Foundations 1 - English Language Arts

Course Description

Brain Power’s Foundations 1 course is designed to enable students to:

• Write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs
• Improve reading comprehension
• Engage in discussion and debate
• Develop critical-thinking skills
• Improve their elementary-school grades

Foundations 1 focuses on the four key components of all our English Language Arts courses:

• Building sophisticated vocabularies
• Improving grammar skills
• Improving reading comprehension and critical/analytical skills
• Improving critical/analytical writing skills

In short, Foundations 1 will prepare students to excel in their elementary-school classes across a range of subject areas.

Course Structure:

Each class in the Foundations 1 year is designed to introduce them to essential reading, speaking, and writing skills, including:

• Writing messages
• Summarizing
• Writing topic sentences
• Pre-writing and drafting
• Revising and editing
• Writing conclusions
• Writing monologues
• Writing book reports
• Writing opinion pieces
• Giving an oral presentation
• Persuasive speaking
• Creative writing
• Reading for content
• Reading for style

Key terms and concepts are returned to several times over the course of the year, in the context of different readings and assignments, ensuring not only that students retain what they have learned but that they can apply that knowledge in different contexts.

Course Evaluation:

Students will be evaluated on:

• Vocabulary homework
• Vocabulary quizzes
• Weekly in-class grammar exercises
• Weekly writing assignments
• Novel study
• Presentation
• Mid-term and final vocabulary exams
• Final test