Freshman English is a first-year required course. The goal of the course is primarily to improve the proficiency of students in communicative language skills with an emphasis on speaking and writing. A functional, notional approach is taken to planning objectives to help students gain confidence in using English in social interactions. Therefore, active participation in the class is a prerequisite for successful completion. A variety of activities are used throughout the year including dialogues, role-plays, pair work, small group projects and whole class discussions. The syllabus includes a general review of grammar and many class activities attempt to integrate these grammar components. Therefore, students are given the opportunity to apply the rules to real-life situations that they might encounter in an English-speaking country. Teachers encourage students to monitor their grammar usage while improving their level of fluency.

By the end of this semester, students should be able to: 1. listen to and comprehend short and simple oral passages and converstions on the topics covered in Sounds Good 3; 2. use English orally for real-life communication in and outside the classroom; 3. apply the basic reading skills learned in class to reading in a variety of contexts which contain 1500-word-level vacabualry; 4. compose comprehensible one-paragraph texts with suitable topic sentences; 5. use various English language learning resources; and 6. think independently, logically, and creatively in English.

Reading: Issues for Today 3
Lab: Sounds Good 3
Simplified readers: 1. New Yorkers 2. A Christmas Carol 3. The Picture of Dorian Gray