniel Ojeda

·       Fabián Orozco

·       Juliana Osorio

·       Natalia Parra

·       Yanecy Peña

 Professors : Susana Matallana – Argemiro Arboleda

Office 2027

·       Angie Alejandra Pulido

·       Alejandra Rojas

·       Natalia Ruiz

·       Alejandro Sánchez

·       Camilo Andrés Sánchez

·       Lisy Martínez

·       Kimberly Vaca

·       Laura Denis Valencia 

Professors : Tim Kepple  – Fanny Hernández

Office 2024

·       José David Valencia

·       Aura María Yepes

·       Paola Andrea Zarate

·       Libia Díaz

·       Isabella Fajardo

·       Jessica Flor

·       Daniela Garzón

·       Laura Garzón

Professors : Alexánder Ramírez– Hugo Areiza

Oficina de Dirección del Programa

·       Jessica Gil

·       Samuel Granada

·       Juan David Jaramillo

·       Cristian Jimenez

·       Meliza Tapie

·       Lesli Mendoza

·       Lina Fernanda Pérez

·       Laura Michel Rubio

Professors : Eva Lakatos  – Luis Benavides

Office 2015

·       Juan Camilo Santamaría

·       Nathalia Serrano

·       Katherine Vásquez

·       Andrés Fernando Yatacué

Finally news

OK, guys,
the news is, see you at 9 am in our regular classroom. Don´t be late!

UpdateExam

Hi guys,
well the Coordinator of the English Area says that there is only one class you guys must be taking between 7 and 9 and that is the class on reading with Professor Faustino. So he is going to ask her if she could let you end at 8:30 so you could move to the lab immediately for the listening test.
I will confirm if this works or not, once I get word, I´ll make another post with final instructions.
Hang in there!

EXAMS THIS WEEK URGENT problem

Hi everyone,

A problem has arisen>
some of you have class from 7 to 9. Please tell me who your teacher is and how many of you.
2. Please tell me who are your teachers of French at 11 am
The problem is that our test last 2:30 minutes some we need your 7 to 11 or 11 t 1 teacher to either give away 30 minutes of their class or to start their class as 11:30.

Here's the original post. But for now, it is not confirmed, please check up updates during the day.

this week the exams will take place on Friday and Wednesday. On Wednesday, the exam will start with the listening part at 8:30 at the lab (not the computer lab, the languages lab on the second floor).
Warning: if you are late, you will not be allowed in once the door is closed. You will have to wait until the listening part is done then we will start the written part of the test.

You can now check the answers to the Practice Test, I made available for you for the weekend. It is in the same folder where you found the test.

This weekend (Update)

Hi everyone,
About the speaking practice test. I will replace the grade you have on your listening quiz if the grade is higher.
One more chance to get practice on the ECCE test. In the link below you will access a complete ECCE test. It will be available until Monday. Then I will publish the answer key so you can compare your answers. Click here to access folder.
About the grammar practice guide. I apologize for now being able to go over that material. Here is the answer key to all exercises. 

Finally, please submit your final paper to Daniel between 9 and 11 on Monday. By 11 he will have to have handed in the papers to me.
Please submit your paper with evidence of the process in a folder. The final version must on top so there is no confusion as to what paper I should grade.

UPDATE:
Guys,
I have updated the grades sheet. Do not freak out if you see a failing final grade because you are still missing a 40% of the total percentage.

Have a good weekend!

Last class session

Hi guys, sorry for this late update.
We will do peer review tomorrow. Make sure you bring a hard copy of your essay.
night night!

Class Wednesday UPDATE

Hi everyone,

We will have a practice test of the speaking part of the ECCE. You will be assigned to a test group at the beginning of the class. If you are not in class at the time of the distribution, you will not be allowed to take the test. We agreed that this would be used to replace the grade of the Listening of the mid term quizzes. 

Aso, please finish the reading and writing part of the practice test that we began today. Those who did not come to class today, please stop by the copy shop and collect the material. I asked the person there to make copies for everyone. It is our obligation to pay for the material. I always make the copies for all of you.

Please bring the package on grammar review that we have been meaning to review.

Just for the information of those who are not coming to class. These final classes have been about  getting you ready for the proficiency test. I hope it does not happen like it happened last time I taught this class, that those, who did not come to class the last weeks, the very day of the test complained that they did not know about the structure of the test!

Next class

Hi guys,
please complete the grammar guide for Monday (the one with the review of verbal tenses).
Stay safe
José A.

Friday

Guys,
remember to bring the first draft of your paper. I encourage you to get back to the instructions of this assignment. I still get people asking questions that were discussed when we read  the assignment sheet. Take into account that the first draft as well as the peer review exercises makes part of the process that will be graded in this project. They will have to be included in your final submission.
Those who were not in class today are encouraged to review the example we analyzed in class today on the structure of the essay.
Please bring a copy of your essay on Friday. If you do not have a printer home, make it easy arrive, EARLY and go print it out. The class time does not include printing time!

Class on Wednesday

Hi guys,
please review presentations on PIE and plagiarism that can be found on the Material page.
Again bring the material on Conditionals and the other materials of revision grammar topics. Make sure to have a lens and a thesis statement for Wednesday. Your first draft is due Friday.  So you need to be clear about them and begin writing.
Here´s an example of an essay that is similar to the paper you will write. But in order to understand the essay, you will need to read the story it refers to: The Yellow Wallpaper. Now, do a quick reading of the story; do not spend time checking vocabulary. I just need you to be clear about the plot of the story. As you read the essay, try to indentify the elements of the essay we discussed in class: Intro (hook), summary, thesis, forecast.
Paragraphs: Point, Illustration, Explanation (check if you see primary and secondary sources)
Conclusion: What type of conclusion is the author drawing on?)
Finally, bring some money, we will make some copies: 700 pesos.

