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Language is communication in context. It is extremely difficult to do on your own. You need language contact hours. Our classes are designed to provide those hours. Therefore attendance in our classes is mandatory.
UP TO FIVE ABSENCES: You may be absent for your own reasons, no questions asked on a total of five occasions during the semester. The following conditions apply: If you must be absent, you may be excused by phoning in your explanation before class. Call your instructor at 994-7081 and leave a message on the machine. The message will be time stamped. Legitimate excuses given after the fact will not be accepted. Alternatively, you may e-mail rrobin@gwu.edu.
MISSED WORK. You are responsible for finding out missed assignments, both oral and written, and completing them by the time you return to class.
PENALTIES. An unexcused absence or one excused after class and not before will cause a test grade of zero to be recorded for that day. In other words, if you fail to report that you will be absent before the absence, the instructor will record a zero as if you had come to class, taken a full scale test and gotten a zero on it. As you can see, it takes only one or two such occurrences to put a major dent in a semester grade.
EXCEPTIONS. The only exceptions to this rule are for absences due to sudden emergencies causing danger to life or limb. Colds, car breakdowns, missed buses, planes, and trains do not count as true emergencies. Neither do obligations to other courses ("My biomechanics teacher kept me after class.") In cases such as those CALL AHEAD.
AFTER FIVE ABSENCES. If you are absent more than five times during the semester, you must provide documented reasons for each additional absence. You must also schedule an appointment with your instructor to discuss the extra work you must do to pass the course and/or the possibilities of dropping the course.