University Extension Program

Subject:

ESL - English as a Second Language, Advanced*

Target groups:

Academics, Executives, Professionals.

Time:

Tuesdays and Thursdays x 15 weeks x 4 hours per week of instruction.

Outcomes:

WEEK 1. Participate actively in conversations with classmates, teachers, coworkers.

WEEK 2. Identify the main idea, details, and conclusion in lectures and oral presentations. WEEK 3. Express orally and in writing ideas and interests on specific and general topics. WEEK 4. Identify main idea, topic sentence, and supporting details in a reading passage.

WEEK 5. Write narrative, descriptive, and persuasive compositions, well argued and supported. WEEK 6. Write formal, official and informal letter.

WEEK 7. Naturally and accurately produce English sounds, words, and phrases.

WEEK 8. Interact with community services, organizations and government agencies.

WEEK 9. Demonstrate ability to interact with local, state and national officials and their functions. WEEK 10. Read and discuss information related to current events.

WEEK 11. Compare and contrast advertisements, labels and charts to select goods and services. WEEK 12. Describe personal career goals, interests and interpret job descriptions.

WEEK 13. Standard behavior for job interviews, answering interview questions, write a thank you note, follow up. Week 14. Demonstrate an understanding of work behavior, attire, attitudes, and social interactions.

Week 16. Communicate information via email to instructors, supervisors, coworkers, peers, etc.

Learning strands:

Listening, speaking; pronunciation; reading; writing, and grammar.

Listening:

Follow multi-step oral instructions using signal wordsand organizational cues.

Identify main idea and key details from a variety of oral sources (e.g. conversation, presentation, movie,podcast). Distinguish between formal and informal speech andcontexts.

Comprehend meaning of conversation openers andclosers (e.g. I haven’t seen you in awhile. I have to get going). Recognize high-frequency idiomatic expressions (e.g. get fired, piece of cake).

Recognize inference, moods, feelings, word stress, pitch and intonation to convey different meaning. Comprehend gist and supporting details of anauthentic film or media broadcast.

Follow multi-step oral instructions using signal wordsand organizational cues.

Identify main idea and key details from a variety of oral sources (conversation, presentation, movie, etc. Distinguish between formal and informal speech and contexts.

Speaking:

Participate actively in contrived and spontaneous conversations on familiar and unfamiliar topics. Use paraphrasing and elaboration to clarify meaning.

Participate in social interactions using formal and informal language as appropriate including idioms, slang. Use collaborative skills to participate in a group discussion (e.g. agree, disagree, and compromise).

State an opinion and supporting details and facts.

Express thoughts clearly by using transition, signaland sequence words.

Present a 5-7 minute oral presentation on a specifictopic.

Provide appropriate and complete answers tointerview questions.

Speak extemporaneously on a familiar topic usingcomplex sentences.

Reading:

Examine and comprehend a variety of written materials (work information, press articles, memos, etc.). Predict the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary by using contextual clues and/or word analysis strategies. Use a dictionary and thesaurus to look up definitions, synonyms, derivations and pronunciation.

Identify main idea and supporting details from fiction and nonfiction materials. Identify writer’s purpose and distinguish between fact and opinion.

Distinguish between literal and figurative language.

Infer and predict outcomes and draw conclusions from reading materials. Use reference materials to research topics relevant to present day.

Summarize an academic article.

Interpret charts, tables, graphs and other non-proseinformation.

Writing:

Write a well-developed paragraph using a topicsentence, supporting details and a conclusion. Organize key details in a variety of contexts (e.g.note-taking, listing, and outlining).

Edit own writing for clarity of ideas, transitions,grammatical accuracy and mechanics. Prepare thorough and well-developed resume.

Write work-related memos and emails.

Write formal letters such as cover letters, letters tocreditors and letters to congresspersons.

Write multi-paragraph essays (description, narration, persuasion, expository, critique, argumentation). Use the writing process: brainstorming, prewriting, revising, editing.

Describe a detailed procedure in writing (e.g.changing a tire, completing a work task).

Pronunciation:

Use phrase stress rules (e.g. primary phrase stress,contrastive stress) to produce natural, clear speech. Use word stress rules to appropriately pronouncefamiliar and unfamiliar words.

Shift meaning by changing stress, intonation, andpausing patterns in sentences.

Speech reflects the stress-timed nature of English.

Grammar:

Conjunctions (either…or, both…and)

Adverbs of intensity and time (very, already)

Modal Verbs (able to, supposed to, perfect modals, would rather, must.

Comparison Nouns (different…from)

Subordinate Clauses (of cause, of time, of place, relative) Reported Speech (statement, questions, imperatives)

Gerunds/Infinitives (Cooking is fun; I like to cook all foods.) Phrasal Verbs (Take out the trash.)

Conditional Sentences (If I were you, I would go to class every day.)

Passive Voice (The table was set.)

Present perfect continuous (I have been studying English everyday.) Transitional Adverbs (however, therefore)

ESL Content Standards *

* Source: CCC - City College of Chicago Adult Education Programs ESL