Descripciones de los Niveles
ESL Class Level Descriptions

Beginning

The beginning level is for students that speak little to no English. Students can answer basic questions but cannot have a conversation. Students don’t understand much of what they read.

Students in the high beginning level have a very basic understanding of English sentences.

ESL 909: Low Beginning is for you if you:

• Can speak very little or almost no English
  

ESL 910: High Beginning is for you if you:

• Can answer basic questions, like “What is your name?” or answer “Yes” or “No”
  
• Can read a little but don’t understand much of what you read

Intermediate

The intermediate level is for students that speak some English. Students can have a conversation about work and family. When they read a short passage, they can tell what the topic is and explain one or two details. They can write short sentences.

Students in the high intermediate level can give more details about what they read and write longer sentences. Students have an understanding of past, present, and future tenses.

ESL 913: Low Intermediate is for you if you:

• Can talk about work and family or familiar topics
  
• Can read short passages, understand the main idea, and talk about one or two details
  
• Can write a short sentence

ESL 914: High Intermediate is for you if you:

• Can have a back and forth conversation about topics you know or read about
  
• Can read information on the internet or in newspapers, understand the main idea, and explain many details
  
• Can write sentences

Advanced

The advanced level is for students that can have an extended conversation. Students can understand most of what they read in a newspaper. When they read, they can tell what the topic is and give four or five details. They can give reasons that support an opinion. They can write five to eight sentences about a topic, including examples in varying verb tenses.

ESL 917: Advanced is for you if you:

• Can have an extended (back and forth) conversation
  
• Can read and understand most articles on the internet or in newspapers
  
• Can explain the articles to others
  
• Can support an opinion
  
• Can write a paragraph of 5 to 10 sentences about a topic and give examples

Intensive

ESL 918: Intensive English Speaking & Listening
This course is designed for Advanced ESL students and pre-college level students who wish to increase their speaking and listening skills in English. This course promotes more advanced listening comprehension and conversation practice. Students listen to and discuss a variety of content while acquiring the skills needed to have knowledgeable and opinionated conversations about the content with native speakers of English in academic, vocational, and social contexts. Instruction focuses on authentic communication for home, work, community, and educational needs.

Students will improve their listening and speaking skills by:

• Listening to a variety of sources to practice comprehension and to increase vocabulary
  
• Speaking informally and formally or by delivering practiced speeches
  
• Practicing vocabulary and grammatical structures while speaking

ESL 919: Intensive English Reading & Writing
This course is designed for Advanced ESL students and pre-college level students who wish to increase their reading and writing skills in English. This course prepares Advanced ESL students to enroll in credit academic and/or pre-college courses such as ENG 121. This course emphasizes the understanding and analyzing of a variety of authentic and literary texts of varying lengths and difficulty, as well as developing writing skills to produce clear and coherent writing. This course emphasizes written fluency and communication by integrating language functions and forms with appropriate research sources, skills, and topics. The course promotes the continued development of reading and writing and the building of vocabulary within academic and vocational contexts.

Students will improve their reading and writing skills by:

• Reading passages from a variety of sources for comprehension and discussion
  
• Analyzing main ideas and supporting details
  
• Writing paragraphs and essays using advanced grammar
• Expanding vocabulary required for academic classes and for work

ESL 920: Intensive English Grammar & Vocabulary
This course is designed for Advanced ESL students and pre-college level students who wish to increase grammatical competence and vocabulary in English. Students will review intermediate grammar and practice advanced structures with increased emphasis on written and oral communication. Skills include simple and perfect tenses, active and passive voices, gerunds and infinitive complements, complex sentences, noun clauses, hypothetical statements, and refined article use.

Students will improve their grammar and vocabulary skills by:

• Using parts of speech accurately
  
• Writing complex sentences using simple, continuous, past, and perfect tenses in the active and passive voice
  
• Expanding vocabulary required for academic classes and for work