This course will help students develop basic language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing English.  Students will learn the basic skills they will need to communicate basic needs in English.  They will have a lot of opportunities to practice in class and will learn skills they will need to communicate with English speakers outside of the classroom.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Ask and respond to simple, routine and predictable questions about personal information.
• Communicate some basic needs in informal conversations.
• Understand key words, some phrases, simple commands or directions and short sentences in simple conversations on personal topics.
• Read a simple text that is related to daily life and experience:  routine events, descriptions of people, places and things and simple instructions, etc.
• Write a few sentences and phrases about topics that are familiar to the student:  family, travel, food, health, etc.
• Show some control over basic grammatical structures to communicate basic needs.

This course will help students improve their basic language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing English.  The course will help beginning level students become more confident so they can use what they learn in class to communicate familiar and basic needs in English with speakers outside the classroom.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Communicate in short routine conversations about needs and familiar day-to-day topics.
• Ask and respond to simple and familiar questions.
• Describe a situation, tell a simple story, and describe the process of obtaining basic goods and/or services using a variety of short sentences.
• Read a simple two- to three- paragraph passage about daily life and experience.
• Write simple descriptions of events, stories, future plans, or other familiar topics.
• Effectively communicate in writing ideas and information about personal experience and everyday needs.

This course will help students develop beginning Intermediate language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing English.  Students will be able to use the basic language skills they learned at the beginner’s level courses and expand that knowledge and usage to more complicated settings.  They will develop skills to effectively use language in increasingly more complicated and unfamiliar situations.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Participate in most routine social conversations and talk about needs and familiar topics of personal relevance.
2. Understand simple exchanges, short sets of common daily instructions and directions, direct questions about personal experience and familiar topics, routine media announcements, etc.
3. Understand the purpose, main ideas and some detail in some authentic two- to three- paragraph texts.
4. Effectively convey an idea, opinion, feeling or experience in a simple paragraph.
5. Write short letters and notes on a familiar topic.
6. Use and understand a range of common everyday vocabulary.
7. Use a variety of simple structures and some complex ones when speaking.
8. Effectively communicate basic needs in a culturally appropriate manner.

This course is designed to help students solidify their Intermediate language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing English.  The course will help students expand and extend their knowledge of English to more complex and unfamiliar situations.  They will be developing skills to use more complex English constructions.  Instructors will direct students to rely less on body language and to incorporate all the knowledge they have learned in previous courses when speaking, listening, reading and writing in English and/or with English speakers.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Communicate with some confidence in casual social conversations and in some less routine situations on familiar topics of personal relevance.
• Communicate facts and ideas in some detail.
• Follow the main ideas and identify key words and important details in verbal communication, and in moderately demanding contexts of language use (face to face formal and informal conversations, audio tapes and radio broadcasts) on relevant topics.
• Follow main ideas, key words and important details in a one page (three to five paragraphs) plain language authentic prose and non-prose text in moderately demanding contexts of language use.
• Get new information about familiar topics from reading mostly factual texts with clear organization, and within familiar background knowledge and experience.
• Write one- to two- paragraph letters and compositions.
• Use and understand a range of common everyday vocabulary, some common phrases and idioms.

This course is designed to help students improve their English language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing beyond the basic level.  Students will be able challenged to use language in increasingly more complex and complicated environments.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Communicate effectively in most daily practical and social situations, and in familiar routine work situations, at both concrete and abstract levels.
• Participate in formal and informal conversations, involving problem solving and decision making.
• Speak on familiar concrete topics at a descriptive level and present a detailed analysis or comparison.
• Participate in conversations with confidence.
• Demonstrate an increased ability to respond appropriately to the formality level of a social interaction.
• Understand more complex indirect questions about personal experience, familiar topics and general knowledge.
• Follow main ideas, key words and important details in an authentic two- or three- page text on a familiar but partially predictable topic.
• Read in English for information, to learn the language and to develop reading skills, but also begins to read very simple adult fiction for pleasure.
• Write coherent paragraphs on familiar concrete topics with clear main ideas and some supporting details, and with a developing sense of audience.
• Demonstrate mostly satisfactory control over complex structures, spelling and mechanics.
• Use and understand an expanded inventory of concrete and common idiomatic language.

This course is designed to help students fine-tune their advanced English language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing English.  The course will extend students’ communicative competence to an advanced level of proficiency, refining the use and understanding of the intricacies of English.  They will have many opportunities to carry out communicative tasks that require an exchange of information and negotiation of meaning, will extend their oral and grammatical skills, and will have a lot of opportunities to practice them in authentic communicative contexts.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Independently obtain, provide and exchange key information for important personal tasks, in complex routine and a few non-routine situations.
• Actively and effectively participate in 30-minute formal exchanges about complex, abstract, conceptual and detailed information and ideas to analyze, problem-solve and make decisions.
• Comprehend main points, details, speaker’s purpose, attitudes, levels of formality and styles when communicating in moderately demanding contexts of language use.
• Comprehend an expanded range of concrete, abstract and conceptual language.   Can determine mood, attitudes and feelings.
• Read authentic multipurpose texts:  newspaper items, short stories and popular novels, sections of textbooks, simple routine business letters and documents.
• Read in English for ideas and opinions, to find general information and specific details, to learn content areas, to learn the language, to develop reading skills and for pleasure.
• Sufficiently grasp the meaning of text to paraphrase or summarize key points.
• Write to offer and request information, clarification, confirmation, agreement/commitment, and to express feelings, opinions and ideas to mostly familiar and sometimes unfamiliar readers.
• Demonstrate good control over common sentence patterns, coordination and subordination, and spelling and mechanics.
• Interact and communicate with other English speakers in a culturally appropriate manner.