ESLDO, Study Skills in English, ESL Level 4, Open, (1 credit)

What You Will Learn:
This course prepares students to use English with increasing accuracy in most classroom and social situations and to participate in society as informed citizens. Students develop reading, writing, and oral presentation skills required for success in all subjects. Students study and interpret a variety of grade-level texts, develop oral communication skills through participation in informal debates and seminars, and extend their range of research.

By the end of this course students should be able to:

Oral and Visual communication

• Discuss of explain ideas or issues (e.g., pre-reading, pre-writing activity).
• Use the pronunciation, stress, rhythm and intonation patterns of spoken English with accuracy most of the time.
• Use a variety of transition words and phrases to express relationships such as comparison, contrast, sequence, cause and effect.
• Use important elements of English grammar with increasing accuracy: verb tenses; negatives; adverbs; conjunctions; articles; prepositions of time, direction, and location.

Reading

• Skim longer passages and use organizational features to find the main ideas.
• Scan text to find specific information (examples, details, roof, comparison and contrast).
• Demonstrate understanding of fiction and non-fiction passages (answering questions, summarizing, making predictions, personal response).
• Make inferences about a writer’s point of view or a character’s actions.
• Identify and explain literary elements (theme, character, plot, setting).
• Take point-form notes from a passage in preparation for writing a summary.
• Use context to infer the meaning of new words.

Writing

• Spell words and use punctuation accurately in final drafts.
• Use an outline independently to develop and organize ideas.
• Use descriptive words and phrases to convey mood, atmosphere, and emotion in written responses to literature.
• Write a passage of three or more paragraphs to develop a central idea.
• Revise content, structure and language in a first draft with some teacher guidance.
• Use transition words and a variety of sentence patterns to express relationships.
• Use common tenses and verb phrases, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions, prepositions interrogative and negative constructions accurately most of the time

Course Outline:

Units will be based on having students engage in the following:

Oral/visual: Students will use appropriate language and non-verbal communication strategies in a variety of situations. Students should use with increasing accuracy:: verb tenses, negatives, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, articles, prepositions of time, direction and location.

Reading: Students should choose and respond to personal reading and be able to use information from a variety of sources. They should read and respond to literature with teacher guidance. Students will identify some cross-cultural themes in literature and be able to identify and explain some literary elements and devices and make inferences about point of view and character.

Writing: Students will write a passage of 3 or more paragraphs to develop a central idea, using transition words and a variety of sentence patterns to express relationships e.g., compare/contrast, cause/effect. Other types of writing may include short reports, summaries, narratives, poetry, short essays.

Social /cultural: Students will study the rights and responsibilities of living in Canada and be able to participate in discussions about local, national and global events. Media coverage of current events will be discussed.

Resources/Materials Used

• Class handouts, books, and library.

Related Courses:

• ELDCO Literacy in Daily Life – Intermediate Writing Focus
• ELDDO Literacy for School and Work – Business English focus
• ELS3O Reading and Writing – Intermediate/Advanced
• EPS3O Speaking/Presentation Skills

This course prepares students for ESLEO

Further information