OTAN News

USA Learns has launched a new beginning high / intermediate low course: English 1 Plus. As the name suggests, this course builds on USA Learns' 1st English Course. It gives students the opportunity for more vocabulary, listening, and grammar practice before they move on to the 2nd English Course, addressing a long-time need for a bridge between the two levels. If your learners know how to navigate other USA Learns courses, English 1 Plus will be a snap.

English 1 Plus was created in partnership with Voice of America Learning English. Each lesson is based on select clips from their Let's Learn English 1 videos. These amusing, easy-to-understand videos are accompanied by USA Learns-style interactive activities that help students explore the language in depth and practice their skills.

The course consists of five units with six lessons each. Each lesson includes practice activities for listening comprehension, grammar and writing, reading, and speaking.

• Vocabulary: Students learn and practice vocabulary in preparation for the video story and subsequent exercises. With definitions, photos, and sample sentences, students see and hear each word in at least three contexts.

• Listening: Students watch a fun English-captioned video about the life, work, and daily activities of the main character Anna, who has recently moved to Washington, D.C. The comprehension questions that follow are accompanied by audio to keep the focus on listening.

• Grammar and Writing: Grammar presentations highlight language that students have been exposed to in the video, and practice activities include dictation sentences for each grammar point.

• Reading: Readings cover a variety of topics related to themes from the video. Students can listen as they read, and each text is accompanied by a vocabulary preview, comprehension questions, and a Notice the Language activity that encourages close, active reading.

A Review lesson at the end of each of each unit helps students consolidate their learning.

Learners go to the USA Learns Homepage and click Start Now to register for the course. There's also a teacher side at the USA Learns Teacher Homepage. Teachers can easily create a teacher account to deliver free online instruction to their learners, monitor progress, and get user-friendly reports about time spent and scores.

More than 11 million people representing every country in the world have used USA Learns to learn English and prepare for U.S. citizenship. English 1 Plus will provide another fun, free opportunity for learners to develop English skills at the beginning high / intermediate low level. According to Jennifer Gagliardi, adult ESL and U.S. citizenship teacher at Milpitas Adult School, "As a long-time user of both VOA Learning English and USA Learns, I believe that the interactive elements of this new English 1 Plus course will make the VOA's Let's Learn English videos even more effective. I'm excited to use it with my students!"

USA Learns is an ongoing project of the Sacramento County Office of Education's Internet and Media Services Department. If you have questions, please feel free to email help@usalearns.org.