LIEC

Lower Intermediate English Conversation / Intermediate Conversation 1 (Spring 2021)

Prof. Kent Lee

Dept. English Language & Literature, Pukyong National University

Time: Tue/Thu 2nd & 4th periods

Mailbox: Room 1027

Office & office hours: by appointment

Temporary, provisional syllabus: See the LMS

This website will go along with my syllabus and materials in our LMS for this course, as well as materials that supplement my course book.

1 Weekly lessons

Click on the 'Expand' applet on the right to see or collapse past assignments and materials.

• British vs. American English
• See a summary of English-Korean_loanwords here. Lecture video
• Light verbs guide | Lecture video part 1 (from 2020)

Motivation

This in-class discussion topic might be the topic of a short video assignment.

• What kind of motivation do you have toward learning English? Is it healthy or unhealhty? Why do you think your motivation is like that? (That is, what made you that way, or what caused you to have that kind of motivation?) Does it affect the way you study English? (study methods or learning strategies)

Concepts: You will need to refer to the section in the book. We talked about these different kinds of motivation:

1. Internal (or intrinsic) motivation: The motivation is from within you. It is characterized by the following.
   • Interest / desire: You do it out of a genuine interest, such as a personal, intellectual, or social interest. Thus, you aim for a deeper understanding of the topic.
   • Autonomy: You do it because you want to; you feel like it is your choice to study it.
   • Achievement: As you learn, you gain a sense of achievement, or feel that you are improving, or even have a sense of mastery of the subject; this feeds your sense of self-esteem.
2. Instrumental: This is a neutral motivation, where for you, English is simply a useful tool for learning about or doing something else (like learning / doing business, science, or politics). Your feelings toward English are neutral.
3. External (extrinsic): The motivation is from outside of you, and imposed upon you by outside forces. You may lack a real desire, interest, sense of autonomy, or sense of achievement. It may feel like an obligation. It may be a source or pressure or stress. It may be to satisfy others, to gain some reward (like grades, scores, a good reputation, or getting into a good school) or avoid punishment (bad grades, looking bad) to maintain a certain reputation (like "I'm a good student" or "I'm smart" or "I'm not dumb"). You are less concerned with a deeper understanding of the topic, and more concered with performance (grades, scores).
4. Perfectionism: A very strong and often unhealthy extrinsic motivation, which is concerned with how you think of your self, or how others think of you. Motivation is based on high (and sometimes unrealistic) expectations of that you should achieve. Performance is very important. You feel frustrated if you do not succeed.

2 Midterm project: Scholarship application

Imagine that you are applying for a scholarship. Your answers should be honest, but should also persuade a scholarship committee about how you are good student who deserves a scholarship. You can use some of the contents from your previous assignments for this assignment. So far we have discussed your personality, your future goals and hopes, your major, possible careers, and academic and personal motivation. These topics are designed to prepare you for this midterm assignment, and our discussions and minor assignments about these topics are relevant and useful to the midterm.

2.1 Overview & requirements

The assignment

The project involves a recorded interview of 5-8 minutes. This is a mock (pretend) interview for a scholarship application. You will record an oral interview for a scholarship application. For the interview, you will upload a video in the LMS of about 5-8 minutes. Your video will consist of the following two components.

1. An opening statement (about 30 seconds): A general personal statement, explaining why you are applying for the scholarship. Your statement can address points like these.
   • Tell us about yourself (brief, basic info, e.g., major, year in school, likely or desired career path)
   • Which scholarship you are applying for, and why
   • Your plans for the rest of your university studies (for some, this may include master's / Ph.D. studies)
   • Your plans after college - career plans, as well as future goals / objectives / hopes / motivation / vision for your future
     
2. Answers to specific questions: In this segment, you will answering specific questions about your application. The questions are provided below, which include:
   • Required questions that each person should answer
   • Some optional questions -- you can choose to answer those that are relevant to your situation.

