Course Catalog
Intensive English Program
100 Level–Lower Elementary
G100L Grammar
This course is normally taken with W100L and focuses on helping students write basic vocabulary. Learn to write simple sentences in present past and future situations in structured situations. Use various parts of speech, including nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions.
W100L Writing
This course is normally taken with G100L. Work on basic sentences structures and learn to write short coherent paragraphs about simple topics. Also cover mechanics such as capitalization, indentation, and punctuation.
R100L Reading
Read short passages that contain high frequency grammar structures, vocabulary, and signal words. Work to improve your ability to respond to simple information and yes-no questions.
SL10L Speaking/Listening
Ask and answer simple questions about familiar topics and learn to communicate elementary needs and simple courtesies. Work on understanding main ideas of short listening passages on familiar topics.
200 Level–Upper Elementary
G200L Grammar
This class is normally taken with W200L and strengthens the basic grammar skills of upper beginning students. Focus on the use of present, past, and future tenses for affirmative statements, negative statements, and questions. Basic prepositions of location and time, modal auxiliaries, count and noncount nouns, personal and indefinite pronouns, and adjectives and adverbs along with their comparative and superlative forms are also emphasized.
W200L Writing
This class is normally taken with the G200L Grammar class and is designed to give students a chance to practice the grammar concepts and structures in simple, straightforward compositions, which range in length from one paragraph to two pages. Basic writing concepts of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and simple conjunctions are covered. Writing topics usually center on students’ lives, including descriptions of their families, daily routines, past experiences, future plans, likes and dislikes, and comparisons of people, places, or things.
R200L Reading
This is a beginning-level reading course aimed at helping you understand short textbook and newspaper passages. You should be able to answer yes/no and open-ended questions, as well as learn how to skim and scan for main ideas and details.
SL20L Speaking/Listening
This beginning level oral skills course provides you with listening and speaking practice related to everyday conversational situations. Talk about daily activities, plans, likes and dislikes, and past experiences. In addition, demonstrate your speaking skills by giving several presentations.
G300L Grammar
This lower-intermediate grammar course develops your understanding and usage of specific grammatical structures at the word and sentence level. Focus on progressive and perfect tenses, phrasal verbs, modals, passives, gerunds, infinitives, count and noncount nouns, articles, and comparisons. Learn to use the structures learned in oral and written communication.
W300L Writing
This eight-week course focuses on writing simple, compound, and complex sentences using common conjunctions. Practice organizing information before writing by brainstorming in small groups and by preparing simple outlines. Complete several in-class paragraph by applying the structures learned in grammar classes.
R300L Reading
This lower-intermediate reading course consists of vocabulary building, elementary inferencing, reading for specific information, and skimming and scanning skills through the use of newspapers, handouts, discussions, and readings.
SL30L Speaking/Listening
Focus on listening comprehension and speaking skills through paired exercises, small group discussions, and brief speeches. Increase your vocabulary through listening to passages of various lengths and doing practice exercises. You also work on pronunciation with special emphasis on stress and intonation.
400 Level–Intermediate
G400L Grammar
This intermediate grammar course looks at numerous grammatical structures at the word, phrase, and sentence level. Review all tenses with an emphasis on future and perfect tenses. Also study modals, passives, adjective clauses, noun clauses, gerunds, and infinitives. Focus on using the structures learned in oral and written communication.
R400L Reading
This course is designed to sharpen your reading skills. Areas covered include skimming, scanning, making inferences, understanding vocabulary through context, identifying topics and main ideas, and increasing reading speed. Complete outside reading reports and make oral presentations.
W400L Writing
This is an intermediate level writing course in which you write complete, unified, coherent paragraphs with good topic sentences. Clearly communicate information and ideas by using simple, compound, and complex sentences.
SP40L Speaking/Listening
This class provides students with listening and speaking practice as well as new vocabulary. Short lectures on various academic topics offer students both new vocabulary as well as the opportunity to learn and apply note-taking skills. Pronunciation improvement is also covered, addressing topics such as selected vowels and consonants, syllables, word and sentence stress, rhythm, and intonation.
500 Level – Upper Intermediate
G500L Grammar
Focus on a review of grammar ideas and structures that often prove difficult to master. The first part o covers verb tenses, the structure and uses of the passive voice, modal auxiliaries, especially the difference in their meanings and social contexts to add a dimension of politeness to spoken and written English. The second half deals with longer, multi-idea sentence structures, including adjective clauses, noun clauses, and conditional (if and wish) clauses. Also covered are the many uses of the infinitive and gerund forms for reasons of both structure and meaning.
R500L Reading
This upper-intermediate reading course consists of skills-building practice in reading for general understanding and detailed information. Develop techniques for analyzing content, guessing unfamiliar vocabulary, drawing inferences, and increasing reading speed through discussion, newspaper and magazine articles, and textbook selections.
