NOTE: The colors are provided as a possible linear progression (red/easiest to violet/most challenging) for people that might prefer a more linear structure. Our core philosophy is that through creativity every color can be made easy or challenging for any learning level.

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

• Beginning speech etiquette
  • listening and learning which words are taboo, indoor vs outdoor voice, etc.

• Sounds around me
  • consonants and vowels in the English language, short and long
  • pronunciations by different people

LINGUISTICS

• Beginning vocabulary skills
  • learning words and using words in context

• Beginning writing skills
  • learning to form letters and sentences

COMMUNICATIONS

• Learning how to understand and speak your native language/s
  • identify and sort common words in basic categories (e.g., colors, shapes, foods)
  • describe common objects and events in both general and specific language

• Ask and answer questions about essential elements of a text

LITERATURE

• Beginning reading
  • recognize and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet
  • distinguish letters from words and sentences
  • count the number of sounds in syllables and syllables in words
  • recognize that sentences in print are made up of separate words

• Practicing reading
  • generate the sounds from all the letters and letter patterns
  • read aloud with fluency in a manner that sounds like natural speech

NOTE: The colors are provided as a possible linear progression (red/easiest to violet/most challenging) for people that might prefer a more linear structure. Our core philosophy is that through creativity every color can be made easy or challenging for any learning level.

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

• Noticing differences in language choices in different settings
  • in the family, with peers, with older people, with strangers, etc.

• Understanding and imitating language varieties of different areas (dialects)

• Structures of different codes: practicing code-switching

• Learning about diglossia and multilingualism and their influence on language choices

LINGUISTICS

• Word analysis, fluency, and vocabulary development
  • understand and explain common antonyms and synonyms
  • use knowledge of antonyms, synonyms, homophones, and homographs to determine the meanings of words
  • know the meaning of simple prefixes and suffixes
  • identify simple multiple-meaning words
  • use sentence and word context to find the meaning of unknown words
  • use a dictionary to learn the meaning and other features of unknown words

• Developing writing skills
  • recognize and use the correct word order in written sentences
  • use commas in the greeting and closure of a letter and with dates and items in a series
  • use quotation marks correctly
  • capitalize all proper nouns, words at the beginning of sentences and greetings, months and days of the week, titles and initials of people, geographical names, holidays, historical periods, and special events correctly
  • developing penmanship: write fluidly and legibly in cursive or joined italic
  • learning typing

• Creating multiple-paragraph compositions
  • select a focus, an organizational structure, and a point of view based upon purpose, audience, length, and format requirements
  • provide an introductory paragraph
  • establish and support a central idea with a topic sentence at or near the beginning of the first paragraph
  • include supporting paragraphs with simple facts, details, and explanations
  • conclude with a paragraph that summarizes the points
  • use correct indention
  • use traditional structures for conveying information (e.g., chronological order, cause and effect, similarity and difference, etc.)

• Learning about major parts of speech
  • the Noun (and the Article)
  • the Verb (Modal verbs and words)
  • the Adjective
  • the Adverb

COMMUNICATIONS

• Developing comprehension (intermediate level of learning)
  • Listen attentively, determine the purpose or purposes of listening (e.g., to obtain information, to solve problems, for enjoyment)
  • Ask questions for clarification and understanding
  • Retell, paraphrase, and explain what has been said by a speaker
  • Use traditional structures for conveying information (e.g., cause and effect, similarity and difference, posing and answering a question)
  • Emphasize points in ways that help the listener or viewer to follow important ideas and concepts
  • Connect and relate prior experiences, insights, and ideas to those of a speaker
  • Respond to questions with appropriate elaboration
  • Identify the musical elements of literary language (e.g., rhymes, repeated sounds, instances of onomatopoeia)
  • Give, restate, and follow simple two-step, three- and four-step oral directions
  • Give precise directions and instructions

• Organization and delivery of oral communication
  • Stay on the topic when speaking
  • Use descriptive words when speaking about people, places, things, and events
  • Report on a topic with supportive facts and details, drawing from several sources of information
  • Speak clearly and at an appropriate pace for the type of communication (e.g., informal discussion, report to class)
  • Organize ideas chronologically or around major points of information
  • Provide a beginning, a middle, and an end, including concrete details that develop a central idea
  • Present effective introductions and conclusions that guide and inform the listener’s understanding of important ideas and evidence
  • Use clear and specific vocabulary to communicate ideas and establish the tone
  • Clarify and enhance oral presentations through the use of appropriate props (e.g., objects, pictures, charts)
  • Use details, examples, anecdotes, or experiences to explain or clarify information
  • Use volume, pitch, phrasing, pace, modulation, and gestures appropriately to enhance meaning

Speaking practice
• • Retell stories, including characters, setting, and plot, using basic story grammar and relating the sequence of story events by answering who, what, when, where, why, and how questions
  • Make brief narrative presentations

a. Provide a context for an incident that is the subject of the presentation

b. Provide insight into why the selected incident is memorable

c. Include well-chosen details to develop character, setting, and plot

• • Plan and present dramatic interpretations of experiences, stories, poems, or plays with clear diction, pitch, tempo, and tone
  • Make descriptive presentations that use concrete sensory details to set forth and support unified impressions of people, places, things, or experiences
  • Relate an important life event or personal experience in a simple sequence
  • Provide descriptions with careful attention to sensory detail

• Analyze and evaluate oral and media communication
  • Compare ideas and points of view expressed in broadcast and print media
  • Distinguish between the speaker’s opinions and verifiable facts
  • Evaluate the role of the media in focusing attention on events and in forming opinions on issues

LITERATURE

Consider using watered down versions of the classics to teach these skills

• Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text
  • State the purpose in reading (i.e., tell what information is sought)
  • Use knowledge of the author’s purpose(s) to comprehend informational text
  • Use appropriate strategies when reading for different purposes (e.g., full comprehension, location of information, personal enjoyment)
  • Identify the speaker or narrator in a selection
  • Determine the underlying theme or author’s message in fiction and nonfiction text
  • Distinguish between cause and effect and between fact and opinion in expository text
  • Interpret information from diagrams, charts, and graphs
  • Make and confirm predictions about text by using prior knowledge and ideas presented in the text itself, including illustrations, titles, topic sentences, important words, and foreshadowing clues
  • Compare and contrast plots, settings, and characters presented by different authors
  • Generate alternative endings to plots and identify the reason or reasons for, and the impact of, the alternatives
  • Compare and contrast different versions of the same stories that reflect different cultures
  • Comprehend basic plots of classic fairy tales, myths, folktales, legends, and fables from around the world
  • Determine what characters are like by what they say or do and by how the author or illustrator portrays them
  • Evaluate new information and hypotheses by testing them against known information and ideas
  • Compare and contrast information on the same topic after reading several passages or articles
  • Identify the use of rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration in poetry
  • Define figurative language (e.g., simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification) and identify its use in literary works
  • Recall major points in the text and make and modify predictions about forthcoming information
  • Distinguish the main idea and supporting details in expository text
  • Extract appropriate and significant information from the text, including problems and solutions

• Use pictures and context to make predictions about story content

• Recite poems, rhymes, songs, and stories

• Read prose and poetry aloud with fluency, rhythm, and pace, using appropriate intona­tion and vocal patterns to emphasize important passages of the text being read

NOTE: The colors are provided as a possible linear progression (red/easiest to violet/most challenging) for people that might prefer a more linear structure. Our core philosophy is that through creativity every color can be made easy or challenging for any learning level.

