G500L Grammar

In this course, students will study sophisticated grammar structures such as adjective clauses, adverb clauses, noun clauses, and reduced clauses. Students will also study modals, pronouns, subject-verb agreement, and verb tenses. Learners will be assessed on their ability to recognize correct/incorrect structures, edit for errors, and also produce the forms in written and oral communication.

R500L Reading

In this course, students will read for U.S. university classes and admission tests by reading texts similar to U.S. academic textbooks. Students will develop skills, strategies, and vocabulary for reading short and long passages, as well as develop summarizing, critical thinking, and written/oral discussion abilities. Students will practice extensive reading, which includes note-taking and comprehension of main ideas, as well as intensive reading of short passages, which is seen on the TOEFL exam. Students in this class will identify main ideas, use text organization to improve comprehension, understand the writer’s purpose, and distinguish between main ideas and minor details. In addition, they will use context clues to understand new vocabulary, find clues to understand how writers develop their arguments, and make inferences about the reading passages.

This class is paired with Writing 500. Students will have the same teacher for both courses. Students must take both courses.

SL50L Speaking/Listening

In this course, students will prepare for the speaking and listening demands of U.S. university undergraduate classes and admission tests. Students will develop listening skills and note-taking strategies in order to understand ESL academic lectures and interviews as well as short news broadcasts and real academic lectures. Learners will also improve pronunciation skills and increase their vocabulary.

W500L Writing

This course helps students prepare for the writing demands of U.S. university classes and admission tests by developing the skills necessary to write coherent paragraphs and essays. Students will summarize and write about the passages from the Reading 500 class. In addition, they will use APA style citation and develop understanding of the steps of the writing process in order to write in-class and at-home essays.

This class is paired with Reading 500. Students will have the same teacher for both courses. Students must take both courses.

R700L Academic Reading and Discussion

In this course, students will prepare for the reading demands of U.S. university classes by reading authentic college-level textbook chapters, academic research articles, and literary non-fiction texts. Students will develop note-taking skills, critical thinking, time management, intensive reading skills, independent research skills, and academic vocabulary. Students will improve both their extensive and intensive reading ability. They will also improve written and oral discussion skills such as evaluating and analyzing new ideas from different writers’ points of view, synthesizing information from multiple texts, hypothesizing writers’ responses, and justifying positions using evidence from multiple texts.

This class is paired with Writing 700. Students will have the same teacher for both courses. Students must take both courses.

L700L Listening

In this course, students will continue to prepare for the listening demands of U.S. university classes by developing listening and note-taking skills. Students will listen to academic lectures, interviews, news broadcasts, and documentaries on a wide range of topics. In addition, students will expand overall communicative effectiveness and increase their vocabulary.

S700L Speaking

In this class, students will learn how to deliver clear, well-organized, culturally appropriate academic presentations. They will also manage and participate in academic discussions based on two or more academic readings per week. Students will work to improve aspects of their pronunciation that may affect the overall clarity and fluency of their speech, as well as enhance non-verbal communication skills. The final project is a formal academic presentation based on the student’s research.

W700L Writing

In this course, students will prepare for the writing demands of U.S. university classes by writing academic emails, stand-alone academic research paragraphs, and an analytical research paper. Students will increase their ability to write in a linguistically and conceptually sophisticated manner and improve the ability to write texts that conform to readers’ expectations. Students will utilize information from multiple sources and continue to use APA style citation in order to avoid plagiarism and refer to texts. Students will also enhance their editing and revision skills. 

This class is paired with Reading 700. Students will have the same teacher for both courses. Students must take both courses.