W500L Writing
Focus on writing paragraphs and essays using various rhetorical patterns of organization. Practice writing complete coherent paragraphs and essays in class. Learn to connect ideas using a variety of cohesive devices. Practice self-editing to become a more independent writer.
SL50L Speaking/Listening
Improve your listening comprehension, speaking, and pronunciation skills as well as expand your vocabulary. Recorded lectures and interviews on a variety of topics offer listening practice and discussion opportunities. Learn new vocabulary and expressions applicable to several situations through listening exercises. Give several presentations to practice your speaking skills.
600 Level – Lower Advanced
G600L Grammar
This advanced course is typically taken with W600L. Integrate grammar you practice with your writing. Study advanced grammar, focusing on differences between formal and informal language use. Combine related ideas using a variety of sentence structures, and edit your writing with only moderate teacher assistance.
W600LWriting
This advanced class is typically taken with the G600Lclass. You will write complete, coherent paragraphs and essays that reflect an American linear style using adequate support from multiple sources and reflecting different rhetorical and organizational programs. To this end, there is a strong emphasis on the development of both paraphrasing and word-processing skills.
R600L Reading
This lower-advanced level reading course consists of analysis of reading selections for main ideas, inferences, details, and structure. Additional materials encourage reading for pleasure and speed. Extensive work with vocabulary provides you with tools for determining the meaning of unfamiliar words.
SL60L Speaking/Listening
This advanced oral skills course consists of academic listening practice, note taking, and summarizing. It requires short effective presentations and work in small groups to develop presentations. In addition to listening practice and speeches, class discussion on topics generated from academic lectures is required.
700 Level –Upper Advanced
G700L Grammar
This course is normally taken with W700L and consists of a review of advanced grammar forms encountered in business and academic writing. Learn to edit your writing and monitor your grammatical accuracy in speaking
W700L Writing
This course is normally taken with the G700L course. It consists of instruction in the principles of academic writing. In addition, it requires either an academic research paper through which students learn to locate reliable sources and integrate them into an accurately documented paper, or an extended writing project such as a student magazine or a technical report.
S700L Speaking
This advanced oral skills course helps students learn how to deliver clear, well-organized presentations with confidence. Students in this class also learn how to manage and participate in small group academic discussions. The instructor works with students to develop awareness of aspects of their pronunciation that may affect the overall clarity of their speech. The final project is either a speech presenting their academic research paper or a video project.
L700L Listening
Listen to and discuss a wide range of topics. Materials include radio broadcasts, news reports, humorous pieces, and songs. Sharpen your listening skills through a variety of topics, such as business, humor, ethics, intercultural communications, dialects, American cinema, and science. You are required to keep logs on outside listening activities
Electives
GMAT / GRE Preparation
Advanced: 600-700 Level Students
Learn strategies for writing the issue and argument essays on the GMAT and GRE, as well as how readers score essays. Particular emphasis is placed on how to approach the various types of questions for the argument essay. Learn to brainstorm the argument and ways to support it, learning appropriate grammar structures, and analyzing models of argument essays. No required text.
Word Power: Building Test Vocabulary
Intermediate - Advanced: 400-700 Level Students
Prepare for vocabulary questions on important standardized college entrance tests such as the SAT and GRE. Study word roots and parts to figure out meanings of words you have never seen before. Some class time is devoted to practicing and choosing vocabulary in realistic test settings.
Making a Movie
Intermediate - Advanced: 400-700 Level Students
Practice all the language skills while making a movie about Atlanta. Read about places to visit around Atlanta; listen to and watch movies; write a plan for the movie you want to make; and, develop speaking skills while practicing interview techniques.
By the end of the course, your will produce a movie. Learn the basics of movie-making techniques and using movie-editing software. You may also make a Web site for your film. No required text.
iBT TOEFL Preparation: Reading Strategies & Practice
iBT TOEFL Preparation: Speaking Strategies & Practice
iBT TOEFL Preparation: Writing Strategies & Practice
iBT TOEFL Preparation: Listening Strategies & Practice
iBT TOEFL Preparation: Reading Skills & Practice
iBT TOEFL Preparation: Speaking Skills & Practice
iBT TOEFL Preparation: Writing Skills & Practice
iBT TOEFL Preparation: Listening Skills & Practice
BECOMING MORE FLUENT: Using Dramatic Activities to Improve Speaking
Effective communication is more than just grammar. The way you use your voice, face, posture, or gestures affects the message you are sending. Many second language speakers need to improve their nonverbal skills. This course will help you break the ice that is preventing you from expressing yourself as fully as you would like to. Dress comfortably in clothes that allow you to move and sit on the floor. In this course, which makes use of dramatic activities, you will work in a large group, smaller groups, and in pairs. Explore different ways of communicating through vocal exercises, rhythm practice, articulation exercises, improvisations, and imagination exercises On the last day of class, you will perform a final monologue or skit.