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

• Learning about the social role of language in society

• Experiencing connection between language use and social behaviour

• Experiencing connection between language use and human interaction

• Language choice as a reflexion of cultural values and norms of politeness, deference, and status

• Discovering the specific patterns or social rules for conducting conversation and discourse (e.g. rules for opening and closing a conversation, how to take conversational turns, or how to tell a story or joke). The notion of communicative competence

LINGUISTICS

• Improving writing skills
  • Identify and correctly use prepositional phrases, appositives, and independent and dependent clauses; use transitions and conjunctions to connect ideas
  • Identify and correctly use verbs that are often misused (e.g., lie/lay, sit/set, rise/raise), modifiers, and pronouns
  • Use a colon to separate hours and minutes and to introduce a list; use quotation marks around the exact words of a speaker and titles of poems, songs, short stories, and so forth
  • Use correct capitalization
  • Spell roots, suffixes, prefixes, contractions, and syllable constructions correctly
  • Choose the form of writing (e.g., personal letter, letter to the editor, review, poem, report, narrative) that best suits the intended purpose
  • Use a variety of effective and coherent organizational patterns, including comparison and contrast organization by categories; and arrangement by spatial order, order of importance, or climactic order
  • Learning about syntax
    • Word Order
    • Simple Sentence
    • Parts of the Sentence: the Subject, the Predicate, Agreement of the Predicate with the Subject, the Object, the Attribute, the Adverbial Modifier
  • Detached (loose) parts of the sentence
  • The independent elements of the sentence
  • Sentences with homogeneous parts
  • The Compound Sentence
  • The Complex Sentence: Subject clauses, Predicative clauses, Object clauses, Attributive clauses, Attributive relative clauses, Attributive appositive clauses, and Adverbial clauses of time, place, cause, purpose, condition, concession,  result, manner, comparison
  • The compound-complex sentence
  • The Sequence of Tenses
  • Indirect Speech
  • Punctuation

• Writing clear, coherent, and focused narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive texts of at least 500 to 700 words in each genre (narratives,  responses to literature, research reports, persuasive letters or compositions)
  • Create multiple-paragraph narrative compositions
    • Establish and develop a situation or plot
    • Describe the setting
    • Present an ending
  • Create multiple-paragraph expository compositions
    • Establish a topic, important ideas, or events in sequence or chronological order
    • Provide details and transitional expressions that link one paragraph to another in a clear line of thought
    • Offer a concluding paragraph that summarizes important ideas and details

• Vocabulary and concept development
  • Use word origins to determine the meaning of unknown words
  • Recognize the origins and meanings of frequently used foreign words in English and use these words accurately in speaking and writing
  • Understand and explain frequently used synonyms, antonyms, and homographs
  • Know abstract, derived roots and affixes from Greek and Latin and use this knowledge to analyze the meaning of complex words (e.g., controversial)
  • Understand and explain the figurative and metaphorical use of words in context
  • Understand and explain “shades of meaning” in related words (e.g., softly and quietly)

• Learning about minor parts of speech
  • the Participle
  • the Gerund
  • the Infinitive
  • the Pronoun
  • the Numeral
  • the Interjection
  • the Conjunction
  • Prepositions

• Using technology
  • Use organizational features of printed text (e.g., citations, end notes, bibliographic references, bulletin boards, databases, keyword searches, e-mail addresses) to locate relevant information
  • Create simple documents by using electronic media and employing organizational features (e.g., passwords, entry and pull-down menus, word searches, a thesaurus, spell checks)
  • Compose documents with appropriate formatting by using word-processing skills and principles of design (e.g., margins, tabs, spacing, columns, page orientation)
  • Use a thesaurus to identify alternative word choices and meanings

• Self-evaluation and revision:Edit and revise manuscripts to improve the meaning and focus of writing by adding, deleting, consolidating, clarifying, and rearranging words and sentences
  • Revise writing to improve the organization and consistency of ideas within and between paragraphs

COMMUNICATIONS

• Developing comprehension (advanced level of learning)
  • Summarize major ideas and supporting evidence presented in spoken messages and formal presentations
  • Ask questions that seek information not already discussed
  • Interpret a speaker’s verbal and nonverbal messages, purposes, and perspectives
  • Make inferences or draw conclusions based on an oral report
  • Relate the speaker’s verbal communication (e.g., word choice, pitch, feeling, tone) to the nonverbal message (e.g., posture, gesture)
  • Identify the tone, mood, and emotion conveyed in the oral communication

• Organization and delivery of oral communication
  • Present effective introductions and conclusions that guide and inform the listener’s understanding of important ideas and evidence
  • Select a focus, organizational structure, and point of view for an oral presentation, matching the purpose, message, occasion, and vocal modulation to the audience
  • Use traditional structures for conveying information (e.g., cause and effect, similarity and difference, posing and answering a question)
  • Emphasize salient points in ways that help the listener or viewer to follow important ideas and concepts
  • Clarify and support spoken ideas with evidence and examples
  • Use details, examples, anecdotes, or experiences to explain or clarify information
  • Engage the audience with appropriate verbal cues and facial expressions
  • Use effective rate, volume, pitch, phrasing, pace, modulation, and  tone and align nonverbal elements appropriately to enhance meaning and sustain audience interest and attention

• Speaking practice
  • Ask thoughtful questions and respond to relevant questions with appropriate elaboration in oral settings
  • Give precise directions and instructions
  • Deliver oral summaries of articles and books that contain the main ideas of the event or article and the most significant details
  • Make presentations
    • Narrative presentations
      • a. Relate ideas, observations, or recollections about an event or experience
      • b. Provide a context that enables the listener to imagine the circumstances of the event or experience
      • c. Provide insight into why the selected event or experience is memorable
    • Informational presentations
      • a. Frame a key question
      • b. Include facts and details that help listeners to focus
      • c. Incorporate more than one source of information (e.g., speakers, books, newspapers, television or radio reports)
    • Deliver oral responses to literature
      • a. Summarize significant events and details
      • b. Articulate an understanding of several ideas or images communicated by the literary work
      • c. Use examples or textual evidence from the work to support conclusions
    • Deliver persuasive presentations
      • a. Provide a clear statement of the position
      • b. Include relevant evidence
      • c. Offer a logical sequence of information
      • d. Engage the listener and foster acceptance of the proposition or proposal
    • Deliver presentations on problems and solutions
      • a. Theorize on the causes and effects of each problem and establish connections between the defined problem and at least one solution
      • b. Offer persuasive evidence to validate the definition of the problem and the proposed  solutions
    • Recite brief poems (i.e., two or three stanzas), soliloquies, or dramatic dialogues, using clear diction, tempo, volume, and phrasing

