INSTITUTO TECNOLGICO Y DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE

MONTERREY
DEPARTAMENTO DE LENGUAS MODERNAS
CAMPUS MONTERREY
REMEDIAL ENGLISH III (H 00803)

SEMESTER IN WHICH THE COURSE SHOULD BE TAKEN:

It is recommended that this course be taken in the first semester of
professional studies.
PREREQUISITE FOR THIS COURSE:
Students who obtain a score of 440 or less on the Institutional TOEFL, have
to take the Modern Languages departmental placement exam.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course provides instruction at an intermediate level. Essential
grammatical structures are analyzed and practiced through emphasis on the
four language skills: listening comprehension, reading comprehension, oral
expression and written expression. Students will develop critical thinking
abilities as well as cognitive learning strategies to practice each language
skill.
GENERAL GOAL:
The main objective of this course is to increase students ability to
communicate effectively in English in formal and informal situations at an
intermediate level, use learning strategies to improve their language and
develop the abilities, attitudes and values proposed in the Mission of Tec
de Monterrey.
GENERAL OBJECTIVES:
Identify and establish the communicative intention through the
intonation patterns of the English language.
Perform appropriately in different daily and social communicative
interactions.

 Identify and describe personal experiences, needs, feelings and

plans.
Recognize and manage different language functions: opinion,
regrets, advice, etc. in conversations and interviews.
Establish logical and chronological order in actions or events in
different time frames.
Identify general idea and specific details from different sources.
Use different language functions in writing short paragraphs and
texts.
Produce simple letters, messages and paragraphs.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
Practice the intonation patterns to express communicative intent.
Use simple, compound, and complex sentences with appropriate
markers and verb tenses to express different language functions in
daily and social events.
Describe persons, things, places, and events through the appropriate
use of parts of speech and comparatives and superlatives.
Use time and place expressions, appropriate prepositions and
prepositional phrases to describe actions and events.
Explain processes and instructions using active and passive voice.
Identify general ideas and specific information from announcements,
radio and TV programs, news reports and conversations.
Recognize main ideas and specific information from different types
of short texts.
Infer the meaning of phrasal verbs and expressions in context.
Use parts of speech, comparatives and superlatives to formulate
descriptions about persons, events, and places.
Identify parts of speech in compound complex sentences.
Use simple, compound, and complex sentences with appropriate
markers and verb tenses to fill out forms and write messages,
instructions, advertisements, and short paragraphs.

CONTENT:
The content of this course is based on the TOEFL alignment, an innovative
teaching approach which will help students improve their TOEFL score.

 Tag questions
Past perfect
Modals for possibility, conclusion, and ability
Passive causatives
Future in the past
Perfect modals
Adjectives clauses
Indirect speech
Noun clauses
Adverb clauses: conditionals
Non-count nouns
Verbs followed by object and infinitive
Infinitives with too + adjective
Prepositions of place to describe locations

METHODOLOGY AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

The teaching-learning strategies are based on the communicative approach.
The three learning processes that are given emphasis in the course are:
a) Self-learning: Students develop the ability to learn by themselves
through exercises, articles and the Internet.
b) Collaborative learning: Students develop attitudes and values through
teamwork, group discussion, role-playing, problem solving, and information
analysis.
c) Interactive learning: Teacher-student and student-student interaction is
emphasized through different learning activities.
d) Grammar teaching based on the TOEFL alignment:
explicit knowledge and identification of grammar terms
identification of the grammar function of words in a sentence
a written discourse analysis technique, first analyzing sentences and
then, completing paragraphs.

 identification of a mistake in a sentence and correct sentence

completion.
knowledge of minimal pairs as adjective-adverb; noun person-noun
thing, etc.

Practice in the Language Laboratory. The language lab, with its state-ofthe-art technology and specialized software programs, complements our
language program. As an optimum resource for independent learning, it
allows students to advance at their individual pace. Students have the
opportunity to improve their listening comprehension by hearing the accents
of native speakers of English from all over the world. In addition, they
practice intensive reading passages with varied exercises to improve critical
thinking and comprehension skills, as well as increase their vocabulary.
They acquire tools for grammatical analysis that will help them use English
correctly in many different contexts, as well as improve their TOEFL skills
in order to raise their scores. Furthermore, they have the opportunity to
engage in both speaking and writing activities in a variety of situations. Wise
use of this resource will allow students to consolidate and perfect their
English.
The language lab allows students to consolidate their English and students
enrolled in this course should attend fifteen sessions (fifty minutes long)
during the semester. If students desire additional practice, they may purchase
a card from the Extension Department, for another fifteen hours of practice
in the lab.
TIME REQUIREMENTS
This course is a one-semester, sixteen-week course. Fifty-minute classes are
held five times a week. Work outside the classroom consists of
approximately three hours per week.
ATTENDANCE
The total of absences during the semester is 10. Students who exceed the
limit will not be permitted to take the final exam.

SUGGESTED EVALUATION
Students progress will be evaluated through three monthly exams and a
final exam.

A. Each monthly and final grade will be obtained through the results of the
evaluations in the following areas:
Grammar and Vocabulary
50%
Listening Comprehension
10%
Reading Comprehension
10%
Oral Production
5%
Writing
5%
Homework assignments
10%
Practice in the Language Lab 10%
B. The final grade will be obtained through the following percentages:
Monthly exams
Final exam

75%
25%

C. The passing grade is 70.

D. Students who obtain an average of 90 or above in their final exam and
their final average may take a TOEFL exam to see if they can skip to a
higher level.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Saslow Joan and Allen Ascher. Top Notch 3. Students Book.
New York: Pearson Education, 2006.
Saslow Joan and Allen Ascher. Top Notch 3. Workbook
New York: Pearson Education, 2006.
Reference Books
Diccionario moderno espaol-ingls. Larousse. New York:
Ediciones Larousse, ltima edicin.
Web Sites for Extra Practice:
1. http://www.longman.com/topnotch
2. Listening Lab: http://www.esl-lab.com/
3. Reading Lab: http://www.geocities.com/yamataro670/readinglab.htm