English Language Proficiency is a general remedial course that is meant to improve your proficiency in English language skills . As you know, English is an international language and the language of science. Thus, a reasonable proficiency in English is essential for you. Unit one is divided into four sections: Reading , language use, grammar and writing. The first section focuses on a reading text which reinforces your knowledge of reading strategies as skimming and scanning. The second covers one aspect of Language functions: giving and seeking advice. It helps you to master various ways of giving advice to somebody or asking others for a piece of advice.
Unit one deals with some grammatical as well as some writing issues that are very useful for students in order to be used in real life situations. Parts of speech and capitalization are very essential issues in English. Parts of speech look like the building units in Language and each word class has its own function. On the other hand, capital letters as well as small letters are used in any piece of writing. Therefore, mastering how and when to use capital letters is very crucial in good writing.
- Recognize reading strategies.
- Give and seek advice respectively.
- Use simple present and present continuous tenses correctly.
- Write capital letters appropriately.
- Introduction
- Pre - reading
- Read and Find Out
- Read and Answer
- Self Assessment
Dear Student,
No doubt you are already familiar with how to read a text. However, the following reading text is very useful for you. It enables you to reinforce your knowledge of reading strategies and skills. It is also available in an audio format to help you improve your listening , pronunciation and reading skills.
Upon completing this section, you should be able to:
- recognize texts of similar length and complexity.
- identify the key words in the text.
Before you read the text, you are strongly advised to work on the two activities below.
Activity (1) : Listen and look
Listen to the audio and look at the reading text as you listen.
Activity (2) : Look the words up
It is important that you know the meanings of the words in orange color in the reading text. If you do not know the meaning of a word, click on the word to know its meaning before you start reading.
Activity (3): Read and find out
Now read the text quickly, and find out an answer to each of the following questions:
- What is scanning?
- What is skimming?
- When do we use them in reading?
Read the text again, very carefully this time, and make sure that you understand it very well. After you have done that, do the exercises that follow.
- Introduction
- Parts of Speech
- Exercises
- Self Assessment
There are thousands of words in any language. But not all words have the same job. For example, some words express "action". Other words express a "thing“. And some other words have different functions. These are the "building blocks" of the language. They look like the parts of a house. When we want to build a house, we need concrete to make the foundations of that house. We use bricks to make the walls. and door frames to make the doorways etc. Therefore, each part of the house has its own job. And when we want to build a sentence, we use the different types of word. Each type of word has its own function.
We can categorize English words into some types or classes. These classes are called "parts of speech".
Upon completing this section, you should be able to:
- Distinguish between some parts of speech which are: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions.
- Use some nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions correctly in English.
Dear Student:
watch the following video and read the text to learn the parts of speech.
Speech consists of many parts, the common parts of speech are:
noun is a name of a person, place, thing or idea.
Example
- Person like: a student, teacher, mother, Tom, the president, etc.
- Place like: Palestine, university, Africa, room, etc.
- Thing like: pen, computer, camera, sun, etc.
- Idea like: happiness, freedom, beauty, etc.
A verb is word that expresses either an action or a state of being.
Example
- Action like: run, dance, swim, read, etc.
- State of being like: is, are, was, see, smell, hear, etc.
It is a word that describes or modifies a noun or a pronoun like beautiful, intelligent, happy, sad, etc.
Example
- A beautiful lady: The adjective “beautiful” is describing the noun “lady”.
- She is happy: The adjective “happy” is describing the pronoun “she”.
It is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Adverbs answer the questions: How, when and where.
-
the “-ly” adverbs that we just listed tell how something happens.
Example: “She reads quickly.” The adverb “quickly” tells how she reads. -
adverbs that answer the question “when”: now, yesterday, then, etc.
Example: “It rained yesterday.” Here “yesterday” tell us when it rained. -
adverbs that answer the question “where”: there, here, away, etc.
Example: “She eats there.” Here “there” tells us where she eats.
Prepositions are words that show the relationship between words in a sentence.
Examples of prepositions: in, on, under, at, by, for, of, etc.
For example: I live in Nablus. She finished the assignment at noon.
1.The teacher likes to help the students.
The teacher likes to help the students
| Noun | Verb | Adjective | Adverb | Preposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2.Mira lives in Palestine.