General tips

For your opening statement and other responses, you can include any necessary background information, and relevant information based on our previous assignments and discussion topics in class: your personality, how you would describe yourself, motivation, future plans and goals, your academic and career plans, why you chose your major, and any other information about yourself that is relevant to your scholarship application. If you are a first-year or second-year student, you can imagine that this is 1-2 years in the future, and you can project yourself into the future for this assignment, as long as your details about yourself and your accomplishments are realistic.

In general, you will want to address a couple of the following points (depending on which ones are relevant to your situation).

1. Explain how you as a student have overcome difficulties or challenges, e.g., in your own studies or major.
2. Explain your best strengths as a student.
3. Explain why you have good potential as a student in your field or major (even if your grades are not perfect).
4. Explain why you have good potential after graduating with your degree, e.g., as a future graduate student, worker, teacher, or professional in your field.

Also...

• This is an individual assignment. (It is possible to record this as a group, as if you were doing a group interview and taking turns answering questions; each person's speaking time should still be 5-8 minutes.
• See the following Youtube video that I made for the course a couple of years ago for tips (note that a few details, like references to details of that semester and year, will differ).

2.2 Scholarship information

2.2.1 Background

The Li Kai-an Scholarship Foundation (LKSF) is an agency that has granted awards to deserving students at several prestigious universities, and now plans to offer scholarships to undergraduate students at PKNU. This is a one-year scholarship to cover college tuition costs, and is available to students of any grade level or age.

To qualify, you must demonstrate (1) academic or personal excellence merit; (2) personal or financial need; (3) current or future potential, such as academic, scientific, practical, leadership, business or entrepreneurial potential; or (4) educational or administrative talent, for example, in proposing improvements to academic programs, policies, departments, or curricula.

You need to provide specific, unique, and persuasive reasons for why you deserve the scholarship. The scholarship committee receives hundreds of applications per year, and can only give out a limited number of scholarships, so they have to be rather skeptical and picky, in order to decide who deserves one of their scholarships.

2.2.2 Scholarship types

There are several scholarship options available, which are described below. Each scholarship will fund one year of studies (and maybe an extra semester or summer semester) so you can focus on your studies or your project.

