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This content-based, integrated skills course is designed for international students who are preparing for graduate studies at USC and other universities. The goal of this course is to help students develop their ability to use English within the context of academic assignments, which require critical thinking, research, discussion and teamwork. In this class, students will critically analyze the content and structure of academic articles and content-based videos and will learn to synthesize ideas across multiple sources. Strategies for self-directed learning and self-editing will be taught to equip students with the ability to study and work independently.

Communication Skills (CS) is a content-based, project-based course designed to help international students preparing for graduate studies to develop personal communication, classroom communication and public speaking skills. Students will build communicative and pragmatic competence in speaking during conversations, whole class and small group discussions, and presentations. Classwork and projects will provide practice for students to apply critical thinking, teamwork, and self-editing strategies. The goal of this course is to develop students as confident communicators who are able to navigate between modes of communication utilized in graduate school studies.

The goal of this 7-week course is to teach new students about American university expectations for academic integrity and graduate level work. Students will learn how to avoid different types of academic integrity violations to include plagiarism, cheating, unauthorized collaboration, and falsifying academic records. Topics discussed for graduate level studies will include expectations for library research, information literacy, time management, communication with professors, class participation and student conduct.

In this course, students will develop their critical reading and discussion skills as they learn about American expectations and norms for business, education and family/relationships.

The goal of this course is to teach students about the resources and opportunities available to get involved in campus life at USC. Topics discussed will include getting to know the USC campus, clubs and events, mental and physical health resources, campus safety and academic services.

This course offers students a chance to focus their attention on making appropriate responses with accurate grammar in short conversations and in-class responses. Students will practice speaking in various contexts where conversations or responses may occur quickly. Strategies for how to respond and how to monitor grammatical accuracy will be learned.

This course takes a sentence-composing approach to improving writing by using model sentences written by professional writers. Students will learn the grammatical and compositional tools authors use and apply them to various kinds of writing: paragraphs, essays, short stories, reports, and research papers.

Combining proven methods with the best instructors, our intensive GRE/GMAT test preparation courses offer in-depth instruction on all content categories, including effective test-taking strategies and practice exercises to help you reach your required score for your degree program.

In this course, students will develop their interpersonal communication skills and awareness of the subtleties surrounding interactions between people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. An examination of topics ranging from values, beliefs, gender roles, and etiquette will be covered so that students are better equipped to manage relationships in a diverse American academic setting and beyond.

In this course you will practice important skills for applying to internships and jobs during your graduate studies. These skills include writing a resume, creating/updating an online employment profile, holding small talk conversations about yourself, researching job opportunities and interviewing for jobs.

The goal of this community-focused course is to help students learn about the history, communities and locations that shape the culture of Los Angeles. Students will be encouraged to discover opportunities to learn about LA and integrate within the LA community.

The goal of this focus skill course is to help students develop awareness of pronunciation skills and learn strategies to improve their comprehensibility. Students will develop confidence in English while speaking in both formal and informal situations through in-class fluency, speaking, and presentation activities.

In this course you will develop your ability to speak in public on a variety of different topics and in different speaking styles. You will become familiar with platform, organizational, and rhetorical skills necessary to present planned and unplanned speeches in both formal and informal contexts, such as business meetings, classroom presentations, debates, and formal social occasions.

This integrated skills course will focus on using current issues in the news to prompt language learning by encouraging students to critically read and discuss news stories. Students will look at a variety of news and social media sources to determine validity, bias, reliability, and other factors involved in evaluating current events, including the phenomenon of “fake news”. Students will engage in both online and in-class activities to learn the pragmatics of engaging in passionate, yet respectful, dialogue on current events during academic classroom discussions.