• Analyze and evaluate oral and media communication
  • Evaluate the role of the media in focusing attention on events and in forming opinions on issues
  • Identify, analyze, and critique persuasive techniques (e.g., promises, dares, flattery, glittering generalities); identify logical fallacies used in oral presentations and media messages
  • Analyze media as sources for information, entertainment, persuasion, interpretation of events, and transmission of culture
  • Analyze the use of rhetorical devices (e.g., cadence, repetitive patterns, use of onomato­poeia) for intent and effect
  • Identify persuasive and propaganda techniques used in television and identify false and misleading information

• Connect the information and events in texts to your own life experiences

• Clarify and support spoken ideas with evidence and examples
  • Use details, examples, anecdotes, or experiences to explain or clarify information
  • Engage the audience with appropriate verbal cues and facial expressions
  • Use effective rate, volume, pitch, phrasing, pace, modulation, and  tone and align nonverbal elements appropriately to enhance meaning and sustain audience interest and attention

LITERATURE

• Analyze structural features of informational materials
  • Understand how text features (e.g., format, graphics, sequence, diagrams, illustrations, charts, maps) make information accessible and usable
  • Identify the structural features of popular media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, online information) and use the features to obtain information
  • Analyze text that is organized in sequential or chronological order
  • Analyze text that uses the compare-and-contrast organizational pattern

• Analyze structural features of literature
  • Identify and analyze the characteristics of poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction and explain the appropriateness of the literary forms chosen by an author for a specific purpose
  • Identify the forms of fiction and describe the major characteristics of each form

• Comprehend and analyze grade-level-appropriate text
  • Discern main ideas and concepts presented in texts, identifying and assessing evidence that supports those ideas
  • Connect and clarify main ideas by identifying their relationships to other sources and related topics
  • Clarify an understanding of texts by creating outlines, logical notes, summaries, or reports
  • Draw inferences, conclusions, or generalizations about text and support them with textual evidence and prior knowledge

• Do narrative analysis of grade-level-appropriate text
  • Identify the main problem or conflict of the plot and explain how it is resolved
  • Contrast the actions, motives (e.g., loyalty, selfishness, conscientiousness), and appear­ances of characters in a work of fiction and discuss the importance of the contrasts to the plot or theme
  • Analyze the effect of the qualities of the character (e.g., courage or cowardice, ambition or laziness) on the plot and the resolution of the conflict
  • Understand that theme refers to the meaning or moral of a selection and recognize themes (whether implied or stated directly) in sample works
  • Analyze the influence of setting on the problem and its resolution
  • Define how tone or meaning is conveyed in poetry through word choice, figurative language, sentence structure, line length, punctuation, rhythm, repetition, and rhyme
  • Identify the speaker and recognize the difference between first- and third-person narration (e.g., autobiography compared with biography)
  • Identify and analyze features of themes conveyed through characters, actions, and images
  • Describe the function and effect of common literary devices (e.g., imagery, metaphor, symbolism)

• Provide expository critique and express literary criticism
  • Distinguish facts, supported inferences, and opinions in text
  • Determine the adequacy and appropriateness of the evidence for an author’s conclusions
  • Make reasonable assertions about a text through accurate, supporting citations
  • Note instances of unsupported inferences, fallacious reasoning, persuasion, and propa­ganda in text
  • Evaluate the meaning of archetypal patterns and symbols that are found in myth and tradition by using literature from different eras and cultures
  • Evaluate the author’s use of various techniques (e.g., appeal of characters in a picture book, logic and credibility of plots and settings, use of figurative language) to influence readers’ perspectives
  • Critique the credibility of characterization and the degree to which a plot is contrived or realistic (e.g., compare use of fact and fantasy in historical fiction)

NOTE: The colors are provided as a possible linear progression (red/easiest to violet/most challenging) for people that might prefer a more linear structure. Our core philosophy is that through creativity every color can be made easy or challenging for any learning level.

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

• Regional dialects of the USA

• Regional dialects of the UK

• Comparison of American and British language varieties

• Comparison of American and Canadian language varieties

• Comparison of American English and language varieties of Australia and New Zealand

• Comparison of American and Indian language varieties

• The English language in the countries where it is second native or foreign

LINGUISTICS

• Using proper grammar and mechanics of writing
  • Identify and correctly use clauses (e.g., main and subordinate), phrases (e.g., gerund, infinitive, and participial), sentence construction (e.g., parallel structure, subordination, proper place­ment of modifiers), and mechanics of punctuation (e.g.,  quotation marks, commas at end of dependent clauses, semicolons, colons, ellipses, hyphens,  dashes, brackets)
  • Demonstrate an understanding of proper English usage (e.g., consistency of verb tenses) and control of grammar, paragraph and sentence structure, diction, and syntax
  • Use correct and varied sentence types and sentence openings to present a lively and effective personal style
  • Spell derivatives correctly by applying the spellings of bases and affixes
  • Use correct capitalization
  • Proper use of time and aspect forms (Perfect / Non-Perfect and Continuous / Non-Continuous)

• Developing vocabulary
  • Use knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon roots and affixes to understand content-area vocabulary
  • Trace the etymology of significant terms used in political science and history
  • Apply knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon roots and affixes to draw inferences concerning the meaning of scientific and mathematical terminology
  • Discern the meaning of analogies encountered, analyzing specific comparisons as well as relationships and inferences
  • Clarify word meanings through the use of definition, restatement, example, comparison, or contrast
  • Stylistic differentiation in the English vocabulary

• Understand the most important points in the history of English language and use com­mon word origins to determine the historical influences on English word meanings
• Write texts of different genres (at least 500 to 700)
  • Write fictional or autobiographical narratives
    • Develop a standard plot line (having a beginning, conflict, rising action, climax, and denouement) and point of view
    • Develop complex major and minor characters and a definite setting
    • Use a range of appropriate strategies (e.g., dialogue; suspense; naming of specific narrative action, including movement, gestures, and expressions)
  • Write biographies, autobiographies, short stories, or narratives
    • Relate a clear, coherent incident, event, or situation by using well-chosen details
    • Reveal the significance of, or the writer’s attitude about, the subject
    • Employ narrative and descriptive strategies (e.g., relevant dialogue, specific action, physical description, background description, comparison or contrast of characters)
  • Write responses to literature
    • Develop interpretations exhibiting careful reading, understanding, and insight
    • Organize interpretations around several clear ideas, premises, or images from the literary work
    • Justify interpretations through sustained use of examples and textual evidence
  • Write expository compositions, including analytical essays and research reports
    • Marshal evidence in support of a thesis and related claims, including information on all relevant perspectives
    • Convey information and ideas from primary and secondary sources accurately and coherently
    • Make distinctions between the relative value and significance of specific data, facts, and ideas
    • Include visual aids by employing appropriate technology to organize and record information on charts, maps, and graphs
    • Anticipate and address readers’ potential misunderstandings, biases, and expectations
    • Use technical terms and notations accurately
  • Write persuasive compositions
    • State a clear position or perspective in support of a proposition or proposal
    • Describe the points in support of the proposition, employing well-articulated evidence
    • Anticipate and address reader concerns and counterarguments
  • Write summaries of reading materials
    • Include the main ideas and most significant details
    • Use the student’s own words, except for quotations
    • Reflect underlying meaning, not just the superficial details
  • Write documents related to career development, including job applications
    • Present information purposefully and succinctly and meet the needs of the intended audience
    • Follow the conventional format for the type of document (e.g., letter of inquiry, memorandum)
  • Write business letters
    • Provide clear and purposeful information and address the intended audience appropriately
    • Use appropriate vocabulary, tone, and style to take into account the nature of the relationship with, and the knowledge and interests of, the recipients
    • Highlight central ideas or images
    • Follow a conventional style with page formats, fonts, and spacing that contribute to the documents’ readability and impact
  • Write technical documents (e.g., a manual on rules of behavior for conflict resolution, procedures for conducting a meeting, minutes of a meeting)
    • Report information and convey ideas logically and correctly
    • Offer detailed and accurate specifications
    • Include scenarios, definitions, and examples to aid comprehension (e.g., troubleshoot­ing guide)
    • Anticipate readers’ problems, mistakes, and misunderstandings

