Weekly Schedule

Week 1: Introduction to American Life and Culture
Week 2: Current topics in American culture
Week 3: Law enforcement, Business world, and the world of work
Week 4: What do you want to know?

Tentative Schedule of Topics
In-class language sessions for morning hours

Week 1: Introduction to American Life and Culture
Monday – arrival and orientation to campus – getting settled!

Tuesday – life on campus and in the Fargo-Moorhead community

1. Housing expectations and dorm life
2. Expectations for timely arrivals and class time
3. Knowledge about regulations and safety

Wednesday – Goal setting
EXPLORER JOURNAL SECTION 1 - PARTS 1, 2, AND 3

1. Getting acquainted and sharing
2. Interviewing activity
3. Core groups designation
4. Goal-setting for the course
5. Preview Oral Composition assignments
6. Preview reading assignments
7. Preview journaling activity assignments

Thursday – Culture bound issues of health and safety

1. Activity
2. Oral presentation of ideas in small groups
3. Guest speaker: healthcare professional from the community
4. Discussion of cultural ideas regarding how, why, and what we do to “keep safe” and “be healthy”
5. Readings assignment
6. Writing assignment
7. Vocabulary

Friday - Baseball, hotdogs, and apple pie
EXPLORER JOURNAL SECTION 2 – PART 1

1. Guest speaker: Donald “Bucky” Burgau, baseball coach for Concordia College and the Fargo-Moorhead Red Hawks
2. Journaling
3. Oral composition presented in small groups
4. Sentence-level study: Daily Oral Language
5. Self-assessment of language goals: analysis of first 5 days, and goal-setting for week 2
6. Reading assignment
7. Writing assignment
8. Vocabulary

Weekend field trips and excursions will complement week’s assignments and topics. There will be down time for rest and leisure. See below.

Week 2: Current topics in American culture
Monday - FOOD, glorious food!

1. Reading assignment
2. Writing assignment
3. Vocabulary
4. Sentence-level study: sentence combining
5. Food vocabulary activity!
6. Oral composition
7. Journal discussion
8. Sentence-level study: sentence-combining and Daily Oral Language (DOL)
9. Vocabulary study

Tuesday – Food traditions and regional differences (Thanksgiving dinner)
EXPLORER JOURNAL SECTION 2 – PART 2

1. Reading assignment
2. Discussion of reading assignments
3. Sentence-level study: sentence combining and DOL
4. Vocabulary study
5. Writing assignments
6. Coffee House Culture: Study time in core groups (evening activity)

Wednesday – Ethics of consumption

1. Discussion of reading assignment
2. Journal time – self-assessments for meeting learning goals
3. Writing assignment
4. Sentence-level study: sentence-structure and mechanical errors, DOL
5. Vocabulary study
6. Reading assignment preview for next day (guest speaker/author coming to class)

Thursday - writing and the region; Historical perspective on faith communities

1. Discussion of reading assignments from W. Scott Olsen, “107 Miles West of Fargo,” Guest speaker: W. Scott Olsen, writer and professor of English at Concordia
2. Reflection exercise on guest speaker
3. Vocabulary study
4. Hands-on writing (journal): writing about a picture: 1) objective description and 2) subjective description
5. Sentence-level study
6. Small group presentations

Friday – Nature and the outdoors
EXPLORER JOURNAL SECTION 2 – PART 3

1. Outdoors (journal) writing: trip to Prairie Home Cemetery
2. Discussion of reading assignments from America Now: Climate Crisis
3. Reading assignment
4. Vocabulary study
5. Assessment: each student does a written assessment of 1) their progress in language development and 2) the effectiveness of the course at this point (open- ended).
6. Sentence-level study
7. Self-assessment: Journaling activity; oral compositions to date; goal-setting for second half of ELL experience

Weekend field trips and excursions will complement week’s assignments and topics. There will be down time for rest and leisure. See below.

Week 3: Law enforcement, Business world, and the world of work
Monday – Law Enforcement

1. Written composition
2. Oral presentation
3. Vocabulary study
4. Sentence-level study
5. Reading assignments in America Now (Education and Achievement unit)
6. Guest speaker: Sergeant from the police force

Tuesday – Government and legal system

1. Government vocabulary and legal system in America
2. Journaling assignment
3. Coffee House culture – study night
4. Written composition

Wednesday – Business and work

1. Readings
2. Written assignment
3. Vocabulary study
4. Possible tour of local business (Microsoft, a small business, or a bank)

Thursday – Agriculture and the role of farming in our region

1. Farm tour
2. Readings relevant to topic
3. Vocabulary work
4. Sentence-combining activity
5. Journaling

Friday –summer fun!
EXPLORER JOURNAL Pg. 94-109

1. Readings relevant to topic
2. Garage sales – what IS that anyway?
3. Journaling activity (after the ‘garage sale tour’)
4. Oral and Written assessments – goal-setting for final week of ELL

Weekend field trips and excursions will complement week’s assignments and topics. There will be down time for rest and leisure. See below.

Week 4: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW? Students will be given an opportunity for some choice in the final week’s schedule. Readings and assignments will be chosen accordingly.
Monday - Wednesday :
Each day will include some of the following activities:

1. Journaling
2. Sentence-level study
3. Vocabulary
4. Reading assignments
5. Oral presentation

Thursday - Final class day

1. Reading assessment
2. Final oral presentations in small groups
3. Written assessment
4. Journal activity
5. Assessments of program

Friday - Wrap up and celebrate. Final Banquet preparations (Determination of program depends on individual participants)