You will take a core course at the level appropriate for your proficiency as well as two content-based English language electives. Courses are available from pre-intermediate to advanced levels.
Core course
Integrated Skills (All levels)
This course is designed to introduce you to skills and strategies necessary to succeed in US universities. With a focus on US immigration and the history of Philadelphia, you will explore and enhance your understanding of the current cultural diversity within the US. You will read academic texts, listen to lectures, participate in academic discussions, give presentations, and perform research. Throughout the course, you will build a blog that showcases your research and your reflections on the international student experience.
Elective courses
Elective course options are dependent upon course level, session, and availability.
How does online communication influence our language, identity, and relationships? This course explores topics in social networking, public relations, and crisis management through the analysis of real-life case studies from politics, business, and entertainment. In a final group project, you will use crisis management strategies to respond to a public relations crisis.
How are technological innovations shaping the world today and how will they affect our lives in the future? This course investigates these questions by exploring how today's top innovators are engineering the future in fields such as robotics and nanotechnology. You will develop skills for describing complex concepts in concise academic language and deliver both formal and informal presentations on technologies of your choice.
Through analysis of successful leaders and their leadership styles, as well as the exploration of your own leadership style, you will learn strategies for effective communication. You will explore organizational dynamics with a focus on how teams develop, learn, and achieve success together and the ways in which leaders emerge. You will analyze the presentation strategies leaders use and incorporate effective verbal and non-verbal communication strategies in team projects and class presentations.
What can you do to increase your well-being and become a more resilient person? This course introduces you to the growing field of positive psychology, and examines several of the field’s key concepts, including signature strengths, positive emotions, resiliency, and grit. You will give several presentations in which you demonstrate your understanding of the concepts and how the concepts relate to your own life.
This course helps develop your understanding of what defines professional communication by analyzing samples of various communication styles and contexts. You will examine how to create a professional resume, along with understanding protocols for professional correspondence in emails and letter format.
As one of the most in-demand skills for future professionals, this course is designed to help you improve your persuasive speaking skills to better communicate and sell your ideas. You will learn about the elements of persuasion and effective speaking and develop presentation skills in business and public relations. Throughout the course, you will work in teams to create a brief business plan and craft a persuasive presentation to sell a product to a specific market.
In the sustainability elective, you will develop a critical awareness of the global issue of limited resources and expanding needs. Through historical, cultural, and individual examples of sustainable, as well as unsustainable, practices, you will examine the societal, economic, and environmental impact of peoples' choices. Through informative videos and purposeful discussion, you will ultimately decide what you, in your community, can do about this urgent matter.
Sample class schedule