#	Name	Abbr.	Description
1	Scholastic Excellence Scholarship	SES	Merit based. This is for those who love studying, have clear ideas of why they are studying in their majors, know what they want to do in their major, and are likely to succeed after college. You should show that you have specific objectives and interest in your first major, second major, and/or minor; you have real potential and ability; and you have specific plans for success after college. (If your post-college plans seem different from your major, that may be okay, if you can justify your plans convincingly.) It may also help to show that you are a well-rounded person with skills other than being a super-geek who lives in the library.
2	Financial Need Scholarship	FNS	Need based. This is for those who are good students or have strong potential, but are hindered by your own and/or your family's economic limitations (or other similar needs). Applicants must show that they have financial needs, but also need to show convincingly that they also deserve it due to their skills, abilities or potential, both in school and after college. This can include personal, academic, intellectual, career-related, or other strengths, and clear goals or objectives for your studies and life after college.
3	Senior Project Scholarship	SPS	Project / research based. This is for those who want to undertake a senior-year research project in any major. Your application should include a specific study or research proposal, with specific rationale, objectives, expected outcomes or results, and the likely benefits or value of your project. You should show that you know your topic well, and that you have the skills and abilities to do it well. This could also be used to fund a one-year study-abroad program (as an exchange student) at a foreign university (after returning, you should submit a research paper in which you analyze some aspect of the culture or country).
4	Self-Improvement Scholarship	SIS	Merit based. This is for those awesome people who have overcome challenges in life (in the past few years), or have greatly improved from a mediocre student to an excellent student (academic improvement). Your story should be unique, genuine, interesting and convincing, and you also need to show that you have clear ideas and plans for your major and for life after college. (If your post-college plans seem different from your major, that may be okay, if you can justify your plans convincingly.)
4	Future Success Scholarship	FSS	Merit / career based. This is for those who have clear goals and potential for success, not only in college, but especially in their future careers. You need to be able to show that you are not only a good student, but that you will likely succeed in your career. You will need to argue convincingly that you have strong academic, career, leadership, and/or personal skills; specific and realistic plans and goals; and clear potential for career success. (If your post-college plans seem different from your major, that may be okay, if you can justify your plans convincingly.) There are a number of subcategories, where you can make a case for your potential in your career, and in contributing to society. Future Professionals}: for those entering professional careers (e.g., business, medicine, law, government, non-governmental organizations, education administration) Future Teachers: for those who want to become teachers or professors; this can include teachers in primary, secondary, or private education. Education Leadership: for those who want to make a difference by advocating for changes in the education system of your country; this can include primary education (elementary school), secondary education (middle school or high school), tertiary education (college / university), or private education. Your ideas should involve a specific area of improvement and specific ideas for improvements, as well as how you would implement your ideas and overcome resistance to change.
5	Innovator / Inventor Scholarship	IIS	Project / merit based. This is for those who dream of undertaking a major creative project after college, and there are several different subcategories. This is for those who have serious plans, a great idea, and genuine potential for success. It may be okay if the project may not seem directly related to his/her major, if you can justify this, e.g., if you can explain how your college skills might help with your creative project. You should show that you have a clear, unique, original, and interesting idea; specific, realistic plans for your project; specific, realizable objectives; some relevant experience or background; your ability to carry out such a project; and why you expect to be successful. This scholarship will fund your senior year of university studies, so you will need to explain how you will use that year to prepare for your future project. Creative Project for those who wish to undertake a creative project, such as making an independent movie, or writing and publishing a book. Business Entrepreneur Project for those who want to start a new company or business, e.g., to exploit a new niche, to offer a new product or service, or to develop a new and creative business idea or business model. Inventor Project for a person who wants to research, invent, develop, and maybe even market a new invention, such as a new device, a new material, or some kind of novel idea. This can overlap with the Business Entrepreneur Project, if the invention also involves starting a new company to develop and market the invention.

2.2.3 Interview questions

In your interview responses, you should address some of the questions below that are relevant to your situation and your scholarship type. However, don't pick too many, as your responses should be persuasive, fairly complete, and coherent.

Required for all scholarships

• Out of the many people applying for this scholarship, why do you think you should be given this scholarship?
• What are your future plans?

Recommended questions for various scholarships

• Have you done anything that shows your potential for growth, improvement, or future success?
• What obstacles do you foresee in your future plans, and how can you overcome them? (Or: What will you do if your project or plans do not succeed or turn out like you expected?)
• What are you currently doing to achieve your goals?
• In addition to paying for tuition, how will you use this scholarship money?

Optional questions for various scholarship

• If you become successful in life, what will you do with your wealth?
• What would you say are your greatest strengths?
• What are your greatest weaknesses? How can you overcome these weaknesses?
• Have you been influenced by any role models, teachers, or other persons in your life?
• How might you be a good role model for others in your future?
• Is there anything else that you would like to tell us about yourself?
• How do you think you will make an impact on others or on society?

Optional questions for merit based scholarships

• What are your specific goals for your studies and your future career? What are you doing to achieve those goals?
• What is your motivation or vision for your future? What will you be doing in 10, 20, 30 or 40 years?

Optional questions for career-related scholarships

• What is your vision for your business career? As a business person, what do you want to accomplish, and how will you contribute to society? How realistic and feasible are your goals?
• If you are likely to succeed in business, why do you need this scholarship?
• What would count as success for you?
• What is the source of your inspiration or motivation?
• If you do become successful financially, what will you do with your wealth?

Optional questions for need-based scholarships

• Do you think that overcoming financial difficulties has made (or will make) you a better person?
• How do you maintain a positive attitude in your situation? Do you think you have good reasons to complain about life being unfair?