• Figures of speech based on repetition of linguistic units (alliteration, assonance, anaphora, anadiplosis, syntactic parallelism, chiasmus, polysyndeton, antithesis, epiphora)
• Understand and differentiate functional styles in the English language
• Figures of Speech based on arrangement of linguistic units (simile, periphrasis, climax, anticlimax, aposiopesis, ellipsis, suspense, enumeration, attachment, detachment, inversion, asyndeton)

• Understand cohesion and use cohesive elements in your language
  • Make clear references between pronouns and antecedents
  • Identify and use parallelism, including similar grammatical forms, in all written dis­course to present items in a series and items juxtaposed for emphasis
  • Use subordination, coordination, apposition, and other devices to indicate clearly the relationship between ideas

• Understand the classification of phrasal units and their stylistic use
• Understand and use the stylistics of speech: types and genres of text
• Tropes based on intellectual association (metaphor, personification, antonomasia, metonymy, onomatapoeia)
• Tropes based on emotional, evaluative attitude (epithet, irony, litotes, pun, zeugma, understatement, hyperbole, oxymoron, euphemism)
• Understand the roots of idioms, their literal and stylistic use
• Understand and use polysemy and homonymy in your speech and writing

• Further development of writing skills
  • Create an organizational structure that balances all aspects of the composition and uses effective transitions between sentences to unify important ideas
  • Support all statements and claims with anecdotes, descriptions, facts and statistics, and specific examples
  • Support theses or conclusions with analogies, paraphrases, quotations, opinions from authorities, comparisons, and similar devices
  • Identify and use the literal and figurative meanings of words and understand word derivations
  • Distinguish between the denotative and connotative meanings of words and interpret the connotative power of words
  • Identify Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology and use the knowledge to understand the origin and meaning of new words (e.g., the word narcissistic drawn from the myth of Narcissus and Echo)
  • Use strategies of notetaking, outlining, and summarizing to impose structure on compo­sition drafts
  • Identify topics; ask and evaluate questions; and develop ideas leading to inquiry, investi­gation, and research
  • Develop the main ideas within the body of the composition through supporting evidence (e.g., scenarios, commonly held beliefs, hypotheses, definitions)
  • Create documents by using word-processing skills and publishing programs; develop simple databases and spreadsheets to manage information and prepare reports
  • Achieve an effective balance between researched information and original ideas
  • Use clear research questions and suitable research methods (e.g., library, electronic media, personal interview) to elicit and present evidence from primary and secondary sources
  • Synthesize information from multiple sources and identify complexities and discrepan­cies in the information and the different perspectives found in each medium (e.g., almanacs, microfiche, news sources, in-depth field studies, speeches, journals, technical documents)
  • Integrate quotations and citations into a written text while maintaining the flow of ideas
  • Give credit for both quoted and paraphrased information in a bibliography by using a consistent and sanctioned format and methodology for citations
  • Use appropriate conventions for documentation in the text, notes, and bibliographies by adhering to those in style manuals (e.g., Modern Language Association Handbook, The Chicago Manual of Style)
  • Design and publish documents by using advanced publishing software and graphic programs
  • Revise writing to improve the logic and coherence of the organization and controlling perspective, the precision of word choice, and the tone by taking into consideration the audience, purpose, and formality of the context

   

COMMUNICATIONS

• Demonstrating the knowledge of main concepts and application of the obtained skills in comprehension
  • Ask probing questions to elicit information, including evidence to support the speaker’s claims and conclusions
  • Determine the speaker’s attitude toward the subject
  • Respond to persuasive messages with questions, challenges, or affirmations
  • Analyze oral interpretations of literature, including language choice and delivery, and the effect of the interpretations on the listener
  • Paraphrase a speaker’s purpose and point of view and ask relevant questions concerning the speaker’s content, delivery, and purpose

• Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication applying the obtained skills
  • Organize information to achieve particular purposes and to appeal to the background and interests of the audience
  • Organize information to achieve particular purposes by matching the message, vocabulary, voice modulation, expression, and tone to the audience and purpose
  • Arrange supporting details, reasons, descriptions, and examples effectively and persuasively in relation to the audience
  • Prepare a speech outline based upon a chosen pattern of organization, which generally includes an introduction; transitions, previews, and summaries; a logically developed body; and an effective conclusion
  • Use precise language, action verbs, sensory details, appropriate and colorful modifiers, and the active rather than the passive voice in ways that enliven oral presentations
  • Use speaking techniques, including voice modulation, inflection, tempo, enunciation, and eye contact, for effective presentations
  • Use appropriate grammar, word choice, enunciation, and pace during formal presentations
  • Use audience feedback (e.g., verbal and nonverbal cues)
    • Reconsider and modify the organizational structure or plan
    • Rearrange words and sentences to clarify the meaning

• Deliver presentations applying the obtained skills
  • Narrative presentations
    • Establish a context, standard plot line (having a beginning, conflict, rising action, climax, and denouement), and point of view
    • Describe complex major and minor characters and a definite setting
    • Use a range of appropriate strategies, including dialogue, suspense, and naming of specific narrative action (e.g., movement, gestures, expressions)
      • oral summaries of articles and books
    • Include the main ideas of the event or article and the most significant details
    • Use the student’s own words, except for material quoted from sources
    • Convey a comprehensive understanding of sources, not just superficial details
  • Research presentations
  • • Pose relevant and concise questions about the topic
    • Convey clear and accurate perspectives on the subject
    • Include evidence generated through the formal research process (e.g., use of a card catalog, Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, computer databases, magazines, news­papers, dictionaries)
    • Cite reference sources appropriately
  • Persuasive presentations
    • State a clear position or perspective in support of an argument or proposal
    • Describe the points in support of the argument and employ well-articulated evidence

• Analysis and Evaluation of Oral and Media Communications applying the obtained skills
  • Provide constructive feedback to speakers concerning the coherence and logic of a speech’s content and delivery and its overall impact upon the listener
  • Analyze the effect on the viewer of images, text, and sound in electronic journalism; identify the techniques used to achieve the effects in each instance studied
  • Evaluate the credibility of a speaker (e.g., hidden agendas, slanted or biased material)
  • Interpret and evaluate the various ways in which visual image makers (e.g., graphic artists, illustrators, news photographers) communicate information and affect impressions and opinions

