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CurriculumCore CoursesFocus on the skills of Listening/Speaking, Reading/Writing and Grammar/Communication. All of the courses integrate these skills. There are 4-5 levels (Beginner to Advanced) for each core course. Listening/SpeakingIn this highly participatory class, students focus on developing listening strategies, practicing conversational skills and improving pronunciation, fluency and accuracy. Guided by instructors and augmented by live as well as audio and video materials, students discuss and debate timely issues, make presentations, conduct interviews and surveys with native speakers, and carry out role-playing activities. Activities and assignments are designed to improve spoken English, listening skills, and understanding and use of idiomatic expression. Students develop critical thinking skills while improving their ability to communicate in English. Students learn about the cultures within the United States as well as each other's cultures. Reading/WritingIn this integrated skills class, students read and discuss texts on high-interest and current topics. The readings expose students to various genres of writing. Students focus on learning strategies for faster and better reading, such as skimming, scanning, predicting, inferring, analyzing and synthesizing information, while increasing their vocabulary building skills. Writing exercises connect to reading texts or themes and progress from controlled to free writing. Students learn to develop, organize and edit their work. Lower level students focus on the basic skills of paragraph writing while advanced students work toward gaining full competence in writing for academic or professional purposes. Grammar/CommunicationThis class is designed to make learning grammar more fun! Students examine specific grammar structures individually, learning their form and meaning first and then using the structures in personalized, communicative activities. Because activities are varied and involve listening, speaking, reading and writing, this course is actually a foundation for the other core courses. Elective Courses are changed every 8 weeks during the fall and spring sessions. Students choose two electives per session. Pronunciation and TOEFL Preparation are offered each session. ConversationWriting/Grammar LabElective CoursesPronunciationThe goal of this course is to help the student to speak clear, precise English. Students gain awareness of individual problems and learn techniques for correction. During relaxed conversations, students practice vowel clarity, pitch patterns, stressed syllables, focus words, and intonation. TOEFL PreparationStudents learn about the three sections of the TOEFL (Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression, and Reading Comprehension). Strategies for answering different types of questions are introduced and practiced. Practice tests are taken approximately 4 times per course. Other electives
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