Electives
Below is a sampling of elective courses. The content and availability of electives varies from session to session. Please see an ELP adviser for the elective schedule.
- Accent Reduction
- Communication and American Film
- Conversation and Current Events
- Conversation and Current Events (Business)
- Exploring U.S. Culture
- Reader’s Theatre 1
- Reader’s Theatre 2
- Conversation Through Reading
- Business Writing
- Grammar in Practice
- TOEFL Prep
Accent Reduction
Students will work on improving their control of standard pronunciation in this advanced level class. Course work is tailored to students’ needs, paying particular attention to first language interferences.
Communication and American Film
Students will converse about American movies in this course. Themes, symbolism, non-verbal cues, sarcasm, vocabulary and cultural situations will be examined in film excerpts. Making deductions, comparing and contrasting, predicting, and analyzing will be major components in student discussions.
Conversation and Current Events
Students will observe current events in the world and U.S. culture in this course. Class discussions of media and news events will be a primary focus, relating what students view in these sources to their perceptions of U.S. cultural values, including myths versus facts.
Conversation and Current Events (Business)
Students will observe and interact with current global economic events in an integrated skills environment. Class content will consist of media-driven academic discussion and projects relating to contemporary issues (for example, global economic crisis, structure of a Ponzi scheme, white collar crime, etc.). Through case studies, class discussions also will address timeless topics of leadership and ethics along with proven business strategies in the U.S. and around the world.
Exploring U.S. Culture
Students will explore the diverse culture of the U.S. and factors such as its history, religion, national makeup and diverse mindset that create the culture in this course. Students will be expected to participate in class discussion and group projects that will reach further into their cultural understanding.
Reader’s Theatre 1
Students will use their reading skills to improve their speaking skills in this class. Focus will be placed on comprehension of literal and figurative language, pronunciation, stress, rhythm and intonation, as well as using a script to enhance speaking and listening skills. Students will practice using slang and idiomatic phrases comfortably.
Reader’s Theatre 2
Students will perform one-act plays and/or selected scenes to bridge reading and speaking skills and to improve conversational proficiency in this class. Focus will be placed on increasing reading comprehension as well as conversational clarity.
Conversation Through Reading
Students will examine periods of U.S. history and how these periods have shaped present day American cultural values in this course. Students will investigate cultural perspectives and beliefs and values that exist in America today, including equality, democracy, freedom, individualism, hard work, efficiency, progress and humanitarianism.
Business Writing
Students will be taught the fundamentals of business writing in this course. Strategies such as analyzing a written situation correctly, composing a document for the appropriate audience, purpose and situation, and writing documents for maximum effect will be taught for writing business Emails, memorandums, letters and short reports.
Grammar in Practice
Students will practice using various grammatical units to improve their sentence and paragraph writing in this class. Students will examine various verb forms and other structures through activities and games involving reading, listening, speaking and writing. (Note: this course is for rising Foundations’ students and PI students.)
TOEFL Prep
In this course, students will practice different skills to prepare them for the TOEFL test. They will use TOEFL materials to familiarize themselves with the test and improve their comprehension in reading, vocabulary and listening. Structures will also be examined and TOEFL practice exercises completed.
