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A Case Study of the English Language Center
Three blocks away from the hustle of Market Street, the main thoroughfare of Drexel University's campus, an unassuming building nestles in a quiet neighborhood. The street, lined with narrow sidewalks and trees, gives one a feeling of coziness and safety. Other than the faint sounds of city traffic, tranquility presides over this neighborhood scene. At 229 North 33rd Street stands a long, rectangular, light-colored brick building two stories high. The low green shrubs at the edge of the building and the grassy areas spotted with trees to either side of the entrance give one the sense that this building belongs to the "neighborhood." Looking up at its facade, one would not think that inside this modest structure lies a microscopic view of the world as it could be in the next millennium-a world where countries from all corners of the globe come together in harmony, a non-politicized world where borders, political divisions separating ethnic groups, dissolve and give rise toboundaries, permeable areas that encourage the acknowledgement of and mutual respect for linguistic and cultural diversity.
What is this place? Who are the inhabitants? Walking up the entranceway steps lined with black iron railings, one immediately encounters an outer glass door inscribed with the outline of an umbrella-shaped image encasing the letters AAIEP. Above the umbrella stand the words "American Association for International English Programs (AAIEP)" and underneath, "English Language Center, Foreign Language Center, and ESL Writing Center." These words only begin to frame what goes on inside this building. On the other side of the entranceway lies a safe haven--a place where people from around the globe to come together to learn English, a place where words are transformed into language.
But more goes on at 229 North 33rd Street than just the learning of English in the traditional sense of learning a language or the teaching of specific skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. At Drexel's English Language Center (ELC), students learn about American culture as well. While knowledge of vocabulary, syntax, and grammar serve to enhance one's linguistic ability, they do not necessarily promote communicative competence or the appropriate use of language in situations of everyday life. Because the rules and norms of language cannot be separated from culture, developing communicative competence "enables a student to use a language for a wide range of social and expressive purposes" (Schiffrin 323).
Elijah Anderson, a modern day sociologist, takes us on a walk down Germantown Avenue. Germantown Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the City of Philadelphia, which connects to inner city Philadelphia to some of the surrounding high-wealth suburbs. Philadelphia has a rich and long history, not all of which is good. Many people when speaking of Philadelphia comment on their diverse neighborhoods, much like little towns. Unfortunately, while some of these neighborhoods are good, some are just life threatening dangerous. Anderson through his writing is able to articulate a visual distinction as he walks down Germantown Avenue.
To appreciate a row house neighborhood, one must first look at the plan as a whole before looking at the individual blocks and houses. The city’s goal to build a neighborhood that can be seen as a singular unit is made clear in plan, at both a larger scale (the entire urban plan) and a smaller scale (the scheme of the individual houses). Around 1850, the city began to carve out blocks and streets, with the idea of orienting them around squares and small residential parks. This Victorian style plan organized rectangular blocks around rounded gardens and squares that separated the row houses from major streets. The emphasis on public spaces and gardens to provide relief from the ene...
The city of Longtown, Ohio is crashing down. The population of blacks is decreasing, and the population of whites is increasing. Individuals in Longtown have a past of integration, and Connor Keiser is trying to preserve the life him and his ancestors have lived. Riverside should adapt some of the ways Longtown, Ohio functions. The city has demonstrated unity and the positive ways black and white people live together. The article by Washington Post, “Ohio town holds rare history: Races mix freely for nearly 200 years” expresses the need for integration and how Connor Keiser plans to save it. The foundation of Longtown was by James Clemens, and according to the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson the town has a past history that should not be changed.
Food and drink must be changed into smaller molecules of nutrients to be absorbed into the blood and carried to cells throughout the body. Digestion is the process by which food and liquid are broken down into smaller parts so that the body can use them to build and nourish cells, and to provide energy. Digestion involves the mixing of food, the movement of food through the digestive tract, and a chemical breakdown of large molecules of
Near, Janet, and Marcia Miceli. "Effective Whistle-Blowing." The Academy of Management Review 20.3 (1995): 679-708. JSTOR. Web. 7 Feb. 2014.
