Basic Module
Ministry Code ESLAO
Listening and Speaking
One of the focuses in the basic class is learning vocabulary through speaking and listening to various media resources such as, movies, videos, and music. Students learn new words in order to be able to identify main ideas and details when listening to radio, news, and other media excerpts. Lessons are planned and designed according to the Ministry of Education ESL curriculum. To fulfill curricular expectations teachers use but are not limited to units from the North Star textbook. Teachers are also encouraged to incorporate into their teaching current events, and students’ interests to make the learning more authentic and applicable. Finally, the size of the basic class is kept small so that the students receive the necessary attention in order to succeed in the next level.
Reference: Northstar Listening and Speaking Level 1, Third Edition
Reading and Writing
The central focus of this level is to equip students with essential reading and writing skills. Thus, students will learn to identify main ideas and read for details in short texts, make inferences and read a chart. Readings range from informational brochures and newspaper articles to letters and interviews. Vocabulary exercises tackle issues such as, word definition, context clue use, vocabulary classification. Concomitantly, the grammar exercises introduced (e.g., the simple present, past, and future tenses), help students with their writing pieces. The writing section of this level proposes writing assignments such as, completing sentences, making a list, composing a letter to the editor.
Reference: Northstar Reading and Writing Level 1, Third Edition
Grammar and Sentence Structure
The course teaches the Basic English grammar – the formal rules and basic structures of the language– in a variety of contexts. As such, the course textbook familiarizes students with specific grammatical issues (e.g., the verb be: present and past) and language structures (e.g., the preset progressive: affirmative and negative statements). The unit exercises are thematically related to one another and follow a four-step approach which reiterates at all the higher levels:
-grammar in context – shows the new structures in natural contexts (articles, interviews)
-grammar presentation – presents the structure in clear and accessible charts, notes, etc
-focused practice – of both form and meaning of the new structure is provided in numerous exercises
-communication practice – allows students to use the new structure freely and creatively in motivating open-ended activities.*
Reference: Focus on Grammar 2 – An Integrated Skills Approach, Third Edition
