2024 Faculty Courses Liberal arts and basic science courses English language courses

English 8 14-RW

Academic unit or major: English language courses
Instructor(s): Reiko Maruyama
Class Format: Exercise (Face-to-face)
Media-enhanced courses: -
Day of week/Period (Classrooms): 3-4 Mon
Class: 14-RW
Course Code: LAE.E214
Number of credits: 010
Course offered: 2024
Offered quarter: 4Q
Syllabus updated: Mar 17, 2025
Language: Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

Based on English 7, English 8 is designed to improve students’ English language skills for academic purposes and provide them with more knowledge in relevant areas. The materials include topics such as international and intercultural issues as well as current topics of science and technology. Expectations require students to practice: reading academic articles, listening to English lectures, speaking before an audience, and developing skills to write paragraphs and short essays.

Course description and aims

By the end of this course, students will:
・be able to express their ideas and opinions in classes confidently
・be able to write paragraphs or short essays
・be able to better understand academic lectures
・practice effective reading strategies

Student learning outcomes

実務経験と講義内容との関連 (又は実践的教育内容)

An instructor with work experience as an author and editor will provide hands-on education in writing and presenting about science, based on practice in the field that features critical thinking and logical ways of communicating information to audiences.

Keywords

Four language skills, fostering international awareness, communication, studying abroad, TOEFL

Competencies

Specialist skills
Intercultural skills
Communication skills
Critical thinking skills
Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

This class uses the American student news program CNN10 (formerly CNN Student News) as material, and uses texts that have been edited and written to make it easier for university students to learn English.
First, learn the words that appear in the news.
Afterwards, focus only on the first part (lead) broadcast on the news, check the content, and solve problems to understand the theme of the news.
After that, we read all the news, ask questions about the content, and even discuss the news.
In addition to improving my English skills, I would also like to deepen my understanding of news content in various genres.

Each lecture will progress through one chapter.
A review test (using Google Form) will be conducted at the end of each class.

Course schedule/Objectives

	Course schedule	Objectives
Class 1	Unit 8: To Qatar by Bicycle [Summary and learning points] News about two young men who rode bicycles from France to watch the FIFA World Cup held in Qatar. Their ability to take action is impressive, but for example, if you were to go somewhere overseas on your bicycle, you would have to wonder what expressions you should use and what you would like to say if you were to ask someone something. Let's imagine a situation such as how to explain something.	1) Warm up Answer three questions related to the Unit topic. 2) Vocabulary Check the meanings and pronunciations of eight words essential to understanding the news. 3) Vocabulary Exercise Practice using the words you learned in the Vocabulary section above in different example sentences.
Class 2	Unit 9: Food for the Food Bank [Summary and learning points] News about university students who plan and manage a project to provide food donated to food banks. Recently, food sharing called community fridging has started in Japan as well. Let's think about topics that are close to us in the real world, such as how we can contribute to local issues, not just food banks, and try to communicate them in English.	1) Warm up Answer three questions related to the Unit topic. 2) Vocabulary Check the meanings and pronunciations of eight words essential to understanding the news. 3) Vocabulary Exercise Practice using the words you learned in the Vocabulary section above in different example sentences.
Class 3	Unit 10: Big Ben Restoration [Summary and learning points] News regarding the repair work of Big Ben in London. The clip also introduces the situation inside Big Ben, so it may arouse interest from an architectural perspective as well as tourism. For example, think about what it would be like to introduce and explain the interior of traditional Japanese buildings, temples, and Buddhist statues in English, and what to say.	1) Warm up Answer three questions related to the Unit topic. 2) Vocabulary Check the meanings and pronunciations of eight words essential to understanding the news. 3) Vocabulary Exercise Practice using the words you learned in the Vocabulary section above in different example sentences.
Class 4	Unit 11: Making Digital Money [Summary and learning points] News about virtual currency mining. Virtual currency may be an unfamiliar word for students, even though it is Japanese. However, as cashless payments have become commonplace in everyday life, I would like to think about how the current situation where many virtual currencies and electronic money exist will affect our lives and the future.	1) Warm up Answer three questions related to the Unit topic. 2) Vocabulary Check the meanings and pronunciations of eight words essential to understanding the news. 3) Vocabulary Exercise Practice using the words you learned in the Vocabulary section above in different example sentences.
Class 5	Unit 12: Raleigh’s Museums and Galleries [Summary and learning points] News about art galleries and museums in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. There are many such facilities in Japan, but we will also approach this from a cultural perspective, such as how they differ from those facilities. Students who are regularly interested in art and art will be interested in this topic itself.	1) Warm up Answer three questions related to the Unit topic. 2) Vocabulary Check the meanings and pronunciations of eight words essential to understanding the news. 3) Vocabulary Exercise Practice using the words you learned in the Vocabulary section above in different example sentences.
Class 6	Unit 13: Community Farmer [Summary and learning points] News about people who started growing organic crops to help their communities. Developing successors in agriculture and growing organic crops are not topics limited to overseas countries. I would like to learn about the situation in Japan and think about what we can do in the future.	1) Warm up Answer three questions related to the Unit topic. 2) Vocabulary Check the meanings and pronunciations of eight words essential to understanding the news. 3) Vocabulary Exercise Practice using the words you learned in the Vocabulary section above in different example sentences.
Class 7	Unit 14: Green Safari in Botswana [Summary and learning points] News about safaris in Botswana, Africa. Safari means ``journey'' in Swahili, and was once done for the purpose of hunting, but now it is used for the purpose of observing wild animals. Often. When you hear the word safari, you think of nature and wild animals, but what is the reality? The official languages of Botswana are Tswana and English. I would also like to think about having two languages as official languages in one country. Quarter-end exam	1) Warm up Answer three questions related to the Unit topic. 2) Vocabulary Check the meanings and pronunciations of eight words essential to understanding the news. 3) Vocabulary Exercise Practice using the words you learned in the Vocabulary section above in different example sentences.

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

CNN 10 Student News Vol. 12
Fuyuhiko Sekido
Masato Kogure
Jake Arnold
Christopher Mattson
Asahi Press
\2,420(2,200+tax)

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Make sure you have access to an English-Japanese dictionary or an online dictionary site.
In addition, the news videos and audio that serve as the basis for reading comprehension are streamed on the Asahi Publishing website.
https://text.asahipress.com/free/english/
You can use it whenever you want to improve your reading and listening skills at the same time.

Evaluation methods and criteria

20% Calculated from class participation (reading/grammar question presentation) after prior preparation (grammar understanding, warm-up problem answers, vocabulary list creation)
30% Quiz for each chapter at the end of class
50% Final exam of the quarter
Overall evaluation

Related courses

LAE.E111 ： English 1
LAE.E112 ： English 2
LAE.E113 ： English 3
LAE.E114 ： English 4
LAE.E211 ： English 5
LAE.E212 ： English 6
LAE.E213 ： English 7
LAE.E311 ： English 9

Prerequisites

None

Other

None.