Mira lives in Palestine
| Noun | Verb | Adjective | Adverb | Preposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
3. The mother is happy.
The mother is happy
| Noun | Verb | Adjective | Adverb | Preposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
4. The clever students did the assignments quickly at home.
The clever students did the assignments quickly at home
| Noun | Verb | Adjective | Adverb | Preposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Tom / strawberry / eats / a
2. has / the girl / red / a / apple
3. drives / the lady / carefully / her/ car
4. the blue / are / on / the tree/ birds
- Introduction
- Advice
- Exercises
- Self Assessment
This section is meant to enable you to communicate in real-life situations using a variety of structures. It specifically deals with two language functions, namely giving advice and seeking advice.
Upon completing this section, you should be able to:
- give advice to others using different structures.
- seek advice from others using appropriate structures.
When one faces a problem, he usually goes to his/her friends for advice. Have you ever been asked to give advice to a friend or a relative? What did you tell him/her?
There are many English expressions/ structures which you can use to give and seek advice. Working on the activity below enables you to use these expressions easily.
Activity (1): Watch and Write
Watch the following video then write the suitable expression of giving and seeking advice in the blank
- Salam: Thanks …, but I face a difficult situation. Your help is badly needed.
- Yousef: Okay…
- Salam: My parents refused the idea of studying abroad.
- Yousef: I see… , I would discuss the matter with mom first. My mother as you know is very kind.
- Salam: I talked with both mom and dad . She is kind, but her position is strange enough.
- Yousef: What about my father…?
- Yousef: . My father avoids taking hasty decisions.
Read the expression of giving and seeking advice that you can use in life situation
We advise others in several ways:
- If I were you, ….
- had better
- should
- ought to
Example
Yousef gave Salam certain pieces of advice as below:
- I see… If I were you, I would discuss the matter with mom first. My mother as you know is very kind.
- Yousef : You should be patient. My father avoids taking hasty decisions.
- Yousef: You had better not ignore their concerns. Frankly, they love you.
- Yousef: I am afraid, parents shouldn't be offended.
- You can ask for advice by using questions like or as the ones below.
- What do you advise me to do?
- What should I do?
- What’s your advice?
Example
- Salam: My parents refused the idea of studying abroad. What should I do?
- Salam: If you were in my position, what would you do?
Read this letter carefully:
I'm thirty years old and I am a heavy smoker.In fact, I've been smoking for ten years.Recently,I've had some trouble with my lungs.My doctor insists that I give up smoking.I've tried hard to do so, but so far I can't .What should I do?
You'd better not listen to what the doctor says.
Why don’t you try sports?If I were you, I’d give it up right away.It might be a good idea to go for a long walk every morning.You should talk to your doctor again. He may change his mind.You have a limited amount of money and you want to buy a car. The money you have can only buy you a second-hand car, but you’d like to buy a new one. If you decide to buy a new car, you need to borrow some money from the bank or to sell a piece of land. You cannot make up your mind; in
fact, you are confused.
You eventually go to a good friend of yours to seek advice. Which of the following expressions would you use? Notice that you can use more than one expression to seek advice.
Do you know where I can buy a new car?What should I do?What would you advise me to do?If you were in my position, what would you do?Where can I find someone to buy my land?Can you lend me one thousand Dinars?Would it be a good idea to sell my land?- Introduction
- Capitalization
- Exercises
- Self Assessment
Capitalization is the writing of a word with its first letter in uppercase and the remaining letters in lowercase. Most of the things we capitalize in English are what we call proper nouns. They are the names of specific, unique things.
Upon completing this section, you will be able to :
- Use capital letters appropriately in writing sentences, paragraphs, and texts in general.
Activity(1): Look and Compare
Look at the reading text and look at the first word in each sentence. What is common between these words. Compare your answer with the rule below:
As you already know, some words in English must begin with a capital letter. That is to say, it is wrong to begin them with a small letter. Watch the following video to learn when use a capital letter.
| 1. Do you know any person who speaks chinese? | |
| 2. The nile is the longest river in the world. | |
| 3. I studied english and french at the university of baghdad in 1960. | |
| 4. This is my friend, alexander. He is russian. | |
| 5. I find italian food very tasty, but my wife prefers indian food. | |
- Al-Quds Open University (1991). English Language Proficiency, Al-Quds Open University: Amman, Jordan
- Busy Teacher. Retrieved from busyteacher.org
- Cambridge Dictionary, Retrieved from dictionary.cambridge.org