INTERLINK Curriculum Guide
2. Classes and Schedules
INTERLINK has three types of classes:
· Reading and Writing (RW)
·
Communication Skills (CS)
· Modules
RW and CS are core classes that meet 2 hours per day, five days per week. There are five levels each of RW and CS. Students may be in different levels in their two core classes. New students take placement tests to determine which classes they enter. Returning students are expected to progress one level per term. Students who have not achieved the desired degree of proficiency may have to repeat a level. There are five 9 week-terms per year.
Modules are content-based classes on a variety of topics from TOEFL Prep to Keyboarding to Indians of the Southwest which vary from term to term and from center to center. Teachers often offer topics related to their own special interests and students sometimes have a choice about which module to take. Each module typically meets for 1 1/2 hours twice a week from the second through the eighth week of the term.
Teachers normally teach two core classes and one module, a total of 23 hours per week, and students usually take the same number of classes. What is done in those classes is the main concern of this curriculum guide.
There are 3 distinct but inter-related components of the INTERLINK
program:
Language Training
Cross-Cultural Orientation
Academic Preparation
Language training is understood to be the fundamental element of any ESL program, and most of the curriculum is devoted to the principles and mechanisms INTERLINK has adopted to promote successful language training. The cultural component, as will be explained in more detail later, is included not only because language and culture are inextricably connected to one another, bur because promoting cross-cultural understanding is one of INTERLINK's prime objectives. Academic preparation is provided because the vast majority of students enrolled at INTERLINK expect to undertake academic work at American colleges and universities. The INTERLINK curriculum is designed not only to address these three distinct elements, but to integrate them thoroughly and effectively.