Spanish-American Institute

502 Business English Communication 120 Classes

Prerequisite(s): English 501.6 or equivalent

Textbooks: NorthStar: Reading and Writing High Intermediate, 2^nd ed., Pearson Education, 2004 (or comparable text). Longman Dictionary of American English now with Thesaurus, 3^rd or later edition, Pearson, 2004 (recommended).

Course Description: Business English teaches English language skills designed to help students communicate more successfully in a business and real world environment. The course emphasizes writing as a process of development that includes drafting, writing, editing, and reading that conveys the writer’s intentions clearly and correctly.

Objectives: By the end of the course, students are expected:

• to understand the process of writing and the difference between correct and effective writing;
• to use different patterns of development;
• to understand how context affects meaning, grammar, and other writing choices;

• to recognize and use correct English grammar in context with an emphasis upon grammar and usage issues for ESL writers;
• to understand and use correct punctuation, mechanics, and spelling in business and real world writing;
• to read critically by scanning and skimming, analyzing, identifying and restating, locating supporting details, identifying viewpoint, supporting answers, drawing parallels, interpreting meaning, interpreting graphical information, and identifying writers or characters’ motivations.

Instructional Methods: Students develop reading and writing skills from an integrated cumulative skills approach that increases language retention and fluency by stimulating students to create meaning in a new language through active learning activities. Longer reading passages and recorded listening passages, and videos build on vocabulary and ideas from background material and exercises. Students are guided through the writing process, followed by practice in context activities that allow them to apply each new writing concept to their own writing. Students work individually, in pairs, and in small groups on guided, linked activities built around each unit's theme.

Grading: The final grade is based on the following:

Class Participation	25%
Assignments	50%
Exams	25%
Total	100%

The grading scale is: A=90-100%, B+=85-89%, B=80-84%, C+=75-79%, C=70-74%, D=65-69%, F=60-64%

Course Outline:

Week	Topics	Assignments and Tests
1-3	NorthStar Unit 1 Theme: Media Communication Focus: classifying information, drawing conclusions, developing topic sentences, writing a letter to the editor, etc. Grammar Focus: passive voice. Unit 1 Video Sequence.	NorthStar unit exercises. Student video activity sheet.
4-5	NorthStar Unit 2 Theme: Overcoming Obstacles Communication Focus: comparing and contrasting, finding correlations, writing a three-part paragraph, editing extraneous information, composing supporting sentences using transitions, summarizing research in a report, etc. Grammar Focus: gerunds and infinitives Unit 2 Video Sequence	NorthStar unit exercises. Student video activity sheet
6-7	NorthStar Unit 3 Theme: Medicine Communication Focus: comparing and contrasting, drawing logical conclusions, writing an opinion essay with evidence, summarizing research, etc Grammar Focus: past unreal conditionals Unit 3 Video Sequence	NorthStar unit exercises. Student video activity sheet.
8	Review, Units 1-3 Drafting, editing, and re-writing essays.	Assigned essay (part of bi-monthly grade) Bi-monthly Exam
9-10	NorthStar Unit 4 Theme: Natural Disasters Communication Focus: classifying information, analyzing descriptive language, writing descriptive sentences and paragraphs, writing a paragraph that underscores similarities, using adjectives for description, etc. Grammar Focus: identifying adjective clauses Unit 4 Video Sequence	NorthStar unit exercises. Student video activity sheet.
11-12	NorthStar Unit 5 Theme: Conservation Communication Focus: comparing observations, identifying language of cause and effect, writing cause and effect sentences and essay, using subordinate conjunctions and transitions to express cause and effects Grammar Focus: advisability and obligation in the past Unit 5 Video Sequence	NorthStar unit exercises. Student video activity sheet.
13-14	NorthStar Unit 6 Theme: Philanthropy Communication Focus: identifying opinions, relating specific examples to broad themes, expressing an opinion in a letter, writing an essay Grammar Focus: tag questions Unit 6 Video Sequence	NorthStar unit exercises. Student video activity sheet.
15	NorthStar Unit 7 Theme: Education (1^st half of unit) Communication Focus: evaluating and classifying, comparing and contrasting, using concessive language, writing an opinion essay, write dependent clauses Grammar Focus: direct and indirect speech	NorthStar unit exercises. .
16	Review, Units 4-7 (partial unit 7) Drafting, editing, and re-writing short essay.	Assigned essay (part of bi-monthly grade) Bi-monthly Exam
17	NorthStar Unit 7 (2^nd half of unit) Unit 7 Video Sequence	NorthStar unit exercises Student video activity sheet.
18-19	NorthStar Unit 8 Theme: Food Communication Focus: comparing and contrasting information, writing narrative, practicing parallel structure and sentence variation Grammar Focus: phrasal verbs Unit 8 Video Sequence	NorthStar unit exercises Student video activity sheet
20-21	NorthStar Unit 9 Theme: Immigration Communication Focus: classifying; interpreting, comparing, and contrasting imagery; writing a compare and contrast essay, using transitional expressions and subordinating conjunctions, etc. Grammar Focus: past perfect and time words Unit 9 Video Sequence	NorthStar unit exercises. Student video activity sheet.
22-23	NorthStar Unit 10 Theme: Technology Communication Focus: comparing and contrasting, supporting inferences with examples, taking notes, developing an essay from an outline Grammar Focus: future progressive and time clauses Unit 10 Video Sequence	NorthStar unit exercises. Student video activity sheet.
24	Review, Units 8-10. Drafting, editing, and re-writing short essay.	Assigned essay (part of bi-monthly grade) Bi-monthly Exam

rev. 6/06