Universidad de Guanajuato

Unidad de Idiomas campus Len

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Materia: Ingls (EFL) CLAVE Ingls 200
rea: Lenguas extranjeras Prof.: Salvador Ramrez
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AIM: The aim of this course is to help students to develop as beginning English speakers in compliance with the
Common European Framework (CEFR) level A1. Students will develop the basic knowledge on the basics of
written and spoken communication in English.

PROCESS: Each week, for 16 weeks, the student will have 5 hours of active class with a variety of activities
aimed to help them develop their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills. There will be 2 periods of
evaluation in the semester: one in the middle and one in the end.

CLASS GRADE:

In order to approve the semester, it is required:

To achieve 80% of the total attendance. This means to successfully complete 65 hours of class (the self-
learning hours are not included in the absentism rate).
To complete 20 hours of self-learning. The student is required with creating a portfolio of his/her self-
learning process. These hours can be completed in different formats:
o CAADI You can attend to any of the CAADI of our network of self-learning facilities. In order to
demonstrate your self-learning process, you will have to attach the activities you performed in
the CAADI. CAADI representatives wont be signing anything anymore.
o Online There is a wide variety of web sites dedicated to the learning of a second language,
especially English. You can fill your portfolio of activities performed in those webpages.
o Real life activities You can include activities of your routine that allow you to develop in the
learning of English language. Examples of those activities are: watching TV/Online streaming in
English, reading in English, having conversations with acquaintances from foreign countries via
social media, etc.
o All of the above Your portfolio can be filled with a variety of activities taken from the three
previous options.
To achieve the promoted status in the section of Speaking
As to be promoted in the section of speaking the student must be able to:
o Interact with other speakers with basic functions (ask for personal information, ask for
information about traveling, directions, addresses, places, weather, health, etc. are some
examples).
o Ask questions with a basic but accurate grammatical structure.
o Respond questions with simple and accurate statements in areas of immediate need or topics of
a routine.
To achieve the promoted status in the sections of listening, reading, and writing.
As to be promoted in these sections, the student must be able to
o Listening: recognize vocabulary of high frequency use in the English language and very basic
phrases in topics as daily routine, family, myself, immediate surroundings, etc. as long as the
message is presented in a slow and clear fashion.
o Reading: identify words of high frequency use in the English language in a text. Understand
simple syntactical sentences in texts, independently of the length of the text.
o Writing: Write with accurate spelling words of high frequency use in the English language.
Accommodate words in an accurate fashion in short sentences. Write complete short-length
texts, like postcards, fill in forms with personal details, create posters, etc.
From these three areas, the student may fail only one and still be able to be promoted.
If the student fails the speaking section, he/she will automatically fail the semester.
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 Universidad de Guanajuato
Unidad de Idiomas campus Len
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Materia: Ingls (EFL) CLAVE Ingls 200
rea: Lenguas extranjeras Prof.: Salvador Ramrez
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Traditional grading will not be used anymore. At the end of the semester, depending on the performance, the
students might be given one of the two options:

o Promoted: Passed three out of the four areas to develop (of which speaking is mandatory to
pass), accomplished the minimum attendance during the semester, and completed the 20 hours
of self-learning. To pass the areas evaluated in the semester (speaking, listening, reading and
writing), the student could be promoted because of averaged performance, or well because of a
satisfactory improvement. It means that if the student fails the first partial in any of the areas, he
can still pass the same are in the final examination by showing a satisfactory improvement.
o Failed: To fail the semester, the student could have fallen in one (or more than one) of the
following: 1. Failed two areas of evaluation. 2. Failed speaking. 3. Failed to comply with the
minimum of attendance. 4. Failed to comply with the 20 hours of self-learning.

FIRST PARTIAL:

Online Exam: This will evaluate reading, listening and writing. The exams will be posted in my website (which
address is provided a few lines below). The grading of these are working as follows:
Exceeds expectations: It represents the higher score, and the observations of the greatest
learning/improvements.
Meets expectations: It represents that the student has learned appropriately and can keep
developing his/her learning.
Average: It represents the basic score to pass the evaluated area. This one would represent a
risk for the student, since it indicates a low level of learning and development.
Below expectations: It represents a fail in the area evaluated. The student didnt show
progression towards developing the skill, as well as knowledge.
Requires Hard Work: It represents a fail with the lowest score. A student with this is in the risk
of not showing progression or very slow development for the upcoming
classes/sessions/partial/semester.
Oral Exam: This will be evaluated by presentations before group. The student is responsible of developing a
presentation including visuals where he/she demonstrates the advances in vocabulary, grammar, fluency, and
pronunciation. No reading will be permitted during the presentations, as well as memorization is not
recommendable at all. Any symptom of memorization will severely impact the score of the entire presentation.
Each area will be evaluated as follows:

Grammar: Exceeds expectations. Fluency: Exceeds expectations.

