ESL: Port of Entry Full-Time Program Low-Intermediate
This is the introductory course designed to provide non-native students with the academic, linguistic, grammatical, written skills, inguistic, verbal, aural, and note-taking skills necessary to succeed on the TOEFL exam and in higher education. Session one of the course introduces grammar structures in the context of unified themes. All units follow a four-step approach: 1) grammar in context which presents the target structure in a natural context, 2) presentation which expressively states form, meaning, and use of grammar structures with detailed charts and notes, 3) controlled practice activities which further reinforce the form, meaning, and use of the target grammar, 4) communication practice which provides the target listening and pronunciaexercises and communicative open-ended speaking and writing activities. Session two of this course introduces listenings based on authentic materials, challenges students to take what they have learned, organize that information, and synthesize it in a meaningful way. This course leads students from learning the unit vocabulary to practicing and expanding their use of it and finally producing it on speaking tasks. Topically connected reading selections may be provided at the teacher's discretion.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will demonstrate the following competencies:
- Classify information
- Predict content
- Listen for main ideas and details
- Interpret speakers' attitudes, tone, and stance
- Organize and synthesize information
- Compare and contrast elements
- Prioritize items based on criteria
- Summarize and analyze response
- Listen and take notes
- Listen and take notes using a chart
- Evaluate items according to a criteria
- Correlate specific examples to broad themes
- Express and defend opinions, including likes/dislikes
- Interview a classmate
- Express agreement
- Negotiate to reach agreement
- Engage in debate
- Give and receive advice
- Report findings
- Use context clues to find the meaning of words
- Recognize idiomatic expressions
- Identify synonyms
- Become familiar with phrasal verbs and their meanings
- Use stress patterns to distinguish between confusing sound words
- The verb be: present and past tenses
- Nouns, Adjectives, Prepositions, Yes/No-questions, Wh-questions
- The simple present tense
- When, What + Noun, Prepositions of Time, Possessives, This/That/These/Those
- The present progressive tense, imperatives
- The simple past tense
- There is/There are, Pronouns, Count and Non-count nouns
- The future tense
Supplemental lessons will be given in English writing in the following skills:
- Capitalization
- Connecting with And and But
- Punctuation: The apostrophe, the comma, the period, the question mark
- Subjects and verbs
- Noun-noun constructions
- Time clauses with When
- Construction of basic sentences
