The Freshman English is designed to enhance students' English proficiency in reading, listening, writing and speaking and strengthen critical thinking by exploring writings of a broad range. In this year-long course, we will have close readings on texts covering the issues of politics, race, technology, environment, social justice, literature, philosophy, education, culture and so on. The aims are to familiarize students with more sophisticated uses of English and with various cultural topics and to cultivate students' critical thinking on selected issues. English (mainly) and Mandarin will be used in this class. Certain proportion of our time will be devoted to listening practice regularly. Students are expected to engage close reading of the texts, to collaborate through teamwork, group discussion and presentation, and to demonstrate critical thinking in writings and presentations. The syllabus is subjected to adjustment during the semester.