Meets expectations. Meets expectations.
Average. Average.
Below expectations. Below expectations.
Requires hard work. Requires hard work.

Vocabulary: Exceeds expectations. Pronunciation: Exceeds expectations.

Meets expectations. Meets expectations.
Average. Average.
Below expectations. Below expectations.
Requires hard work. Requires hard work.

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 Universidad de Guanajuato
Unidad de Idiomas campus Len
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Materia: Ingls (EFL) CLAVE Ingls 200
rea: Lenguas extranjeras Prof.: Salvador Ramrez
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After observing the development in the four areas, the teacher will assign Promoted or Failed in compliance
with his experience as an English speaker, as well as a trained English teacher.

FINAL: The final exam will follow the same methodology as the first partial evaluations. By this period, the
student must also turn in his/her completed self-learning portfolio. Any incomplete portfolio will not be
considered, which will represent a Failed in that area of evaluation. This means failing the entire course for
the student.

MATERIALS: It is recommended to the students to have something to write on and something to write with to
make notes during class of all that they might consider needed to keep record of. It is; however, not mandatory.
In the case of using handouts, those will be shared via the following website:

http://alanonlinelab.weebly.com

The student must bring the material printed, unless the teacher indicates differently.
The students will need to have an active google account, of which the e-mail and cloud service will be of use for
the class (Gmail and Drive).

In the case of being given an assignment, the students might be required with one of the three options as for
delivery:

1. Upload it to Drive and share it with the teacher via the same cloud storage system, for which you may require
the e-mail address after the fourth point. Other possibility is to share the assignments using links, attaching
them to a form or a spreadsheet.
2. Send it using a form via the teachers website.
3. Send it via e-mail. My e-mail address is:

alanramz.ug@gmail.com

Each assignment will have specifications (title of the work, subject of the e-mail, folder where to upload it, word
counting, etc) which will be discussed in class for each assignment, as those may vary. It is important to pay
attention to those specification, since failing to comply with them might represent the rejection of the delivered
work.

NO LATE WORK WILL BE PERMITTED!! Please note that students are NOT permitted to skip a single
assignment without penalty.

ATTENDENCE: Absence is not recommended; however, we have a tolerance policy. The attendance is taken in
an hour basis. The tolerance policy covers a total of 14 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds. Reaching the 15
hours of absence will cause the student to fail the semester.

No hours can be recovered. In case of reaching the limit, there is no way to justify those absence hours.

In the case you need to be absent because of an emergency, let the teacher know to see if he can offer you a
work around. The solution will depend of the situation the student is presenting, and the very judgment of the
teacher.

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 Universidad de Guanajuato
Unidad de Idiomas campus Len
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Materia: Ingls (EFL) CLAVE Ingls 200
rea: Lenguas extranjeras Prof.: Salvador Ramrez
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COMING LATE AND LEAVING EARLY: Tardiness is not permitted. Coming late three classes/hours to class
will be considered the same as an absence. Likewise, any student who leaves early without express permission
from the teacher will also receive an absence.

SYLLABUS: Please note: this syllabus is a work in project and is subject to modifications/removal/addition of
topics, all of which may happen during the ongoing semester.

Weather and environment. Leisure activities

Forecasting Vacations
Natural disaster Places
Idioms Spectacles
Atmospheric conditions Sports
Time and place Physical and mental activities

Medicine and Health Traveling and transactions

Suggestions Hotels and their types
Diseases Superstitions
Hospital services Costs, discounts
Emergencies Negotiation
Urgencies Reservations

Home and directions Shopping

Directions Types of shops
Addresses Discounts/offers
Cities Complains
Places Brands
Traffic signs Advertising
Fashion
CLASSROOM POLICIES:
Participation is of major importance. The lack of participation in classes will have negative
consequences in the final grade of Speaking section.
Be engaged in presentations, discussion, and other activities. Dont be distracted and dont
distract your classmates.
Dare to challenge your own thinking, and open yourself to the way other people see the world.
Ask questions when you dont understand.
Be open about the language, the way it is, its purpose and how it works. As you can see, we will
be working out of the traditional Mexican English class paradigm.
Dont wait for the teacher to tell you what to note and what to copy. Keep your own records
according to the way you feel you better learn.
Dont be late, and dont expect the teacher to accept any late work.
Cellphones, tablets, and/or computers will be required for some activities. It doesnt mean you
can use your gadgets at any time you want. Keep them down when it is not requested for an
activity.
Food is permitted during classes. However, this has its exceptions. Any stinky food (tacos,
quesadillas, gorditas, enchiladas, and so on) are not permitted. You are allowed to eat (and
share) nuts, chips (again, just make sure they are not stinky), candies, lollipops, sodas, etc. Just
make sure you put the empty bottles in the bin.