Optional questions for project based and innovator scholarships

• What do you expect to find out or learn? What specific value will your project have (e.g., academic, social, cultural, artistic, or intellectual value)? Or what benefits, implications, or results do you expect?
• How will this project help you with your future plans after college?
• What kind of creative vision do you have?
• How can we be sure that your project will be successful?
• To what do you attribute your talent or creativity? What is the source of your inspiration? How can creativity be nurtured and developed further (for example, your creative skills)?

Optional questions for Self-Improvement Scholarship

• What are you doing now to continually improve yourself? How will you improve yourself in the future?
• How will you later contribute to society and help others improve?
• What are your specific goals, vision, and motivation for your future career? How will you achieve those goals?
• How do you define 'improvement'? How do you need to improve further? How would you define 'success' in your view -- in what way do you expect to succeed in life? How can we be sure that your plans will be successful? What will you do if your plans are not successful?

Optional questions for future educators

• What is your vision for your future as an educator or as a professional?
• How realistic and feasible are your goals? How will you accomplish your specific goals (e.g., in your workplace or in your career)?
• What specific things do you want to change or do differently, and how exactly will you do this? For example, what specific changes would you like to make in a particular level or area of education here, and how can you convince others to make these changes?
• How can we be sure that your plans will be successful? What will you do if your plans do not succeed or turn out like you expected?
• Why are you interested in that particular profession or career -- why have you chosen it?

2.3 Assignment evaluation criteria

2.3.1 Oral interview / discussion sessions

For applicants

• Persuasive explanation, details, and examples – enough to persuade a scholarship committee to at least seriously consider your application;
• Clear goals for future studies and career; an understanding of what you are studying and what specifically you want to focus on; evidence of maturity, self-awareness, sense of purpose, and reasonable goals and plans
• See the grading criteria below.
• Your interview score will be an individual grade for your performance only, though you will interview with a group of applicants. This score is the major discussion / presentation grade for the course.
• The grading criteria for the in-class interview / discussion task are as follows. Each person receives an individual score. A few categories like #3 and #4 may overlap, depending on your type of scholarship (I may average your score across both categories, depending on how relevant they are for your topic).

1.	Rationale, goals, objectives	Clear rationale & explanation for your application, e.g., specific objectives, goals, and personal potential; clear focus
2.	Contents	Sufficient overall contents & preparation; enough good contents for the interview
3.	Support	Sufficient details & explanations about your strengths, abilities, e.g., your personal and/or academic strengths, skills, accomplishments, and your future potential.
4.	Details	Sufficient details & explanations about your plans, objectives, e.g., your personal and/or academic strengths, skills, accomplishments; a persuasive explanation of your potential in carrying out your plans. For projects, this can also include, for example, details about your project, plans, rationale, feasibility, etc.
5.	Clarity	Clear explanations, easy to understand follow; clear wording & vocabulary
6.	Organization	Well-organized and structured, good flow; flow indicated by intro, transition words & expressions; clear intro and conclusion
7.	Speaking & vocal delivery	Clear, audible voices; clear speaking & delivery; good vocal volume & intonation; the presentation quality indicates adequate rehearsal and preparation; good pace
8.	Interaction with audience	Eye contact, body language, posture, etc.
9.	Value	Overall personal, social, artistic, academic, practical, commercial, and/or scientific value & benefit of your application and/or project and/or plans; creativity and originality; feasibility of your plans or project
10.	Effectiveness	How effective is your talk; its persuasiveness and informativeness to members of a potential scholarship committee. I will also consider (1) how well you answered questions from the audience or interviewers; and (2) how audience members evaluated your presentation.

 

Useful links

• Writing a personal statement (scholarship)
• Here are two final paper samples, for two general types of scholarships, with thesis statements and topic sentences highlighted.
• English presentation expressions guide

3 Final interview

For your final project, you will recorded your responses for a mock job interview. You will have chosen a company or organization to apply for in one of your minor assignments. You will record a 5-10 video to answer some job interview questions that I will email you based on your prospective company / organization.

