Lower Intermediate Writing and Grammar for English Language Learners

Students will receive instruction in skills and strategies in the following areas:

Writing and Grammar Skills

1. Writing compositions

• Convey main ideas and support them with some detail.
• Write informal descriptions of people, places, objects, or familiar situations.
• Write informal personal narratives, describing a past event or personal experience.
• Describe a future plan or an upcoming situation.

2. Writing social messages

• Convey the message so that it is understandable with only minor effort.
• Use basic email writing conventions (such as subject lines and opening/closing conventions).
• Use language and content that are appropriate for social messages (such as invitations, thanks, updates, cancellations, and apologies).
• Convey feelings in a manner that is appropriate to the social situation.

3. Accuracy

• Follow common English (Canadian) spelling and punctuation rules and conventions.
• Demonstrate mastery of word form and tense choice, clause, sentence and longer text elements, and mechanics specified for this and lower levels of mastery.
• Use common cohesion links (such as pronoun references).
• Use connective words and phrases within and between sentences to indicate addition (also, and) and sequence (first, second, next).
• Use an adequate range of everyday vocabulary to write about familiar topics.
• Proofread and edit their own written texts, revising drafts effectively, reading thoughtfully, and responding appropriately to peer and instructor feedback.
• Use with only occasional errors the following grammar and syntax structures: simple and progressive tenses; negative and question forms; subject-verb agreement; word form choice; singular and plural forms; count and non-count nouns; descriptive adjective and noun combinations; participial adjectives (interesting/interested); adverbs of frequency; quantity expressions (some, many, a lot of, a few, few, a little, little, etc.); modals of ability; simple sentence structure; compound sentences with and, but, and so; adverb clauses of time and reason.

Study Skills

Take responsibility for:

• Attendance and punctuality

• Class work and assignments

• Participation and teamwork

Use common software to communicate and to complete information management tasks such as word processing assignments, sending emails, or signing in to an online learning management system.