• Multiple Voices” of the Ego Self- Recognizing Understanding

• Recite poems (of four to six stanzas), sections of speeches, or dramatic soliloquies, using voice modulation, tone, and gestures expressively to enhance the meaning

• Make assessments of your own performance and the performance of other people

LITERATURE

• Comprehend and analyse grade-level-appropriate text
  • Identify and trace the development of an author’s argument, point of view, or perspective in text
  • Understand and explain the use of a simple mechanical device by following technical directions
  • Find similarities and differences between texts in the treatment, scope, or organization of ideas
  • Compare the original text to a summary to determine whether the summary accurately captures the main ideas, includes critical details, and conveys the underlying meaning
  • Understand and explain the use of a complex mechanical device by following technical directions
  • Use information from a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents to explain a situation or decision and to solve a problem

• Define structural features of educational materials
  • Understand and analyze the differences in structure and purpose between various categories of informational materials (e.g., textbooks, newspapers, instructional manuals, signs)
  • Compare and contrast the features and elements of consumer materials to gain meaning from documents (e.g., warranties, contracts, product information, instruction manuals)
  • Analyze text that uses proposition and support patterns
  • Locate information by using a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents
  • Analyze text that uses the cause-and-effect organizational pattern

• Assess the adequacy, accuracy, and appropriateness of the author’s evidence to support claims and assertions, noting instances of bias and stereotyping

• Evaluate the unity, coherence, logic, internal consistency, and structural patterns of text

• Articulate the expressed purposes and characteristics of different forms of prose (e.g., short story, novel, novella, essay) and poetry (e.g., ballad, lyric, couplet, epic, elegy, ode, sonnet)

• • Conduct a narrative analysis of a grade-level-appropriate text
    • Identify events that advance the plot and determine how each event explains past or present action(s) or foreshadows future action(s)
    • Evaluate the structural elements of the plot (e.g., subplots, parallel episodes, climax), the plot’s development, and the way in which conflicts are (or are not) addressed and resolved
    • Analyze characterization as delineated through a character’s thoughts, words, speech patterns, and actions; the narrator’s description; and the thoughts, words, and actions of other characters
    • Compare and contrast motivations and reactions of literary characters from different historical eras confronting similar situations or conflicts
    • Analyze the relevance of the setting (e.g., place, time, customs) to the mood, tone, and meaning of the text
    • Identify and analyze recurring themes across traditional and contemporary works (e.g., the value of bravery, loyalty, and friendship; the effects of loneliness, good versus evil)
    • Contrast points of view (e.g., first and third person, limited and omniscient, subjective and objective) in narrative text and explain how they affect the overall theme of the work
    • Identify significant literary devices (e.g., metaphor, symbolism, dialect, irony) that define a writer’s style and use those elements to interpret the work

• Express literary criticism
  • Analyze a range of responses to a literary work and determine the extent to which the literary elements in the work shaped those responses
  • Analyze a work of literature, showing how it reflects the heritage, traditions, attitudes, and beliefs of its author (Biographical approach)

NOTE: The colors are provided as a possible linear progression (red/easiest to violet/most challenging) for people that might prefer a more linear structure. Our core philosophy is that through creativity every color can be made easy or challenging for any learning level.

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

• Formal Speech
  • Grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, etc.

• Casual Speech
  • Grammar, phonetics, and vocabulary, etc.

• Natural vernaculars
  • Grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, etc.

• Maintaining Life Balance, Using Time Management Skills, & Setting Priorities

• Language varieties of different speech communities (members of the same profession,  social groups like high school students or hip hop fans,  tight-knit groups like families and friends, etc.)
  • Grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, etc.

• Grammar, phonetics, and vocabulary of high prestige and low prestige varieties of the English language in comparison
  • Grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, etc.

• Language varieties in loose and tight social networks (an office or factory members, students,  members of a neighborhood, members of a community, social networks formed by the Internet, through chat rooms, MySpace groups, organizations, and online dating services, etc.)
  • Grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, etc.

• Language varieties of the working class, lower, middle, upper middle, and upper class members in comparison
  • Grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, etc.

LINGUISTICS

• Use proper grammar in your writing and speech
• Use  proper syntax in your writing and speech
• Use proper vocabulary in your writing and speech

• Submit a text of a suggested below genre (fictional and autobiographical narratives; biographies, autobiographies, short stories, and narratives; responses to literature; persuasive compositions; summaries of reading materials documents related to career development; business letters; technical documents)

• Prepare a presentation according to the following criteria
  • Develop presentations by using clear research questions and creative and critical research strategies (e.g., field studies, oral histories, interviews, experiments, electronic sources)
  • Use systematic strategies to organize and record information (e.g., anecdotal scripting, annotated bibliographies)
  • Integrate databases, graphics, and spreadsheets into word-processed documents

• Submit a manuscript
  • Produce legible work that shows accurate spelling and correct use of the conventions of punctuation and capitalization
  • Reflect appropriate manuscript requirements, including title page presentation, pagination, spacing and margins, and integration of source and support material (e.g., in-text citation, use of direct quotations, paraphrasing) with appropriate citations

• Organize your writing according to the following requirements
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the elements of discourse (e.g., purpose, speaker, audience, form) when completing narrative, expository, persuasive, or descriptive writing assignments
  • Use point of view, characterization, style (e.g., use of irony), and related elements for specific rhetorical and aesthetic purposes
  • Structure ideas and arguments in a sustained, persuasive, and sophisticated way and support them with precise and relevant examples
  • Enhance meaning by employing rhetorical devices, including the extended use of parallelism, repetition, and analogy; the incorporation of visual aids (e.g., graphs, tables, pictures); and the issuance of a call for action
  • Use language in natural, fresh, and vivid ways to establish a specific tone

• Revise and evaluate your product of writing: highlight the individual voice, improve sentence variety and style, and enhance subtlety of meaning and tone in ways that are consistent with the purpose, audience, and genre

• Broaden your writing expertise by excelling in the following genres of texts
  • Write reflective compositions
    • Explore the significance of personal experiences, events, conditions, or concerns by using rhetorical strategies (e.g., narration, description, exposition, persuasion)
    • Draw comparisons between specific incidents and broader themes that illustrate the writer’s important beliefs or generalizations about life
    • Maintain a balance in describing individual incidents and relate those incidents to more general and abstract ideas
  • Write historical investigation reports
    • Use exposition, narration, description, argumentation, or some combination of rhetori­cal strategies to support the main proposition
    • Analyze several historical records of a single event, examining critical relationships between elements of the research topic
    • Explain the perceived reason or reasons for the similarities and differences in historical records with information derived from primary and secondary sources to support or enhance the presentation
    • Include information from all relevant perspectives and take into consideration the validity and reliability of sources
    • Include a formal bibliography
  • Write job applications and résumés
    • Provide clear and purposeful information and address the intended audience appro­priately
    • Use varied levels, patterns, and types of language to achieve intended effects and aid comprehension
    • Modify the tone to fit the purpose and audience
    • Follow the conventional style for that type of document (e.g., résumé, memorandum) and use page formats, fonts, and spacing that contribute to the readability and impact of the document
  • Deliver multimedia presentations
    • Combine text, images, and sound and draw information from many sources (e.g., television broadcasts, videos, films, newspapers, magazines, CD-ROMs, the Internet, electronic media-generated images)
    • Select an appropriate medium for each element of the presentation
    • Use the selected media skillfully, editing appropriately and monitoring for quality
    • Test the audience’s response and revise the presentation accordingly

