Please check English Department Information board for the time and place of this course.

Fu Jen English Department (day division)

English Composition and Conversion for Freshmen Instructor: Daniel J. Bauer Ph.D.

Please check English Department Information board for the time and place of this course.

Office: SF 126 / telephone 2905-3522 (h) / 2905-2565 (o)

Hours: When not in meetings Wednesday 1:30 – 3:30 / The instructor will announce other office hours.

The purpose of this course is to help beginning English majors feel increasingly confident about basic writing skills, and to strengthen their ability to converse in English by a full integration of speaking in all classes.

Textbooks: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (978 NT) MLA Handbook for Writing (298 NT)

Composing Our World, by Cathy Dibello

At the beginning of the 1

semester we will especially focus on process analysis, developing skills for the writing of paragraphs. After about 6 weeks, we will then emphasize more the modes of classification and comparison - contrast.

Students in this course should participate actively in class, write 4 journals and 3 “writing assignments,” and participate in a mid-term and final exam. In most cases students will not have to revise the journals.

Students should expect, however, to revise the writing assignments, following the correction code and suggestions of the instructor.

A journal for this course is a collection of free writing, not a “mini

paper.” A journal is a combination of “entries,” each of which may

include up to 3 or 4, and possibly more paragraphs. Each entry discusses

or describes a situation or idea that has come to you in your ordinary

daily life. Students may freely express feelings and opinions in their

journals. The total length of each journal should be 4 - 5 pages. (Thus, at the end of the semester, students will have written approximately 16 - 20 pages in their journals.)

Writing assignments are samples of writing, one or more paragraphs in length, on topics the instructor will assign. After the instructor reviews the first draft of a writing assignment, the student must revise it. The typical length of each assignment is 1 1/2 to 2 pages. At the end of the semester, each student should have written revisions of assignments which will total about 6 pages.

Week # 1– Introduction – What will we do in this course? Who are my new classmates? Who is our new teacher?

Week # 2 - Thoughts on journal writing / thoughts on writing a brief autobiographical sketch / Dibello 115 – 117 (b) / ideas for activities in conversation classes

Week # 3 – What is a topic sentence? / Making the Longman Dictionary feel more friendly to use / more thoughts on an

autobiographical sketch / Dibello 118 – 120 (b) / conversation activity

Week # 4 - DUE date for writing assignment #1: An autobiographical sketch / Handout from an English newspaper / dictionary practice and vocabulary expansion / conversation activity

Week # 5 - What is unity in a paragraph or essay? Dibello 57- 60 (m) / dictionary practice and vocabulary expansion / coaching for writing assignment /conversation activity

Week # 6 - DUE date for journal #1 / Why is coherency important? / more on process analysis: Dibello 123 – 125 (m) / coaching on writing assignment / conversational activity

Week # 7 - Introduction of the MLA Handbook for Writing / dictionary practice and vocabulary expansion / coaching on journal #1 /

conversational activity

Week # 8 - DUE date for writing assignment #2: [an example of process analysis] “A Problem I once had and how I solved it” / Dibello 125 (b) – 127 / more on the MLA Handbook / coaching on journal #1 /

conversational activity

Week # 9 - mid-term examination (coordinated with other Freshmen instructors)

Week # 10 - classification / dictionary practice / Dibello 145 – 148 (b) coaching on writing assignment #2 / conversational activity

Week # 11 - / DUE DATE journal #2 / classification: Dibello 149 (m) – 152 (t) / MLA Handbook practice / coaching on writing assignment #2 / conversational activity

Week # 12 - finish classification: Dibello 152 – 153 and introduce comparison and contrast 159 – 163 (t) / handout from a magazine / coaching on journal #2 / conversational activity

Week # 13 - DUE date journal #3 / comparison and contrast / Dibello 163 (t) – 165 (b) Dibello 169 and 170 – 171 / coaching on journal #2 /

conversational activity

Week # 14 - dictionary practice / using the MLA Handbook / catch-up time / conversational activity

Week # 15 - DUE date writing assignment #3: “High school teachers in Taiwan compared to university teachers” / coaching for journal #3

Week # 16 - coaching on writing assignment #3 / study time quietly in class for final exams to come.

Week # 17 - DUE date journal # 4

Week # 18 - final exam (coordinated with other Freshman CC instructors) The instructor will compute grades in this course according to this

formula: exams 15% each = 30% / each journal 10% = 40% / each

writing assignment 10% = 30% // class participation may add or detract points

Plagiarism is the use of other people’s words or ideas without mentioning them in your writing. Plagiarism means a writer “pretends” words and ideas are his or her own, when actually the writer has taken them from someone else. Plagiarism is always wrong, and never acceptable. It is a form of cheating. Plagiarism in this course will result in failure in that assignment, with a grade of 0.

Although I am not able to accept homework on e-mail, I am always

happy to hear from students on e-mail. Please feel free to e-mail me with

Qs or to share thoughts and ideas.