Program list

ESL Foundation

Building a strong foundation is the most important thing when learning a new language. This course is designed to offer more opportunities to ESL learners so they can develop all four language skills optimally. It has been established to provide students with vocabulary and grammatical structures required for everyday life, utilizing the latest teaching methodology in a fun-filled atmosphere. With a focus on both accuracy and fluency, this three-month course will prepare students for the other various programs in our school.

Entry Level: Beginner (various levels)

Students can speak and understand English in a very limited way.

Exit Level: Pre-Intermediate

Upon the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

• Have confidence in expressing their ideas about certain topics such as: food, health, weather etc.
• Develop listening and oral communication skills
• Write about simple topics and place written information in a logical order, generate ideas and create short written outline
• Know the fundamentals of English pronunciation, spelling, and grammar
• Use basic grammar structures both in spoken and written form
• Understand language used in everyday situations if the speaker speaks slowly and clearly
• Make simple sentences and reply to simple questions; talk about likes/dislikes, family and routines; order a meal in a restaurant /go shopping and understand and write basic texts

Delivery Methods:

• Have confidence in expressing their ideas about certain topics such as: food, health, weather etc.
• Pair work, group work and role-plays
• Controlled, semi controlled and free practices
• Constant review of covered topics
• Homework assignments
• Short Presentations

Advanced English for Academic Purposes

The Advanced EAP program is an extension of our standard EAP program which is specially designed to assist students looking to further their education by completing a postgraduate certificate. This unique program also aims to prepare students for the many challenges they might face in Canadian colleges or universities.

Throughout this program, students will engage in a wide range of university disciplines and will be encouraged to participate in advanced discussions and debates. For the listening and speaking component, students will be exposed to different viewpoints while working on both individual and team-related activities such as organized reports and presentations. Additionally, students will build and expand their comprehension of concepts and vocabulary with a focus on advanced academic words which may appear in their future post-secondary endeavors.

IELTS Preparation

This advanced course aims to prepare students to take the IELTS test. Whether for academic or immigration purposes, this course will help you achieve your IELTS goal. The main focus of the course is to help students with the four basic skills of English: listening, reading, writing and speaking. Our teachers help students understand IELTS reading articles while teaching them strategies such as skimming, scanning and guessing. In-class writing and speaking activities allow students to get quick feedback on their work, while mock tests and corrections will help them get a sense of their specific weaknesses.

Entry Level: IELTS Equivalency of 5.0

By the end of the program, students will:

• Become familiar with the exam format for IELTS
• Have learnt specific exam taking strategies
• Have practiced the skills necessary to succeed on the IELTS test
• Have practiced taking all parts of the IELTS exam: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking
• Have acquired the language proficiency needed to enroll in a university at the undergraduate or graduate level (Academic Module)
• Have acquired the language proficiency needed to migrate to an English-speaking country (General Module).

Power Speaking

Speaking is the key to communication. This innovative program builds strong communication skills and confidence with a strong focus on speaking skills. Power Speaking helps students with daily conversational skills, and covers a wide range of topics. It allows them to use learned expressions and vocabulary to create sentences that are used on a regular basis in real life situations.

In this program, students learn to express themselves more naturally and with greater fluency. They receive direct one on one feedback from their teacher to enhance their progress each week. Students are placed in Power Speaking 1, 2, 3 or 4 according to their English proficiency and will be evaluated on a bi-weekly basis.

Entry Level: Various levels

Power Speaking 1:

This course is designed to help students start forming sentences in real world conversations. The main goal is to aid the students in their conversation ability as they learn to organize their sentences and build confidence using the language to communicate with their classmates and instructor. The class focuses on using a communicative approach. This means that the teacher will emphasize participation from students and give corrective feedback where necessary. Teaching methods are focused on active participation, pronunciation, and listening skills.

Power Speaking 2:

This course is designed to provide students with as much speaking and listening practice as possible. It offers practical, everyday English skills through functional English lessons. The course also sharpens students’ academic skills through intellectually-stimulating discussions and vocabulary-building exercises. The class also uses a communicative approach and allows students a variety of opportunities to express their opinions and creativity. Teaching methods are focused on active participation, speaking, and listening skills.

Power Speaking 3:

The main goal of Power Speaking 3 is to aid in the transition from a conversational English foundation, to a more complex and academic one. Students will have ample opportunities to work in groups, and complete in-class presentations. Additionally, bi-weekly assignments will help in evaluating students’ levels and provide plenty of opportunities for feedback. As with all Power Speaking courses, class activities are focused on active participation, pronunciation, and listening skills.

