EPI’s Speaking/Listening Curriculum reflects the flexibility given to EPI teachers to use their own style and methods in the classroom while still aiming at some basic, common objectives.
Several general principles guide the determination of the objectives for each level:
- Teachers are encouraged to avoid overusing printed materials. The focus in every level is on oral/aural skills.
- Teachers involve students in activities that encourage both fluency and accuracy.
- Pronunciation is an integral part of every level.
- As students move toward higher levels, they move from topics that are practical and concrete to those that are more sophisticated and abstract.
- Review of vocabulary and grammar as it relates to spoken language is built into each level.
- Students are provided with ample opportunities to listen to native speakers and to interact with native speakers during class time, in the computer lab, and outside of class.
- Field trips are encouraged in all levels.
- Presentations of some type are encouraged at all levels.
- Listening is an integral part of every level and is incorporated within the communicative framework of the course, not as a separate skill. However, each week each class is assigned at least one session in the computer labs for listening-focused activities.
- Although many of the activities in each level are repeated throughout the 6 levels, each activity is adapted to the students’ level of proficiency. At each level individual student’s interests influence the topics that are chosen for each particular class.
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