English Language Learners
A better future starts here.
When asked what skills they'd like their employees to have, most employers answer: communication skills. Confident communication is the key to your success story. Build writing, speaking, reading, and listening skills with M State's ELL courses.
M State is committed to helping students develop their communication skills. For students who speak languages other than English, building these skills begins with ELL classes offered on our Moorhead campus and online (see class schedules for availability).
For more information, please contact Heidi Anderson, ELL/ENGL instructor, at heidi.anderson@minnesota.edu.
ELL0050: ELL Foundations: This grammar-based course is designed to prepare students to succeed in college-level fundamental courses. The course supports progress toward fluency in the English skill areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing through intensive study of grammatical structures. Content is chosen to provide sound models for needed basic written forms.
ELL0055: Academic Vocabulary: This vocabulary course is for non-native learners of English. Students will learn the vocabulary most frequently used in college-level coursework, as well as the strategies necessary to acquire this vocabulary quickly and efficiently.
ELL0060: ELL Reading: This reading course is for non-native learners of English. Students will learn the skills and vocabulary necessary to read college-level materials with emphasis given to effective note taking and summarizing. Students will engage in frequent large and small group discussions of reading material and be exposed to a variety of reading strategies.
ELL0065: American English Expressions: This vocabulary course is for non-native learners of English. Students will learn common idiomatic expressions used in North American English, with emphasis on expressions grouped by cultural themes. It is designed to develop both language and cultural fluency by exploring the idioms Americans use regularly and the cultural background of those expressions.
ELL0075: American English Pronunciation: This pronunciation course is for non-native speakers of English. It is designed to help students improve their ability to be clearly understood in spoken communication in the United States. Through focusing on general speaking habits, intonation, syllabification, stress, rhythm, contraction and vowel and consonant sounds, students will learn how to more accurately adjust their pronunciation to general North American English pronunciation.
ELL1020: Listening Comprehension and Speaking: This course is for non-native learners of English. Students will develop the listening and speaking skills necessary for participating in college-level classroom discussion, incorporating oral presentation and fostering critical listening skills needed for taking notes and understanding lectures.
ELL1060: Writing I: This writing course is for non-native learners of English and is designed to prepare students for ELL1080: ELL Writing II. Students will learn the short essay form for expository writing, emphasizing sentence and paragraph structures as well as editing for increased accuracy.
ELL1080: Writing II: This writing course is for non-native learners of English and is designed to prepare students for college-level writing tasks and/or courses. Students will learn multiple-paragraph essay forms with an emphasis on paraphrasing, summarizing, quoting and analyzing sources. Students will inventory patterns of error and create an individual plan for increasing accuracy.
Resources
Adult Basic Education (ABE) sites (services available at no cost/fee):
Practice sites for reading, listening, writing, speaking and cultural knowledge:
