Includes ebook access.

Unit 1 PLACES (Academic Disciplines: Sociology / Urban Planning)
Watch and Listen: The Top U.S. City
Readings: 1: Rise of the Megacities (article), 2: Homestay Vacation: A Home away from Home (article)
Reading Skills: KEY SKILL: Scanning for numbers -- ADDITIONAL SKILLS: Understanding key vocabulary -- Using your knowledge -- Reading for main ideas -- Reading for details -- Scanning to find information -- Scanning to predict content -- working out meaning -- making inferences -- Synthesizing
Language Development: Nouns, verbs and adjectives
Critical Thinking: Using a T-chart -- Analyzing positives and negatives
Grammar for Writing: Simple sentence 1: Subject +verb -- There is / there are
Writing: ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL: capital letters and punctuation -- RHETORICAL MODE: descriptive
Writing Task: Describe the place where you live -- Write about its positives and its negatives (sentences)
On Campus: Life Skill: Finding a place to live

Unit 2 FESTIVALS AND CELEBRATIONS (Academic Disciplines: Anthropology / Cultural Studies)
Watch and Listen: The Meaning of Independence Day
Readings: 1: Celebrate! (article), 2: Muscat Festival (article)
Reading Skills: KEY SKILL: Previewing a text -- ADDITIONAL SKILLS: understanding key vocabulary -- scanning to predict content -- Reading for main ideas --reading for details -- recognizing text type -- synthesizing
Language Development: Prepositions of time and place, adverbs of frequency
Critical Thinking: using an idea map to organize ideas
Grammar for Writing: Simple sentences 2: objects and extra information -- prepositional phrases
Writing: ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL: organizing sentences into a paragraph -- RHETORICAL MODE: descriptive
Writing Task: Describe a festival or special event (paragraph)
On Campus: Life Skill: cultural exchange

Unit 3 THE INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY (Academic Disciplines: Computer Science / Engineering)
Watch and Listen: Predictive Advertising
Readings: 1. Someone's Always Watching You Online (Web article), 2. Video Games for Kids: Win or Lose? (essay)
Reading Skills: KEY SKILL: Reading for main ideas - Making inferences -- ADDITIONAL SKILLS: Understanding key
vocabulary -- Using your knowledge -- Scanning to predict content -- Reading for details -- Recognizing text type -- Synthesizing Language Development: Compound nouns -- Giving opinions
Critical Thinking: Analyzing a question
Grammar for Writing: Connecting ideas: And also, and too -- Compound sentences -- However Writing: ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL: Topic sentences -- RHETORICAL MODE: Opinion
Writing Task: The Internet wastes our time. It does not help us do more work. Do you agree or disagree? (paragraph)
On Campus: Study Skill: The virtual classroom

Unit 4 WEATHER AND CLIMATE (Academic Disciplines: Environmental Studies / Meteorology)
Watch and Listen: Tornadoes
Readings: 1. Extreme Weather (profile), 2. Surviving the Sea of Sand: How to Stay Alive in the Sahara Desert (article)
Reading Skills: KEY SKILL: Reading for details -- Using you knowledge to predict content -- ADDITIONAL SKILLS: Understanding key vocabulary -- Reading for main ideas -- Recognizing text type -- Synthesizing
Language Development: Collocations with temperature -- Describing a graph
Critical Thinking: Analyzing a graph
Grammar for Writing: Comparative and superlative adjectives
Writing: ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL: Supporting sentences -- Giving examples -- RHETORICAL MODE: Descriptive
Writing Task: Describe the weather in a country
On Campus: Life Skill: Seeing a doctor

Unit 5 SPORTS AND COMPETITION (Academic Disciplines: Sports Management / Sports Science)
Watch and Listen: Skiing in the French Alps
Readings: 1. Five Unusual Sports (article), 2. Tough Guy: A Race to the Limit (article)
Reading Skills: KEY SKILL: Scanning to predict context -- ADDITIONAL SKILLS: Understanding key vocabulary -- Previewing -- Reading for main ideas -- Reading for details -- Recognizing text types -- Understanding discourse -- Working out meaning -- Synthesizing
Language Development: Prepositions of movement Critical Thinking: Analyzing a diagram
Grammar for Writing: Subject and verb agreement
Writing: ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL: Ordering events in a process -- Removing unrelated information -- RHETORICAL MODE: Process
Writing Task: Describe the Sydney Triathlon. (paragraph)
On Campus: Communication Skill: Virtual communication

Unit 6 BUSINESS (Academic Disciplines: Business / Marketing)
Watch and Listen: Amazon's Fulfillment Center
Readings: 1. Are You Ready for the World of Work?, 2. The Story of Google (article)
Reading Skills: KEY SKILL: Working out meaning from context -- ADDITIONAL SKILLS: Understanding key vocabulary -- Scanning to predict content -- Reading main ideas -- Reading for details -- Identifying audience -- Making inferences -- Synthesizing
Language Development: Collocations, with business -- Business vocabulary
Critical Thinking: Using a timeline to put past events in order
Grammar for Writing: The simple present and the simple past -- Time clauses with when to describe past events
Writing: ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL: Adding details to main facts -- RHETORICAL MODE: Narrative
Writing Task: Write about the history of a business. (paragraph)
On Campus: Study Skill: Creating checklists

Unit 7 PEOPLE (Academic Disciplines: Psychology / Sociology)
Watch and Listen: The 101-Year-Old Weather Volunteer
Readings: 1. Incredible People: Ben Underwood (blog post), 2. Incredible People (blog posts)
Reading Skills: KEY SKILL: Making inferences -- ADDITIONAL SKILLS: Understanding key vocabulary -- Scanning to predict content -- Reading for main ideas -- Reading for details -- Working out meaning -- Identifying purpose -- Synthesizing
Language Development: Noun phrases with of -- Adjectives to describe people
Critical Thinking: Using a Venn diagram
Grammar for Writing: Modals of necessity
Writing: ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL: Concluding sentences -- RHETORICAL MODE: Explanatory
Writing Task: Who do you think is a good role model? Write a paragraph explaining the qualities that make that person a good role model. (paragraph)
On Campus: Communication Skill: Expressing your opinion

Unit 8 THE UNIVERSE (Academic Disciplines: Astronomy / Engineering)
Watch and Listen: Going to the International Space Station
Readings: 1. The Rise of Commercial Space Travel (article), 2. Life on Other Planets (essay)
Reading Skills: KEY SKILL: Identifying the author's purpose -- ADDITIONAL SKILLS: Understanding key vocabulary -- Using your knowledge -- Scanning to predict content -- Reading for main ideas -- Reading for details -- Making inferences -- Distinguishing fact from opinion -- Synthesizing
Language Development: Giving evidence and supporting an argument
Critical Thinking: Evaluating arguments
Grammar for Writing: That clauses in complex sentences -- Infinitives of purpose
Writing: ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL: Essay organization -- RHETORICAL MODE: Opinion
Writing Task: Should governments spend more money on space exploration? Give reasons and examples to support your opinion. (essay)
On Campus: Research Skill: Using the library

"Paired skills course focusing on critical thinking, academic skills, and language students need most. Prism is a five-level (A1 to C1), American English paired-skills course (Reading/Writing and Listening/Speaking), created for students who need to develop a range of academic skills. This Level 4 (C1) Listening and Speaking Student's Book prepares students for college classes by developing their listening, speaking, critical thinking, and pronunciation skills, including pronunciation for listening. Special sections teach how to be a successful college student, and the accompanying video program sets the stage for each unit's topic. Inside the book is a single-use code for the online workbook. This provides automatically graded extra practice and works on PCs and Macs." (Publisher's Website)