ESL

The English as a Second Language Program (6^th- 12^th grade) has a variety of tracks,
depending on the student’s English level and placement test. English credit is granted for ESL.

English as a Second Language Core Curriculum

Track I Middle School

Understanding American Culture and Conversation

ESL Lab (2 terms)

ESL Academic Reading and Writing I

Introduction to Historical Studies I

Track II Middle School

Understanding American Culture and Conversation

ESL Lab (1 term)

ESL Academic Reading and Writing II

Introduction to Historical Studies I

Track III Middle School

Understanding American Culture and Conversation

ESL Lab (1 term)

ESL Academic English III

Introduction to Historical Studies I

Track I Upper School

Understanding American Culture and Conversation

ESL Lab (2 terms)

ESL Academic English I

Introduction to Historical Studies II

Track II Upper School

Understanding American Culture and Conversation

ESL Lab (1 term)

ESL Academic English II

Introduction to Historical Studies II

Track III Upper School

Understanding American Culture and Conversation

ESL Lab (1-2 terms)

ESL Academic English III

Introduction to Historical Studies II

Public Speaking I

PARTIAL TRACKS

Advanced Academic Writing: 3 English credits

ESL Seminar I: 3 English credits

Introduction to Historical Studies I or II: 3 History credits

Understanding American Culture and Conversation: 1 English credit

Selected ESL Labs: 1 English credit each

MIDDLE SCHOOL

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

English as a Second Language (ESL)
Our comprehensive ESL program offers a variety of ESL courses to nurture the further development of English speaking, reading, listening, and writing, and to help students develop academic and conversational English. Our Internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) center is open to Shattuck-St. Mary’s students. We will complement this service with an Internet-based Junior TOEFL as soon as it is available from the Educational Testing Service. ESL placement for Middle School students is determined via a myriad of measurements and assessments. ESL courses come with additional tuition fees.

In addition to the S-SM School Year program, a summertime extension, the Shattuck- St. Mary’s Summer English Institute, is required for selected students.

ESL Understanding American Culture and Conversation 1 English credit, Fall Term (Pass/Fail)

Conversation with an array of people drives English academic literacy. In order to build oral and aural communication, every new student, no matter the tested ESL proficiency level, converses every first period with one volunteer faculty, staff, or student. Understanding American Culture and Conversation focuses on conversational fluency, diction, and idioms in the context of U.S. culture and customs. This class enables students to practice their oral language arts skills with a multiplicity of everyday practitioners. In this way, our full community adds meaning and variety to students’ first-semester roster of contacts. These sessions offer our varied proficiency students doors to active English from people other than the ESL teacher and same-language peers. This course helps to ease culture shock, builds oral fluency, offers an avenue for exchange, encourages dialogue, and builds community. This class is required for all entering second-language students, both domestic and international.
Requirements: Each student maintains a Moodle journal in which daily homework is a paragraph journal entry in which the student records and summarizes the session’s topic. Every other paragraph is to be written in the student’s first language. The student must participate in no fewer than 25 conversational exchanges with the presenters.

ESL Academic Reading and Writing I (year-long course)

This class is offered to Middle School students with low to intermediate English proficiency. The goal is twofold: to support all ESL students’ enrollment in mathematics, science, and history classes; and to further and foster the development of academic and conversational English. The course focuses on reading comprehension strategies, vocabulary, grammar, and various types of academic writing, beginning with the simple sentence. This class is required for all Middle School Track I ESL students. The class carries English credit.
Requirements: Selected core course readings; 5 formal Spring term writing exercises; 1 PowerPoint; 2 oral presentations; and a Spring term project or exam. A Spring term SLEP, overall academic progress, a favorable Spring Term English/History Department writing assessment, and favorable ESL progress is required for entrance into ESL II or ESL exit.

ESL Academic Reading and Writing II (year-long course)

This class is offered on the St. Mary’s Campus to Middle School students with intermediate English proficiency. The course focuses on reading comprehension strategies, vocabulary, grammar, and various types of academic writing, beginning with the simple sentence and ending with the academic essay. The academic paragraph and content-response to instructional prompts is stressed. This class is required for all Middle School ESL Track II students. The class carries English credit.
Requirements: Selected readings; 5-7 formal writing exercises per term; 1 power point presentation; 3 oral presentations; 1 major project; term exams and final exam. A Spring term SLEP, overall academic progress, a favorable Spring Term English/History Department writing assessment, and favorable ESL progress is required for entrance into ESL II or ESL exit. A second-year sequel, ESL IIB, is required for selected students.

