Section B CONVERSATION
In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Questions 1 to 5 are based on a conversation. At the end of the conversation, you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following 5 questions. Now listen to the conversation.
Jane (W): Good morning, professor Green. professor
Green(M): Good morning.
W: What are we going to talk about today?
M: Today we will be going over the ten-week long course syllabus and setting up some general guidelines for this quarter, as well as answering any questions you may have about the reading and writing assignments… OK, now, in week one, we will cover chapters one to ten in the textbook and relate them to the novel by Julia Stephen "Walking the Dragons". The primary focus will be on the living conditions of peasants during the 1930s.
W: Does that mean we have to read all ten chapters and the novel by Monday?
M: Good question, Jane. I'm glad you asked. The reading that you should have completed by Monday is Chapters one to six and the first half of Stephen's novel. By Wednesday you should read through to chapter ten and finish the novel, and on Friday we will have our first writing assignment due. It is a brief response to Stephen' s novel.
W: How about the length requirement?
M: Seeing that this is a rather informal response paper, the length requirement is only one to two pages.
W: Would you like us to use quotes from the novel?
M: For this paper, since it is so short I would prefer if you only used your own words… Now, if there are no further questions I will continue. In week two we will cover Chapters eleven to twenty as well as "The Blind Calligrapher" by Jonathan Wu. In week three we will cover chapters twenty-one to thirty and your second writing assignment will be due. This paper should be five to seven pages in length, and it should focus on the change in the lifestyle of peasants as compared to the change in lifestyle of the urban city-dwellers from 1930 to 1940. You should use quotations from at least two authors who give contrasting opinions about this time period. Are there any questions?
W: Shall we need a bibliography for this paper?
M: Absolutely. If you quote an author, there must be a Bibliography to make clear exactly where you found that author's words.
W: what style should we follow when documenting these sources?
M: The MLA style is preferred. That is, in the body of your essay, after a citation of a source, you need to enclose in parentheses the author's last name and the page number on which the information is found.
W: I see.
M: If there are no more questions I'll continue. OK. In week four there is no novel, only chapters thirty-one through forty. On Friday of week five we will have an in-class midterm covering chapters one to fifty and the two novels.
W: That seems like quite a lot of material. Will we have any review sessions?
M: Yes, absolutely. Your teaching assistant will be leading discussion groups twice a week outside of class to help you grasp the information more clearly. I strongly urge you to attend as many of these sections as possible… Moving on, in week six, we will have no classes Monday and Wednesday, so we will watch a film about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In week seven, we will cover chapters fifty-one through sixty and your third writing assignment will be due. In week eight, we will cover chapters sixty-one through seventy, as well as a selection of short essays. Week nine will be review and your final papers will be due in week ten along with the final examination.
W: Is it all right if we turn in handwritten papers?
M: If you are unable to use a computer, then it is OK as long as you use blue or black ink and turn in a legible paper, however I would prefer it if all papers were printed out from a computer.
W: Would it be all right if we worked with a partner for any of the papers?
M: I want all your papers to be original works so I'll have to say no to that request.
W: We will do.
M: Are there any further questions? No? If there are no further questions then you can go now.
W: Thank you, Professor Green. Bye.
M: Bye.