Doc

Hi there!

first of all, let’s get the ‘fear thing’ over quickly, shall we?

1. this is not going to be a ‘learn 4 pages of vocabulary’ and ‘don’t speak if you think you might make a mistake’ class:– I am not worried about you making a few mistakes as long as your meaning is clear and you can only get used to speaking in a foreign language if you accept you may make some mistakes: it is a matter of confidence and understanding that your interlocutor will be more impressed with your willingness to speak his/her language reasonably than worried by your occasional errors.
2. we are going to work together to give you the confidence to use the English you already have in the contexts in which, given your chosen career interet, you are likely to need and to want to use it.
3. My French may well be worse than your English – so I DO know EXACTLY how you feel, believe me!  To live and work here, however, I have had to get over the fact that sometimes I make errors and that people might notice them!  Generally people in whose language you are working are both sympathetic and understanding and more often than not impressed by your ability to communicate.

So what are we going to be doing?

• We will be working in blocks of three weeks on subjects and projects which relate to your degree and your future career.
• The normal format for the block will be
  • Wk 1. I set up the block with a keynote mini-lecture and some guidance, then you begin work.
  • Wk 2. You continue to work and I interact with you looking at your progress.
  • Wk 3. You present (in some formor other) your thoughts / findings / opinions / conclusions / recommendations and then receive feedback from me

Assessment.

As far as I am aware from Course Management, this unit may be assessed by means of coursework.  You will therefore engage in various sorts of dimensions of activities which I will assess (usually one item per block):

• individual / team / group
• written / oral
• considering an issue from the outside: essay / report OR from the inside: a role play.

Tutor Expectations (My expectations of You)

• that you attend: I consider this class to be professional and I will treat you accordingly.  Were you at work you would turn up on time every morning and do a full day’s work.  I expect the same from you.  If you really can’t attend by reason of illness, then fair enough, we are all ill at some time or another, but it will need proper certification and (if you are working as part of a team) you will need to notify me and the other members of the team in advance.
• that you participate: language is first and foremost: spoken, so I will be looking to see and hear you participate in English.
• that whenever you furnish me with work, it is in fact your own and not ‘lifted’ from the www.  I am quite adept at catching those who try not only to cheat on their subject, the real author and their tutors but on their own collegues as well.
• that you seek to improve: that will mean taking helpful and positive critique of your work, welcoming it and working with it.
• that you do not consult email or telephones during class – no-one in my role would find such activity anything less than disrespectful at worst and distracting at best.
• that submission dates for assignments and presentation dates be respected. In the commercial and professsional world, failure to hit a deadline is a life and death affair. I will operate in the same manner: failure to submit by the designated date = 0/20 unless the Course Manager has evidence in his hand and is prepared to confirm that your absence was necessary.

Your Expexctations of Me.

First of all I should say that it is only fair that you should have some reasonable expectations of your tutor based upon teaching professionalism and the subject content.  Here is what I believe you can and should expect of me:

• that I will turn up for classes promptly. [NB. however: I am teaching until 1100 at FLSH before your class that starts at 1115.  Getting off campus, across town and finding a parking space is not always easy! ]
• if for any reason I cannot make the class: illness etc, I will endeavour to get a message to you before the class if humanly possible via the course office.
• that I will give you as much feedback as is possible to enable you to improve.  I never liked the teacher who wrote on my assignment: « 12/20 – could do better », because I thought I had done my best and I was completely at a loss to understand what the teacher was looking for and where I had lost those crucial 8 points.
• you should call me ‘Tony’, rather than Mr JOLLEY: in the Anglophone world you will find most of your colleagues and even your bosses will call you by your first name and expect you to do likewise.