ESL Academic Reading and Writing III (year-long course)

This class is offered to intermediate and advanced ESL students to nurture proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and listening. The course focuses on reading comprehension strategies, vocabulary, grammar, and various types of academic writing. Further, academic, active, reasoned, rhetorical debate and discussion is nurtured and rewarded. Authentic texts include selections from Writing with a Thesis, Latin and Greek Roots, a selection from the works of William Shakespeare, selected poetry, short stories, and a novella. This class is required for all Middle School Track III students. The class carries English credit. A second-year sequel, ESL IV, is required for selected students.
Requirements: Selected readings; 5-7 formal writing exercises per term; 1 power point presentation; 20-25 quizzes; 1 oral presentation; 1 short research paper; term exams; and a final exam. A Spring term SLEP, overall academic progress, a favorable Spring Term English/History Department writing assessment, and favorable ESL progress is required for entrance into a seminar with English co-enrollment or ESL exit.

Introduction to Historical Studies I (year-long course)

This survey class offers students a preview of American, ancient, and European history, using selected textbook readings, as well as primary source readings. Designed to offer low intermediate English proficient students the opportunity to learn about history in a sheltered environment, this class is a full survey class and includes fostered development of note-taking, listening, reading, and academic discussion. Introduction to Historical Studies I is offered to 6^th through 8^th grade first-year students only. Entrance is not elective. The class carries history credit.

Requirements: Selected readings; 5-7 writing exercises per term; class presentations; map quizzes; reading assessments; 1 major project; term exams and a final exam.

ESL Lab: Quantitative Terminology 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail )

Quantitative Terminology introduces students to vocabulary that is essential to their mathematics studies. This one-term class builds a working multi-lingual glossary. Individual vocabulary banks are submitted by math instructors. Students work together and independently to create definitions in English and their first languages. This class is required for selected ESL Tracked students. The class carries English credit.

Requirements: Students must fully define – with examples – five mathematics terms per week.

ESL Listening Lab I 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Students work with a premier online basic English language listening program for a full semester, completing required assignments on the computer. Independent study is encouraged and supported, and some students are able to complete the lab with one or two weekly classes with an instructor. Others are invited to attend the open lab all week, every week. Problematic areas are targeted and given teacher focus and instruction. This class is required for selected ESL Tracked students. The class carries English credit.

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Listening Lab II 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Students work with a premier online intermediate English language listening program for a full semester, completing required assignments on the computer. Independent study is encouraged and supported, and some students are able to complete the lab with one or two weekly classes with an instructor. Others are invited to attend the open lab all week, every week. Problematic areas are targeted and given teacher focus and instruction. This class is required for selected ESL Tracked students. The class carries English credit.

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Listening Lab III 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Students work with a premier online advanced English language listening program for a full semester, completing required assignments on the computer. Independent study is encouraged and supported, and some students are able to complete the lab with one- or two-classes with an instructor. Others are invited to attend the open lab all week, every week. Problematic areas are targeted and given teacher focus and instruction. This class is required for selected ESL Tracked students. The class carries English credit.

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Grammar Lab I 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Students work with an S-SM online basic English grammar program for a full semester, completing required assignments on the computer. Independent study is encouraged and supported, and some students are able to complete the lab with one or two weekly classes with an instructor. Others are invited to attend the open lab all week, every week. Problematic areas are targeted and given teacher focus and instruction. This class is required for ESL Tracked students. The class carries English credit.

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Grammar Lab II 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Students work with an S-SM online intermediate English grammar program for a full semester, completing required assignments on the computer. Independent study is encouraged and supported, and some students are able to complete the lab with one or two weekly classes with an instructor. Others are invited to attend the open lab all week, every week. Problematic areas are targeted and given teacher focus and instruction. This class is required for ESL Tracked students. The class carries English credit.

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Pronunciation 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Students work with a premier online pronunciation English language listening program for a full semester, completing required assignments both on the computer. Independent study is encouraged and supported, and some students are able to complete the lab with one- or two-classes with an instructor. Others are invited to attend the open lab all week, every week. Problematic areas are targeted and given teacher focus and instruction. This class is required for ESL Tracked students. The class carries English credit.

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Students must become Nanogong proficient. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Seminar I

Selected ESL student may be required to enroll in this companion tutorial writing class as they enter the English Department’s courses. Please see the course description under the ESL Upper School section.

