Basic Level English (Bsisi)

Orit Kandler -onkandler@edu.mishpat.ac.il

Thursdays, 16:00-19:15

+ 2 hours independent work per week

Course Description

Bsisi is a course for basic independent-level English users. In the course, the students
develop and practice all four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) as
well as enhance their grammar and vocabulary repertoire. The course helps the students
reach CEFR B1 proficiency level and prepares them for Advanced English courses.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, Bsisi level students will be able to do the
following:

- Understand language connected to familiar topics, such as work, school, leisure,

travel, etc.
- Write simply on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.
- Describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions.
- Give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

Contact information

Office Hours: You can schedule an appointment with me by email:

Email: onkandler@edu.mishpat.ac.il

It is very important for you to inform me if there is a problem as soon as possible. Do not
wait until the end of the course to tell me as it will be too late for me to help you.

1
Course Structure and Materials

Bsisi is a 6 hours per week academic course. Students meet with the teacher for 5 academic
hours weekly in class. In addition to that, students must complete 2 academic hours of
independent work per week – so plan your time accordingly!

You are expected to make up the work that you missed, both in class and independently.

Materials: The course uses materials from “Academic Practice for B1” and “Everyday
English”.

a. IN CLASS: The students will use worksheets and work on a variety of interactive
tasks.
Please make sure you visit the course page regularly to keep up with any updates.

b. INDEPENDENT WORK: The students must complete at least 2 academic hours of

independent work per week on the Burlington English courses. The Burlington
English system tracks the time spent actively learning and reports it to the teacher
along with the progress achieved. In addition, a portion of the independent work time
might be allocated to teacher-created tasks.
Please make sure you get your login and password to the Burlington English site
(https://www.burlingtonenglish.com/) and do not lose it.

Dictionaries: You may use paper-based and electronic dictionaries in class and on tests.
You cannot use dictionaries with an Internet connection on tests (Google Translate, Morfix,
etc.) During final exams, the Internet is blocked on campus.

Grammarly: You are encouraged to use the FREE version of the tool called Grammarly
(https://www.grammarly.com/) when writing your emails to me and checking your writing and
project work. It will help you notice, correct, and learn from your spelling and grammar
mistakes.

2
Attendance and Classroom Etiquette:

Students must attend 75% of the classes. Any student who misses more than 25% of the
lessons will be removed from the class list and will not be able to take the final exam.

Attendance is not a part of your grade but a necessary requirement to pass the course. Not
only must you come to 75% of the classes, but also many graded tasks are done in class. If
you are absent, you will likely lose this grade.

Grade Composition:

Final course grade = 60% class grade + 40% final exam (on the condition that the final
exam is held on campus).

Class passing grade: 60

Final exam passing grade: 50

COURSE passing grade: 60

Class grade composition:

 40% - individual work (Burlington and other tasks)

 5% - SEEN reading comprehension test (cannot be made up later)
 15% - UNSEEN reading comprehension test (cannot be made up later)
 25% - project assignment
 15% - 4 writing activities

Weekly Syllabus (subject to change) In-class assessment tasks are marked in bold,

tasks that are underlined must be done in class

Lesson  Date  Topic 

1 November 3 Introduction
Burlington Placement Test

2 November 10 People and Health

3 November 17  Sports and Leisure

Writing compound sentences

4 November 24 Seen

3
 Hobbies and Leisure

5 December 1 Hobbies and Leisure

Writing a 3-sentence paragraph exhibiting the main
idea and an example

6 December 8 Environment and the Weather

7 December 15

8 December 29 Taking notes from a video clip

Education and learning

9 January 5 Education and learning

10 January 12 Unseen

11 January 19 Writing a summary paragraph

12 January 26 1st round of presentations

13 February 2 2nd round of presentations

Writing an opinion paragraph