IEP Curriculum

Reading - The intensive IEP reading curriculum is divided into five levels: beginner, high beginner, intermediate, high intermediate, and advanced. At the beginning levels, students develop their ability to read and write words, phrases, and sentences. They also learn basic skills and strategies designed to improve decoding, vocabulary acquisition, and reading comprehension. The intermediate levels build upon these skills and focus more on developing literal comprehension, fluency, vocabulary development, and critical thinking skills. At the advanced level, students become proficient in the skills required for academic studies with a continued emphasis on vocabulary development and analytical comprehension. Literature and critical analysis of readings also serve as sources for refining and expanding students’ critical and academic reading skills.

Writing - Students undergo intensive courses writing. Throughout the five levels, the focus remains on the academic language skills needed for entrance into English 101 and for university studies. The courses focus on academic writing, beginning at the sentence level in level one and expanding to the writing of expository and argumentative essays, summaries of academic readings and current events, critical analysis of readings in literature, research and documentation by level five.

Listening and Speaking - Students develop a variety of listening strategies and oral communication skills. Throughout the five levels, the courses use modern topics presented in a variety of academic formats. Students begin by learning simple conversational strategies and progress to extrapolating key points to prepare presentations, debates, conversations and other activities that demonstrate understanding of material covered and preparedness for university studies.

Extensive Reading 1, 2, 3 - These multi-level courses use the Extensive reading approach. Focus is on meeting the academic reading needs of university-bound IEP students. Students will improve their vocabulary and fluency by reading for information, general learning and entertainment. Students are expected to read a minimum of 500 pages per term from the appropriate graded reader.

TOEFL - The overall objective of these courses is for students to significantly improve their TOEFL iBT scores, as demonstrated by their performance on the official TOEFL iBT test to be taken upon completion of the course. It is expected that undergraduate students successfully completing the course will be able to achieve a minimum score of 60, while graduate students must achieve a score of 80. In addition, students must achieve a score of 80% on the TOEFL course and all other Level 5 courses, to meet the exit criteria for the program. Available at only high-intermediate and advanced levels.

Study skills - The Study Skills courses are designed to support the development of the reading, writing, listening and speaking skills that are essential for student’s success in a university environment. At the lower levels (1 and 2) the emphasis is on grammar and the correct formation of sentences and, paragraphs, orally and in writing. In Level 3 the primary focus is grammar and application of the rules of grammar to oral and written language production, building on the skills gained in Levels 1 and 2. Level 3 students will also be introduced to PowerPoint and prepare and deliver a PowerPoint presentation. In Levels 4 and 5, the primary course focus shifts to helping students develop effective skills in academic listening, guided and free note-taking from lectures, discussion and oral / multimedia presentations. Level 4 also includes a grammar component.

Grammar - These courses provide students with clear and understandable information about English grammar (theory and function), utilizing a communicative and four-skills approach. Grammar is studied as a formal subject and is also integrated throughout the curriculum. Students will benefit from the use of high-interest topics and their own life experiences to stimulate meaningful communication. A wide variety of exercise types are provided, including extensive pair work and group work.