Language Institute Thammasat University EL 221 Communicative Business English 1 Course Outline 2/2012

Course Description
The vocabulary and idioms appropriate to the world of business will be the focus of this course. Reading and writing skills will be practiced, so that students can learn to understand business-related documents, make summaries, and take useful notes. There will also be an oral presentation on business related-topics.

Course Objectives
1. To expose students to key business concepts, ranging from general business areas to more complex issues. 2. To improve students reading skills as well as their comprehension and writing skills. 3. To develop students vocabulary skills by examining context. 4. To enable students to effectively function in an international business culture. 5. To provide an opportunity for students to read newspapers on business related topics based on their individual interests.

Teaching Method
Student-centered/Autonomous learning Group discussion/Oral presentation Textbook: Intelligent Business (Coursebook, Intermediate) by Tonya Trappe & Graham Tullis (available at TU Bookstore or at the stall under the SC building)

Course Evaluation
50 1. Class Participation 1.1 Attendance 20 1.2 Classwork Assignments 30 -- News Clipping -- Oral Presentation 60 2. Midterm 3. Final 100 Total 210 points points points* 20 points 10 points points points points

Important Dates
Midterm Examination Final Examination Sunday December 23, 2012 Thursday February 28, 2013 12.00-14.00 13.00-16.00

Score Distribution (points) Midterm Vocabulary Seen Passages Unseen Passages Controlled Writing Outside Reading Total Notes: 1. News clipping (2 assignments; 10 points each) 15 10 15 20 60 20 20 25 20 15 100

Final

Students are required to clip TWO business news articles and do the following: 1.1 Write a summary or main idea of each article (1-2 sentences). (1 pts)

1.2 Write your comments about it for a few sentences (e.g., what you learn from the news, why it is interesting, etc). (1 pts) 1.3 Write a glossary of 10 vocabularies (English-English & Thai) found in the news article. (2 pts) 1.4 Make 3 comprehension questions with the answers based on the news article. Your questions must ask for the main idea and details and begin with a WH-Question word. For this part, the marking will be based on not only grammar but also the quality of the questions and the answers. Half a point will be deducted for each grammatical mistake. (6 pts) 1.5 Submit one assignment before the midterm test and the other before the final test as scheduled by the instructor. A total of ten points are given for each quality work which is done correctly and which meets all the requirements mentioned above. 2. Oral Presentation (10 points) After the quiz, students form a group of three or four students to be responsible for one short oral report on a company profile (10-15 minutes). In this task, they are required to research a company or organization that they are interested in and present it orally. They should also include at least three out of the following six aspects in their presentation: background/history, strategy (for success), development, marketing, outsourcing, and innovation. Points will be awarded based on the quality of their presentation (content, language, and manner of presentation).

Attendance Policy
1. Students are required to participate in at least 80% of the total class hours. They can be absent only three times before the midterm exam and three times before the final exam. 2. Two points will be deducted for each absence (each 1.30-hour session), and four points will be deducted for each absence (each 3-hour session).

Schedule and Instructors

Add/Drop period Drop W period 14 19 November 2012 7 - 14 January 2013

Instructors

Sec/Gr 040001 040002 040003 050001 540001 540002 810001 820001

Day Tue, Thu Tue, Thu Tue, Thu Tue, Thu Thursday Thursday Monday Monday

Time 13.30 - 15.00 13.30 - 15.00 13.30 - 15.00 15.00 - 16.30 13.30 - 16.30 13.30 - 16.30 09.30 - 12.30 13.30 - 16.30

Room LI 309

Instructor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pratin Pimsarn

SC 1041 A. Dr. Benjamin Clarke SC 1042 A. Sirirat Boonkien LI 309 LI 201 Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pratin Pimsarn Assoc. Prof. Suree Kongsomchit

SC 1012 A. Dr. Ratikorn Sirisatit LI 304 LI 304 Assoc. Prof. Nitaya Yuangsri Assoc. Prof. Nitaya Yuangsri

Content to be covered in the midterm and exam

1. Midterm Exam (60 points) Reading Passages: Unit 3 Unit 4 Unit 5 Unit 6 Unit 11 Strategy: Nikes Goddess Pay: The rewards of failure Development: Gas for Peru v green imperialism Marketing: Money can buy you love Markets: Going, going, gone?

Controlled Writing: Tenses (present simple and present continuous Unit 1, future forms Unit 3, present perfect and past simple -- Unit 4) Modals (likelihoodUnit 5, obligationUnit 12) Gerunds and Infinitives (Unit11)

2. Final Exam (100 points) Reading Passages: Unit 7 Outsourcing: The new global shift Unit 8 Finance: Europes Enron Unit 9 Recruitment: A full house Unit 10 Counterfeiting: Imitating property is theft Unit 12 Lobbies: Of celebrities, charity and trade Unit 13 Communication: Coping with infoglut Unit 14 Logistics: The best thing since the barcode Controlled Writing: Adverb clauses (supplementary material) Conditionals (Units 7 and 10) Adjective clauses/Relative pronouns (Unit 9 and supplementary material) Appositives (supplementary material) Reported Speech (Unit 13) Passives (Unit 14) Outside Reading: Unit 15 Innovation: Failure is glorious (page 129)

Tentative Teaching Schedule EL 221 Semester 2/2012

Week
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Dates
November 5 9, 12 November 1216, 12 November 1923, 12 November 2630, 12 December 3 7, 12 December 11 14, 12 December 10 No class December 17 21, 12 SUNDAY 23 DEC 12 (12.00 14.00) January 2 4, 13 January 7 11, 13 January 14 18, 13 January 21 25, 13 January 28 31, 13

Topics
Introduction, Nikes Goddess, suffixes Future forms, Present Simple and Continuous Executive pay: The rewards of failure Present Perfect and Past Simple Development: Gas for Peru Modals Marketing: Money can buy you love. Markets: Going, going, gone? Gerunds and infinitives Logistics: The best thing since the bar code Passives News clipping 1 due Review MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Outsourcing: The new global shift Adverb clause Conditionals Submit the topic of final presentation Finance: Europes Enron Adjectives and adverbs Recruitment: A full house Adjective clauses/relative pronouns Adjective clauses/relative pronouns (cont) Appositive Counterfeiting: Imitating property is theft Lobbies: Of celebrities, charity and trade Communication: Coping with Infloglut Reported speech Oral presentation News Clipping 2 due Oral presentation Review FINAL EXAMINATION (13.00 16.00)

14

February 4 8, 13

15 16

February 11 15, 13 February 18 22, 13 THURSDAY 28 FEB 13

Remarks: NO class on the following days - Wednesday 5 December 2012 H.M. The Kings Birthday - Monday 10 December 2012 Constitution Day