You should prepare for questions and be ready to convince the interviewers of your qualities, since they will probably be looking for qualities and information about following areas.

• The candidate’s background, skills, qualifications, relevant educational background, training, character, personality (aspects that are relevant to the job), intellectual qualifications, goals, motivation, long-term commitment, future potential in the company, etc.
• Ability to work independently and with others
• Suitability for the particular job and for the particular company / organization
• Ability to adapt and grow
• Awareness of your strengths and weaknesses

3.1 Scoring

A major grade on a 100-point scale. The grading criteria are as follows.

1. Objectives: Clear goals / objectives as a job applicant
2. General contents: Sufficient answers; answers are sufficiently informative, of sufficient length to give satisfying answers to the questions; not too short (but not too long or unnecessarily wordy).
3. Specific contents: Answers contain specific and sufficient details
4. Clarity: Answers are clear, understandable, logical, logically organized, realistic, and relevant to the questions
5. Speaking and vocal delivery: Clear, audible voice; good vocal intonation
6. Audience interaction: Good poise / posture, confidence, eye contact, body language
7. Effectiveness: Persuasive and informative answers
8. Audience reception: Your answers and overall performance are well received by the committee members; your performance is sufficiently impressive to the committee members

Length: A recorded video of 5-10 minutes. Due date: 25 June (Thursday)

References

These might be helpful for you.

1. Guide to top interview questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mHjMNZZvFo
2. Some job interview vocabulary: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZPsbvkCfE9ecsT7pdForYIAkWMpEv1szyL7CxZjYWLs/edit?usp=sharing
3. Possibly useful expressions: http://www.kentlee7.com/eap/lecture.expressions.pdf

3.2 Other related assignments

3.2.1 Interview prep 1: A prospective company

Please think about a place where you would like to apply for your first job right after college. It could be a company, college / school (e.g., teaching jobs), institute, NGO, agency, or whatever (after college or after doing a master's or Ph.D. degree). I want you to tell me about the company (or institution / entity), why it is a good company or entity, and reasons why you would like to work there. Such reasons might include its vision, future potential, business model, success, background, growth, or other reasons. You will record yourself and upload the file here in the LMS.

• Due date: 31 May (Sunday before midnight)
• Format: any video format, e.g., normal smartphone or laptop video recording (or audio, if you absolutely cannot record video)
• Length: about 1-2 minutes

Grading will be based on effort and quality.

3.2.2 Interview prep 2: Describing yourself

Imagine that you are applying for the company or organization that you talked about in your last assignment. For the final interview assignment, you will record a video to After watching the lecture videos about job interview questions this week, you will record a short video of yourself in which you answer the following questions.

1. How would you describe yourself? (maximum: 60 seconds)
2. Why should we hire you? (maximum: 90 seconds)

• Due: 14 June
• Format: Recorded video (or audio)

These will be graded according to how effective and persuasive your responses are, and how specific your responses are to the organization / company to which you are applying.

3.2.3 Past interview tasks

In past years, I have used the following fictional organizations for this assignment. For Spring 2020/2021, I am not using these, but I may use these in later semesters for practice purposes.

Here are the companies and institutions that you can choose from for your job interview. You will select a company / institute to apply to, and a particular department, unit, or job type listed in the descriptions below, e.g.: marketing, advertising, research and development, cultural heritage, legal affairs, human resources / personnel management, communications manager, media production, content development (in education), administrator, administrative assistant, or teaching in a particular department (e.g., chemistry teacher, Latin teacher).

Huge Media Corporation (HMC)

This is a new international media company based in China and Canada, which is entering the Korean market. It is known for various cable and online channels for news, educational, entertainment, and sports programs. It attempts to promote and distribute Korean music and programs internationally, and to bring foreign media programs to Korea and other countries. HMC also produces its own programs (documentaries, educational shows, news, etc.) for domestic (in Korea) and international distribution, and wants to produce contents to educate others about Korea and other countries. It has openings for people in many job positions such as media production, broadcasting, content development (developing ideas and contents for programs), IT (information technology), marketing & advertising, consumer research, and others.

