PRACTICALLY SPEAKING CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Practically Speaking Conversational English course focuses on speaking practice, pronunciation improvement and vocabulary expansion. While reading and writing English are recognized as very important, our course is designed to give each student maximum opportunity to hear, understand, and speak the English language to improve their level of proficiency in verbal communication using English. Our goal is to provide exposure to practical and useful English so that the student can immediately begin to communicate in the English language. Teachers are all native speakers of North American (United States) English and have been trained in the Total Physical Response method of second language teaching. Our course typically includes five to six daily classes (one week course) that last from 1 to 2 hours which is the equivalent of up to 10 hours of exposure to the English language. During the one week course a special event is often scheduled for the weekend at the end of the course. Special events will always be announced in advance during one of the closing sessions. The special event is not part of the course, but is offered to our students for additional English practice. Prior to the first class day, each student undergoes a pre-registration interview with one of the North American teachers. This interview is used to place each student in the class that matches their proficiency in speaking the English language. Class sizes are optimized to foster an informal and relaxed learning environment that encourages individual and small group practice.

Daily Class Schedule

The daily class includes: The opening session in which all students gather for announcements about the day's events English "warm-up" using North American songs (to improve vocabulary, rhythm of the language and pronunciation), pronunciation tips and practice techniques from the School Director The small group class time (up to 90 minutes) with the English teacher for exercises, vocabulary expansion and speaking practice Closing session where all students gather for announcements about the days ahead, additional speaking practice using North American songs, and tips and encouragement from the School Director

What We Ask of Our Students

Students must make a commitment to attend all lessons Students must complete all information requested on the registration form Students must attend at the same hour each day and attend only one lesson each day Students are responsible to have a pen or pencil and paper for personal note taking Students must participate in the speaking practice during the opening and closing sessions and the small group class times so as to receive the greatest benefit from the course Students must arrive on-time for the opening session and stay through the small-group class time and the closing session Students must always wear their student identification badge while at the course Students should attend all scheduled special events on Saturday or Sunday, if possible

Copyright 2012 Practically Speaking English

Page 1

Course Description Five Different Levels of Classes

Practically Speaking Conversational English

Our course offers five different levels of classes to match the student's proficiency in speaking the English language. Primary - For students who speak very little or no English we offer: Basic sentence structures How to form a question Pronouns Vocabulary of everyday American English words Individual and group speaking practice Beginner - For students who already have some vocabulary of everyday words and can make simple sentences and form simple questions we offer: Complex sentence structures with basic vocabulary Past, present, and future tenses Additional vocabulary of everyday American English words Practice for everyday events and situations Individual and group speaking practice Intermediate - For students who can speak in complex sentences, but may not have a broad vocabulary or demonstrate confidence in speaking English, we offer: Complex sentence structures with expanded vocabulary Idiomatic expressions Practice for everyday events and situations Additional vocabulary of everyday American English words Individual speaking practice Advanced - For students who are already comfortable speaking in complex sentences and demonstrate a moderate level of confidence, we offer: Extensive individual, contemporaneous speaking practice Complex sentence structures How to form special questions using American English variants Idiomatic expressions Additional vocabulary of everyday American English words and expressions Practice for everyday events and situations Individual speaking practice Superior - For students who already have a broad vocabulary, demonstrate a high level of confidence, and are able to express themselves on a broad range of topics, we offer: Extensive individual, contemporaneous speaking practice Additional vernacular vocabulary of American English words and expressions Idiomatic expressions Discussions of American life Additional vocabulary of everyday American English words and expressions Practice for everyday events and situations Practice for special events and situations

Copyright 2012 Practically Speaking English

Page 2

Course Description Curriculum

Practically Speaking Conversational English

The Practically Speaking Conversational English curriculum has been specially developed to provide intensive practice of useful and practical English. Individual practice and small group practice are used to multiply the amount of speaking time for each individual student during their small group class. The Total Physical Response (TPR, hearing, understanding, saying, doing) methodology is incorporated throughout the curriculum. Topics and vocabulary are specifically selected to provide English vocabulary and sentence structure that is immediately useful to the student. The curriculum is designed uniquely for each level of proficiency. Primary Topics Introduction to Fundamentals Everyday Objects Actions, Commands and Prepositions Food and Meals Clothes and Body Parts Around the House Meeting and Introducing People Time Concepts Intermediate Topics Get Acquainted Family Tour Around Town Around the House Into the Past and Future Occupations and Careers Time Expressions Mealtime Beginner Topics Fundamentals Everyday Objects and Actions Food and Meals Going Places Around the House Meeting and Introducing People Time Concepts Clothing and Weather Advanced/Superior Topics Get Acquainted Personal Interactions Around the Town Occupations and Careers Stress and Counseling Time Travel On the Scene Family Life

Learning Aids The curriculum materials include learning aids to enhance the learning experience. Visual aids consist of wall charts, cue cards, photographs and other objects (clocks, common objects, etc.). Hands-on learning aids (at the Primary and Beginner levels) consist of various objects that are used in group practice to complete the Total Physical Response loop (hearing, understanding, saying and doing).

Learning Objectives
At each level of proficiency (from Primary to Superior), the goals of the course are: Each student gains a mastery of the presented topics (commensurate to their level of proficiency) Generate in each student the knowledge, through experience, that they can learn English Give the student a model by which they can continue to expand their vocabulary and sentence construction Provide the student with methods and techniques by which they can continue to improve their pronunciation and confidence Instill confidence that when the student speaks, they can be understood Inspire each student to continue to study and practice English after this course is completed

Copyright 2012 Practically Speaking English

Page 3