Course Objectives:
This is a 3 credit "E" course that meets for 4.5 hours each week for thirteen weeks. It is designed to prepare International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) who have been certified 1 or 2 for the roles and duties as instructors. Since, as instructors, ITAs will be expected to lecture, present, and interact with students both inside and outside of the classroom, this course will focus on helping them achieve communicative competence in a variety of academic situations and settings. ITAs must acquire acceptable pronunciation and adequate comprehension skills. They must also become familiar with the context of communication, which involves an appreciation of role relationships. In an American setting, ITAs must teach in a more informal, individualistic setting, where undergraduates expect teacher-student interaction.

This course will also stress the importance of discourse skills for successful teaching. For example, communication can be effectively enhanced by using repetition, logical connectors, and organizational cues to highlight key concepts, clarify relationships, and guide the listener. Finally, attention will be given "strategic" competence in teaching, which enhances communication as well as compensates for problematic language production. These strategies range from use of the blackboard to the effective use of the classroom.

Placement:
ITAs who score 50 on SPEAK are placed in this class, certified 1, can teach. ITAs who have successfully completed Phonology typically enroll in this course the following semester. These ITAs may be certified 1 (can teach), or them may remain certified 2 (cannot teach). After completing this course, ITAs may be required to enroll in Speech Center.

Format of the course:
The course focuses on various listening/speaking enhancement workshops: working on individual speech areas in the Fluency Lab, listening to and analyzing the language and culture provided by movie clips; participating in discussion groups with undergraduates, and working with undergraduates as conversation partners, giving and critiquing video presentations.

Fluency Lab:
Pronunciation exercises will be individualized when necessary in the Fluency Lab. Emphasis will be on the importance of making clear consonant and vowel distinctions and of using correct lexical stress since weakness in these areas often renders key technical terms unintelligible. Stress and intonation will be treated as features essential to effective communication. Students are encouraged to record instances in their daily lives when they have difficulty communicating or comprehending or when they run across an unfamiliar idiom or usage.

Movie Clips:
Movie clips will be shown throughout the semester in order to enhance listening skills, idiomatic and conversational language, and to broaden students’ understanding of cultural interaction and sharpen their survival skills.

Discussion Groups:
Undergraduate students will meet with ITAs in order to discuss university issues. Topics will range from the classroom culture to that of fraternities. Other topics will be taken from the The Daily Targum. The purpose of these discussions will be to practice English and to gain an understanding of other cultures views on issues.

Conversation Groups:
Two ITAs will be paired with one undergraduate. The groups should choose a time that is convenient for all and plan on meeting one hour a week, totaling 20 hours throughout the course of the semester. Suggested visits for topics of discussion: agrarian museum, downtown businesses, libraries, Zimmerli, Mason Gross, display gardens, architecture, grocery store, geology museum, Rutgers movie. The purpose of these conversations is just that: to talk about various places that you visit.

Presentations:
Each student will be required to give a minimum of five presentations. Topics for presentations include introducing a syllabus, preparing a lab orientation, defining a key term from one's major field, or discussing a topic unrelated to one's major. Student presentations are evaluated on the basis of organization, clarity of expression, relevance of content, manner of speaking (volume and speed), effective use of visuals and/or blackboard, as well as intelligibility of pronunciation, control of grammar, and general rhetorical effectiveness. ITAs not presenting, along with undergraduates, will evaluate the presentation. A minimum of three presentations will be videotaped. In order to provide immediate feedback, videos should be viewed and assessed by both the students and the instructor. Every student should also participate in and, if possible, lead a discussion.

Policies and Procedures:

• Attendance: Students who miss more than three classes risk failing the course. Students should also be informed that excessive lateness will result in a lower grade.

• Assignments: Students are required to have all assignments ready on the due date.

• Class Cancellation: If an instructor is late for class or absent, it is Rutgers policy that students wait 20 minutes.

• Exams: There are no midterm or final exams. Note: The RIVA is an 8-minute assessment of a student’s ability to teach. It is to be taken at the end of the semester by ITAs certified two. See the RIVA test information page.

• Grading: Final grades are either Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory and reflect the students’ participation in and commitment to the work of the course as well as their improvement in listening and speaking. Final grades are not a reflection of the ITA's ability to teach. ITAs view their grades on-line.

• Office Hours: Instructors are required to keep at least one office hour per week for every class they teach. If you have any questions about the class, make an appointment with your instructor.