Hello, I'd like to welcome you to literacy boot camp. And I have a couple of things I want to talk to you about before we get into the classes themselves. And I think it's important to talk about the rationale for something like literacy boot camp. I work with young people and have for the last almost quarter century pushing 25 years now. And I'll tell you what the active literacies are really think of it as the master key to English language, understanding English language creation, English language reading. There are a lot of programs out there, there are many things to read, there are exams you have to take.

Some of these things have a real practical benefit. Some of them will be just for your own personal growth. Some of the benefits to a literacy program like this one will have both quantitative and qualitative metrics where you'll be able to see progress, not just in exam scores and grades, but also in your ability to navigate what is, let's face it a fast moving and information rich time that we're in. Think of all the things you get bombarded by via social media through the internet, the news, some of us still look at newspapers, you have all the various means of communication that are out there. And probably one of the more valuable ones that's not put out there too much is your ability to speak at a high level with people who have influence. A couple of few anecdotes before we get started, I met with somebody I'm actually teaching an older person, a teenager whose literacy skills are very low, borderline illiterate, I know that's kind of harsh, but I met the woman that who is helping him out.

And she speaks in an exceedingly advanced way, educated in India and Europe. And I was comfortable speaking with her because my literacy skills, my spoken language skills are solid. I'm a reader, I study the English language, I read the top level bits of literature in English. And that gives me intellectual self defense. It allows me to sit there and say, Okay, I can communicate with this person. And I can do it because my active literacy skills that speaking and writing are polished to the point that I'm not going to be nervous.

I'm going to be able to speak well, and understand and communicate with somebody and that is a skill that stays with you wherever you go. And you don't have to worry about being inadequate at a time when you need to step up. And speak and present yourself in a manner that is top notch. There another bit of rationale for this and there will be some anecdotes thrown in, as I mentioned, is that you see in the background of this screencast, the Harvard classics, the Harvard classics were created over 100 years ago. And they were required reading for people at Harvard University. Now, people think that that's some kind of special, amazing top flight elite task or example.

It's actually not true. I want you to think of two quick examples. There's a book called The Last of the Mohicans, a couple of movies were made of the story to the novel by James Fenimore Cooper, it came out in the 1820s. Now I want you to take a look at that book. You probably haven't read it. I seriously doubt it's been assigned as required.

Reading For you, go pick up a copy or go to Project Gutenberg and read it for free. And take a look at the language that's used. You will be amazed at the level of mellifluous and complicated, yet understandable English used in a book written and was a best seller in 1820s. That's not the story is it? But story is back in the 1820s. Everybody was an imbecile.

They were just a bunch of hayseed farmers and only the upper crust, spoke the king's English and was able to communicate at an extremely high level of literacy. That's patently false, and the numbers bear it out. Last the Mohicans was a bestseller. It's extremely well received. It's been on reading lists for decades. centuries, I guess if we're, if we're going by that metric.

Now. You Nearly 200 years ago, that book came out, and it is a literary achievement, and the literacy you're going to need to get through it is impressive. My point is, in the old days, they actually had that they were trained in the way that I'm going to teach you now. The first lesson is basic sentence diagramming, which is really the linchpin to a lot of this literacy material that I'm talking about. The other bit of information is Thomas Paine's common sense. 1770s Thomas Paine writes common sense, and about one fifth of the entire colonies bought it and read it.

Have you ever read it? Have you ever even seen it? It sold like hotcakes, and it was extremely popular again, to a population that we're told was a agrarian cover all wearing plow pushing group of people who were not that bright? Well, no, they were extremely bright. They had to seek out ways in which to be literate and what they did on their own is kind of what you're going to do on your own with me, which is regain the lost tools of learning. Dorothy Sayers famous famous essay says, at best, those lost tools of learning are what we're doing here.

We're taking the language, we are breaking it down into its most basic elements, and then rebuilding your literacy skills, so that you have the most impenetrable shield against difficult English, though, so that even if you pick up a textbook in particle physics, you may not know all the jargon You may not know all the vocabulary related with the subject. But you have a starting place because your language skills are so airtight, that you can see how the sentences are built, how the paragraphs are made, and get the general idea of what's being talked about. That applies also for speech. So without any further delay, this is the master key, in effect for unlocking the secrets to being literate at all times, getting a permanent skill, so that your English skills are impenetrable. And you can stop being nervous. You can score well on exams, you can communicate at a level you haven't communicated before, and you'll be a moving up in status, and a well spoken individual.

Let's get started. Thank you for choosing the class. Let's get moving.