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ESL Basic 1 & 2

Basic 1

The primary goal of the course is to promote English language competency for personal purposes, applying learned and rehearsed English to real-life situations. The emphasis is on literacy and communication skills that result in the student functioning in school and society as rapidly as possible. The secondary goal of this course is to complete all the basic levels to move up to the next level. This course is designed around the competency-based model of instruction. The content covered in this course focuses on understanding the areas of fundamental listening, speaking, reading, writing, language function, language form, and cultural literacy. After this level of instruction, students can organize and produce learned and rehearsed spoken language fluently in routine and familiar situation with familiar audience; can listen and understand simple phrases and sentences in highly structured settings with frequent opportunity for repetition; read common sight words, and understand sentence level reading; can independently accomplish simple and structured reading activities in a range of comfortable and familiar settings; can write simple sentences using familiar words and phrases to describe familiar objects, events, and experiences; using simple punctuation, and can demonstrate some control of basic grammar and spelling. A high level of support is provided. For English language learners, level of ease and confidence in using English may low, even in familiar contexts.

Basic 2

The goal of the course is to promote English language competency for personal purposes, applying learned and rehearsed English to real-life situations. The emphasis is on communication skills that result in the student functioning in school and society as rapidly as possible. The secondary goal of this course is to complete this level to move up to the next level. This course is designed around the competency-based model of instruction. The content covered in this course will focus on understanding through the areas of fundamental listening, speaking, reading, writing, language function, language form, and cultural literacy. After this course, students can speak short utterances in familiar settings with familiar audiences and ask simple questions related to survival needs and simple social interchanges; can listen for structured and well-defined purposes related to maintaining personal conversations , acquiring information, or completing basic transactions with support of repetitions and slow rate of speech; can read and comprehend words in small blocks of simple text slowly but easily to independently accomplish simple, well-defined, and structured activities in familiar contexts when vocabulary is controlled; can write several simple sentences with a great effort to accomplish writing activities in familiar settings using simple punctuations. For English language learners, level of ease using English is growing but varies depending on the level of familiarity with the audience and purpose and the stressfulness of the context.

ESL Intermediate 1 & 2

Intermediate 1

The primary goal of the course is to promote English language competency for personal, social, and educational purposes, applying English to real-life situations. An integrated skills format allows reading, grammar, speaking/listening, and writing activities to be combined using the more intensive life skill themes. The secondary goal of this course is to complete this level to move up to the next level. This course is designed around the competency-based model of instruction. After this course, students can express basic needs fluently and accurately in familiar settings with one or more familiar listeners, engage in social conversations, and monitor comprehension; can listen to basic content related to personal background information, everyday transactions, and common routine tasks in a stable manner; can read and comprehend sentences and even a few paragraphs of simple text to accomplish simple, well-defined, and structured reading activities in a range of comfortable and familiar settings; can write short, structured sentences and even a paragraph on familiar topics with some effort to complete writing activities in a few comfortable and familiar settings with control of basic grammar structures, spelling, and punctuation. A moderate level of support is provided. English language learners display growing comfort using English in simple interactions and social situations but may be less at ease in more complex and/or stressful contexts.

Intermediate 2

The primary goal of the course is to promote English language competency for personal, social, and professional purposes applying English to real-life situations even in broader social interactions such as workplaces. An integrated skills format allows reading, grammar, speaking/listening, and writing activities to be combined using the more intensive life skill themes. The secondary goal of this course is to complete this level to move up to the next level. This course is designed around the competency-based model of instruction. After this course, students can speak fluently and accurately in less familiar settings when provided with some support; can comprehend relatively unstructured conversations and presentation of moderate length and not adjusted audio material for English learners; can quickly and accurately read and comprehend even a few pages of simple text to independently accomplish well-defined and structured reading activities; can write simple narrative, informative, or expressive texts of a few short paragraphs with some effort but with fewer errors; can independently complete various types of writing activities. Appropriate strategies (e.g., finding meanings or purposes, appropriate reading strategies, context clues, inference skills, and self-proofreading) are developed to become more competent English learners. English language learners display growing comfort in communicating with native speakers in various interactions and social situations.

ESL Advanced 1 & 2

Advanced 1

The primary goal of the course is to promote English language competency for social, professional, academic purposes, applying English to real-life situations. The emphasis is on reading, writing, and learning to learn skills for the academic context. An integrated skills format allows reading, grammar, speaking/listening, and writing activities to be combined using the life and academic themes. The secondary goal of this course is to complete this level to move up to the next level. This course is designed around the competency-based model of instruction. After this course, students can speak fluently in familiar or less familiar settings with less support, and utterance can be generally understood by unsupportive, unskilled listeners; can understand most English language communication at less adjusted speed and often can function successfully (with some support) in adult academic classrooms with native English speakers; can read and comprehend multiple pages with a variety of texts at an appropriate pace to independently analyze and accomplish reading activities with more authentic materials; can write a few well-structured paragraphs with less hesitation that include the stability of punctuation and grammar structures and can edit and revise to improve communication. Appropriate strategies (e.g., finding meanings or purposes, appropriate reading strategies, context clues, inference skills, and self-proofreading) are developed to become more competent English learners. English language learners display comfort in communicating with native speakers in various interactions and social situations.

Advanced 2

The primary goal of the course is to promote English language competency for academic and professional purposes, applying English to university or workplace settings. The emphasis is on reading, writing, and learning to learn skills for the academic context. The secondary goal of this course is to complete all the courses. This course is designed around the competency-based model of instruction. The content covered in this course will focus on understanding and applying English through the areas of listening, speaking, reading, writing, language function, language form, and cultural literacy, and current events. After this course, students can speak fluently and accurately in most setting with unfamiliar audiences when provided with minimal support; can functions independently in most social and work situations and comprehend relatively complex and unstructured conversations or presentations requiring the integration and summary of several data sources or media with limited need for guidance and repetitions; can comprehend most English language occurred at normal speed and often can function successfully with native English speakers outside of school; can read a variety of challenging texts in a variety of authentic settings such as newspaper and novel; can write coherent steps or well-constructed paragraphs for varied purposes related to professional and academic fields with the mastery of punctuation, grammar structures, self-proofread, and revise to improve communication. Appropriate strategies (e.g., finding meanings or purposes, appropriate reading strategies, context clues, inference skills, and self-proofreading) are developed to become competent English learners. English language learners display great comfort in communicating with native speakers in various interactions and social situations.

TOEFL

The TOEFL Program is designed to teach the language skills and test-taking strategies needed to achieve a competitive score on the reading, writing, listening, and speaking segments of the TOEFL iBT. Students will take practice TOEFL tests to become familiar with the exam. They will then analyze results to find areas to improve using the skills learned. The program includes: test taking strategies for a successful score on the TOEFL Exam, TOEFL level vocabulary in context and Intensive work on listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. To be admitted into the class, prospective students must be have successfully completed level 6 (Advanced II). A TOEFL placement test will be administered to determine a student’s strengths and weaknesses.