• Apply your knowledge of language personalities while analyzing different types of communication
• Use your knowledge of gender linguistics while communicating
• Use the knowledge of speech acts while communicating
• Use the knowledge of lexic-semantic fields in the English language
• Make use of stylistic phonetics, graphophonemics and graphics

COMMUNICATIONS

• Demonstrating the knowledge of concepts and advanced skills of comprehension
  • Formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments with convincing evidence
  • Compare and contrast the ways in which media genres (e.g., televised news, news maga­zines, documentaries, online information) cover the same event

• Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication on the advanced level
  • Choose logical patterns of organization (e.g., chronological, topical, cause and effect) to inform and to persuade, by soliciting agreement or action, or to unite audiences behind a common belief or cause.
  • Choose appropriate techniques for developing the introduction and conclusion (e.g., by using literary quotations, anecdotes, references to authoritative sources)
  • Recognize and use elements of classical speech forms (e.g., introduction, first and second transitions, body, conclusion) in formulating rational arguments and applying the art of persuasion and debate
  • Present and advance a clear thesis statement and choose appropriate types of proof (e.g., statistics, testimony, specific instances) that meet standard tests for evidence, includ­ing credibility, validity, and relevance
  • Use props, visual aids, graphs, and electronic media to enhance the appeal and accuracy of presentations
  • Produce concise notes for extemporaneous delivery
  • Analyze the occasion and the interests of the audience and choose effective verbal and nonverbal techniques (e.g., voice, gestures, eye contact) for presentations

• Delivering presentations on the advanced level
  • Narrative presentations
    • Narrate a sequence of events and communicate their significance to the audience
    • Locate scenes and incidents in specific places
    • Describe with concrete sensory details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and
    • the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of characters
    • Pace the presentation of actions to accommodate time or mood changes
  • Expository presentations
    • Marshal evidence in support of a thesis and related claims, including information on all relevant perspectives
    • Convey information and ideas from primary and secondary sources accurately and coherently
    • Make distinctions between the relative value and significance of specific data, facts, and ideas
    • Include visual aids by employing appropriate technology to organize and display information on charts, maps, and graphs
    • Anticipate and address the listener’s potential misunderstandings, biases, and expec­tations
    • Use technical terms and notations accurately
  • Apply appropriate interviewing techniques
    • Prepare and ask relevant questions
    • Make notes of responses
    • Use language that conveys maturity, sensitivity, and respect
    • Respond correctly and effectively to questions
    • Demonstrate knowledge of the subject or organization
    • Compile and report responses
    • Evaluate the effectiveness of the interview
  • Oral responses to literature
    • Advance a judgment demonstrating a comprehensive grasp of the significant ideas of works or passages (i.e., make and support warranted assertions about the text)
    • Support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to the text or to other works
    • Demonstrate awareness of the author’s use of stylistic devices and an appreciation of the effects created
    • Identify and assess the impact of perceived ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text
  • Deliver persuasive arguments (including evaluation and analysis of problems and solutions and causes and effects
  • Structure ideas and arguments in a coherent, logical fashion
  • Use rhetorical devices to support assertions (e.g., by appeal to logic through reasoning; by appeal to emotion or ethical belief; by use of personal anecdote, case study, or analogy)
  • Clarify and defend positions with precise and relevant evidence, including facts, expert opinions, quotations, expressions of commonly accepted beliefs, and logical reasoning
  • Anticipate and address the listener’s concerns and counterarguments
  • Deliver descriptive presentations
    • Establish clearly the speaker’s point of view on the subject of the presentation
    • Establish clearly the speaker’s relationship with that subject (e.g., dispassionate observation, personal involvement)
    • Use effective, factual descriptions of appearance, concrete images, shifting perspectives and vantage points, and sensory details

• Analysis and Evaluation of Oral and Media Communications on the advanced level
  • Analyze historically significant speeches (e.g., Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream”) to find the rhetorical devices and features that make them memorable
  • Assess how language and delivery affect the mood and tone of the oral communication and make an impact on the audience
  • Evaluate the clarity, quality, effectiveness, and general coherence of a speaker’s important points, arguments, evidence, organization of ideas, delivery, diction, and syntax
  • Analyze the types of arguments used by the speaker, including argument by causation, analogy, authority, emotion, and logic
  • Identify the aesthetic effects of a media presentation and evaluate the techniques used to create them (e.g., compare Shakespeare’s Henry V with Kenneth Branagh’s 1990 film version)

• Make a group presentation applying the obtained skills on the advanced level

• Organize and lead group discussions

• Advanced assessment of your own performance and the performance of other people

• Practice communication in different settings (close circle people, official meetings, peer communication, communication between people of different social status, hierarchical communication, etc.)

LITERATURE

• Comprehend and analyse a grade-level appropriate text
  • Generate relevant questions about readings on issues that can be researched
  • Synthesize the content from several sources or works by a single author dealing with a single issue; paraphrase the ideas and connect them to other sources and related topics to demonstrate comprehension
  • Extend ideas presented in primary or secondary sources through original analysis, evaluation, and elaboration
  • • Demonstrate use of sophisticated learning tools by following technical directions (e.g., those found with graphic calculators and specialized software programs and in access guides to World Wide Web sites on the Internet)

• Define structural features of informational materials
  • Analyze the structure and format of functional workplace documents, including the graphics and headers, and explain how authors use the features to achieve their purposes
  • Prepare a bibliography of reference materials for a report using a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents

• Critique the logic of functional documents by examining the sequence of information and procedures in anticipation of possible reader misunderstandings

• Evaluate the credibility of an author’s argument or defense of a claim by critiquing the relationship between generalizations and evidence, the comprehensiveness of evidence, and the way in which the author’s intent affects the structure and tone of the text (e.g., in professional journals, editorials, political speeches, primary source material)

• Define structural features of literature
  • Articulate the relationship between the expressed purposes and the characteristics of different forms of dramatic literature (e.g., comedy, tragedy, drama, dramatic monologue)
  • Compare and contrast the presentation of a similar theme or topic across genres to explain how the selection of genre shapes the theme or topic

• Conduct a narrative analysis of a grade-level-appropriate text
  • Analyze interactions between main and subordinate characters in a literary text (e.g., internal and external conflicts, motivations, relationships, influences) and explain the way those interactions affect the plot
  • Determine characters’ traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, dramatic monologue, and soliloquy
  • Compare works that express a universal theme and provide evidence to support the ideas expressed in each work
  • Analyze and trace an author’s development of time and sequence, including the use of complex literary devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashbacks)
  • Recognize and understand the significance of various literary devices, including figurative language, imagery, allegory, and symbolism, and explain their appeal
  • Interpret and evaluate the impact of ambiguities, subtleties, contradictions, ironies, and incongruities in a text
  • Explain how voice, persona, and the choice of a narrator affect characterization and the tone, plot, and credibility of a text
  • Identify and describe the function of dialogue, scene designs, soliloquies, asides, and character foils in dramatic literature

• Evaluate the aesthetic qualities of style, including the impact of diction and figurative language on tone, mood, and theme, using the terminology of literary criticism (Aesthetic approach)

• Analyze the way in which a work of literature is related to the themes and issues of its historical period (Historical approach)

NOTE: The colors are provided as a possible linear progression (red/easiest to violet/most challenging) for people that might prefer a more linear structure. Our core philosophy is that through creativity every color can be made easy or challenging for any learning level.