IDK

This is a new international company that is expanding into the Korean market, and also plans to open new research centers and factories / production facilities in Korea to make products for domestic sales and for export. Its specialty is consumer products made with newer and high-tech materials and designs, such as apparel / clothing items, office supplies, sporting goods, household items, and some smaller consumer electronics items; it is also known for making new electronics / engineering materials that other tech companies use for their products (e.g., Samsung, LG, Apple). This company has many openings for sales, marketing, materials research, product research and design, product testing, consumer research, legal affairs, and personnel management. Humanities majors may be particularly helpful for marketing, personnel, product design, product testing, and consumer research.

OECD

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development collects data and conducts research on economics, trade, finance, economic / political / government policy, labor issues, poverty, social problems, education systems, the environment, public health, and other matters related to economic growth. The OECD is based in Paris, and publishes reports and works with various governments and companies. Job openings are available for researchers, data analysts, policy analysts, and project coordinators and leaders in different areas. Fluency in French or English is required; proficiency in other languages is also helpful. Your job will mainly be based in Paris, and the job may require frequent travel.

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is based in Paris. UNESCO conducts research and conducts numerous projects to promote educational, scientific, and cultural reforms and improvements in various countries. The agency works with various governments, conducts conferences and symposia, and advocates for various reforms in member countries. Its goals include reducing poverty, sustainable economic development, preserving and promoting culture and cultural diversity, improving education, and promoting scientific research (natural and social sciences). Program areas (for research, programs, and advocacy) include education, natural sciences, social / human sciences, culture and communication / information. Many job openings are available in different policy areas as data analysts or researchers; program specialists or coordinators; legal affairs & lawyers / legal officers; and administration. Your job may be based in Paris, Bangkok, Manila, or Beijing, and may require frequent travel. Fluency in French or English is required; proficiency in other languages is also helpful.

High School #1

This is a new high school outside of Busan, which is particularly known for humanities and foreign languages, including digital humanities (integrating humanities and technology) and social sciences (e.g., sociology, psychology, linguistics, political science, economics). It is located in the countryside a few km north of the city. This school has a number of openings for teachers and administrators in many areas.

High School #2

This is a new high school outside of Busan that is particularly known for science, engineering, and some social sciences (e.g., psychology, linguistics, anthropology). It is also located in the countryside a few km north of the city. This school has a number of openings for teachers and administrators in many areas.

4 Spring 2020: Weekly lessons

The following contents were used in the 2020 version of this course.

Click on the 'Expand' applet on the right to see or collapse past assignments and materials.

4.1 Week 3

Day 2

02 April (Thu);

You can look at the handout, and view the lecture video. At times you will need to pause the video, think about the question, and talk to someone. You can arrange to talk to a classmate that you in the department, especially if you know someone taking this course. Otherwise, please find friends, classmates, or other persons, and discuss the questions with them.

• Handout: MBTI
• Lecture video: Personality types
• Google Form: Your personality type

Based on the MBTI, you will fall into one of sixteen personality types, e.g., INTP, ESFJ, INFP, etc. You should discuss your results with a partner or classmate. You also need to search online for what some Internet sites say about your personality type, and about possible careers or jobs that supposedly are suitable for your type. Think about these, and discuss whether you think this information is accurate.

4.2 Week 4

Day 1

• Video lecture
• Google Form

Day 2

• Lecture video

4.3 Week 5

Day 1

• Lecture video
• See the summary of English-Korean_loanwords here.

Day 2

• Lecture video

4.4 Week 6

Day 1

• Lecture video

Day 2

• Light verbs guide
• Lecture video part 1
• Lecture video part 2
• Google form: Light verbs
• Google form: Midterm preparation

Links to all lectures for the rest of the semester are in the LMS and on my Youtube channel.