THE RHYTHM OF ENGLISH: IMPROVING YOUR PRONUNCIATION
Get a real feeling for American English pronunciation by listening to songs and singing along. Experiencing the language in songs gives you a true sense of how vowels, consonants, stress, and intonation combine to give English its distinctive rhythm. The goal of this class is to help you get more vocabulary and more confidence when you speak.
Summer Short Courses
BEGINNING TO LOW INTERMEDIATE COURSES
ESL: Dramatic English
Improve your overall speaking fluency by participating in skits and improvisations. Overcome your fear of speaking by taking on the personality of different characters in short monologues, dialogues, and improvisational skits. Attention is given to nonverbal language and voice projection exercises. By the end of the class, you should feel more confident about your ability to communicate orally in English.
ESL: Everyday Conversation
Learn and practice vocabulary and idiomatic phrases needed to communicate in everyday life. Participate in role plays based on various situations, including eating at a restaurant, shopping, meeting new people, getting directions, buying a car, and going to a party. The instructor will help you with any pronunciation problems that interfere with clear communication. The class goal is for you to gain confidence in your ability to speak to Americans informally.
ESL: Grammar Basics
Review basic rules of spoken and written English grammar. Emphasis is on you using (not memorizing) the rules in real, communicative activities including writing letters, e-mails, blogs, and performing dialogues. This course is ideal for students who know minimal English or students who would like to learn how to communicate more accurately in English.
ESL: Reading Club
Read short stories, magazine articles, or very short novels outside of class. Then, during class, Discuss the characters, events, or other content of what you have read. The teacher will help you with vocabulary and give cultural background to the stories.
ESL: Topics in the News
Practice all four skills in English. Read and listen to various news stories in local newspapers and news programs, and collect various news stories throughout the course. As a final project, you create a Language Institute Web site with both print and video stories. You have full responsibility for writing and producing news articles and video clips, as well as designing the Web site.
INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED COURSES
ESL: American Pronunciation
Learn how to pronounce English more clearly. Identify aspects of your pronunciation that interfere with the clarity of their communication. Learn how to pronounce problematic sounds as well as rules for pausing, phrasing, intonation, linking, and stress. In-class instruction will include special exercises to help practice various aspects of pronunciation and exercises to help you incorporate these new speech patterns into normal conversation. By the end of the course, you should have the ability to do some self-monitoring of your pronunciation.
ESL: American Studies
You will use the skills of writing, reading, speaking, and listening in English as you learn about the city of Atlanta. Course content focuses on Atlanta from a historical and contemporary perspective, from slavery and the Civil War to Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement to the headquarters of Coca-Cola, Home Depot, and CNN, and a vibrant music scene. You will read as well as listen to lectures and watch movie segments about the city. You spend part of the class time visiting important sites in Atlanta and keep a written and oral journal of your discoveries.
ESL: Better Writing
Practice making your vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation more accurate in your writing. Learn various techniques for sentence combination and word-order variations. The instructor will help you identify weaknesses in your writing and provide feedback on how to improve these areas. Learn how to recognize differences in formal and informal writing in terms of vocabulary, grammatical structures, and punctuation.
ESL: Building Stronger Vocabulary
Understand and use idioms and expressions in everyday conversation in English. Listen to the vocabulary in authentic contexts and learn to incorporate some expressions into your spoken English. You will also be exposed to vocabulary that appears on standardized college entrance tests, such as the SAT and GRE. Study word roots and parts to help you figure out meanings of unfamiliar words. Some class time will be devoted to choosing vocabulary in realistic test settings.
ESL: Business Communication
Learn typical business vocabulary for reading, writing, and speaking. Write short business memos and reports, as well as discuss case studies about employees, products, or customers. Give at least one brief business presentation.
ESL: iBT TOEFL Preparation
Prepare to take the iBT (Internet-based) TOEFL. Learn the format of each of the four sections of the TOEFL, including writing, reading, speaking, and listening. Learn what to expect on the test and practice answering questions similar to the questions that actually appear on the test. The instructor will provide feedback on how well you perform the various tasks required on the test. A textbook is required (available at the Georgia Tech bookstore).
ESL Movie Making: An Integrated Language Skills Course
Practice all the language skills–speaking, listening, writing, and reading–while making a class movie. Learn the basics of using movie-editing software and make a Web site for the film. The movie will be about a topic of interest to students. Past topics include the Cherokee Indians and the city of Atlanta. Research your topic of interest and learn film techniques. You present information on film while visiting actual topic-related sites. As a final project, you will use your research and video clips to create a short documentary film and a live Web site.