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

• Language varieties due to class aspiration

• The phenomenon of code-switching according to the change of environment

• Standard English vs. non-standard varieties

• More and less prestigious varieties of the language in different situations (e.g.  using non-standard varieties when going to the pub or having a neighborhood barbecue (high-prestige), and going to the bank (lower-prestige) for the same individual)

• Language variation associated with gender and age

• Language statuses (national, vernacular) in different countries as symbols of fundamental social relations among cultures and nationalities

• Examining language contact situations: the origin and the linguistic composition of pidgin and creole languages

• Language choice due to pragmatics and extra-linguistic factors (goals of interaction, participation in mixed-gender conversations vs single-gender conversations, power relationships)

• The reflexion of social processes in the language (language and nationalism, language and ethnicity, language and gender, etc.)

LINGUISTICS

• Apply your knowledge of the word as a sign

• Make use of the words from different layers of the English language vocabulary: poeticwords, barbarisms, archaisms, etc.

• Demonstrate your knowledge of sociophonetics

• Apply your advance knowledge of syntax to speaking and writing:
  • Predication
  • Complex predicates
  • Coordination and subordination
  • Discontinuous and long-distance dependencies
  • Mixed categories
  • Functional categories and relations
  • Word order and linearization
  • Topic chaining constructions
  • Switch-reference
  • Evolution syntax
  • Influential theories (applicational grammar, case grammar, generative semantics, minimalism, etc.)

• Demonstrate your advance abilities of text analysis and the knowledge of stylistics
  • Text organization, text features and text analysis
  • Types of text and genre analysis
  • Style and stylistic analysis
  • Stylistic features, stylistic interpretations, and stylistic effects

• Demonstrate your advance knowledge of spoken discourse
  • Semantics of spoken discourse
  • Syntax and morphology of spoken discourse
  • Pragmatics and textual analysis of spoken discourse
  • Phonetics and prosody of spoken discourse
  • Cultural, social and historical dimensions of spoken discourse
  • Psycholinguistic aspects of spoken discourse
  • Methods of collecting data and of fieldwork

• Exercise your specialization in word meaning (semantics)
  • Cognitive aspects of semantics
  • Discourse semantics
  • Fieldwork semantics
  • Grammatical semantics
  • Lexical semantics and lexical relations
  • Logical semantics
  • Semantic-pragmatic semantics
  • Semantic theories
  • Semantics of prosody

• Use your knowledge of language in politics
  • Gender and political discourse
  • Political speeches and persuasive argumentation
  • Parliamentary discourses
  • Interactions of media, politics, and discourse
  • Language policies
  • Genres in political discourse
  • Rhetorical tropes in political discourse
  • Metaphors in political discourse

• Low-Carbohydrate Diets (Atkins, Carnivore, South Beach, etc.)

COMMUNICATIONS

• Demonstrating the knowledge of detailed concepts and high-level skills (specialization) in comprehension
  • Recognize strategies used by the media to inform, persuade, entertain, and transmit culture (e.g., advertisements; perpetuation of stereotypes; use of visual representations, special effects, language)
  • Analyze the impact of the media on the democratic process (e.g., exerting influence on elections, creating images of leaders, shaping attitudes) at the local, state, and national levels
  • Interpret and evaluate the various ways in which events are presented and information is communicated by visual image makers (e.g., graphic artists, documentary filmmakers, illustrators, news photographers)

• Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication on a high level
  • Use rhetorical questions, parallel structure, concrete images, figurative language, charac­terization, irony, and dialogue to achieve clarity, force, and aesthetic effect
  • Distinguish between and use various forms of classical and contemporary logical argu­ments, including:
    • Inductive and deductive reasoning
    • Syllogisms and analogies
  • Use logical, ethical, and emotional appeals that enhance a specific tone and purpose
  • Use appropriate rehearsal strategies to pay attention to performance details, achieve command of the text, and create skillful artistic staging
  • Use effective and interesting language, including
    • Informal expressions for effect
    • Standard American English for clarity
    • Technical language for specificity
  • Use research and analysis to justify strategies for gesture, movement, and vocalization, including dialect, pronunciation, and enunciation
  • Evaluate when to use different kinds of effects (e.g., visual, music, sound, graphics) to create effective productions

• High level analysis and evaluation of oral and media communications
  • Critique a speaker’s diction and syntax in relation to the purpose of an oral communica­tion and the impact the words may have on the audience
  • Identify logical fallacies used in oral addresses (e.g., attack ad hominem, false causality, red herring, overgeneralization, bandwagon effect)
  • Analyze the four basic types of persuasive speech (i.e., propositions of fact, value, problem, or policy) and understand the similarities and differences in their patterns of organization and the use of persuasive language, reasoning, and proof
  • Analyze the techniques used in media messages for a particular audience and evaluate their effectiveness (e.g., Orson Welles’ radio broadcast “War of the Worlds”)

• Deliver a high level presentation of the following types
  • Reflective presentations
    • Explore the significance of personal experiences, events, conditions, or concerns, using appropriate rhetorical strategies (e.g., narration, description, exposition, persuasion)
    • Draw comparisons between the specific incident and broader themes that illustrate the speaker’s beliefs or generalizations about life
    • Maintain a balance between describing the incident and relating it to more general, abstract ideas.
  • Oral reports on historical investigations
    • Use exposition, narration, description, persuasion, or some combination of those to support the thesis
    • Analyze several historical records of a single event, examining critical relationships between elements of the research topic
    • Explain the perceived reason or reasons for the similarities and differences by using information derived from primary and secondary sources to support or enhance the presentation
    • Include information on all relevant perspectives and consider the validity and reliabil­ity of sources.
  • Oral responses to literature
    • Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the significant ideas of literary works (e.g., make assertions about the text that are reasonable and supportable)
    • Analyze the imagery, language, universal themes, and unique aspects of the text through the use of rhetorical strategies (e.g., narration, description, persuasion, exposition, a combination of those strategies)
    • Support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to the text or to other works
    • Demonstrate an awareness of the author’s use of stylistic devices and an appreciation of the effects created
    • Identify and assess the impact of perceived ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text
  • Multimedia presentations
    • Combine text, images, and sound by incorporating information from a wide range of media, including films, newspapers, magazines, CD-ROMs, online information, television, videos, and electronic media-generated images
    • Select an appropriate medium for each element of the presentation
    • Use the selected media skillfully, editing appropriately and monitoring for quality
    • Test the audience’s response and revise the presentation accordingly
  • Recite poems, selections from speeches, or dramatic soliloquies
    • attention to perfor­mance details to achieve clarity, force, and aesthetic effect and to demonstrate an under­standing of the meaning (e.g., Hamlet’s soliloquy “To Be or Not to Be”)

