General English Track
General English courses, offered at all six levels, seek to improve students' English skills in a great variety of discourse settings. Students develop communicative competence for social and work-related environments through interactive activities simulating real-life situations.
Language skills addressed include: listening, fluency development, oral intelligibility, reading, grammar, writing, and vocabulary development.
General English courses include:
- Level I (Listening/Speaking) develops basic listening, speaking, pronunciation and vocabulary acquisition for use in the classroom and daily life. The course is intended for beginners in English and for students with basic communication abilities. Learner outcomes include improved ability to understand basic spoken English and to communicate in common situations by using basic language functions and the appropriate vocabulary with standard pronunciation. Materials include a textbook for listening, speaking, and pronunciation and a picture dictionary. Activities include both in-class and out-of-class listening and speaking tasks.
- Level I (Reading/Writing) develops basic reading, writing, vocabulary and grammar skills. The course is intended for beginners in English and for students with limited basic abilities in reading and writing. Learner outcomes include improved ability to read and understand basic high frequency vocabulary and simple sentences, to write at the sentence and simple paragraph level with accurate spelling and punctuation and to understand and use accurately basic verb tenses and grammar. Materials include a reading and vocabulary text and a grammar text.
- Level II (Listening/Speaking) develops listening, speaking, pronunciation and vocabulary acquisition for use in daily life and the classroom. The course is intended for high beginner students with basic communication abilities. Learner outcomes include improved ability to understand basic spoken utterances and vocabulary and to communicate in common situations by using basic language functions and the appropriate vocabulary with standard pronunciation. Materials include listening and speaking and pronunciation textbooks. Activities include both in-class and out-of-class listening and speaking tasks which develop the students’ communication ability.
- Level II (Reading/Writing) develops reading, writing, vocabulary and grammar skills. The course is intended for high beginner students in English and for students with basic abilities in reading and writing. Learner outcomes include improved ability to read and understand high frequency vocabulary and simple and more complex sentences, to write at the paragraph and short composition level with accurate spelling and punctuation and to understand and use accurately verb tenses, nouns/pronouns, and articles. Materials include a reading and vocabulary text and a grammar text.
- Level III (Listening/Speaking) develops listening, speaking, pronunciation and vocabulary acquisition for use in common social situations and the classroom. The course is intended for intermediate level students with some communication ability but with limited vocabulary and range of expression. Learner outcomes include improved ability to understand the meaning of common spoken utterances and vocabulary and to communicate in common situations with English speakers by using appropriate language functions and vocabulary with standard pronunciation. Materials include listening, speaking and pronunciation textbooks. Activities include both in-class and out-of-class listening and speaking tasks which develop the students’ communication ability, including listening to short monologues and conversations and interacting with native and non-native users of English.
- Level III (Reading/Writing) develops reading, writing, vocabulary and grammar skills. The course is intended for intermediate level students with some ability in reading and writing but with limited vocabulary and range of expression. Learner outcomes include improved ability to read and understand high frequency vocabulary and complex sentences, to write at the composition level with accurate spelling and punctuation and to understand and use accurately more complex grammar structures. Materials include a reading and vocabulary text and a grammar text.
- General English IV (Reading/Writing) improves the general English skills of high intermediate students. Learner outcomes include improved reading comprehension, writing skills at the paragraph and essay level, general vocabulary, and understanding of grammar and its use. Materials include ESL grammar and reading texts, as well as adapted literature. Activities include intensive and extensive reading, vocabulary development, written and oral grammar exercises, and paragraph and essay writing.
- General V (Reading/Writing) improves the general English skills of advanced level students. Learner outcomes include improved reading comprehension and speed, essay-writing skills, general vocabulary, and understanding of grammar and its use. Materials include ESL grammar and reading texts, and supplementary non-adapted texts, newspapers, and magazine articles. Sample writing tasks include summarizing, synthesizing, showing cause/effect, and stating and supporting opinions. (Students wishing to take English for Academic Purposes V are required to successfully complete this course.)
- General VI (Reading and Writing) improves the general English skills of high-advanced level students. Learner outcomes for this course include improved reading comprehension and writing proficiency for general purposes, vocabulary development, and understanding of grammar and its use. Materials include ESL grammar and reading texts. Additional reading materials come from a wide variety of sources such as newspapers, textbooks, and journals. Student tasks include selecting and reporting on readings from their areas of interest in writing and presentations.
