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Upon completion of this course students will be able to:
1. Identify the main idea and supporting details in extended reading selections of fiction and non-fiction
2. Use a variety of strategies including word analysis and contextual clues to determine the meaning of new words and phrases.
3. Use pre-writing skills to brainstorm and organize ideas on a topic in preparation to write a paragraph or essay.
4. Fill out forms needed in personal, vocational and/or academic contexts.
5. Communicate more effectively and clearly with appropriate pronunciation in informal, academic and/or professional settings including interviews with an employer, medical provider, counselor, community resource or school official.
6. Articulate long term academic, vocational and personal goals and steps needed to achieve these goals.
7. Demonstrate effective and culturally appropriate behaviors in personal, professional and academic environments.
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A. Listening and Speaking Skills
1. Speaking and listening skills needed in the community and in professional or academic settings:
a. making an appointment with a counselor and financial aide adviser
b. requesting and clarifying information
c. articulating vocational and academic goals
d. interview skills
e. articulating questions about employment evaluations and benefits
2. Vocabulary development related to personal, academic, professional and cultural life.
3. Pronunciation Skills
a. word stress and syllabication
b. sound/spelling patterns (falling intonation, content words and function
words) consonant sounds (final -ed, etc.)
c. intonation in questions and statements (rising and falling intonation, content words
and function words)
d. recognize and produce problematic vowel and consonant sounds (final - ed, etc.)
e. phonemic awareness (voiced/unvoiced consonants)
B. Reading Skills
1. Skimming, scanning and predicting.
2. Identification of main ideas and supporting details in extended selections of fiction and non-fiction.
3. Short stories and use of authentic materials including certificate brochures, financial aid applications and other academic materials. .
4. Vocabulary building strategies including the use of contextual clues and word analysis (prefixes and suffixes) to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.
5. Literary terms including theme, character, setting and plot.
6. Figurative language such as metaphor and simile.
C. Writing Skills
1. Process writing including brainstorming, organizing, drafting, revising, editing.
2. Paragraphs and compositions in response to literature, articles and other writing prompts.
3. Complex professional and academic forms related to vocational pursuits and matriculation to credit classes.
4. Verb tenses and language structures needed to write multiple paragraphs and essays.
a. present perfect
b. present perfect continuous
c. simple past, future and continuous tenses
d. modals, complex modals
e. pronouns (subject, object, possessive)
f. adjectives (descriptive, demonstrative, possessive)
g. time phrases
h. transitions (first, second, then, finally)
i. question formation
D. Academic Skills
1. Language of group work
2. Organizational skills
3. Study skills
4. Vocabulary needed to communicate with academic personnel and supervisors at work.
5. Setting academic, professional and personal goals and steps needed to achieve them.
E. Cultural Skills
1. Formal and informal speech including conversational norms used in various contexts; i.e., making small talk, participating in interviews, talking with friends, teachers and employers.
2. Reading and writing activities related to culturally appropirate understanding and sensitivity:
a. cross-cultural relations in diverse settings
b. non-verbal communication
c. social roles
d. customs
F. Vocational Skills
Topics May Include:
1. Interview skills
2. Applications and resumes
3. Job search skills
4. Evaluations at work
5. Problem solving at work, including making suggestions, resolving interpersonal and cultural conflicts, understanding work culture in the United States.
6. Giving and following directions, both orally and in writing.
7. Asking for clarification.
8. Knowing your rights at work.
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This course will emphasize student-centered activities designed to develop reading, writing and speaking/listening skills. The following represent the types of assignments that may be included:
A. In-class work:
1. Vocabulary building exercises
2. Pair and group activities
3. Role plays, mock interviews and problem-solving activities in small groups
4. Paragraphs and essays
5. Surveys and interviews
6. Discussion of and response to readings on a variety of themes
7. Objective exams and quizzes
8. Listening activities
9. Dictation
10. Use of technology such as the Internet, ESL websites and software to improve reading, listening, vocabulary, spelling, conversation and pronunciation skills
B. Homework:
1.Surveys and interviews
2. Reading exercises
3. Grammar exercises
4. Request information from school and community resources
5. Writing paragraphs and/or essays
6. Listening to TV and radio programs in English
7. Journals
8. Vocabulary logs
9. Group projects
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All About the USA - Level 3 by Milada Broukal, Pearson, 2007
English in Action - Level 4 by Foley & Neblett, Heinle & Heinle, 2010
Ventures 4 by K. Lynn Savage, Cambridge University Press, 2008
Weaving It Together 2 by Milada Broukal, Heinle & Heinle, 2009
Longman Dictionary of American English, Pearson/Longman, 2008
Instructor prepared materials