CONVERSATION COURSE

Professor: Russ Paradice

Class Schedule: 4-5 p.m., Monday to Thursday
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday, 12-1:30 p.m.

Welcome to our Conversation Course. During the next four months, you will be
participating in a wide range of activities designed to maintain and enhance your
speaking and listening abilities. Each class will have one or two themes – for example,
one day we might talk about politics (the recent closure of Luz & Fuerza is an obvious
candidate), another day about education (hmm, we could talk about Chapingo, the good,
the bad, and the ugly), and another about the differences between men and women. You
will be asked to participate in discussion forums, role plays, and other activities meant
to stimulate you to speak. In addition, I will bring listenings to many classes – for
example, songs such as You’re Beautiful by James Blunt and One by U2 – and videos,
such as one about Chang and Eng, the world’s first known Siamese Twins, and another
about the real Sherlock Holmes. I will also be giving you quite a bit of vocabulary,
including some idiomatic expressions. Finally, you will be required to give a 10-minute
presentation at some point during the course. Your topic could be, for example, about a
special hobby you have, a trip you went on, or some other experience you’ve had in
your life. I do NOT want you to give a 10-minute talk related to your studies because
no matter how fascinating you might find the water table or potato diseases, these topics
can be profoundly boring for other people. The best presentation I’ve ever had,
incidentally, was by two sisters who are identical twins. They talked about how close
they feel to each other, how they know when the other is in trouble, and how they
sometimes feel guilty that their younger sister can’t share their intimacy.

Your final grade will be calculated as follows:

• class attendance and participation – 40%

• two vocabulary exams – 15% each
• your presentation – 30%

Note: I would really like to stress that this is a CONVERSATION COURSE, not a
CONVERSATION CLUB. Please don’t play hooky. (= No se vayan de pinta.)

Other Class Rules:

1) Don’t be late for class. BE PUNCTUAL.

2) Don’t speak Spanish in class, please. Only English is permitted.

Yours faithfully,

Prof. Russ Paradice