Foundations for Language and Life

A Proposal for a Semester-long High School Developmental English Course at OA

Goals

To assess for weaknesses in each students literacy at the present

To lay a strong foundation in the Core Four of linguistic literacy:
Reading (phonics and spelling)
Listening (comprehension)
Writing (grammar)
Speaking (expression)
To prepare students to re-enter their appropriate course-level of English
To build their confidence in their academic abilities
To positively influence their academic performance in other classes

Curriculum
Preview of Books & Material
Since these resources are available for free online (with the exception of Diagramming from the
Scriptures), the students will not need to purchase any textbooks.
A Sound Track to Reading by Monica Foltzer (Reading, Speaking)
Grammar-land by M.L. Nesbitt
Audiobook: https://archive.org/details/grammar-land_1011
Worksheets: http://dontneednoeducation.blogspot.com/2010/01/grammar-landworksheets.html
Diagramming from the Scriptures by Shirley Forsen
How to Write: A Handbook Based on the English Bible by Charles Sears Baldwin, Ph.D.
(Writing, Speaking)
Free Online Resource:
Physical Copy:
http://bit.ly/2h09cC8
http://bit.ly/2g71HfW

Reading
One of the greatest barriers to academic success in any area - even in an English course - is the lack of
solid reading skills. Mastering the phonetic decoding skills required in reading will give the brain
opportunity to then absorb the meaning of what was read. Reading instruction will also aid in better
spelling, teaching the student to translate visual input to audio and vice-versa based on phonetic rules.
A Sound Track to Reading is an intensive phonics course designed for middle and high school students. It
begins with two-syllable words (rather than mono-syllable words) and rapidly progresses through the 42
phonetic sounds of the English language in 30 lessons. The remaining 18 lessons cover word roots,
dictionary usage, syllabation, accenting, and other more advanced reading topics. Being older students
who have previously had reading instruction, the class should be able to cover three lessons per day and
master their reading skills in about four weeks.

Sem. Week

Core Curriculum

Progress (Daily or Weekly)

Daily Class Time Needed

Week 1

STR, Lessons 1-12

3 lessons / day

20 minutes

Week 2

STR, Lessons 13-24

3 lessons / day

20 minutes

Week 3

STR, Lessons 25-36

3 lessons / day

20 minutes

Week 4

STR, Lessons 37-48

3 lessons / day

20 minutes

Listening
Both audio and visual input has to be processed by the brain and comprehended. Once a student develops
quick and efficient decryption of the sounds that letters make, they can apply their brain to decoding the
meaning of those letters. The first step to developing that skill is learning to listen. By careful listening,
comprehension is developed.
In paired reading exercises, Student A will read aloud while Student B has a worksheet of the same
reading but with some words omitted. Student B must fill in the blanks while Student A is reading. Then
they switch - only Student As worksheet has different words omitted. Then they self-check their answers
using their Bibles.
If the mind is set to the task of studying the Bible for information, the reasoning faculties will be
improved. ~RH, 02/25/1896
The minds of all who make the Word of God their study will enlarge. Far more than any other
study its influence is calculated to increase the powers of comprehension and endow every faculty
with a new power. ~YI, 10/13/1898
The Word of God is to be the foundation of all study, and the words of revelation, carefully
studied, appeal to and strengthen the intellect as well as the heart. ~Manuscript 16, 1896
The paired reading exercises (as can be discerned) will come from Scripture, specifically the book of
Romans. This letter focuses on righteousness by faith, the foundation for life. After completing a paired
reading exercise in class, the students will write a chapter analysis on the passage. Two chapter analyses
will be required per week (with the exception of the first week when it is introduced).
Sem. Week

Core Curriculum

Progress (Daily or Weekly)

Daily Class Time Needed

Week 5

Paired Reading of
Isaiah 58

1 chapter analysis / week

(completed in class)

20 min

Weeks 6 - 13

Paired Reading of
Romans chapters 1-16

2 paired readings / week

2 chapter analyses / week
(completed in class)

20 min

Speaking
The paired reading exercises not only build listening skills, but also afford the opportunity to learn how to
read with expression. Expressive reading is actually a sign of reading comprehension; being able to
fluctuate voice intonation and volume indicates an understanding of the text and a desire to make that
understanding known to listeners. For all who would be gospel missionaries, this skill is required.
So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to
understand the reading. (Nehemiah 8:8)

Writing
There are two parts to writing: namely, grammar and composition. Grammar will first be introduced
Grammar-land, an allegorical text which covers the eight parts of speech (and deals with articles as a
ninth part of speech). Students will listen to the audiobook - another avenue for modeling expressive
speaking - and then complete the worksheet for each lesson.
This grammar will be built upon further in mini-lessons using Diagramming from the Scriptures.
Analyzing sentences not only provides lessons in grammatical structure, but also improves
comprehension skills. Moreover, learning how to break down the meaning of Scripture will increase Bible
literacy and further strengthen the intellect. The punctuation aspect of grammar will be covered using
inquiry-based lessons.
As for composition skills, the chapter analyses teach loose outlining skills especially in the identification
of key facts and details. Students will be required to use complete and grammatically correct sentences
using correct punctuation. Finally, in the final weeks after the spring School-on-the-Road trip, the focus
will move from outlining to writing paragraphs. Using the principles of (1) Fixing on one point; (2)
Taking hold of that point; (3) Expounding on that point; and (4) Bringing the point home; the students
will choose 3-4 chapters that share a central theme and write paragraphs from their analyses, along with
learning to write solid introduction and conclusion paragraphs.
Given the space of time available to work with students on these skills, more priority has been given to
input (listening, reading, and comprehension) and less to output (writing, especially composition). Welldeveloped input skills substantially increase the potential for success in language output.

Syllabus: 2nd Semester 2016-17

Sem. Week

Grammar

Reading

Week 1

GL, preface + chap. 1-4

STR, Lessons 1-12

Week 2

GL, chap. 5-8

STR, Lessons 13-24

Week 3

GL, chap. 9-13

STR, Lessons 25-36

Week 4

GL, chap. 14-17

STR, Lessons 37-48

Week 5

DS, Recognizing nouns, action

verbs, and SV sentences

Isaiah 58 + Chapter Analysis

Week 6

Recognizing helping verbs and

pronouns

Romans 1-2 + Chapter Analyses

Week 7

Recognizing and writing S-V-DO

and S-V-IO-DO sentences

Romans 3-4 + Chapter Analyses

Week 8

Recognizing linking verbs and SV-PN sentences

Romans 5-6 + Chapter Analyses

Week 9

Recognizing adjectives, You

Understood and S-V-PA sentences

Romans 7-8 + Chapter Analyses

Week 10

Prepositions, Adjectives, and

Adverbs

Romans 9-10 + Chapter Analyses

Week 11

Interjections, Conjunctions, and

Pronouns

Romans 11-12 + Chapter Analyses

Week 12

Infinitives and Gerunds

Romans 13-14 + Chapter Analyses

Week 13

Appositives and Direct Address

and Test

Romans 15-16 + Chapter Analyses

Week 14-15

Composition

SPRING SCHOOL-ON-THE-ROAD TRIP

Week 16

The 3 Clauses and Test

Week 17

The 3 Sentence Types and Test

Writing from Romans

Essay

Week 18

Final Test

Personal Essay