Advanced Academic Writing

Selected ESL students may be invited to enroll in this high-level writing class for multilingual scholars. Please see the course description under the ESL Upper School section

UPPER SCHOOL

UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL)

Our comprehensive ESL program offers a variety of ESL courses to nurture the further development of English speaking, reading, listening, and writing and to help students develop academic and conversational English. Our Internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) center is open to Shattuck – St. Mary’s students. ESL placement is determined via a myriad of measurements and assessments. ESL courses come with additional tuition fees.

In addition to the S-SM School Year program, a summertime extension, the Shattuck –St. Mary’s Summer English Institute, is required for selected students.

Understanding American Culture – Conversation 1 English credit, Fall Term (Pass/Fail)

Conversation with an array of people drives English academic literacy. In order to build oral and aural communication, every new ESL student, no matter the tested proficiency level, converses every first period with one volunteer faculty, staff, or student. “Understanding American Culture – Conversation” focuses on conversational fluency, diction, and idioms in the context of U.S.culture and customs. This class enables students to practice their oral language arts skills with a multiplicity of everyday practitioners. Our full community adds meaning and variety to the ESL students’ first-semester rosters of contacts. These sessions allow our new, varied proficiency students doors to active English from people other than the ESL teacher and same-language peers. This course helps to ease culture shock, builds oral fluency, offers an avenue for exchange, encourages dialogue, and builds community. This class is required for all entering second-language students, both domestic and international.

Requirements: Each student maintains an online journal in which daily homework is a one-paragraph entry in which the student records and summarizes the session’s topic. Every other page is to be written in the student’s first language. The student must participate in no fewer than 25 conversational exchanges with the presenters.

ESL Academic English I 3 English Credits (year-long course)

Students work from the word on up, beginning with structured decoding of vocabulary words and finishing with fuller development of their sentence and paragraph writing skills. Fall term is fully dedicated to core subject support. As the year progresses, students learn and practice brainstorming, prewriting, drafting, revising, and polishing. They are required to write both personal paragraphs and academic response paragraphs. The language focus of ESL English I is on proper tenses, agreement, diction, simple and solid sentence structure, and paragraph development. Readings range from fiction to newspaper articles to essays and a short novel. This class is required for Track I Upper School students and earns English credit. A second-year sequel to this class is required for selected students.

Requirements: Selected readings; 5-7 formal writing exercises per term; 1 class presentation; a final term exam. A spring term Secondary Level English Proficiency (SLEP) test, overall academic progress, a favorable spring term English/history department writing assessment, and favorable ESL progress are required for entrance into ESL II or ESL exit.

ESL Academic English II 3 English Credits (year-long course)

This core English class is designed to answer the needs of students whose academic English is actively developing and needs intensive and focused support at the low-intermediate to intermediate level. Sustained silent reading is a major component of this class. Fall term is dedicated to the immediate building of math, science, and history vocabulary. Students begin with a studied and intensive practice of constructing English sentences and then create a repertoire of syntactical structures from the classic English Subject-Verb-Object. They are required to write academic paragraph responses in direct preparation for short-answer testing methodology intrinsic in U.S. humanities and scientific studies, as well as academic essays. Winter term reading is a compilation of subject-driven inquires as well as daily Sustained Silent Reading. Spring term readings include short stories, a novel, and poetry. The language focus of ESL Academic English II is on proper tenses, agreement, and the development of sentences, paragraphs, and the essay. This class is required for Track II Upper School students. The class carries English credit.

Requirements: Selected readings; 5-7 written works per term; 1 oral presentation; term exams, vocabulary assessments; and a final exam. A spring term SLEP test, overall academic progress, a favorable spring term English/History Department writing assessment, and favorable ESL progress are required for entrance into ESL II or ESL exit.

ESL Academic English IIB 3 English credits

This course is a sequel to ESL Academic English II. Instruction continues at the low-intermediate to intermediate level for students in need of more time to continue their development of academic English.

Requirements: Instructor selected readings, daily journaling, close reading and cloze reading exercises; weekly vocabulary studies; 5 essays per term; daily sustained silent reading; active discussion participation.

ESL Academic English III 3 English Credits (year-long course)

This class is offered to students at an advanced intermediate level of English proficiency in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The course focuses on reading comprehension strategies, vocabulary, grammar, and various types of academic writing. Further, academic, active, reasoned, rhetorical debate and discussion are nurtured and rewarded. Texts include Writing with a Thesis, A River Runs Through It, Latin and Greek Roots, The Tempest or King Lear, selected poetry and short stories, and a novella. This class is required for all Upper School Track III students. The class carries English credit. A second-year sequel to this class is required for selected students.