• Make a group presentation of the following types demonstrating your high level of skills
  • reflective presentations
  • oral reports on historical investigations
  • oral responses to literature
  • multimedia presentations

• Organize and lead group discussions demonstrating your high level of communication skills

• Detailed self-assessment of your own performance and the performance of other people

• Facilitate a communication process for the people who are less effective communicators

• Communicating with the idea of the Highest Good of All

LITERATURE

• Analyze structural features of educational materials: analyze both the features and the rhetorical devices of different types of public docu­ments (e.g., policy statements, speeches, debates, platforms) and the way in which authors use those features and devices

• Comprehend and analyse a grade-level appropriate text
  • Analyze the way in which clarity of meaning is affected by the patterns of organization, hierarchical structures, repetition of the main ideas, syntax, and word choice in the text
  • Verify and clarify facts presented in other types of expository texts by using a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents
  • Make warranted and reasonable assertions about the author’s arguments by using elements of the text to defend and clarify interpretations
  • Analyze an author’s implicit and explicit philosophical assumptions and beliefs about a subject

• Critique the power, validity, and truthfulness of arguments set forth in public documents; their appeal to both friendly and hostile audiences; and the extent to which the arguments anticipate and address reader concerns and counterclaims (e.g., appeal to reason, to authority, to pathos and emotion)

• Define structural features of literature: analyze characteristics of subgenres (e.g., satire, parody, allegory, pastoral) that are used in poetry, prose, plays, novels, short stories, essays, and other basic genres

• Conduct a narrative analysis of a grade-level-appropriate text
  • Analyze the way in which the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, using textual evidence to support the claim
  • Analyze the ways in which irony, tone, mood, the author’s style, and the “sound” of language achieve specific rhetorical or aesthetic purposes or both
  • Analyze ways in which poets use imagery, personification, figures of speech, and sounds to evoke readers’ emotions
  • Analyze recognized works of American literature representing a variety of genres and traditions
    • Trace the development of American literature from the colonial period forward
    • Contrast the major periods, themes, styles, and trends and describe how works by members of different cultures relate to one another in each period
    • Evaluate the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences of the historical period that shaped the characters, plots, and settings
  • Analyze the way in which authors through the centuries have used archetypes drawn from myth and tradition in literature, film, political speeches, and religious writings (e.g., how the archetypes of banishment from an ideal world may be used to interpret Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth)
  • Analyze recognized works of world literature from a variety of authors
    • Contrast the major literary forms, techniques, and characteristics of the major literary periods (e.g., Homeric Greece, medieval, romantic, neoclassic, modern)
    • Relate literary works and authors to the major themes and issues of their eras
    • Evaluate the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences of the historical period that shaped the characters, plots, and settings

• Express literary criticism
  • Analyze the clarity and consistency of political assumptions in a selection of literary works or essays on a topic (e.g., suffrage, women’s role in organized labor) (Political approach)
  • Analyze the philosophical arguments presented in literary works to determine whether the authors’ positions have contributed to the quality of each work and the credibility of the characters (Philosophical approach)

• Apply your skills of bibliographical, historical, and philosophical approaches to analyze works of the same author and different authors of the same period; define main themes, motives, ideas, beliefs and values, similarities and differences

• Analyze works of literature through the prism of intertextuality

• Analyze works of literature through the perspective of Aristotle’s “Poetics” and suggest a couple of ways of their interpretation

NOTE: The colors are provided as a possible linear progression (red/easiest to violet/most challenging) for people that might prefer a more linear structure. Our core philosophy is that through creativity every color can be made easy or challenging for any learning level.

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

• Language changes and choices in the context of globalization

• Language choice as a reflexion of the speaker’s picture of the world: identity and language

• Language, accent, dialect, register, and style in comparison

• Diglossia and societal multilingualism

• New Englishes (e.g. the case of Singapore)

• Endangered languages

• Cognitive sociolinguistics

• Multiculturalism and multilingualism

• Language attitudes and language loyalty

• Languages an communication within specific subcultures and countercultures

• Teaching consensus and effectively giving and receiving feedback in groups

LINGUISTICS

• Demonstrate your knowledge of the philosophical and linguistic conception of von Humboldt and its meaning for the development of linguistics

• Demonstrate your understanding of text and discourse

• Apply your computational linguistics knowledge to your language-oriented computer-mediated activity
  • Apply computers to language-oriented research
  • Use computational methods and techniques for natural language processing

• Use your language acquisition knowledge while teaching languages

• Demonstrate your legal language skills in a proper context

• Apply your lexicography knowledge to conducting linguistic and types of research

• Demonstrate your knowledge of oral and written medical discourse

• Demonstrate your understanding of sacred texts and specifics of language use in the context of particular religions

• Make use of your semiotics knowledge

• Demonstrate your knowledge of different writing systems

• Transformational grammar evolution

COMMUNICATIONS

• Writing business missions, visions, & values

• Apply your advance knowledge of pragmatics to spoken and written communication

• Understand the correlation between language and thinking and make use of it in communicative situations

• Demonstrate your business English skills in professional settings

• Use your psycholinguistics knowledge in different types of communicative situations

• Practice the sign language in appropriate situations

• Demonstrate your animal communication skills

• Use your cross-cultural knowledge while communicating with different persons and groups of people

• Use your advance skills of understanding and interpretation in different types of communication
• Demonstrate your expertise in conversational analytic approaches to culture in written discourse communication

• Demonstrate your understanding of gestures through sociocultural analysis

LITERATURE

• Provide the description of the period of the literature work under analysis and find the reflection of main tendencies there

• Analyze text using psychological, historical, and biographical approaches

• Compare literary works of different cultures of the same period through the prism of classical and modern theories

• Define main characteristics of the style of an author and assess his progress while analyzing all their works

• Analyze literary works by means of different genre theories
  • evolutionary theory
  • Aristotle’s conception
  • narratology
  • psychological theories of genres
  • structural theories of genres
  • theory of genre transformations
  • receptive theory of genres
  • the theory of genre negation
  • intertextual conception
  • genre theory of J. Ortega y Gasset
  • feminist theory
  • genre theory of N. Frye
  • genre theory of C. Todorov

• Using your advance knowledge of literary criticism, make  a critical review of a literary work

• Apply your knowledge of archetypes and stereotypes to text interpretation

• Define structural features of literature of different genres and subgenres

• Evaluate the literary process by analyzing the most prominent works of literature

• Define and interpret the reflexion of interrelationships of different branches of knowledge in works of literature (e.g. psychology, sociology, science, music, art)

• Write a literary work of the genre you’ve chosen