This syllabus is for a Freshmen Inquiry Writing Seminar, which is a two-section, collaboratively taught course wherein one of the two courses engages students in critical thinking, reading, and writing about the issue of language and literacy, while the other introduces students to conventions of academic writing and mentors them in social and rhetorical writing processes. Thus, this course draws on the topic of language and literacy as a vehicle for critically analyzing students' own languages and literacies and developing especially their academic and information literacies.

A seven-week module for high intermediate ESL students who need to develop better listening comprehension and oral skills. The workshop involves short speaking and listening assignments with extensive exercises in accurate comprehension, pronunciation, stress and intonation, and expression of ideas.

Created for Washtenaw Community College's low intermediate ESL students, this OER writing textbook covers writing sentences, summaries, opinions, and narratives, as well as improving spelling and grammar.

The Mathematics of Nutrition Science is a workbook designed to integrate and contextualize developmental mathematics into an introductory college level Nutrition class. Definitions and skills from Community College Level Elementary Algebra and Quantitative Literacy courses are explained through examples analyzing the nutritional content of different foods. The book contains exercises for students to practice these skills, and also to reflect on the concepts through short writing assignments aligned with developmental English. These materials could be used by Nutrition course instructor in many different ways, and are designed to be self-contained and require minimal mathematical instruction.

In this course, we examine contemporary discourse and practice around writing instruction in the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. School-based composition is often framed and assessed as a specific set of discrete skills that can be developed through decontextualized “best practices.” We will interrogate the assumptions about writing and literacy that sustain these practices and contextualize them within larger (settler) colonial projects. Ultimately, we will develop our own writing philosophies and associated curricular innovations and pedagogical moves.

Specifically, throughout this course, we will:

Review the social, historical, and political contexts that shape contemporary approaches to standards-based writing instruction
Investigate our assumptions about the writing process and our conceptions of “good” writing
Explore the challenges, tensions, and possibilities of a decolonial educational framework
Develop a range of creative, collaborative, and nontraditional approaches to standards-based writing instruction

Read more about the course design:
Mina Rees Library | Drafting Possible Futures
https://gclibrary.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2020/05/06/oer-drafting-possible-futures/

See also: Drafting Possible Futures: An Open-Access Handbook for English Educators
Link: https://764handbook.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
This website was collaboratively created by students enrolled in Multimodal Writing in the Standards-Based ELA Classroom. Students wrote the introduction and all chapters, and two student editors reviewed all pieces and created the website design. The result is a document that can be used by any ELA teachers as well as future English Education students.

This book contains nine short stories about people and places of Portland, Oregon written for beginner students of English (lexile range of 300-500). Each story has approximately 150-250 words. It is formatted as a picture book with approximately 1-3 sentences per illustration. Each story is accompanied by a set of self-correcting comprehension questions and a speaking prompt. All images are public domain except where noted in the alt text.

A one page handout to illustrate and practice concepts of abstraction argument and explanation. There are suggested activities using the handout and for generating other similar assignments.

This worksheet offers a quick, five minute review of positive, comparative, and superlative forms of adjectives and models for correct usage. Sometimes students will apply the "add er" rule to all adjectives in the superlative form, even those of three or more syllables that require only "more." Sometimes students will confuse "than" and "then" when making a comparison.

Descripción del curso
SPA203 - (For native or near-native speakers.) The grammatical structure of today's standard Spanish. Intensive practice in reading, speaking, and elementary composition.
En SPA203 vamos a explorar la relación entre el lenguaje y la diversidad en el marco de los derechos humanos fundamentales. El título del curso, “¿qué hacemos con la lengua?”, nos pregunta dos cosas: qué tipo de prejuicios perpetuamos por medio del lenguaje y cómo hacer para que la lengua albergue de manera efectiva la diversidad de nuestra sociedad. En un contexto actual, sorprendente estancado en la indiferencia, la ignorancia, el prejuicio y estigmatización de quienes son diferentes bajo excusas de todo signo, urge más que nunca tomar conciencia del mundo diverso en el que vivimos, desarrollar nuestra empatía (tanto en el lenguaje, como en los actos), fomentar la equidad como horizonte deseable para nuestra sociedad y considerar un lenguaje que funcione como herramienta de concientización y de cambio.
Con este impulso como hilo de discusión, en el curso trabajaremos la competencia lingüística y la mejora en la fluidez de español tanto a nivel oral como escrito, con privilegio del registro formal o culto. Pese a esta prioridad, el curso se enmarca en un reconocimiento de nuestra capacidad translingüe (somos poseedores de un continuo lingüístico que abraza lenguas sin separación natural) y ofrecerá una posición autocrítica frente a consideraciones prescriptivas y sesgos elitistas aun prevalentes en la enseñanza de la lengua. Los aspectos gramaticales estudiados estarán basados en las necesidades del grupo y tendrán un carácter eminentemente práctico.
Dedicaremos la primera parte del curso a entender aspectos esenciales de nuestra lengua: la importancia de nuestros nombres, qué características tiene el habla de herencia y qué es translenguar, cuál es el origen del español, qué son los niveles lingüísticos y qué trabajan estos niveles, de qué hablamos cuando hablamos de las variaciones de una lengua (dialectos, registros), y de qué hablamos cuando trabajamos la norma lingüística y el llamado español “neutro”. A continuación, nos plantearemos cómo hacer para que el lenguaje responda a la realidad social. A través de lecturas de textos, visionados de vídeos y debates, revisaremos conceptos fundamentales en nuestra sociedad como son los derechos humanos, la noción de privilegio, la discriminación lingüística (glotofobia y hablismo), cómo se manifiesta el racismo y el sentimiento anti-inmigrante en el lenguaje, que diferencia hay entre lo políticamente correcto y el lenguaje no discriminatorio, qué es el feminismo y que sentido tiene la interseccionalidad, que categorías definen nuestras identidad de género y orientación afectivo-sexual, qué términos deberíamos en casos de discapacidad y neurodiversidad, respectivamente, y por último hasta qué punto nuestra identidad procede de una raíz múltiple. A través de presentaciones, el grupo de clase compartirá su conocimiento o descubrimiento de aquellas comunidades comúnmente silenciadas cuando pensamos en la comunidad hispana y latina.
Se trata de un curso presencial, de asistencia obligatoria, ofertada para hablantes de herencia. Las sesiones y lecturas estarán, fundamentalmente, en español, con excepciones puntuales.

