Welcome to Chris Elvin's Rikkyo Reading and Writing Class

Dear students,
Please access this blog weekly to check for news about the course, homework assignments, and updates.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

SYLLABUS

                                     Reading and Writing 1 (Spring 2018)

Email Chris Elvin: chriselvin@gmail.com
Textbook: Lee, L., & Gundersen, E. (2011). Select readings: teacher-approved readings for today's students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(Pre-Intermediate level)



Course Description and Objectives:
This course is designed for students to learn academic reading and writing skills. Students will learn strategies to promote fluency and accuracy in reading and writing through a variety of activities including reading extensively and intensively, and writing compositions. The goal of this course is to acquire both effective reading and writing skills. However, the emphasis of the spring semester is placed on acquiring reading skills. 

In particular, students will:
a) improve reading rate and comprehension skills,
b) develop strategic reading skills, such as skimming, scanning, and recognizing topics,
c) develop reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge through reading graded readers, and
d) write summaries and short responses of reading texts.

Course Schedule:
Week 1:      Chapter 1, choose your first graded reader.
Week 2:      Chapter 2, read summary of book 1 in class.
Week 3:      Chapter 3, read summary of book 2 in class.
Week 4:      Chapter 4, read summary of book 3 in class.
Week 5:      Chapter 5, read summary of book 4 in class.
Week 6:      Chapter 6, read summary of book 5 in class.
Week 7:      Chapter 7, read summary of book 6 in class.
Week 8:      Chapter 8, mid-term test.
Week 9:      Chapter 9, read summary of book 7 in class.
Week 10:    Chapter 10, read summary of book 8 in class.
Week 11:    Chapter 11, read summary of book 9 in class.
Week 12:    Chapter 12, read summary of book 10 in class.
Week 13:    Chapter 13, Chapter 14.
Week 14:    Chapter 15, final test.

Evaluation:
Attendance and participation/group work (30%)
You should attend ALL classes.
l  Students need to attend 80% or more of the classes taught to earn a passing grade. Students who are absent from class four times or more fail the course. 
l  You may apply for exemption when your absences are due to the following cases. 
 1. Officially approved illnesses(学校感染症)
 2. Lay judge(裁判員制度)
 3. Bereavement leave(三親等以内の忌引き)
l  Coming late for class two times is counted as one absence in this course. 
l  Train delay slips (遅延証明) issued at stations are not valid unless in the case of a serious interruption of service due to an accident.

Mid-term test (10%)
There will be a short mid-term test based on the topics of the textbook.

Graded reader assignments (40%)
You should read ten graded readers (about one graded reader per week from Macmillan Graded readers, Oxford Bookworms, Penguin Readers, or Cambridge English Readers).
In order to find your level, you should take the Macmillan Readers Level Test at

Ideally, you should read at least twenty books per semester. However, about one book per week will be acceptable for this class. Try to write your summary at the end of each week so that you can talk about it in class. Do not read stories that you have already read or know about as they will not be stimulating. If you get behind, do not panic and copy or do anything else foolish!
Use the form below to post your summaries.


Final test (20%)
There will be a reading test in July. It will be based on the topics covered in the textbook.