LA300 Introduction to Liberal Arts Course Overview

Introduction to Liberal Arts aims to develop the English, critical thinking, and self-study skills needed to effectively solve problems and express opinions on a variety of subjects.
LA300 reinforces four academic skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) throughout the year. Students will not only work to hone these skills, but also practice using them in practical, relevant, and communicative ways. Students will learn the basics of writing and use them to write their own paragraphs on a variety of topics weekly. Students will be assigned a book to read each term. During the reading portion of the class, students will learn how to search through texts for specific information and have extended discussions on the themes presented each class. The importance of self-study is also conveyed through the course’s reading requirements. Each term, LA300’s CLIL section will cover a different academic subject — communication, mathematics, science, and social studies— to expand speaking fluency on unfamiliar topics and to encourage critical thinking. Students will do several taskbased activities throughout the year, such as presentations, science experiments, improvisation, and problem-solving exercises, with the objectives of increasing confidence and raising motivation while working in a team.

小学校高学年を対象にした教養入門コース。英語4 技能の学習に加え、自発的に学び自分の考えを表現するスキルを身につける。１学期１分野ごとに、コミュニケーション、数学、サイエンス、社会学といった異なるテーマを扱いながら、思考を言語化し、推敲を繰り返して意見を表明する力を養う。

LA350 Liberal Arts I Course Overview

LA350 is an All-English course which focuses on the enhancement of students’ abilities in academic writing, public speaking, reading comprehension and analysis, and discussion. Students will learn how to formulate effective arguments, express their opinions, and solve a variety of problems. While the structure of Liberal Arts I is similar to that of the introductory course (LA300), the level of challenge and the depth of the content will increase significantly. Completing LA300 is not a requirement for joining LA350.
During the writing section of class, students will further develop their knowledge of academic writing. As the terms progress,students will learn proper formatting, paragraph structure, errorcorrection, and annotation skills. Students will present their work in class on an almost weekly basis. Through constructive criticism and positive feedback, LA350 students will learn how to edit and refine the topic, supporting, and conclusion sentences in their papers.
Students will do several task-based activities throughout the year, such as presentations, circuit board construction, science experiments relating to the human body’s various systems, delivering news reports, and problem-solving exercises.

英語の基礎力と運用できる力をもった生徒のための教養基礎コース。カリキュラムの構成はLA300 と同様だが、学習内容の難易度と求められる理解深度が高い。分析や抽象的な概念に重点を置いて実施する。

From Instructor

Debriel Parrish

Education: BA in Creative Writing, University of North Texas. Teaching English as a Foreign Language Online Certificate, English Teacher in Japan since 2016

LA300 and LA350 are designed to challenge young learners in new ways in and outside the classroom. Students will use in-house CLIL textbooks to delve deep into new topics and themes while developing and strengthening critical thinking and reading comprehension skills. By applying their critical thinking and analysis skills to their texts, students will learn to not only comprehend more around them but also express themselves in a clearer fashion.