Power Speaking 4:

This course is designed to be an upper-intermediate speaking course, paving the way to our Advanced Discussion class. The main goal of Power Speaking 4 is to communicate complex ideas clearly and confidently. This classes emphasizes more academic topics, and gets students a bit out of their comfort zones by giving them unfamiliar topics and assignments.

Advanced Discussion: Contemporary Issues

In Advanced Discussion: Contemporary Issues, discussions are based on complex issues and progressive topics. This course is designed to challenge students to speak about complex issues which are deeper and more abstract. One of the primary goals of this class is to expose students to real world English through articles, blogs and journals, allowing them to experience the language in the same way native speakers do. The program includes lively and interesting discussions and debates about how globalization, culture, technology, and world events increasingly influence our world.

Students are encouraged to think critically and analyze articles so they can examine issues at a deeper level. Students can ask questions if they are not familiar with the topic and at the same time learn more about what is going on in the society. It’s a great program for students who would like to learn about recent events while being able express their opinion freely without hesitating.

Entry Level: Advanced

Topics include:

• Culture
• World issues
• Psychology
• Technology
• Climate Change
• International Relations
• Politics

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

• Participate in fast paced, fluency focused conversation
• Create and organize academic seminars
• Organize and participate in informal and conversational debates
• Comprehend international, global, and cultural issues in context
• Research new topics and vocabulary for personal study and use

Grammar

When it comes to learning a new language, having a strong foundation in grammar is key. Our afternoon grammar classes are designed to supplement your morning studies with additional grammar practice. We offer three grammar classes which each have a distinct focus and level. Students are placed in Grammar 1, 2 or 3 according to their English proficiency and will be evaluated on a bi-weekly basis.

Entry Level: Various levels

Grammar 1:

In this grammar course you will develop knowledge of the form, meaning, and use of English grammar structures through putting particular emphasis on a general review of grammatical areas. These structures will help you understand and communicate better in social and academic contexts.

Grammar 2:

This class concentrates on those structures which intermediate students want to use, but which often cause difficulty. Some advanced students who have problems with grammar will also find the course useful.

Grammar 3:

Grammar 3, instead of being only a grammar class, is actually a mix of grammar and writing. This course will help you be more proficient in a number of different styles of writing, and has a strong focus on essay and academic assignments.

At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:

• Master basic grammar forms, and apply them into everyday sentences
• Apply advanced grammar and punctuation in everyday sentences
• Write various styles of essays, and how to effectively prove your thesis
• Summarize articles in an effective and clear fashion
• Compose a formal letter of complaint

Writing

Writing is often neglected in favor of speaking or reading, but is no less important. Grammar 3, instead of being purely a grammar class, is actually a mix of grammar and writing. This course is designed to help you be more proficient at the kinds of writing you need to do at home, at school, and even the workplace. In addition, this class will teach you effective techniques for writing various types of essays, and has a strong focus on grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary.

Entry Level: Upper-Intermediate

Upon the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Apply various grammar and punctuation points in writing
• Write various types of essays effectively
• Write and organize resumes for use in Canada
• Summarize articles in an effective and clear fashion
• Compose formal letters for use in real-life situations

Afternoon Speaking

When it comes to speaking English, practice makes perfect. This program is a great way for students to supplement their morning classes with additional speaking practice. Students are placed in Afternoon Speaking 1, 2, or 3 according to their English proficiency and will be evaluated on a bi-weekly basis. Within the afternoon speaking program, there are three distinct courses, each one tailored for a specific level of English.

Entry Level: Various Levels

Afternoon Speaking 1:

This course is meant to support the topics covered in the ESL Foundation morning class (themes and grammar points) while giving students more speaking and listening practice. Students can ask questions related to their morning class and have more opportunities to speak in groups.

Topics include:

• Meeting people
• Talking about future plans
• Making recommendations
• Describing jobs

Afternoon Speaking 2:

The goal of this class is to increase speaking fluency, pronunciation and presentation skills, while also providing students an opportunity to work in small groups. This class has a strong presentation component which will force students to think a bit more out of their comfort zones. The focus of this class is on fluency, confidence, pronunciation, and presentation structure.

Topics include:

• Food and eating
• Trends and success
• Fear and phobias
• Society and social pressures

Afternoon Speaking 3:

The goal of the class is to quickly and substantially increase students’ vocabulary and ability to answer more complex questions as a preparation for higher level courses and/or a gateway into IELTS and academic English. Students accomplish this through focused vocabulary study, vocabulary tests, and in-class speaking practice.

