This course is designed to prepare ESL students planning to attend American colleges for freshman composition courses.  In the course, the student will learn

How to write fluent, clear, varied sentences in English
How to construct unified, coherent paragraphs
How to plan and compose logically clear and rhetorically persuasive essays

Based on a twelve-week program, the course spends the first five weeks focusing on Basic English grammar and the paragraph and the final seven weeks concentrating on advanced grammar and the essay.  Throughout the course, special attention will be paid to grammatical problems experienced by ESL students.

　

Week

1. Grammar: paragraph basic: the narrative paragraph

2. Grammar: paragraph basic: the descriptive paragraph

3. Grammar: paragraph basic: the comparison / contrast paragraph

4. Grammar: cause / effect paragraph: introduction to the essay

5. Grammar: introduction paragraph: conclusion paragraph: outlining

6. Grammar: narrative essay

7. Grammar: descriptive essay

8. Grammar: comparison / contrast essay

9. Grammar: cause / effect essay

10. Grammar: argumentation essay

11. Grammar: argumentation essay

12. Grammar: argumentation essay

Classroom Procedure

Minutes

0 - 10	Correction and discussion of weekly grammar exercises
10 - 20	Introduction to new grammar, assignment of grammar exercise for weekly homework
20 - 50	Correction and discussion of weekly writing assignment; assignment of revisions to be done for next week
50 - 80	Discussion of model paragraph or essay assigned the week before; discussion of paragraph or essay to be written for next week
80 - 90	Review, questions, suggestions

Students' responsibilities

1. Weekly grammar exercises
2. Weekly formal writing assignments
3. Daily informal journal writing