The goal of this course is to prepare students to succeed at the university level by helping to improve academic reading and vocabulary skills. This class will stress all of the important areas of reading and vocabulary through a variety of fiction and non-fiction materials, including watching foreign films with subtitles to practice reading fluency. Timed readings are included. It will focus on main ideas, supporting details, identifying paraphrases, and summarizing. It will also focus on the development of advanced academic vocabulary for the university, research, and library skills. Additionally, the class includes summaries, reflections, and discussions of the materials as well as individual and group presentations.

 

ESL 80 will develop all of the critical areas of reading and vocabulary through a variety of fiction and non-fiction materials. Students will focus on identifying and composing main ideas, writing a summary with paraphrases, making inferences and differentiating between fact and assumption based on textual evidence. It will also focus on the development of advanced academic vocabulary by learning how to use context to identify unknown vocabulary as well as focus on the recognition and use of various word forms. Reading activities include summaries, reflections, presentations, and discussions of the materials. 

 

The primary target of Bridge Reading and Vocabulary is to give students the reading skills and strategies they need in order to succeed as undergraduate and graduate-level university students.  Students will be introduced to a variety of text types, both fiction and non-fiction.  They will learn and practice techniques for critically reading and analyzing what is read.  In this class, students will continue to expand their academic vocabulary by developing and practicing vocabulary learning strategies. Students will be expected to complete writing assignments, participate in group discussions and complete individual and group presentations as methods of responding to the reading material.

In ESL 71 students will prepare students for university-level classes by being exposed to a variety of lectures and speaking activities. They will identify the main ideas and support details, make inferences, make connections, and take notes.  In this class, students will also focus on basic speech acts, such as giving advice, entering a conversation, supporting and asking for opinions, clarifying, agreeing/disagreeing, etc. in order to participate in a group discussion. Students will learn pronunciation skills including stress, volume, and intonation. Students will be expected to complete listening assignments and participate in group/partner discussions.

 

High Intermediate Listening and Speaking is designed to equip students to succeed at the university level by advancing their listening and speaking skills. This quarter, students will be exposed to a variety of listening passages including authentic academic lectures that are of more complex difficulty and longer duration. They will learn to recognize lecture signals, identify the main ideas and supporting details, make inferences, recognize information conveyed in stressed words and intonation, make connections, and take notes with an outline.  In this class, students will also focus on summarizing, practicing presentation skills, and participating as an active audience member. Students will be expected to complete listening assignments and participate in presentations. 

 

The goal of this advanced course is to teach strategies that will further strengthen listening and speaking skills as well as prepare students for college-level courses. In the class, students will be exposed to a variety of listenings including authentic audio and classroom lectures. They will identify the main ideas and supporting details, make inferences, make connections, and take notes on lectures.  This class will also focus on various pronunciation points and presentation skills. Students will expand their vocabulary by becoming familiar with key vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. In class students will be expected to complete lecture listening assignments, participate and lead group discussions, complete presentations and participate in a debate. 

This intermediate course was created to help students improve their academic writing skills and grammar at an intermediate level. At this level, students will master the essay level of writing and begin to produce essays of 5 paragraphs, including direct quotations. This class will emphasize certain grammar points and put into practice all steps of the writing process: pre-writing, planning, drafting, revising, and editing. Different essay styles are explored, such as cause and effect.

 

The main goal of this course is to prepare high intermediate students to succeed at the university level by further developing students’ academic writing skills. Throughout the course, students will build on their knowledge of the five-paragraph essay to write developed, multi-paragraph essays using the argumentative essay mode. Students will practice supporting their thesis using information from an article provided. Outside sources and MLA citations will be studied. Students will also practice ways to make their sentences and paragraphs clear, concise and coherent using standard grammar and a direct American writing style.  

 

Effective academic writing is an essential skill for success in all academic college studies. But writing is more than the mechanics of correct grammar and syntax. Effective academic writing is the logical, coherent and factually-supported presentation of ideas. This course will strengthen students’ level of writing to successfully transition to U.S. professional studies. In this course, students will hone the writing skills practiced in previous writing classes. They will also learn how to critically evaluate information from outside sources and genres and to present opinions in well-organized, logical and evidenced-based, documented research papers. The course emphasizes independent learning which is necessary to prepare students for graduate-level studies.

 

The main objective of this course is to develop English pronunciation skills that are necessary for successful communication both in and out of the classroom. Students will develop these skills by increasing awareness of phonemic features, intonation, and rhythm and stress patterns. They will achieve greater accuracy as they listen to and practice specific vowel and consonant sounds as well as longer discourse patterns. In this class is that students will gain confidence in their ability to communicate effectively and comprehend spoken English.