ESL: Public Speaking
The oral presentation skills are different from that of conversation. You might have to give formal talks or speeches, teach classes, participate in business meetings, lead group discussions, or present at conferences. Learn pronunciation as well as cultural rules, such as how to organize information; how to use visual aids; how to use body language appropriately; and how to interact with an audience, large or small.
Evening Courses
ESL: Practical Writing Skills
Focus on skills needed for business or academic writing. Learn how to write effective resumes, business letters, memoranda, and reports, as well as short research topics or technical reports. Course materials will be provided in class. This course is intended for intermediate- to advanced-level students.
ESL: Contemporary Issues—Developing Discussion Skills
Work on developing oral skills through discussion of current events and overall fluency in speaking by focusing on accent reduction, vocabulary, discussion skills, and conversational development. Course materials will be provided in class. This course is intended for upper intermediate- to advanced-level students.
ESL Public Speaking Skills
Learn the skills required to prepare and present a public speech or presentation. Focus on various presentation techniques and topics including:
- defining your audience,
- introducing yourself;
- giving a dynamic opening and closing;
- fielding questions;
- using appropriate transitions;
- organizing and developing ideas;
- fighting fear;
- choosing good examples, vocabulary, details, and facts;
- delivery (body language, gestures, eye-contact, speech volume, pacing) and using effective visual aids (such as PowerPoint and handouts).
Address several pronunciation techniques. Get individualized attention through individual-needs appointments with the teacher. Deliver a speech every week. By the end of the course, you should be able to give a public speech or presentation with confidence and clarity. This course is intended for intermediate- to advanced-level students.
ESL: Preparation for iBT TOEFL Exam
Prepare for the iBT, or Internet-based, TOEFL, which has four sections: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. On the exam, you must demonstrate your ability to integrate these skills when responding to what you read, hear, or see. Learn the kinds of items you must respond to and strategies to improve the way you respond in writing and speaking in a timed setting. This course is intended for upper intermediate- to advanced-level students.
ESL: Improving Your Job Search—From Resumes to Interviewing
Thinking about changing your job? Learn how to make a better impression in your job search. Explore steps to writing a winning resume and cover letter then preparing for a successful interview. Examine the different resume styles, and choose the one that is right for you. Learn to create cover letters that highlight your strengths. Master practical skills for presenting yourself and building confidence for an effective interview through role plays and interactive exercises. Course materials will be provided in class. This course is intended for upper intermediate- to advanced-level students.
ESL: Grammar/Writing Skills
Review of English grammar including adjectives, nouns, and adverb clauses, parallelism, verb tenses and voices, articles, pronoun references, and gerunds and infinitives. Get extensive practice with these structures in meaningful communication. By the end of the course, you will be able to communicate with greater accuracy and sophistication in writing. This course is intended for intermediate- to advanced-level students. Course materials will be provided in class.
ESL: Developing the Art of Conversation
Work on developing oral skills through a look at popular-culture America. Concentrate on your overall fluency in speaking by focusing on accent reduction, vocabulary, presentation skills, and conversational development. Course materials will be provided in class. This course is intended for intermediate to advanced-level non-native English students.
ESL: Clearer Speech
Work on your ability to speak clearly. Identify aspects of your pronunciation that interfere with overall intelligibility. Practice sounds, stress, rhythm, intonation, and thought groups in isolation and in context. Get individual feedback and learn how to self monitor your pronunciation. Course materials will be provided in class. This course is intended for intermediate to advanced-level non-native English students.
Graduate Preparation Workshops
Clearer Pronunciation
Advanced Level Only
Identify parts of your speech that interfere with your overall intelligibility.Work on difficult sounds, stress and rhythm patterns, and intonation. Get extensive individual feedback and learn strategies to help you monitor your pronunciation.
GTA Training Course for International Students
Advanced Level Only; For graduate teaching assistants
Practice teaching before your teaching assistant begins. Get tips on how to present effective lectures, how to handle one-on-one interaction with students, and how to create a more interactive classroom atmosphere. You will be video-taped and get feedback on your practice teaching sessions. At the end of this course, you receive an assessment of your readiness to handle a teaching assignment.
Academic Speaking
Advanced Level Only
Refine and practice your discussion and oral presentation skills in English. Work on fluency, accuracy, and appropriateness in spoken communication in English, preparing yourself to participate more effectively and confidently in class discussions and research groups. Practice academic presentation skills including organization, delivery, and use of visual aids.
Academic Writing
Advanced Level Only
Prepare to write academic papers. Identify areas of weakness in your writing that affect overall clarity. Specific areas include grammatical accuracy, organization, word choice, and documentation skills. Work on writing that is specific to your academic discipline.