Beginning to Intermediate

Practical Speaking 1: Medical Care

In this course, you will learn what to expect from a typical doctor’s visit in the U.S. You will practice and improve your speaking skills by using the vocabulary and conversational phrases you learn in real-life interactions with other participants in the course.

Practical Speaking 2: Shopping

In this class, you will practice speaking in real life, everyday shopping situations. You will practice clear speaking and pronunciation, learn useful vocabulary, and gain confidence to speak English in your daily life.

Practical Speaking 3: Personal Service Encounters

In this class, you will practice speaking English in everyday situations: paying bills, getting a haircut, dining out, and more. You will learn vocabulary and grammar to find help, ask questions, and interact with customer-service employees. You will practice pronunciation and natural speaking for clear communication.

Practical Speaking 4: Travel

In this course, you will practice your speaking skills while talking about travel. You will develop your overall communication skills, your pronunciation, your travel vocabulary and more. You will increase your confidence in conversations about travel.

Practical Writing: Basic Business Emails

In this course, you will learn to write and respond to business emails. You will write emails to provide and request information as well as propose a change or meeting. You will also learn basic business email etiquette and the main differences between formal and informal business emails.

Practical Grammar: Describing & Explaining Problems

In this course, you will learn to explain or report problems in English. For example, you will be able to report problems you experience at home or in public settings. You will improve your grammar in speaking and writing with lessons about verb tenses and new vocabulary.

Practical Writing: Communicating in Social Media

In this course, you will learn how to interact on social media by writing your own posts and comments. You will receive lessons and feedback about informal language use and style in English for social media.

Practical Listening: Following Conversational Interactions

In this course, you will learn how to actively listen to four different types of conversations. You will listen to instructional conversations, emotional conversations, argumentative conversations, and relational conversations. You will also learn a variety of conversation listening skills.

High Intermediate to Advanced

American Studies: Atlanta & Civil Rights

In this course, you will learn about the topics of segregation and civil rights by visiting two off-campus sites: the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. You will explore and discuss how segregation and civil rights have affected Atlanta in both the historical and present-day context.

Better Listening: Sitcoms & U.S. Culture

In this course, you will watch episodes and scenes of comedy series and explore how they illustrate the culture and people of the U.S. You will improve your listening by summarizing and interpreting humor in episodes from these series. You will work with other classmates to present a cultural analysis of an episode of a U.S. comedy as well as recreate a scene from an episode.

Better Speaking: Total Body Communication

In this course, you will speak without preparation and make things up. You will learn that these “embodied” and “performative” acts will prepare you to speak English with more confidence and have strategies to manage communication breakdowns. In addition to expanding your “storytelling” (verbal) abilities, you will learn other (nonverbal) ways to communicate with others using movement and the full range of your voice. Whether you are shy or outgoing, you will learn creative techniques to deliver your message more successfully and enjoy the process.

Better Speaking: Current Events

In this course, you will use news events both to improve your spoken English and to casually converse in English in social settings. You will read or listen to news about current events and summarize it as well as share your opinion about it. You will initiate and sustain discussions about current events in both classroom and casual settings.

Professional Communication: Creating Your Digital Self in English

Today, your online presence IS your “business card.” How you present or “brand” yourself online impacts how your colleagues, clients, acquaintances, and friends perceive and interact with you. In this short course, you will write one professional biographical statement to tell one consistent “story” about yourself across the different social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. In addition to learning how to write appropriately for each social media platform, you will demonstrate your “brand” identity by assembling photos, leading a Facebook challenge, and speaking persuasively for a Facebook/Instagram post.

Professional Speaking: Professional Presentations

In this course, you will learn how to give an effective professional presentation. You will learn about different types of presentations, and then select your own topic to research and present. You will learn how to design and use visual elements as well as other presentation skills to support your presentations.

Professional Writing: Formal E-mail Correspondence

In this class, you will learn to write and edit professional emails with concise style and clear expression. You will learn to identify the purpose and structure for emails addressed to colleagues and to clients. You will learn a process for business writing and analyze the style of successful business emails. You will also receive lessons and feedback about your English grammar and identify resources for future writing success.

Professional Speaking: Networking & Promoting Yourself

In this highly interactive course, you will be given an improvisational toolbox filled with professional communication strategies to foster networking and increase your creativity to promote yourself authentically. You will experience using the right tools to manage uncertainty and not knowing, say “yes” to bridge differences; catch impulses within yourself and develop self-awareness, and begin to understand how to react, adapt and communicate in the moment with courage and the willingness to face failure. Your participation in these improvisational activities will result in your discovering an increased confidence to promote yourself and the ability to meet and collaborate with others in relaxed and formal environments.