English Enrichment Program For Non-Native Speakers
Increase English Proficiency in Small Group or Individual Settings
The Center for Continuing Education is proud to offer English language enrichment courses to the community. The program is designed for non-native English speakers who want to improve their skills, resulting in more ease and effectiveness in communication. A variety of courses are offered to address differing needs or goals.
Courses are available to individuals or to small groups. Two different tracks are available, depending on the needs of the student or client.
Basic English Skills for Non-Native English Speakers
Small group courses and/or individual tutoring will be taught by undergraduates or recent graduates who have received TESOL training. These courses are designed for those within the community with basic English skills, but who would benefit from vocabulary enrichment, conversational skills, and writing skills.
English Enrichment and Development for Professionals
The Professional English Language Program, taught by TESOL professionals, serves clients who seek to cultivate more complex language components such as academic writing, industry-specific vocabulary, idioms, fluency and accent modification, to name a few.
Individual Tutoring
Individual tutoring courses offer content that varies according to the needs of the student. Class sessions may include instruction and practice of basic writing skills, sharpening of conversational skills, vocabulary enrichment or a combination of these. The focus will be on building confidence in work situations, when shopping, attending medical appointments or during social interactions.
Basic Writing Skills (Small Group)
This course for small groups will focus on improving writing skills that include drafting emails, and completing standard or government forms, as well as job applications. Students will also focus on basic grammar and context-appropriate language. The course objective is for students to gain proficiency using the every-day formats of written communication.
Conversational English Skills (Small Group)
This course, designed for students who possess basic English language skills, will focus on expanding those skills. Topics covered will include practicing question and answer formats, asking and giving directions, understanding and using common phrases (idioms), and developing appropriate skills for different situational contexts (such as social, family and friends or coworkers).
Vocabulary Enrichment (Small Group)This course is designed for students seeking to expand their vocabulary tin a variety of settings. Content includes the use of common cultural phrases, expressions and idioms, and terms commonly used during work, shopping, medical appointments, and/or social interactions.
Speaking and Fluency Development
The tutoring course content to improve English speaking and fluency will vary according to the needs of the client(s). Skill development may include: understanding what language fluency means, learning appropriate intonation, body language and gestures, focusing on using whole phrases instead of single words in speaking, using conversation starters, learning when to use jargon and slang, identifying common pronunciation issues, incorporating various vocabulary and spaced repetition.
English for Conversation and Communication
The tutoring course content to improve conversation and communication skills in English will vary according to the needs of the client(s). Language skills addressed may include English for specific social and situational contexts, giving introductions and interviewing, giving opinions and preferences, comparing and contrasting, making polite requests, giving advice and suggestions, describing hopes and wishes, discussing current events, giving oral summaries, describing charts and graphs, using and understanding idiomatic expressions, manipulating language registers, and giving directions.
Reading Comprehension Improvement
The tutoring course content for the Reading Comprehension Improvement will vary according to the needs of the client(s). Skills learned may be: strategies on how to read forms, reports and official documents, how to monitor one’s own reading comprehension, thinking about thinking through metacognition, using semantic and graphic organizers, answering and generating questions, recognizing style structures, and summarizing. The structure of the course will be set up along the lines of explicit explanation, modeling, guided practice, and application.
Academic Writing in English
The tutoring course content for writing in academic English will vary according to the needs of the client(s) since the writing process may be a little different from country to country. This proposed approach will incorporate the five basic steps that will help structure your work when writing any kind of academic text for an American audience. These include: prewriting, planning, writing a first draft, redrafting and revising, and editing and proof reading. Each step will be explained, given examples and then client applications emphasizing American academic writing style, structure, and formatting. Additionally, how to avoid plagiarism will be discussed.
Medical English for Healthcare Professionals
The tutoring course content for English in the Healthcare fields will vary according to the needs of the client(s). Skills may include the practice of up-to-date medical language with coworkers, perfecting communication techniques required to work with real-world healthcare clients, improving on the medical language competency areas of speaking, pronunciation, grammar and writing, and learning the medical terminology for each body system that can be communicated appropriately with fellow medical co-workers and clients.
English for Business
The tutoring course content for Business English will vary according to the business communication needs of the client(s). Skills may include: important business correspondence vocabulary and phrases, communication phrases for meetings and presentations, learning and using industry-specific vocabulary, selecting the most effective grammar and language for business communication, knowing how to use nonverbal communication in business, understanding cultural differences in nonverbal communication (ex. handshakes) in English business contexts, and communicating with confidence and authority in the office.
Accent Control and Pronunciation
The tutoring course content to control accent and pronunciation in English will vary according to the needs of the client(s). Skills may include: understanding the differences between language variation and accents, targeting and practicing your speaking differences, identifying and listening for how others use the language, determining what parts of your accent you want to keep or modify, understanding when formal and non-formal language is used, and how to modify your language to accommodate them. Also, the mechanics for the pronunciation of specific American English sounds will be explained and modeled.
TOEFL Preparation
The tutoring course content for the TOEFL preparation will vary according to the needs of the client(s) where some areas may need more practice preparation than others. Since the Toefl examination is characterized by the four language domains of listening, speaking, writing and reading, special preparation will be provided for each along with general Toefl test taking strategies to maximize time and anxiety. Clients will initially take a pre-Toefl exam, review, and then prepare for each of the four language parts for a last class practice exam.