COMPACT
COLLEGE: How To Use This Site
Students:
This site should be used to your best advantage. The skills, vocabulary and
information are complex and build upon each other. There are links to
dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias, knowledge bases and atlases that
deepen and broaden the knowledge, information and insights available to you.
(See the Information Center.)
Professionals: This site is an ideal supplement for any Adult Basic
Education/English Language learning offerings that your institution sponsors. In
combination with the website, American English Express can be used to teach,
review or reinforce English language learning, critical thinking and/or American
civics.
The
pedagogy integrates the teaching of communication skills (reading, writing,
speaking) with 'critical thinking' skills. The approach is "step by
step" and avoids reliance on a multitude of rules. Rather, the use of
formal and informal language, as well as slang, is discussed and presented in
narrative form in the context of American history and western culture. Readings
include the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America,
the Bill of Rights and the preamble to the Constitution of the United
States of America.
Each
student reader is able to work at his or her own pace. Each can advance quickly
through sessions that are more familiar and can spend more time with those areas
of individual weakness. Highlights include a list of formal and informal
language "do's and don'ts", top critical thinking skills, dangerous
homonyms and especially difficult grammar issues.
The
website also includes a basic grammar review (the Basic American English
Express), a slang glossary, explanations of historical references and
definitions of terms.
The site is constructed so that students can follow their interests by using the
links, moving from introductory to increasingly complex content pages (e.g.,
Ancient Greeks) and, ultimately, to free on-line encyclopedias and dictionaries. This is part of the overall
effort to instill a love of learning and to provide the life long learning
skills American citizens require.
In
the classroom, this approach has been extremely effective for the adult
returning to school, the GED student and recent immigrants. Freshman college
students and recent High School graduates have consistently found the approach
very rewarding.
Copyright: 2004 English 4 All, Inc.