Class on Monday

Hi everyone,
please complete Listening-speaking assignment 4. Check out instructions.
Bring the material on conditional. Start working on the other material that reviews all grammar.
Have a nice weekend!

Class Friday

Hi everyone,
please read the material I left about the writing process.  Bring the material about conditionals that you have completed.
I will leave the Comic strip of your novel page available until tonight. So, if you missed it or did not have time to comment on your classmates, you still have a shot.
One more thing as a note: I hope that the parade of people coming in and getting out of the classroom had been a behavior caused by the length of the presentation period (although it does not excuse people leaving the classroom for 15 or more time, which is disrespectful!). 

José A.

Class Next Week

Hi everyone,

I am enjoying very much you insightful ideas presented in your speech presentations! What a good ride!

                                               (taken from Google images)

For next class, I would like you to work on a comic strip about your novel. Please look at the instructions on the above tab called Comic strip of your novel.
Have a great weekend!

This week

Hi everyone,
We will continue with the speech presentations on Wed. Please take into account that your assignment for Friday is to have read the first 5 chapters of the book you chose.
José A.

Class Wed.

Hi guys, we will take a couple of minutes to conclude the TCE´s and then move on to do the speech. There is a one change:Speakers will be chosen at random. You must all be ON TIME.  This is what you will find in the assignment sheet as a reminder: The day of the presentation, the presenter will hand in a two-page copy of the speech at the moment s/he is called to present. Not submitting the written copy will lead to a deduction of 30% in the grade.

There is no make up for this assignment, if one student is called to present and s/he is absent, this student will lose the chance to present. If the student is late for class and is called to present, the student will be allowed to present but will be docked off 30% of the grade. 

It is not acceptable that you come in late saying that you were printing your speech. If you are going to print here on campus, it is SIMPLE, plan to arrive earlier. 

See you then,

José A.

Class on Monday

Hi guys, your only assignment this weekend is to focus on your speech. Make corrections based on the second peer review session. Practice, learn by heart your speech for Monday. We will have a classroom practice session.
See you soon.
José A.

Class Friday

Hi guys,
please use this peer review form as a way to check that your speech follows the general structure of a good speech.

On Friday, during the first hour Jinit will be checking the homework on First and second conditional types (grammar booklet). Bring the material.

Bring a hard copy of the second draft of your speech for Friday. We will workshop during the second half of the hour.

As away to begin practicing your speech, make a vocaroo post telling us what your main claim is what subclaims do you have to support it. The post should not be longer than 3 minutes. I have created a tab above for you to post the link. Make sure you comment on at least one classmates. Make the post by tomorrow before 3, so your classmates have time to reply.

The fourth listening activity is scheduled for this Friday, but I  will not assign it. I need you to focus on your speech, which you will need to learn by heart for Monday.

Class Wednesday (UPDATE)

Hi guys, I wanted to go to the lab this Wed. but we are a little behind and I want to catch up. So, As I said in class, bring the first draft of your speech. Please watch a couple of the speeches I posted on the Materials page. Commencement speeches are good examples because they are more informal than a political speech.
Bring a hard copy of your speech. Format the page in double space so that your classmate can write comments on it.
Also, don't forget to pick up the copies I left at the copy shop.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention the assignment about making vocaroo post. Since I know you are working hard on your speech. I decided to postpone the vocaroo post to Friday.

Class for Monday

Hi guys,

Please work on Type Conditional 2 from the Grammar booklet. I know we have already worked on Type conditional 1, but we have not discussed it. We will then discuss both of them. Also work on the speech. Remember that this coming Wednesday you need to bring the first full-fleshed version of it.
One more thing, bring money. We will make copies of some material. It is around 17 copies.

Grades>
Guys, all grading is up-to-date. You can check your grade on the spreadsheet. Second and third listening assignments have beed graded. See my comments to your third listening assignment in Googled Drive. I also commented or corrected  Listening Assignment 2 several weeks ago. I wanted to return the mid term quizzes today in class but did not have time.


Have a good weekend!

Class Friday

Hi guys,
for Friday, please do research on your topic. Bring three articles directly related to your topic. Check back the Assignment Sheet for the second project. You will find links to the library and data bases where you can search for articles about your topic.  Clarify what your argument is going to be about by writing a clear statement or claim. You can watch this short video about what an argument is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04UA2YwDpc4

Also, if you have not read the material assigned for today (Wed.),  do it please. It is called The 8 Key Elements of Highly Effective Speech.


See you soon,
José A.

Flexibilidad Académica

Hi everyone,
Jinit is instructed to give the speaking quiz tomorrow and Friday (first half of class time). I know they declared flexibilidad académica so you won´t be penalized if you don´t take the quiz tomorrow. However, remember that the quiz will only last 10 minutes and then you can leave. If you don´t take it tomorrow you will on Friday, but I expect that we don´t get behind with schedule.
José A.

Class Wednesday and Friday

Hi everyone,
I report this information
The quizzes will include the topics of the unit: study abroad and interviews and surveys. The quizzes will include the material we read for class: Coming to America: the influence of  college themed movies  on perceptions of  international students, Learning English which model?, “The Teaching Profession in 2014 (in Charts),” and content from the movie, and video reports you showed this week.
As I said, Jinit will be with you on Wednesday and Friday. 
One warning, if Jinit calls you in to take the quiz and you are not around, you will fail the quiz. 
Regards,
José A.