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EFS 687 for 2016
American Language and Culture: Silicon Valley
EFS 687 is a 4-week intensive program run in collaboration with
VIA,
a private, non-profit organization based at Stanford dedicated to Asia/US public
service and education. VIA is responsible for recruiting students from select
universities in China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea for the two EFS 687 programs each
summer. 2016 dates for both ALC 1 and ALC 2 are August 1-August 26. A major focus
for this year's program is the language and culture of San Francisco and Silicon
Valley.
This
year, we anticipate a small number of openings for students who wish to apply
directly to the program. To be eligible, a student must be currently attending
or recently graduated from a university in East Asia or Southeast Asia.
Prospective students should understand the overall goals and content of the
program, which can be accessed at
www.viaprograms.org/asian_students/alc/overview. A minimum TOEFL
score of 500 (paper)/173(computer)/61(iBT) or equivalent proficiency is
required. Students need to submit an application and be interviewed (in person
or over the phone) to be accepted to the program. If you are interested in
applying, please contact Kazutoh Ishida (kazutoh@viaprograms.org)
at VIA.
EFS 687. American Language and Culture is designed to
improve students' oral communication in English while providing
analysis of and experience in a variety of topical sociocultural
issues. This integration of the academic with the experiential
offers students an enriching curriculum to further language
development and to analyze aspects of US culture from a
sociological perspective. Given the brevity of the course, we
select four issues from the areas of diversity, innovations in
decision-making, environmental initiatives, voluntarism, family,
and stratification. These issues are addressed within the two
classes which make up the course: Effective Communication and Topic
Development.
Effective Communication
This class is concerned primarily with developing spoken
language fluency. The emphasis here will vary according to level,
with greater emphasis on listening comprehension at the lower
levels and on oral presentation at the higher levels. All
students will participate in small-group interactive tasks
encouraged to increase their fluency in self-expression and their
contributions to group discussions.
Topic Development
The objective of this class is to gain a sociological
perspective on the issues listed earlier. Through readings and
videotapes, students explore and discuss topics with the guidance
of the instructor. To ensure a common frame of reference, a
weekly lecture is taught by instructors from the Department of
Sociology. In addition to the morning lectures, the students
will be introduced to research methods and tools by means of
laboratory simulations at other times. Each week the English
instructors will prepare students for the lecture and follow up
with review, discussion, and evaluation of comprehension. A
course reader will provide related readings for orientation to
lecture topics and for further analysis.
Individual Projects
To enable students to explore their individual interests as
well as their class topics in greater depth, the course requires
each student to complete an individual project. With the help of
the Topic Development instructor, students choose to design and
conduct either library-based research or a community survey. The
project culminates in a written report of the results for Topic Development and in a final oral report presented for fellow students
in Effective Communication.
Placement and Class Schedule
Upon arrival the students are divided into six sections of
approximately eleven students each according to their level of
aural/oral proficiency on the placement exam. Effective
Communication and Topic Development each meet for 90 minutes every
morning, Monday through Friday, for a total of 60 instructional
hours over the four weeks. Given the program's emphasis on
promoting oral communication, the placement exam assesses
aural/oral skills rather than grammar or writing abilities.
Following a thirty-minute multiple-choice listening test, the
students are interviewed individually. Students are assigned to
sections based on the results of both tests and other factors
such as the gender ratio and university/country of origin. This
ensures not only diversity in backgrounds, but also exclusive use
of English during class sessions.
Instructors
Instructors in this program are highly qualified in terms of
education and experience. The English instructors have
Masters' or PhD degrees, typically in teaching English as a second language, with
an average of ten years' teaching experience. In addition to teaching in the US,
many have taught abroad or worked as professional writers. During the regular academic year, most teach
undergraduate students similar to those in this program, students
who have matriculated at Bay Area colleges. The instructors
who lecture on sociology to the whole group are Ph.D. candidates
in sociology at Stanford; they have experience teaching
undergraduate courses in sociology to American students. All instructors are
evaluated in writing by students at the end of the session.
Grading
At the end of the course instructors meet individually with
students to provide feedback on their progress. While they
comment on the students' proficiency, credit in the four-week
course is determined by the quality of students' completion of
assignments, active class participation, and overall effort. The
individual project is evaluated as an oral report in Effective
Communication and as a written report in Topic Development. Grades
are awarded on the scale of A, B, C, D and no pass (failure),
with + and - modifications.
Updated December 7, 2015
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