Attendance: The ESL Program at GPC requires students to attend 90 percent of the class sessions in a course in order to qualify to pass the course. This means that students may miss only 10 percent of the class sessions in any one course. This semester ENSL 0091-221 has 15 class days with two class sessions each day for a total of 30 class sessions for the semester. This means that a student may miss three class sessions and still remain in the course. But students need to remember that three class sessions are the equivalent of 1.5 class days (as each class day includes two class sessions). Missing more than this limit results in a failing final course grade and requires the student to retake the course the following semester. Therefore, anyone who misses more than three class sessions of ENSL 0091-221 this semester automatically fails the course and is required to retake the course next semester. The ESL Program at Georgia Perimeter College has adopted an attendance policy because attending class regularly is fundamentally important not just for language learning but for success in college. Most conscientious students attend class regularly anyway. Perhaps you will find out this semester that regular class attendance benefits you in each of your courses. Students may go to the Internet for an official copy of the ESL Program attendance policy.

Lateness: Anyone who arrives late for class creates a disturbance that disrupts the class. In addition, anyone who arrives late for class on a day that a quiz is given receives less time to complete the quiz, which almost always results in a lower score. Regardless of whether students have much experience in schools in the United States, students need to realize that U.S. culture operates according to the clock. Therefore, learn to allow sufficient time to arrive for class on time or even ahead of time, not just for class sessions of this course but for class sessions of all courses you take not only this semester but in semesters to come. Perhaps in your home country students may arrive late for class and receive no penalties. Perhaps you think that attendance should not be required of college students. Perhaps you are generally not very punctual. In any case, this course is an excellent opportunity for you to learn to function differently. Some teachers consider a certain number of lates to equal one absence. In this section of ENSL 0091, no such formula exists. If a student is not present when the instructor takes the attendance for that class session, the student is absent.

Breaks in the Class Session: ENSL 0091-221 has a scheduled class session of 9:00 - 11:45 PM, which includes one 15-minute break. That break probably will occur in the middle of the class session, but the instructor will determine when the break occurs. That one 15-minute break is the only break that occurs in our class session.

Phones and Electronic Devices: During any class session in ENSL 0091-221 and during any class session in any other course, phones and any other electronic devices should be out of sight in order to keep them out of mind, which allows everyone to concentrate on the issues at hand in the classroom. Cellular phones have become very convenient and many people use them extensively throughout the day. Communication for some people is impossible without the phone they carry with them everywhere they go. As much as your phone may be important to you, it has just one place in the classroom – in your bag and out of sight. A cellular phone can cause a serious interruption in a classroom. All such interruptions need to be eliminated, so cellular phones are to be turned off and out of sight throughout our class sessions.  The message here is clear: cellular phones have their use in our lives, but that use does not include the classroom. The time that we have in the classroom is in part what each person has purchased by paying tuition for the semester. Therefore, what happens in the classroom deserves everyone’s attention. As telephones may divert one’s attention from important matters at hand in the classroom, phones need to be turned off and out of sight for the duration of each class session.

In the Classroom: Classroom time is very valuable in any course, and as teachers and students we should use that time wisely. Therefore, come to class prepared to concentrate for each entire class session. Sometimes students like to leave the classroom for whatever purpose. Perhaps they need to visit the restroom; perhaps they need a drink of water; perhaps they need to make a call. Sometimes such situations are unavoidable, but most often they are completely avoidable. Remember to go to the restroom before class; bring a bottle of water with you; make that call after class. Leaving a classroom during a class session for whatever reason is not appropriate behavior. Any interruptions to the group detract from our collective ability to concentrate. Even though you may see American students doing precisely this in other courses, they are not setting a good example for you or for their other classmates. In addition, the vast majority of students never leave a classroom during a class session. Their example is the one to follow. You have paid for the time in the classroom for each course you take; use that time wisely and set a good example not only for others but for yourself as well.

Food and Drinks: Sometimes we have not had enough time to get something to eat, so we want to snack in class. If you have missed lunch or need an early dinner, please eat before you come to class. In some cultures it is not polite to eat in front of someone who is not eating. Consider this to be the rule for the culture of this classroom. We are in the classroom to concentrate on our work, which only becomes more difficult by our trying to eat and work at the same time. Eating has its place, but the classroom is not that place. Therefore, food does not belong in the classroom.