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The Office of English Language and Global Training's ESL program offers six levels of instruction from basic to advanced. At each level students take four core courses: reading, writing, grammar, and listening and speaking, as well as supporting courses tailored to support the needs of the students at a particular level. For example, students at Beginning 1 level take a supporting course focused on spelling and handwriting, while students at the advanced level take an academic skill development course. Students heading toward a particular degree, such as Mechanical Engineering or Computer Science, can take a supporting course that focuses on the English language in the context of their field.
Upon arrival, students in the ESL program take a placement test which determine in which of the six levels of the program they will be placed. After registration, students will receive a schedule of classes which comprise of four core classes and one supporting class. Students in the advanced 1 and advanced 2 levels, have the option to take an academic class.
In this course, students are introduced to simple English grammar structures. This course is designed to help students recognize and develop the grammar skills necessary to read, write, speak, and understand basic English. The focus of this class is to introduce students to basic grammatical structures, such as basic parts of speech, simple sentences, possessive adjectives, and basic prepositions of place to support and apply the skills on the other classes.
This is a basic writing course that focuses on teaching students the basic skills to write simple sentences. This course is designed for students to learn to write and apply words within context correctly. The key components in this writing course are basic sentences, subject-verb agreement, structure, spelling of high frequency words, and basic punctuation and capitalization.
This course is designed to develop basic English-speaking skills. Students should be able to express themselves in basic English language with comprehensible pronunciation and simple grammar structures. Key aspects of this course include following basic oral directions, asking for or providing information about self and others, and presenting brief introductions.
This is a basic reading course and is the beginning stage of helping students learn to read the English language. This course has three reading development parts from pre-reading into comprehensive reading. At the end of this course, students will be able to recognize the English alphabet, decode some familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary words, decode complete simple sentences, and comprehend basic content from a level appropriate reading passage. Key aspects of this course include answering yes/no questions about a reading, identifying subject and verb in sentences, and recognizing basic sight words.
This course is designed to develop students’ grammar skills to understand and communicate in basic English. The focus of this class is to give opportunities for the students to develop understanding of foundational grammatical structures. Key elements include declarative sentences, simple present and past tense of common verbs, basic understanding of present progressive and future tense and prepositions of time.
This is a foundational writing course that teaches students to write short messages. This course is designed for students to learn to write in complete simple sentences with minimal errors and develop simple paragraph structures using high frequency words with minimal errors in spelling. The key components in this writing course are requests and simple descriptions.
This course is designed to develop listening and basic speaking skills in English. Students will develop their listening skills through practice with simplified conversation and narratives. The focus of this course is to develop students’ ability to understand main ideas, follow instructions and ask for and respond to simple needs.
This is a foundation reading course aimed to help students to learn to decode and read words in English while expanding their working vocabulary related to experiences. At the end of this course, students will be able to recognize and decode basic sentences, explain meaning from simplified material, follow specific written instructions, and read simple texts of at least four paragraphs.
This course will help students strengthen their understanding of form, meaning and use of grammatical structures, and their application in various settings and contexts. It will introduce students to count and non-count nouns and their quantifiers, possessive nouns, adjectives, and other modifiers. The simple and continuous present and past tenses are further developed, and future tense is introduced.
This writing course focuses on expanding students’ writing skills from basic to intermediate. This course is designed for students to learn to write an expanded paragraph and describe an experience in detail using appropriate sequence in form of personal letters and mini essays. The key components in this writing course are extended paragraphs and mini essays that incorporate familiar experiences, general vocabulary, and sequential terms.
This course is designed to bring students’ listening and speaking abilities to everyday conversation. Students will be expected to participate in planned conversations with classmates, give short 2–3-minute planned presentations, and listen to short videos showing basic comprehension of main ideas and detailed questions. Students will be expected to discuss agreement or disagreement in various topics.
This reading course helps students expand their working vocabulary and begin to identify important information in reading. This course will introduce students to different types of texts. At the end of this course, students will be able to identify main ideas, chronological order, predict vocabulary in context and analyze various story elements in a level-appropriate text. At this level, students will be introduced to various genres, such as compare and contrast, cause-effect, fact -opinion, and problem solution.
This course is designed to help students integrate form, meaning, and use of modals, simple past, and present perfect and adjective clauses in the four skills, as well as begin to recognize them in academic discourse. This course will provide students with the opportunities to practice switching between tenses and add nuances to their own discourse.
This course aims to develop students’ ability to write simple connected text, using general and academic vocabulary, moving from paragraphs to 5-paragraph essays. Writing process skills such as brainstorming, drafting, and revising are reinforced. At the end of this course, students will be able to write essays on familiar topics with basic introductio
