Assessment Overview

In this page you will find more detailed explanations of the assessment for the course.

In class written exercises (10%)

During the semester, we will do different kind of written exercises in class. Some individual and others in groups. The explanations and instructions will be given in class.

Newspaper and periodicals library (20%)

You will compile different articles from newspapers and magazines (online) on a single topic you choose from the list of suggested topics. You must collect at least 2 articles each week. For each article you will provide the following:

• The reference in APA style.
• A brief summary of the article.
• A commentary of the article (your opinion or reaction to the article).

The deadline for turning in your library is November  22nd. The starting date is September 1st (for a total of 8 weeks). Which means your library should have at least 16 articles.

Suggested topics

• Natural disaster and meteorological phenomena in the world.
• Trends in mobile technology.
• War and conflicts across the world.
• U.S. foreign policy.

Of course, these topics and very broad. You can narrow it to a specific sub-topic in the heading.
       
Links to some useful newspaper and magazines to find articles in English

The Guardian
The Miami Herald
Reuters
Newsweek
Top 50 United States Newspapers.

Please, check the grading criteria for this assignment.

The e-portfolio (25%)

A portfolio is a collection of a student's work that exhibits his or her efforts and reflections in the learning process over a period of time. In this course, you will create an e-portfolio using a blog. First things first. If you have never created a blog before, watch first this tutorial on how to.




In a blog, you organize the information by posts or entries. These are the entries your e-portfolio must have:

1. A brief introduction: Your first entry should be about yourself. Tell about your background, your interests and why you are majoring in foreign language teaching.

2. Reading journal: You will publish here the entries for the short stories. Read more instructions here.

3. Reflections. Post at least 3 entries in which you reflect on the contents or activities studied in class. What was the content? How would you rate your knowledge or skill on that content? Was it difficult or easy for you? What can you do to improve? (if necessary).

4. Products or activities from class.

The deadline for completing your e-portfolio is November 22th.

Grading criteria

Class presentations 20%

After having read about a topic over a period of 8 weeks, you will prepare a presentation on that topic using the information compiles and reflected. You will have 10 to 15 minutes for your presentation.  The presentations will be on Friday November  28th.

Final test (25%)

Click here to go to the test. This test will assess your ability to understand expository texts in English over a variety of topics. The test will be on Friday, December 5th (or 12th depending on the progress of the semester).