Kempa, Darcy. Edward Snowden News: Snowden Finally Reveals Himself to Be a Traitor. 25 07 2012. 20 11 2013 .
Before proceeding to further discuss the basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS), and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP), it may be helpful to
Matt Kwong writes, “They’re learning how to interact with each other, work together, collaborate, problem-solve, how to be respectful to members of the opposite sex”. This is a very true statement concerning traditional classes because students will learn more in a classroom with both genders; it makes the learning environment more interesting. Schools should do more research before sending out letters to parents about single-gender classrooms. Single-gender classrooms are not healthy for students; no matter the age, they need to be able to work with the opposite gender. When you place girls and boys in separate classes, you’re basically telling the opposite gender one is better at that subject (Schultz). Ann Kim writes, “In a letter sent to the district today, the organization threatened to file a lawsuit if the single-gender program continues”. They are very harmful and they cause more disagreements rather than helping the students to do better in
"Whistleblower behind Exposing NSA Surveillance Programs Reveals His Identity, Motivations and More." End the Lie. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. .
English has assumed the status of ‘neutral lingua franca’ (Hyland: 2006: 24) for its pervasive use in both Anglophonic and international contexts to the extent that approximately “one in five of the world’s population now speaks English with reasonable competence” (Crystal, 2003). Canagarajah (2006) reports two different distributions of speakers for year 2050 as follows:
Single sex schools have been present in countries other than the United States for years. Recently, a hand full of various public schools in the United States have switched their systems to single sex. Boards of education chose to switch because of the research that scientists and colleges have found from conducting numerous studies on the effects on single sex schooling opposed to coed schooling. By using test scores, researchers have been able to prove that single sex schools positively benefit students more often than not (Kleiner).
Whether it is for a job, to travel or for the sake of entertainment, chances are high English will have an important role in those activities as “In recent years, the term ‘English
Since the introduction of single-sex education in the 1990s, the people have debated on whether this type of education system was beneficial to modern day society. After many studies for and against single-sex schools were conducted, proof has finally been developed to support that the advantages of single-sex schools outweigh the disadvantages. Factors that make single-sex schools better than mixed-sex schools include: students achieving higher averages and therefore a higher education rate, an increase in opportunities and advantages based on sex, an increase in self-confidence and finally less distraction from the other sex. Single-sex education leads to students becoming more successful because they have more advantages and less worry
...s, and that separately both genders remove all stereotypes, that prevented them to express their hidden talents and statistic that specifies some unbelievable high admission exam results, make us believe that our society really needs such educational system. But, on the other hand, some scholars who illustrated the disadvantages, such as spoiling of behavior, decreasing of academic achievement and difficulties in interaction between the people of opposite sex which have bad consequences make us distrust in beneficial effect of the single-sex education. Of course, single sex education gives some benefits to both male and female in their studies, but it is well-known that everything depends on a person itself. So, if a student wants to study, if she or he has a goal to study well and to be successful in a whole life, she will do it, despite any factors.
Talking about the fact of improving the academic achievement of students in single sex-education leads to demonstrate or rather illustrate another concept, which is the learning style. The argument that supports single-sex education is that boys and girls have utterly different method of learning. As Sax (2002) had stated, “The kind of learning environment that is best for boys, is not necessarily best for girls” (p. 36).This statement clearly shows that each gender needs a specific environment to thrive intellectually. Also Hawley reports, “Physiological and psychological differences between girls and boys require different teaching techniques at different times” (p.56). Without doubt, this fact is amazingly shocking, for the simplest reason that is boys and girls acquire information differently which leads us to the conclusion that girls and boys should be taught using different methods. So, here comes the role of the teacher who is responsible for designing a class using movement, space, and teamwork in order to build different learning styles. Hence, the teacher would ...