Welcome to ESL 505

ESL 505-Nmeets T/TH from 3.30 to 4.50 pm.
Where: BIF 3003
Please, review your instructor's contact information:
Tatiana Luchkina
preferred e-mail: luchkin1@gmail.com
office: FLB 4106
office hours: M, 10 am-12 pm and via appointment

I strongly recommend to send me a brief notice of your coming to see me during my office hours - I may be in the copy room or in a different office. So, sending an e-mail to luchkin1@gmail.com and notifying me of your upcoming visit would not hurt.

What you need to accomplish during the first week of class:

You need to go to STUDENT SELF SERVICE (reached via uiuc.edu site) and get officially registered for the course. I will let you know when registration becomes available in class.
Please, go over the syllabus and make sure you understand the course objectives and the grading policies applicable to this class.
Please, visit DROPBOX.COM and open an account. You will be submitting your homework assignments for this course via dropbox. When you have set your account, do the following:

i) Create a folder named ESL 505_first last name (e.g., ESL 505_Tatiana Luchkina).
ii) Share that folder with my dropbox account (luchkin1@uiuc.edu). In other words, invite only me to your folder. Unless specified, you do not need to use dropbox to access this course materials (first day of class was an exception).
Please, open a gmail account in case you do not have one as we will be using GOOGLE DOCS a couple of times during the semester. You sometimes cannot access a google doc unless you are signed up for gmail.
The first google doc you need to fill out is located here. Please, make sure you provide me with accurate information about yourself only. DO NOT modify anyone else's information.

Get yourself registered

HOW TO REGISTER FOR ESL 505 N (CRN 31742)

This Fall registration for ESL will open during the second week of class.

Once you have been approved for your seat in ESL, you can register through UI-Integrate Self-Service. Remember, you can ONLY register for the section you are in.

The classes all appear closed to prevent students without approval from
registering. You can register with preapproval by following these steps:

1. Login to UI Integrate (Instructions:
http://registrar.illinois.edu/registration/help_login.html)
2. Under the registration and records tab, select "Add/Drop Classes"
3. If the "Registration Agreement" screen appears, Agree to the
statement
4. Select "Fall 2011 - Urbana-Champaign" from the drop down. (session 2)
5. Just below "add classes worksheet" there are boxes for CRNs. Enter
the CRN for the course you have been approved for and "submit changes".

Additional information about courses is on the UIUC course catalog:
http://courses.illinois.edu/cis/index.html

BR: preparing your submission

Business Report: Draft Submission details

The draft of your BR is due on Nov 28, at 7.30 am. Please, submit your work to luchkin1@gmail.com. If you work with a partner, I expect one signed submission from both of you.

This is the link for the title page of your draft.

Requirements:

Your draft may but does not have to include the executive summary section (which is written and submitted individually).

Your draft will not be corrected for grammar by me. I expect you to proofread or seek help proofreading your work before it gets to me.

Your draft has to have all components of the BR. Methods section is optional but is strongly encouraged. There you may talk about the methodology used in the sources you are incorporating into your report or discuss the data/sources of evidence you are using. Your methods sections may be as short as a paragraph and should not exceed 3/4 of a page.

I strongly encourage you to refer to the course materials while working on this project; remember, content is only half of what we are aiming at, we want to focus on the format, readability, and persuasiveness of our work.

My other recommendation is to base your report on a scenario that may resemble a real life situation. Experience shows, this makes it easier to identify a problem your report is aiming at solving and provide specific recommendations to your reader.

CONFERENCING

When we return from the break, we'll start holding individual conferences concerning your drafts.

The link for scheduling conference times during the first week of December is here. Note that the earliest conference spots are open for the Monday on which your draft is due. In case you want to have an early conference, please, e-mail your draft early.

I look forward to working with you on making this assignment a valuable learning experience.

I wish you to use the break time to your best advantage, that means, you ought to manage to have a good rest and to get things done!

Get back to me with questions/concerns/early thoughts on your draft. I will be responsive most of the break time.

Library sessions this november

Our library sessions this semester are scheduled for Nov. 8 and Nov. 15 (they are a week apart).

The classes will be held in Room 291 of the Undergraduate Library. Please, note down the time and location. On both these days I will not be coming to BIF, but will directly go to the library. Attendance policy applies.

