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Course

Building Oral Communication Skills through Current Events

LANG-40028

Discussing current events and news stories with confidence and ease requires clear, concise, and effective speaking skills. The ability to understand complex ideas, summarize information, and share your own perspective on the topic are equally essential to having meaningful discussions with many different types of people. Through a variety of media sources, genres, and topics, you will learn conversational strategies to initiate and maintain discussions about current events and news occurring in the local and global communities.

Course Information

In-Person
2.00 units
$334.00

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Course sessions

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Section ID:

192455

Class type:

This is a traditional classroom setting.

All class meetings held in-person according to published location, dates and times. Students may be expected to engage with course content online during the published course dates.

Textbooks:

No textbook required.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 10/24/2025

Schedule:

Date Day Start End Location
10/20/2025 Mon 5:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Room 465, UCSD Division of Extended Studies 8980, 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive, San Diego
10/27/2025 Mon 5:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Room 465, UCSD Division of Extended Studies 8980, 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive, San Diego
11/3/2025 Mon 5:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Room 465, UCSD Division of Extended Studies 8980, 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive, San Diego
11/10/2025 Mon 5:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Room 465, UCSD Division of Extended Studies 8980, 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive, San Diego
11/17/2025 Mon 5:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Room 465, UCSD Division of Extended Studies 8980, 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive, San Diego
11/24/2025 Mon 5:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Room 465, UCSD Division of Extended Studies 8980, 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive, San Diego
12/1/2025 Mon 5:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Room 465, UCSD Division of Extended Studies 8980, 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive, San Diego
12/8/2025 Mon 5:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Room 465, UCSD Division of Extended Studies 8980, 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive, San Diego
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Instructor: Shombe Smith

Shombe Smith
Shombe Z. Smith holds an M.A. in Applied Linguistics and a B.A. in International Relations. He has been teaching ESL/EFL for 15 years in a variety of domestic and international settings. Shombe has been fortunate to live and teach in a variety of countries including Thailand, South Korea, and Mexico.
 
Over much of the past decade, Shombe has served as a faculty member at higher education institutions across Asia including Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology and Bangkok University. These EFL faculty assignments provided a variety of meaningful opportunities for professional experience and development. The interdisciplinary nature of the faculty role he served in at Bangkok University involved coordinating freshman English curriculum and instruction, teaching a range of English for Specific Purposes courses, and designing and teaching intercultural communication courses for the Department of Business English. Shombe has provided instruction to students from over 50 countries, much of which has taken place in international university settings.
 
Shombe is fascinated by the various ways that culture and creativity can have an impact on communication. His passion for exploring these and related topics inspires his approach to curriculum design and teaching.
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