“The more you read, the more you know; the more you learn, the more places you'll go.” Dr. Seuss
“The only way to improve your reading is by reading." William Grabe
At AGUSL we believe that Reading is the most important window for letting us see what other people think and feel about the world. By taking us to other places and other ideas, and letting us compare them with what we know and think, reading creates curiosity. Reading is what you do when you want to learn something; even if you do not know all the words in what you are reading you should not stop - use a dictionary, if you have to, and then keep going!
The AGUSL Prep. Reading program builds on this curiosity to expose students to ideas and issues that they may not have given much thought to. Through Reading, students not only learn a lot of English but also analyze and understand the ideas of others, and how to clarify their own ideas and opinions. In their time here, students read and analyze some 150 texts on a wide range of topics ranging from daily routines to global issues. In addition to these texts chosen by their instructors, students learn to select texts for themselves that are appropriate to their level of English, to their interests and to the topic of study.
Students are encouraged to compare ideas across texts and look at the same issue from different viewpoints as well as recognize purpose and bias. By the end of the course, students have the strategies and confidence to work with a large variety of texts along with the ability to use those texts to evaluate ideas and solutions to the problems the world faces today.
Reading 0 (Foundation)
At the end of this course you will be able to read factual texts and extract concrete details, to complete tables and to answer detailed questions.
Reading 1
At the end of Reading 1: you will have a better idea how ideas in texts are joined together; your dictionary skills will be sharper; you will recognise that words have more than one meaning (and how you can differentiate between them); you will see how English words can be used both literally and metaphorically.
(Before passing Reading 1, you are not allowed to take the short course 'English for Maths'.)
Reading 2
In Reading 2 you learn more about recognising logical relations between ideas, such as: cause/effect; problem/solution; comparison. At the end of this course you be examined on your ability to comprehend details and ideas from 1200 words of text from an original source - this means that you will have been reading not the simplified, artificial, English of language texts books, but the real English that people all around the world read every day.
(Before passing Reading 1, you are not allowed to take Elective courses.)
Reading 3
In Reading 3, you are expected to read about twice as much text as in Reading 2 - a big jump! You will be exposed to a wide range of topics, which will be a great boost to your comprehension of general academic English. In addition, you will see in detail how specific types (or genres) of texts are organised to communicate ideas and information in particular ways: you will learn to recognise (SPRE) reports that explain problems and then propose ways of responding to them; you will be taught how academic research is reported informally for general readers in the press on news websites.
After you pass Reading 3, you will be allowed to take the short course 'Summarising'. (Note that until you have passed 'Summarising', you are not allowed to take English 101.)
Reading 4
In Reading 4 you are again expected to read lot! You will read longer texts about more topics, which will be a great boost to your comprehension of general academic English. At the end of Reading 4, in a 50 minute exam you will need to show that you can usefully engage with 2000 words of text of factual/academic content. This will mean identifying key elements such as opinions and evidence in an argumentative text. You will also have been taught how academic research is reported in academic format for academic readers of Research Articles.
When you have taken Reading 4 (and Summarising), you will be ready for English 101, and for a lifetime of effective and productive reading in English.