THIS IS A TWO-SEMESTER COURSE.

MCT5, the fifth level of the MCT language arts curriculum, offers academics at its most rigorous. Using the strategies explained in Advanced Academic Writing I, Michael Clay Thompson teaches the students how to write academic essays, complete with citations and works cited. The grammar book, The Magic Lens I, explores the intricacies of how the English language is constructed through grammar. There are 500 stems in The Word Within the Word I that will enable students to understand words that they have never before encountered, and the 250 important vocabulary words will bring students’ language skills to impressive levels. The vocabulary is methodically interdisciplinary, making the students stronger in every subject. Also in that book is an engaging discussion of Greece in the Classical Age from 490 to 323 B.C.E. The poetics strand is both an important and a fun part of the curriculum. During the second semester, students will read the Time Trilogy of literary novels.

As with all of the levels, the students in Michael’s online courses will get a good deal more in the way of images and explication than those who simply use the texts.

Class Meetings:* Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m. OR Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. (Students can choose which time works best for them.)
Fall Semester: August 19/20/21 – December 16/17/18, 2025
Spring Semester: January 13/14/15 – May 12/13/14, 2026

*NEW INTERNATIONAL SCHEDULE – Thursdays at 8:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time: This time slot is primarily for students who live in time zones outside of the United States so that they, too, have the opportunity to learn from Michael himself. Students who take this course MUST be proficient in English. This is NOT an ESL (English as a Second Language) course. Because Michael teaches language arts at the highest academic levels, students should already be comfortable speaking and writing in English in order to participate in this course.

There will not be a class meeting every week. The core of the course is the assignments and the extensive feedback given by Michael.

Student Expectations: Students are expected to attend the live class meetings with their cameras turned on. Students who do not wish to turn on their cameras will need to take the audit-only version of this course instead. Students who attend class regularly but who miss a live class meeting will be able to access a recording of the class.

Student Support: Michael is available via email.

Feedback/Assessment: Michael may reply to students’ answers with comments or questions, and he will want them to answer those emails.

Materials/Supplies: Students will need the Level 5 texts: The Magic Lens I, 4Practice I, The Word Within the Word I, Advanced Academic Writing I, and Poetry and Humanity, as well as the Time Trilogy novels: The Time Machine, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and A Christmas Carol. 

PURCHASE THESE BOOKS AS A PACKAGE HERE.