Intensive English Program

The IEP approaches the receptive skills of reading and listening as two halves of the same coin. Students are introduced to rhetorical features of text—organization, purpose, main idea—with the goal of developing a battery of analytical skills that may be applied to any text at any time, in any medium, concerning any subject or topic. In this way, students practice a “writerly” approach to text; in other words, they become aware of how writers (or speakers) craft text and why. Supporting skills of annotating text, note-taking and note-making, recognizing correct grammar structures and correcting incorrect structures, and developing academic vocabulary are included in receptive skills instruction.

The IEP approaches the productive skills of writing and speaking in much the same way as well. Having been—and continuing to be—introduced to features of text, students then apply ideas contained within texts to themselves, their experiences, their observations, their knowledge—and to other texts. The application may take the form of narration, process, cause/effect, comparison/contrast, etc., but these are practiced within the context of text response. Practice in the stages of the text-creating process, in generating correct grammar structures, and application of introduced academic vocabulary are included in productive skills instruction.