Be prepared to use both sessions to your advantage. Bring the topic of your BR and have a tentative outline ready by then. You will be familiarized with library search engines and citations software that can be used for your work.

The information provided during the sessions is not tailored to the needs of your ESL course only, the goal of those sessions (just as the goal of our course) is to facilitate your academic experience here at UofI.

FYI: most likely, librarians would like to interact with you and my hope is that you people will be all nice and talkative; From my previous library days I know that the best ones happened when students came in ready to discuss things and share their research projects, talk about their needs and ask questions. Let’s all do that!

No/late homework submission policy

Dear students,

This is to let you know that starting from Sept. 26 we have a new late/no homework/assignment submission policy.

3 course points will be subtracted from your cumulative course grade for each missing homework (except for major course assignments); 1 course point will be subtracted from your cumulative course grade for a late submission.

Failure to submit a major course assignment will result in subtracting the following number of course points from your final grade:

Essay revision - 20;

Individual presentation - 15;

Memo - 15;

BR - 30;

All course assignments have deadlines that are non-negotiable. Late submissions of major course assignments are not accepted.

FYI: The passing grade for the course is 80/100.

Presentations

Follow this link to see a list of topics that are suggested for your presentations. Since ours is a service course and we do not have a prescribed array of presentation topics that we must cover, I thought, some of you may like it better if you have more freedom to choose what your presentation will be on.

Hence, at the very bottom of the document you will find an empty chart where you may (if desired) enter your name and the topic of the presentation that you are interested in. All topics will have to be brought to my attention before they get finalized.

What topics should you be thinking of:

Your presentation may not address a technical issue and should target an average educated listener. Your presentation must contain material that is related to the everyday issues and concerns of the business world (ethics and international business communication have been our preferred broad topics for a while).

NB:

If you feel comfortable presenting on one of the pre-selected topics, enter your name into one of the corresponding cells.

Concerning your presentation: Reminder:

You may prepare and present individually or with a partner.

Your presentation is 7-10 min long +3-5 min discussion/feedback.

You have to send the draft of your PPT to me via e-mail before you present. This should happen before the day on which you present.

You should incorporate the feedback I am giving.

Your presentation is expected to be engaging for your classmates. As it is very short, I expect you to be prepared to speak at least 60% of the time. If necessary, prepare note cards.

Please, document sources and demonstrate effort.

Mini presentations due Tuesday, Sept. 13

Work as a group. Your presentation should not contain more than 3 content slides and should be appealing to your target audience, i.e., it should clearly state and successfully deliver your message, given their (hypothetical) profile and background.

Make sure that the slides do not contain grammar errors. If you incorporate outside sources into your presentation (materials you locate online or in a library) make sure to provide references on a separate slide.

Each group will have approx. 5 min but not more than 5 min to deliver their presentation. Your goal is to engage as many group members as you can, make sure you have more than 1 presenter. Be prepared.

Please, send your presentation slides to luchkin1@gmail.com no later than 1 pm, Sept 13. It will save time that students take to access their PPT files in class.

Do not hesitate to ask questions or ask for feedback before you present.

Presentation topic:

Convince your target audience to eat at a MCDonalds restaurant.

Your audience is one of the following (as assigned in class):

CEO of the company where you are employed (make sure you refer to their profile in your presentation);

Family with 3 young children (ages 3-8);

Your fellow students;

Children ages 8-12;

Major Course Assignments

1. ESSAY REVISION

Find our essay revision checklist here!

Your first course assignment, which is the revision of your second day of class essay, is due on October 10, by 7.30 am THERE IS NO LATE SUBMISSIONS FOR ESL 505.

Please, submit your revised essays via Dropbox.

I will need the original essay version (with my feedback) as well as the revised version when grading your work. By the deadline, your Dropbox folder should have both. If you handwrote your original essay, please, re-submit it to me on October 4 before class.

Important:

To get a good grade for this assignment, you need to show a considerable revision of your text in terms of language (Grammar, Vocabulary Choices, Sentence Structure). In addition to content and organization, I will grade the overall readability of your text: Points will be subtracted for grammatical errors, typos, errors due to sloppiness.

Use the help of native speakers/writers' workshop services to ensure that your text is grammatical and reads authentic-like.

