Review of Grammar and Advanced Grammar and Usage
The grammar review covers the main problem areas of English grammar that cause difficulties to advanced students. Advanced grammar and usage covers areas which students might not have dealt with before.You will be given study notes and exercises for homework, which will then be discussed and corrected in class. The emphasis in class will be on practice rather than theory.
The number of items covered will vary with the length and level of the course, and the needs and interests of participants.
Items covered include tenses, modal and auxiliary verbs, phrasal verbs, subjunctive and unreal past, passive, conditionals, reporting, gerund and infinitive constructions, -ing forms, using participles, comparing and contrasting, prepositions, question tags & negative questions, relative clauses, articles & determiners, adverbs, adverbial clauses, it' constructions, conjunctions & connectors, inversion, word order and punctuation.
Spoken English
The communicative and student orientated approach of the courses means there will be considerable emphasis on spoken English. There will be a variety of grammar, vocabulary, role-play and interviewing activities done, working in pairs and small groups. This often involves discussing and comparing results with the rest of the class.The choice and presentation of material in the course is designed to encourage both informal discussion and more formal debates (e.g. "the pros and cons of private education").
Pronunciation
Careful attention will be paid to pronunciation throughout.Reading Comprehension, Text Analysis and Summary Writing
1. You will be given texts for homework study and class discussion. We shall examine the content, the type of text, its register, style and tone, vocabulary and points of grammar interest.2. We may do a summary in class, possibly with homework to follow.
3. The British Press: each student will be asked to buy a different newspaper and prepare a presentation discussing its language, layout, political orientation and readership.
4. If there is demand we may read and discuss a short story or poem.
Listening Comprehension
We may play and discuss an audio or video tape of an interview, discussion, news or other item. This will practise the skill of listening to different dialects and registers, as well as enlarging vocabulary.Vocabulary Expansion
In the topic based studies we shall cover various semantic fields such as education, politics, the media, the arts, character and personality description, and travel. Sometimes we shall provide word lists for preparation, followed by other activities and exercises.Reading and listening comprehension will provide a further focus for vocabulary work.
We shall do further practice with idioms, collocations, compound nouns, prefixes and suffixes, synonyms and antonyms, easily confused words, and false friends.
The approach throughout will be hands-on!
Written Work (Composition)
Course work will include a variety of written tasks. Essay writing is included as an option in Course A3, AT5 and A5. Students on other courses may choose to hand in an essay for comment & correction if interested.
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