Belmont International English

Nashville students

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Classes in English for Speakers of Other Languages are offered for adult Nashvillians in classrooms provided through the generosity of the members of the Belmont United Methodist Church, at 2007 Acklen Ave., Nashville, TN 27212.    Our primary class meets Tuesday and Thursday mornings from nine to noon. 
We have a very diverse and interesting group of students, and we welcome new students.  For further information, go to contact us on the navigation bar and send me an e mail.
 

Click here to download map of parking in the vicinity of the school

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 Happy Mardi Gras!  We celebrated by parading through the other classes and throwing beads.  We're happy to be together. 

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Victor was our concertmaster.  Brazilians know all about Mardi Gras.

BELMONT ESL WRITES  2019

On Thursday, April 25, a special celebration was held in the Community Center of Belmont United Methodist Church to celebrate those who had contributed to the Writers' Showcase. Students, their families, and members of the community were invited. Winning stories from each class were read by guest speakers. Refreshments were served.  The winners in our sixth level class were Luis De Medeiros from Brazil, Saška Ivanovic-Lilic from Serbia, and Nigora Sadikova from Uzbekistan.  I'm really glad that I wasn't a judge, because all that I read were great!  Some were funny, as Luis's was, and some were lighthearted. as Saška's was, and some were inspiring, as Nigora's was.  They were all different, and all wonderfully written.  Congratulations to our winners and to all the winners from all the classes.

 

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The class 6 winners of  the  Belmont Writes essays for 2019.  Pictured are Nigora Sadikova from Uzbekistan, me, Saška Ivanovic-Lilic from Serbia, and Luis De Medeiros from Brazil.

BELMONT ESL WRITES 2020

Because of the viral pandemic, the Belmont ESL Writes 2020 has been cancelled.  What a pity.  The essays I have recieved are wonderful, and all of them could have been winners.  At least the authors got the benefit of improving their English by writing.  The losers are those who never got to hear these interesting essays.  

Homework 

Homework is an important part of the learning process, and I expect every student to do his homework every week. When I read over your written work, I can identify areas in which the whole class needs further instruction. This helps me to plan my lessons. In addition, I can find some individual problems that I can help you with.

 There are three homework assignments this week. They will be about the same every week.

 1.  Choose five of the phrasal verbs that I gave you Tuesday, and write one sentence using each of these phrasal verbs; a total of five sentences.  You may send your homework to me by e mail. If you send it as text, I will print it out, correct it, and return it to you next week. If you send it as a MSWord attachment, I will correct it using track changes, and e mail it back to you. You may also simply write your homework on paper and give it to me later this week. We will discuss the phrasal verbs and work on the substitutions next week.

 2.  Read an article in a newspaper or magazine, and be prepared to present it to the others at your table on Thursday.  I want you to look at your listeners, and tell them about the article.  Don't read to them. 

3.  Read chapter 1 of Call of the Wild, by Jack London.   The language isn't difficult. It's a very interesting story, and it's a classic of American literature.  I'm sure you'll enjoy it.  I want you to read it rapidly, to get the sense of it and to enjoy it.  I want you to use your dictionary very little, or not at all.  Guess at the meaning of new words.   You will read the chapter at home, then we will discuss the chapter in class, and then we will watch a video of that chapter.   Study questions are available below to help you understand the story.  You should easily answer these questions as you read the book.  Knowing these answers will be useful to you when we discuss the book in class. You need not write anything for this exercise.
  
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Click here to download study questions for Chapter 1 of Call of the Wild

 

Click here for a map to my house, 724 Summerly Dr.

  Grammar Book

As I mentioned in my introductory letter, we will use Understanding and Using English Grammar, by Betty Schrampfer Azar.  We are using the third edition in class, but the fourth edition, available here in .pdf form is very little different.  You may access the entire book any time, free.  We don't do a lot of work on grammar in this class, but we do some. 

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Click here to access pdf version of Understanding and Using English Grammar, 4th edition.

 (Click on the pages themselves to turn pages.)

I would also suggest that you print out pages 20 and 21, a list of common irregular verbs.  Unfortunately, the commonest verbs are very likely to be irregular.

(Click on "open in a new window" if it doesn't show map right away.)

 Calendar for fall semester 2020
August 31                        First day of class for level 6
September 7 No class. Labor Day                         
November 1 Daylight Savings Time ends                 
November 25 and  27 No class.  Thanksgiving Nov. 26
December 18 Last class of fall semester