(Prerequisite: Foundations Level Course)

The aim of the Intermediate level course is to enable students to be productive and contributing participants through their reading, writing, and speaking in the courses they will eventually take in their first year of study at highly selective American universities. Our course therefore focuses on the processes of reading, research, critical thinking, inquiry, discussion, and composition that typically are called for in freshman level courses in the most selective colleges and universities. Students have opportunities for intensive practice and the acquisition of the intellectual skills and habits of mind that account for academic success in producing such genres of academic discourse (spoken and written) as non-fictional reports, textual interpretations, reviews of articles and books, journalistic reportage, ethnographies, accounts of cultural events and movements, and academic arguments. At all stages of the course students will be assisted in becoming more fluent, flexible, and sophisticated in their use of the English language for academic purposes.

Day 1

• Becoming Members of a Knowledge Building Community

• Thoughtful Reading and Writing – Considering Perspectives

• Participating in Academic Discourse: Constructing and Communicating Ideas

Day 2

• Introduction to Academic Research and Empirical Methodologies

Day 3

• Theoretical Frames for Research and the Interpretation of Data

• Writing from Research and Data

Day 4

• Investigating Multiple Lenses and Ways of Looking

• Critical Consciousness: Questioning Assumptions and Findings

Day 5

• Ethical and Intellectual Responsibility in Research Writing: Precision and Accuracy, Intellectual Humility, and Provisional Thinking

Day 6

• Preparing for the Academic Conference

• Revising and Editing for Publication

Required Materials for Class

1. Notebook

2. Writing tools

3. Laptop or tablet

Students who complete this course satisfactorily receive a certificate of course completion

(Prerequisite: Intermediate Level Course)

The initial practical aim of the Advanced level course in Ivy League Academic English will be to offer intensive instruction that will prepare students for writing an effective college application essay. With that task behind them, students will take on a multidisciplinary inquiry project of compelling interest to the class; and engage in reading, writing, and research activities that advance their own knowledge while enabling them to contribute to the advancement of knowledge within the academic community of their classroom and potentially within the larger community of scholars who may be engaged in inquiries related to their own. To ensure the authenticity of the intellectual experience for the students in this course, the course content will be drawn directly from required multidisciplinary courses actually given in leading Ivy League universities and taught by instructors with extensive experience in teaching such courses. At all stages of the course students will also be assisted in becoming more fluent, flexible, and sophisticated in their use of the English language for the advanced academic purposes that characterize the discourse of typical courses in elite American colleges.

Day 1

• Writing to Learn and Participating in an Academic Discussion of Philosophical Texts

• The College Essay: Defining the Genre and Analyzing Samples

Day 2

• Writing as Philosophical Inquiry:
  Interrogating and Discussing Classical & Seminal Texts across the Disciplines

• Pre-Writing for the College Essay

Day 3

• The College Essay: Creating the Rough Draft

• Hermeneutic Methodology: Believing and Doubting

• Metacognition: How Do We Create the Distance to Think About Our Own Thinking?

Day 4

• Criticism and Analysis: Examining the Structure of Arguments & Testing Reasons & Conclusions

• Close Reading & Critical Distance

• The College Essay: Analyzing and Responding to Drafts

Day 5

• Thinking with Theory in College Discourse

• Interrogating Our Own Theories

• The College Essay: Revising the Draft – Interrogating Our Ideas

Day 6

• Preparing for the Academic Conference

• Revising and Editing for Publication

Required Materials for Class

1. Notebook

2. Writing tools

3. Laptop or tablet

Students who complete this course satisfactorily receive a certificate of course completion

8:30am – 11:30am – Morning Course Session

11:30am – 12:30pm – Lunch

12:30pm – 1:30pm – Elective

1:30pm – 3:30pm – Afternoon Course Session