Classroom notes

The English for Academic Purposes Levels V and VI classes have adopted a new textbook, Bridge to College Success. Susan Coakley's Level V Reading/Writing class has written college application essays, some of which students are submitting to the University of Delaware and other universities. Coakley's Level VI Listening/Speaking and Ruth Jackson's Reading /Writing classes have studied propaganda devices and persuasive speech and writing. Activities for both levels have included debates and analysis of advertisements and commercials.

Guest speakers were a feature of Ruth Jackson's Level V/VI Film class and her English for Academic Purposes Level V Listening/Speaking class. Film class students particularly enjoyed UD psychiatrist/counselor Dr. John Brunel's discussion of schizophenia, during their study of "A Beautiful Mind." In October, during a study unit on health, EAP students gained important information about breast and prostate cancer from two American Cancer Society representatives. On both occasions, students had prepared thoughtful questions, and lively discussions ensued.

Russ Mason reports that the Level VI 1960s class held its seventh anniversary in September 2002 with singing and pizza. Alumnus Yasuo Kato returned from Japan for a visit, and, because of what he had learned in that class, made a "pilgrimage" to several historic, musical and civil rights sites in the Deep South.

In Lisa Grimsley's winter 2002 Level IV/V Reading /Writing American Culture classes, students were assigned American e-mail partners. After reading each chapter in the textbook, her students created questions to ask their penpals. The e-mailed answers were shared with the class and analyzed, and then students wrote a synthesis of what they had learned about American culture from their e-mail exchange. The project generated a lot of enthusiasm and created a deeper and more personal understanding of the US.

Level IV students wrapped a desk chair with flags and photos in the style of modern artist Christo.

All Level IV Reading/Writing classes read about twentieth century artists Frida Kahlo and Christo as part of their coursework, but the summer of 2002 saw some creativity from the students in teacher Deborah Detzel's class. The students planned an art project that required them to wrap a desk chair as Christo might have done, using toilet paper and adding ELI memorabilia and handmade flags from their countries.

To close the summer session, Wendy Bulkowski's Level IV class joined Detzel's to watch the movie "Message in a Bottle," in which letter-writing is central to the plot. They then wrote messages to be mailed to themselves in five years. Bulkowski's students asked their classmates to sign the messages like a yearbook, and students added postage to self-addressed envelopes. In 2007, Detzel and Bulkowski promise to mail the letters to help students remember the long, hot summer of 2002.

Level III Reading/Writing teachers Barbara Morris and Mary Beth Worrilow took

A visit to Wilmington Montessori School provided valuable lessons for Level III students.

their classes to the Wilmington Montessori school to see Maria Montessori's principles in action. The visit followed a unit in their textbook on the famous educator, and students were impressed by the individual work and the independence displayed by the children, which exemplified the methodology they had read about in class.