NCHU Course Outline

Course Name	(中) 大一英文(0920)
Course Name	(Eng.) Freshman English
Offering Dept	Language Center
Course Type	Required	Credits	2	Teacher	Ho, TAI-CHUN
Department	General	Language	English	Semester	2025-SPRING
Course Description	With a wide range of classroom activities and exercises, this one-year course is designed to enhance the English skills and proficiency of first-year NCHU undergraduates. The lecturer will guide participants through a wealth of English learning resources and authentic materials dealing with the following topics: 1) The Art of Public Speaking 2) Travel 3) Environmental Pollution 4) New Media and 5) Food. In order to facilitate learning and classroom discussion, students are required to complete listening and reading assignments before coming to class. Every week, they will have to take quizzes, speak English both in small groups and in front of the class, and engage in a series of writing tasks. A communicative approach which emphasizes teacher-student interaction is adopted, though attention is also paid to familiarize students with the complex sentence structure and grammar of the English language as well as common English expressions used in a variety of topics and daily-life situations.
Prerequisites				self-directed learning in the course	N

Relevance of Course Objectives and Core Learning Outcomes(%)

Teaching and Assessment Methods for Course Objectives

Course Objectives

Competency Indicators

Ratio(%)

Teaching Methods

Assessment Methods

At the end of the course, students will be able to:
1) Speaking: -speak more confidently and fluently about various topics
-speak with fewer simple grammar mistakes
2) Reading -improve reading skills
-become familiar with different genres of English materials
3) Vocabulary -increase vocabulary, especially vocabulary related to the topics in online English materials and selected readings
4) Grammar -improve usage of already-learned grammar in writing and speaking
5) Listening -improve listening for both main ideas and details on a variety of topics
6) Writing -learn to describe their daily life, events and stories in short paragraphs

Lecturing

Discussion

Exercises

topic Discussion/Production

Quiz

Assignment

Attendance

Written Presentation

Course Content and Homework/Schedule/Tests Schedule

Week	Course Content
Week 1	Meet and Greet 14/2 (M) Introduction What I did during the Winter Break
Week 2	21/2 (M) Public Speaking Reading Article 1 Suzanne Bearne’s ‘How to crush stage flight and become a master in public speaking’ In-Class activity: Speak about your experience of public speaking Quiz 1 Does Punctuation Matter?
Week 3	28/2(M) Holiday
Week 4	7/3 (M) Public Speaking Reading Article 1 Suzanne Bearne’s ‘How to crush stage flight and become a master in public speaking’ Reading Article 2 Gaby Hinsliff: ‘How to be Heard Quiz 2 Learn a thousand foreign words
Week 5	14/3 (M) Public Speaking Watch the film The King’s Speech
Week 6	21/3 (M)Film Discussion Group Presentation on The King’s Speech
Week 7	28/3 (M)Travel Reading Article 3 Ted Talk: Pico Iyer’s ‘Where is home?’ In-Class activity: Speak about your experience of traveling Quiz 3: Should tourists go to Antarctica?
Week 8	1/4 (M) Holiday
Week 9	11/4 (M)Environmental Pollution Reading Article 4 Paul Bogard’s ‘Let there be Dark’ In-Class activity: Speak about issues of environmental pollution Quiz 4: Is there more of the world to explore?
Week 10	18/4 (M)Mid-Term Exam
Week 11	25/4 (M) Teaching by TA New Media Reading Article 5 ‘The price of shame’ by Monica Lewinsky In-Class Activity: Speak about cyber bullying Quiz 5 ‘The fame game’
Week 12	2/5 (W) Review of Mid-Term Exam New Media Reading Article 5 ‘The price of shame’ by Monica Lewinsky Quiz 6: ‘Bullying or normal competition’
Week 13	9/5 (M) Food Reading Article 6 Tom Parker Bowles’ ‘How Taiwan Became The Hottest Food Destination On Earth’ (2015) In-Class Activity: Speak about Food
Week 14	16/5(W)Food Reading Article 6 Tom Parker Bowles’ ‘How Taiwan Became The Hottest Food Destination On Earth’ (2015)
Week 15	23/5(M)Food Reading Article 7 Tedtalk: Jamie Oliver’s ‘Teach Every Child About Food’ Quiz 7: ‘Brazilian Food’
Week 16	30/5(M) Reading Article 7 Tedtalk: Jamie Oliver’s ‘Teach Every Child About Food’ Quiz 8 ‘Cycling for Food’
Week 17	6/6(M)Debate
Week 18	13/6(M) Final ExaM

Evaluation

Grades:

40% participation (3 minute-talk 5%; group presentations 10%;
class participation 15%; attendance 10% )
60% exams (quizzes 10%; Midterm 25%; Final 25%)

3 minute-talk: You will have to give an individual 3 minute-speech on any topic of your
choice. For each week, 2-3 students will take turns presenting.

Group presentation: 2 group presentations on the film ‘Pygmalion’ and selected readings.
Class participation: I will give points based on your speaking frequency during the in-class activities

0-15 scale system is used.
0= didn’t speak 1-5= spoke only a few times
6-10= made a few comments 12-15=talked a lot

Absences

＞Sickness: If you can’t come to class because you’re sick, please apply for a leave of absence via the university’s online system and attach a document which shows your doctor’s notes or your visit to a clinic or hospital. You will need to show me absent notes approved by the university on the day of a quiz or test; otherwise, your absence will be unexcused. Each class absence will drop 1 point off your final grade.
＞Tardiness: You should come to class on time. If you arrive late after I take attendance, you will be marked absent.
＞Other reasons: Please discuss them with me beforehand.

Textbook & other References

Textbooks
Selected Readings (See the details of the programme above)
Online English Resources:

BBC Six-Minute English; Learning English with News Report; Ted talks

Teaching Aids & Teacher's Website

Worksheets containing reading and discussion questions are available via I-Learning

Office Hours

Monday 3:10-5:00 pm (by appointment)

Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs

include experience courses：N

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Update Date, year/month/day：None	Printed Date, year/month/day：2025 / 1 / 22
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