SPA 2201HS Spanish for Heritage Speakers is an intermediate course intended for students who were immersed in or exposed to the language while growing up, but who have received little or no formal instruction in Spanish. Strengthens students‰Ûª competence in the oral and written standard varieties of Spanish by building on their previous knowledge to expand their vocabulary, strengthen their command of grammar, and achieve more confidence and fluency in speaking and writing while learning about the diversity of the Hispanic cultures. The skills acquired in this course will help reinforce students‰Ûª bilingual abilities and cultural competence.

This book contains nine short stories about natural wonders of Oregon written for high-beginner/low-intermediate students of English (lexile range of 500-600). Each story is approximately 225-250 words long and features a picture, a set of self-correcting comprehension questions, a writing prompt, and full citations of sources with links.

Visual narratives in silent films are an effective method for developing linguistic competence in English language education and are equally constructive in developing critical thinking skills across disciplines. “Silent film, more than any other film property, capitalizes on ESL students’ visual literacy, using it as both a foundation and a catalyst for honing the verbal language skills that are key to acquiring and articulating complex knowledge in English” (Kasper and Singer, 2001). Silent films rely on the power of vivid, interactive visual imagery to depict personal struggles, character interactions, and plot development. This medium grabs the attention of ESL students and gives them time to absorb what is happening in the film without being distracted by dialogue. The silent film significantly lowers the affective filter (Krashen, 1986) and is highly conducive to promoting the development of linguistic skills. Krashen (1986) cites motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety in the Affective Filter Hypothesis as three categories of variables that play a role in second language acquisition.

Development and expansion of listening, reading, speaking and writing; comprehension, idiomatic expressions, and analysis. Varieties of the regional Spanish language, in such features as syntax, usage, structure, and pronunciation. Performance and diagnostic portfolio-based assessment. Includes preparation for New York State bilingual (Spanish-English) certification. This course is oriented towards language heritage and Latina/o/x/e/students who are preparing to work as professionals in Latine/x communities as teachers, lawyers, social workers, and other service professions. Some background and intermediate knowledge of the Spanish language is required. The course is strongly recommended for students in the Bilingual Teacher Education Program in the K-6 (Childhood) sequence.

Designed to develop students’ understanding of different theories that have been developed to explain the process of acquisition of second languages and of the interaction between such theories and strategies for maintaining and developing bilingualism.

This course was created as part of the Open Pedagogy Fellowship, through the Mina Rees Library at The Graduate Center, CUNY.

This playlist and handout include works by (and various quotations and media related to) Toni Cade Bambara.

This Open Access Textbook will guide students through their English language to academic degree studies.

Part one of this textbook is a guide for moving from ESL study to academic study at Portland State University*. It includes the resources students will use to understand policies and processes governing their degree study and their transition to academic coursework.

Part two focuses on how academic skills are used across various disciplines and is comprised of activities and assignments designed to practice these skills.

Key elements include culture and expectations in an American university, transferring academic skills from ESL to content-specific academic courses, and helpful exercises to be academically successful.

In WAC and Second-Language Writers, the editors and contributors pursue the ambitious goal of including within WAC theory, research, and practice the differing perspectives, educational experiences, and voices of second-language writers. The chapters within this collection not only report new research but also share a wealth of pedagogical, curricular, and programmatic practices relevant to second-language writers. Representing a range of institutional perspectives—including those of students and faculty at public universities, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and English-language schools—and a diverse set of geographical and cultural contexts, the editors and contributors report on work taking place in the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.