Welcome to AEP Reading and Writing 4, Term 2, 2012.

Thank you for registering for the Reading and Writing level 4 class in AUA's Academic English Program (AEP).

Over the next six weeks we will be working through two or three chapters in Hartmann's Quest 2 Reading and Writing [Quest] (2007), which is probably already familiar to some of you from level 3 last term. As usual, we will be doing both a a bit more writing than Quest asks for and a bit more reading.

And this being 2011, we will be using the tools that are normal in modern academic institutions: email, the internet and so on; academics and students no longer submit their written work on scraps of paper, and we won't be doing that either.

I hope that you find the class both enjoyable and challenging so that our six weeks together will be productive and pleasant.

And if you ever have any question about anything, please feel welcome to ask us in class, email me, or write it up here on our class blog (Peter, 2011b). 

Have Your Say

I have some overall plans for the term, and more specific class plans for the coming week and for each day, but since we can also be flexible, I have a couple of suggestions for discussion.

The first follow up the two polls: 

• on how many hours students in this class should reasonably expect to do every day outside of class;
  and 
• how we should use our time in class. 

After you cast your vote in the polls, please feel welcome to add a comment below supporting your answer, and if necessary, explaining why your classmates who favour a different number should change their minds. 
You might like to follow up by reading "AEP, Academic English and TOEFL: common threads" (Peter, 2011a), skimming through TOEFL iBT Tips: How to Prepare for the TOEFL iBT (Educational Testing Services, 2008), and then adding another comment or two to share your ideas on what we should and should not do in this class, both in class and out of class.

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References
Educational Testing Services. (2008). TOEFL iBT Tips: How to Prepare for the TOEFL iBT. Retrieved February 26, 2012 from http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL/pdf/TOEFL_Tips.pdf 

Hartmann, P. (2007). Quest 3 Reading and Writing, (2nd. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Peter. (2011a, February). AEP, Academic English and TOEFL: common threads.Class Blog - AEP at AUA.  February 26, 2012  from http://peteraep.blogspot.com/p/aep-academic-english-and-toefl-some.html

Peter. (2011b, February). AEP, Blogging our class. Class Blog - AEP at AUA.  February 26, 2012  from http://peteraep.blogspot.com/p/blogging-our-class.html