Preparatory Skills
COURSES

This course is designed to provide fundamental English practice. In this class, students will gain knowledge of level-appropriate grammar, vocabulary, writing techniques, and other aspects of the language. Throughout the semester, students will practice academic English language skills through a range of specifically designed activities and assignments for language learners.

Whether you need to improve your English for professional, educational or personal reasons, the Community ESL Program at Queensborough Community College has the right class for you. We offer six levels from Basic Beginners to Advanced. Classes are taught by a highly experienced team of instructors eager to have you improve your English skills. Classes are held in classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art technology. In order for us to place you in the proper level, we will ask you to register, pay the tuition, and take a short placement test. More information will be provided regarding the placement test that will be scheduled a few days prior to the start of the class.

Description of Six Levels:

Basic English Foundation

Students in the Basic English Foundation level will learn to introduce themselves by exchanging greetings and communicating with peers using basic phrases and expressions, describing familiar places and completing simple forms. Students will learn to ask and answer questions about personal details. Writing will include practicing basic sentences in the present tense with an emphasis on spelling and pronunciation. Reading will focus on understanding limited dialogues and asking and answering simple questions.

Beginner

The Beginner class is designed to give students the ability to narrate and inquire about the world around them. Students will work on their basic command of the English language by covering everyday-life events. They will learn to master basic sentence structures using simple tenses, present, past and future in the affirmative and interrogative forms while working toward adding more complex sentences. Reading skills will include identifying the topic and the main ideas, scanning for specific information and summarizing. Speaking skills will incorporate asking and answering questions and participating in role-plays and short discussions on topics related to daily situations such as asking for information and directions, comparing holidays, looking for work and preparing for job interviews. Vocabulary will include words and idiomatic expressions relevant to each topic.

Pre-Intermediate

Pre-Intermediate students will discuss future plans, habits and routines and learn to summarize and make inferences and predictions on a variety of topics through interactive readings. They will also express agreement or disagreement with an emphasis on emotions, experiences and feelings. Students will write simple stories and link sentences using connectors such as basic subordinations and coordinations. Students will start writing outlines and simple paragraphs. The emphasis is on social communication both face to face or through social media.

Intermediate

Students in the intermediate level will continue to improve their fluency in the English language with the emphasis on speaking, listening, reading and writing. Students will participate in group discussions, role-plays and in-class presentations on a wide range of topics from different media such as newspaper articles, short stories, videos and songs. The emphasis will be on exchanging ideas and expressing opinions. Reading and writing skills will focus on making inferences, developing critical thinking, organizing information and writing short paragraphs. Grammar will focus on more complex sentence structures with compound words, simple and perfect tenses and proper spelling while increasing vocabulary through reading materials from the assigned textbook.

Upper Intermediate

The Upper Intermediate class is designed to increase the student's confidence in the language by focusing on all skills; speaking, listening, reading and writing. Students will explore concrete and abstract topics and develop language flexibility for social, academic and professional needs by getting involved in group discussions, giving presentations and practicing writing with at least two types of essays. Students will also work toward mastering advanced grammar and syntax by expressing ideas using a wide variety of connectors for more complex sentences

Advanced

The advanced course is designed to give the opportunity to students who completed the previous five levels to continue improving their fluency in the English language with an emphasis on speaking and writing. Students will participate in group discussions and oral presentations on a variety of current events and topics. These activities will give the students the chance to improve confidence in expressing themselves utilizing proper documentation, targeted vocabulary and advanced grammar to convince an audience. Writing skills will expand beyond the short essay with the production of complex papers using multiple transition signals and more complex sentences. Students will also learn to organize their thoughts using an outline and do research on the internet to support their topic development.

For more information contact CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP)

at 718-281-5460 or CLIP@qcc.cuny.edu

Location: CLIP is located in the Science Building in Room 216

This course will help you analyze your strengths and weaknesses, so you can focus your studying on the areas that you need most. You will get the basics of what you need to know to succeed on the four GED® test modules: Reasoning Through Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Mathematical Reasoning.

Some GED® Testing Centers require proof that you have passed a GED® test preparation course or the official practice tests before you can take the official GED® tests. Before enrolling in this course, please check with the official GED® Testing Center where you intend to take your tests to make sure that this course will meet their requirements. Not all states use the GED® test as their test for high school equivalency diploma.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

You should have the ability to read and write the English language at a high-school level. You should also be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers. If you are testing in the United States, you should have an understanding of the English measurement system. If you're testing in Canada, you should be familiar with the metric system. Additionally, you must be 18 years of age to take the GED® exam or request an age waiver from the test center.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements: