General English Courses

General English – Standard Course (15 hours per week)

General English – Intensive Course (23 hours per week)

Standard English Course – 15 hours of class taken during the mornings

Intensive English Course – 23 hours of class per week. Mornings and afternoons

Morning classes:

During the mornings you will be allocated a class according to your level of English. We will always send you the entrance test prior to your arrival unless otherwise instructed. Our teachers will use a course book that follows a sequential approach to grammar and vocabulary learning. They will also use a number of other resources and materials either in text form or from a selection of media including the internet, radio and television. You will be given the opportunity to:

• Improve your knowledge of grammar
• Learn new vocabulary through speaking, listening and reading
• Be exposed to and take part in conversation to improve your fluency
• Focus on your writing skills, looking at different types of written text and register
• Practice your pronunciation including individual sounds, stress and intonation
• Consolidate what you have learned through regular review activities

Approximately 1 hour of homework will be given to you every day. If you are a long term student, you will be given a test on a regular basis so that you can track your progress.

Courses start every Monday throughout the year and the maximum class size is 10.

Afternoon classes:

You will be given the option to study in a different class during the afternoons and depending on the number of students attending we have different course options available.

Courses are either of one- or two-week duration and can be tailored to meet the requirements of participants.

While studying on our courses, you can expect to:

• Become familiar with modern English usage
• Gain practical ideas which can be adapted to different teaching environments
• Brush up on existing teaching techniques and skills
• Learn about modern British culture and current affairs
• Socialise and exchange ideas with other teachers.

Intensive Course – Afternoon Options

General English Extension – Class topics negotiated

During the afternoon you can choose to join a general English class and focus on your chosen topic or skills area that you feel you need to practise further. On the first Monday of every week students are given the opportunity to negotiate in English and as a group what they would like to study or focus on during the afternoons.  It might be a skills area such as speaking or pronunciation . You might want to focus on skills for work such as emailing or cross cultural communications. Possibly you would like to know more about Life in Britain and topics that are related to your experience of living in the UK and to the language needed in “real life”.  If you are not sure what topic you would like to study in the afternoon, then your teacher will provide you with some ideas on the first Monday.  Our aims for the afternoon classes are to encourage the students to participate in decision making and to avoid prescribing what we think they need to learn. The weekly plan for the afternoon class will depend on the students attending and what they would like to practise.  We recommend this option for students on short courses of up to 4 weeks.

IELTS Preparation

This is a popular option as many of our students during the year are planning to take the IELTS exam at some point.

You will study for 8 hours per week and during this time you will focus on the following:

• Essential exam strategies and techniques for each component in the IELTS exam
• Learning to develop autonomy
• Structured exam practice
• Formal and academic writing skills
• Listening comprehension and note-taking with spelling practice
• Speed reading, skimming and scanning for information, leading to effective comprehension
• Speaking skills in both general and academic contexts

Courses start every Monday throughout the summer and the maximum class size is 10

If you have a request to study a specific topic or examination during the afternoons, please contact us as we may be able to help you.

Courses are either of one- or two-week duration and can be tailored to meet the requirements of participants.

While studying on our courses, you can expect to:

• Become familiar with modern English usage
• Gain practical ideas which can be adapted to different teaching environments
• Brush up on existing teaching techniques and skills
• Learn about modern British culture and current affairs
• Socialise and exchange ideas with other teachers.