How To Use This Book
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Students:
This book should be read from cover to cover. The skills, vocabulary and information are progressively more complex and build upon each other. At any time, the reader can click on to the website the e-book (electronic version of the book), where there are links to dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias, knowledge bases and atlases that deepen and broaden the knowledge, information and insights available to you. (See the on-line appendixes list on the last page.)
THE AMERICAN ENGLISH EXPRESS
The Story of this Book
I began teaching adults and immigrants to communicate better in standard, college level English in the early 1980’s, and I have been learning from my students how to teach better and better ever since. This book presents the basic strategies for learning and using freshman college level English (also called standard English or formal English) and for succeeding in college. Students who have taken my classes have told me that they are interesting, useful and get the job done. Students have said, “If I had only taken this course before I took the college exams, I would have done much better.” Students have learned in my classes; for example, one student in a reading class came in one day with an eye-opener (a revelation or an insight). She said to the class, “When you read, you really have to think!” Of course, I was thrilled. I hope you find this book interesting and fun (you will surely find it hard work as well).
This book is designed to get you started. It is a beginning and not an end. Surely, the skills, tips, strategies, approaches and ways of thinking presented in this book are helpful, but they are not exhaustive: there is much more to learn about freshman college level English and American culture than is contained in this book. It is fully expected that the student of English will continue to study and learn beyond the scope of this book. Nevertheless, this book is designed to provide a jump-start for anyone who wants to learn freshman college level English and assimilate (adapt to, fit into) American culture.
The lessons contained here are the topics and skills that are delivered to remedial (just below college-level) students in American colleges as they begin to lean to read, write and speak standard formal English. I have chosen the most common issues that students confront when they attempt to add freshman college level English skills to their informal skills. In my writing classes, almost all of the students pass and move on. In reading classes, even more pass. These students, of course, have the benefit of immediate feedback from me; what is more, I adjust what I am teaching to the specific needs of the students in the class. You, as a reader, must work a little harder because you are on your own.
Anyone reading this book will learn the basic fundamentals of freshman college level English and I expect that at least a third, and perhaps as many as half, of the students who read and heed this book could advance an entire semester in their studies. Your expectations should be based on your skill level at the beginning of this book. This is hard work and you should expect to work hard. The only limitations on the benefits to you are the time and effort you put in.
So please, keep thinking while you are reading. Read slowly and re-read whenever you want to. Pay attention and take this book for what it is: an attempt to get you started on the right path, with the right tools and the right attitude.
How To Use This Book
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Professionals:
The American English Express is an ideal supplement for any Adult Basic Education/English Language learning offerings that your institution sponsors. In combination with the website, American English Express can be used to teach, review or reinforce English language learning, critical thinking and/or American civics.
The pedagogy integrates the teaching of communication skills (reading, writing, speaking) with critical thinking skills. The approach is step by step and avoids reliance on a multitude of rules. Rather, the use of formal and informal language, as well as slang, is discussed and presented in narrative form in the context of American history and western culture. Readings include the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, the Bill of Rights and the preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Each student reader is able to work at his or her own pace. Each can advance quickly through sessions that are more familiar and can spend more time with those areas of individual weakness. Highlights include a list of formal and informal language "do's and don'ts", top critical thinking skills, dangerous homonyms and especially difficult grammar issues.
In the classroom, this approach has been extremely effective for the adult returning to school, the GED student and recent immigrants. Freshman college students and recent High School graduates have consistently found the approach very rewarding.