Make sure that the organization and the format of your essay corresponds to the guidelines on thesis statements, introductory/concluding paragraphs, flow and coherence that we have covered in class. When necessary, you can access all of our in-class materials from this web page.

Word Count:

Your essay should be minimum 500 and maximum 800 words long. Not observing a word count will affect your grade.

Formatting:

Your font size should not be less than 12 (for fonts that look similar to Times New Roman/Vernada);

Use 1.5 space;

Do not submit PDF. DOUBLE SPACE YOUR TEXT; MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A HEADER THAT TELLS YOUR NAME (in this way, each page of your text will be signed).

Your source articles have to be incorporated into your essay and have been provided to you already. Make sure you site this (and any other) sources you use in your work. Use APA citation style.

Contact me at luchkin1@gmail.com if you have further questions about this assignment.

Business Research Report Assignment

TOPICS:
There are 4 topics listed here. Students will be assigned to the topic and will work in groups of 3 and 2, but no more than 5 people can have the same topic. Although students are sharing topics, one component of this paper is written individually - it is the executive summary + references used in the executive summary;
The remainder of the paper is written as a group project.

SOURCES: One source is provided for each topic. You may use these sources in your final paper.
1. Electronic Resumes
2. Online Trading Article
3. Employee Retention
4. Web-Based Recruitment

SAMPLE PAPER: Please look at this to see what your final paper should look like. I have added comments for any differences. Keep in mind that this sample is not necessarily good in its content, only appearance.

LENGTH: This paper will be 5-7 pages. (There must be a minimum of 5 FULL pages and a maximum of 7 pages.)

SOURCES: You will use at least 3 credible sources, such as academic articles, newspaper articles, magazines, surveys, questionnaires, etc. You may not use Wikipedia or advertisements as sources.

FORMATTING: You must use APA-style or Chicago style citations, and have a title page for your report. (The title page, the References and the Appendices do not count toward the 5-7 pages.) You should use Times New Roman, Size 12, Double Spaced font. And your margins should be 1-inch around.

REQUIREMENTS: You must have at least one visual aid, such as a graph, chart, illustration or a table. You must have the following:

HEADINGS:
Executive Summary (2 pages)
Introduction (1/2-1 page)
Findings (Body) (2 pages)
Conclusion/Results (1/2 page)
Recommendations (1-2 pages)
Reference Page
Appendices

This assignment is due on December 9 (to be confirmed).

Submit your individual part via dropbox and e-mail ONE copy of your complete assignment to luchkin1@gmail.com or luchkin1@illinois.edu

Final Week of Class

1. The remaining assignments for the course are MEMO and Business Report;

See memo assignment overview published under ......;
Your memo should be 1-1.5 page document written according to the memo format studied in class. Please, refer to the relevant course materials for samples and guidelines on writing a professional memo.

Your memo should be a concise and easy read. Make sure the text is properly edited and proofread for grammar/vocabulary.

Make sure the memo is formatted. If using external sources - make sure to document each of them. NO QUOTATIONS IN MEMOS.

Memos are due on ... at ...; Submit via DROPBOX; name your file: NAME_MEMO; Use your English name.

2. On ....., we start our round of conferences for the final assignment। There are 5 groups and each group will have 30 minutes to talk to me about their BR; You have to be well-prepared for the meeting। Bring your outline and list of sources, prepare to talk about the focus and content of your BR; Prepare questions।

If time allows, one or two group members may stay with me to proofread some of your text.

NO CLASS ON ....; We will agree on the meeting times that work best for us and schedule 3 groups to conference.

Our last meeting will be shorter than usual - depending on your needs, I will arrange a free workshop and will be available to answer short questions on your BRs.

Thursday is the last day of class

Please, do not hesitate to contact me with any questions/concerns about the final course assignments.

It is absolutely non-negotiable that your submissions are timely and well-prepared.

REMEMBER: I do not hold office hours the last week of class and will be available to meet via appointment.

THE DEADLINE FOR YOUR FINAL ASSIGNMENT IS ...... Submit the individual component via dropbox, name your document
'EXE_SUMMARY_ENGLISH NAME'
Submit the group part of the project via e-mail to luchkin1@gmail.com

Format for title pages can be found under the 'bonus materials' link on this web page. Self- and partner evaluation sheet will be provided.