Requirements: Selected readings; 5-7 formal writing exercises per term; 1 power point presentation; vocabulary assessments; 1 short research paper; term exams; and a final exam. A spring term SLEP, overall academic progress, a favorable spring term English/History Department writing assessment, and favorable ESL progress is required for entrance into a seminar with English co-enrollment or ESL exit.

ESL Academic English IV 3 English credits

This course is a sequel to ESL Academic English III. Instruction continues at the intermediate level for students in need of more time to continue their development of academic English.

Requirements: Instructor selected readings; weekly vocabulary studies; 5 essays per term, daily sustained silent reading; active discussion participation.

ESL Seminar I 3 English Credits (year-long course)

This full-year required tutorial course focuses on each student’s weaknesses in order to best support him or her at S-SM. ESL Seminar I is a companion class for students who have been given entrance to Composition and Literature. Readings include news articles, essays, short stories, and poetry. Focus is on writing the well-developed essay, but also stresses mastery of grammar, syntax, diction, and semantics. This class is not an option for tracked ESL students. Students who have exited ESL may not use this class as a substitute for an English class. At the discretion of the Director of Studies, an exited or previously exited student may be required to enroll.

Advanced Academic Writing 3 English Credits (year-long course)

This full-year course is an intensive advanced composition class for accelerated and AP students whose English writing is nearing mastery level, but who will benefit from intensive, university level ESL support in rhetorical academic writing. This class is designed for multi-lingual scholars. Expectations for skills in expository writing are high. Focus is on writing the stunningly and artful critical essay, with a keen eye on spotting telltale second-language redundancies and also stressing mastery of grammar, syntax, diction, and semantics. Enrollment is limited, and seniors are given priority. This class is not an option for tracked ESL students. This class may not be used as a substitute for an English class.

Introduction to Historical Studies II 3 History Credits (year-long course)

This survey class offers students a preview of American, ancient, and European history, using selected textbook readings, as well as primary source readings. Designed to offer low intermediate English proficient students the opportunity to learn about history in a sheltered environment, this class is a full survey class and includes fostered development of note-taking, listening, reading, and academic discussion. Entrance is not elective. The class carries history credit.

Requirements: Selected readings; 5-7 writing exercises per term; map quizzes; 1 class presentation; reading assessments; 1 major project; term exams and a final exam.

Public Speaking I 1 English credit (Spring Term Only)

This introductory public speaking course guides students into building a strong foundation in the art of public performance, oral presentation, and interviewing. Moreover, it helps students gain confidence and learn how to project the best possible public image. Students learn how to speak extemporaneously, create properly formatted speeches on current topics, as well as develop persuasive speeches on their own topics. Beginning with the foundation elements of appearance, voice and diction, as well as gesturing, students become well-grounded in the subtleties that elevate a simple presentation to an original oration. They learn how to harness the fear of public speaking into raw energy of performance that can ultimately captivate an audience. In addition, students are taught to tap into their “inner voice” and project an image of confidence and style. This class is required for all Upper School Track III students and selected Track II students.

Requirements: 1 oral presentation at least every two weeks; one minor and one major persuasive speech; performance and filming of a gesture video; participation in a “power lunch” mock interview; learning to speak extemporaneously; preparing a job résumé.

ESL Lab: Quantitative Terminology 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail )

Requirements: Students must fully define – with examples – five mathematics terms per week.

ESL Listening Lab I 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Listening Lab II 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Listening III 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Grammar Lab I 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Grammar Lab II 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Grammar Lab III 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Students work all term with President Barack Obama’s inaugural address, noting the rhetorical structures, studying sentence composition and diction, and imitating Obama’s advanced writing style. Students exit the class with a fuller understanding of the structuring of academic English sentences, as well as the confidence to expand their own grammatical repertoires. This class is required for tracked ESL students. It carries one English credit.

Requirements: All students begin with Lesson 1, but proceed at their own pace. Each ESL lab must be repeated until the student achieves a minimum of 90% on every exercise.

ESL Pronunciation 1 credit (1 term; Pass/Fail)

Students work with a premier online pronunciation English language listening program for a full semester, completing required assignments on the computer. Independent study is encouraged and supported, and some students are able to complete the lab with one or two weekly classes with an instructor. Others are invited to attend the open lab all week, every week. Problematic areas are targeted and given teacher focus and instruction. This class is required for ESL Tracked students. The class carries English credit.