Topics include:

• Law / Cybercrime
• Future Technology
• Medicine / Disease
• Design and creativity
• Pressure and Stress

Advanced Speaking & Writing

This course is designed to specifically prepare students for high level speaking and writing topics. Students practice to speak fluently, clearly, accurately, and more importantly, spontaneously. The variety of themes covered during the course will serve to stimulate thinking and the use of language skills in diverse areas and provide students with ample opportunity for improvisation. Additionally, students will be able to practice task 2 of the IELTS academic writing module for added writing practice.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Speak fluently with only occasional repetition or self-correction
• Speak on different topics coherently and appropriately using a wide vocabulary resource readily and flexibly to convey precise meaning
• Address all parts of the given task to write a minimum of 250 words in approximately 40 minutes
• Use a range of cohesive devices, and use a variety of complex structures, and sufficient range of vocabulary.

Café English

One of the best ways to improve your English is to use it out of your comfort zone. Our uniquely designed program is ideal for students interested in working in cafés, or other areas of customer service. This program bridges the gap between a language classroom and a fast-paced English-speaking work environment by allowing students to practice common workplace scenarios while obtaining specific and immediate one on one feedback from a certified ESL teacher with café experience.

Entry Level: Pre-Intermediate

Some unique features of the program include:

• Fast-paced work-related role-plays
• Q & A meetings with café managers
• Daily one on one feedback from instructor
• Resume preparation and interview practice

Upon the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

• Deal with customer complaints
• Understand how to handle money
• Speak with co-workers and customers
• Write a resume best suited for café or restaurant positions
• Create and mix simple beverages like lattes
• Build time schedules and manage shifts

STAR Accent Reduction

Incorrect pronunciation and intonation can often lead to misunderstandings and ineffective communication skills. The STAR Program is a unique fusion of advanced pronunciation systems and stage acting techniques which serve to give students the theory needed to speak naturally, while simultaneously allowing them to practice learned theory in a realistic speaking environment.

Entry Level: Pre-Intermediate

In this class students will learn how to create sounds of consonants and vowels which will enable them to use the proper sounds of each letter and words. Along with that, they will complete pronunciation and intonation exercises to form life-long habits that will allow them to speak much more naturally and clearly. This course allows students to learn more in a relatively short amount of time.

This is primarily a speaking class and does not involve excessive amounts of reading or writing, outside of general note taking. Students will be expected to practice muscle movement and pronunciation.

STAR – Accent Reduction teaches the fundamental skills required for clear English speech, using a five-point system to focus on the most important areas:

• Intonation
• Rhythm
• Pronunciation
• Muscle Training
• Expression

STAR Drama

Incorrect pronunciation and intonation can often lead to misunderstandings and ineffective communication skills. The STAR Program is a unique fusion of advanced pronunciation systems and stage acting techniques which serve to give students the theory needed to speak naturally, while simultaneously allowing them to practice learned theory in a realistic speaking environment.

Entry Level: Pre-Intermediate

In this course, students will further work on scripts and acting to improve the clarity of English words by adding emotions. This gives students a chance to have fun while becoming more confident in speaking. Students will be expected to practice muscle movement and pronunciation, and produce an acting performance at the conclusion of the course.

Upon the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:

• Identify tongue and mouth muscles positions
• Make distinctions between short and long vowel sounds
• Find and use Schwa – Ə
• Note differences in dialects
• Pronounce contractions more accurately
• Have a strong understanding of syllable and word stress
• Create and practice natural sounding dialogues

Business Communication

The key to any business relationship is clear and precise communication. This course is designed as a general introduction to concepts and vocabulary associated with the modern business world. It is mainly a discussion course with a strong emphasis on oral communication.

The course serves two main functions:

• 1) It prepares students for employment with English being the primary language
• 2) It increases the general fluency level of the student

The course features articles which will generally be given as homework and discussed the following day in class. The topics will vary widely, but with modern business issues of the day. Examples include customer service, business ethics, free and fair trade, technology and its implications for modern business and a large portion of the session will deal with marketing, both traditional and new approaches.

Entry Level: Upper-Intermediate

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Use analytical skills to better understand business articles
• Prepare and deliver group presentations in a more formal setting
• Improve research and organizational skills
• Intelligently discuss business issues with other students
• Write a professional resume and understand how to succeed in a professional interview
• Gain confidence in using language skills outside of their comfort zone