WELCOME TO IELTS
We hope you enjoy studying in your IELTS class.
In your lessons we will encourage you to try to improve both your fluency and
your accuracy in English. You will be studying English with other students from
different countries in the world. It is very important that you get to know
these other students, that you learn their names and that you try to work with
different people every lesson. It will be better for your English if you sit in a
different seat every lesson and talk to different students. English is an
International language now. In the future you may need to use English to talk to
people from many different countries - so it is important that you get used to
listening to different accents and ways of speaking English.
The Style of the Lessons
In some traditional language classes, the teacher does most of the explaining
and talking, classes are very serious and grammar gets the most attention.
Our programme is for people who want to not only learn about important things
like grammar and vocabulary, but also how to communicate, hopefully in a
relaxed and informal way. Lots of studying and knowledge about the language is
no good if you can't use it! So we expect students to work together a lot in
pairs or groups - not just with the teacher. The most successful and enjoyable
classes are ones where everyone works together out of mutual respect and
interest.
In the lesson you will do different activities. Sometimes you will:
 work in pairs or groups with other students
 work alone
 talk/listen to the teacher.
It is important that you take an active part in all these stages.
The structure of the course
In your classes we may follow a course book to give you a basic structure to
the course but we will use a lot of other materials and give you a lot of
worksheets. So you will need to bring a file to class to organise your work and
notes.
In your lessons we will practise the 4 skills of:
 speaking
 writing,
 reading,
 listening
You will learn a lot of new vocabulary and expressions that you need to write
down and to practise regularly. Sometimes in class you will be learning new
things about English. But often you will be practising language that you have
studied before but do not yet use well.
In the middle of the Autumn and Spring terms you will have a progress test
which will help to show you how your English is going.
Attendance and punctuality
This is important! You need to attend classes regularly. If you can't come to
class it is best to ask another student to collect handouts for you and to tell
you about any homework. Although everyone has commitments and occasional
problems, good attendance means good punctuality too. Everyone (including your
teacher!) is expected to be on time for classes!
Students MUST attend regularly. If you miss 10% of your hours in class in a 2week period the College will expect a good reason for your absence. If there is
no satisfactory explanation and attendance does not improve you will be given a
final warning. Should attendance continue to be a problem, we will ask you to
leave.
In class
We all get hungry sometimes during classes, but eating is not allowed in any
class on the campus. Not only is it distracting, but it often results in a mess for
the next class and even problems with insects.
Homework
You should expect to be given some homework after most classes. You don't
need to do it, but you will make much faster progress if you do. If you don't do
homework, you may find that some of the next lesson is wasted on you.
You should expect to get your homework back no more than a week after giving
it to your teacher.
Exams
Not everyone wants or needs to do an exam, but at the end of this level you
should be ready to take the IELTS exam. These exams are normally taken in
June if we have enough candidates. If we don’t, we can arrange for you to take
the exam at another centre.
What next?
You can join one of our other part-time EFL programmes. You can always talk to
your teacher about your progress and what programme would be suitable.
WE HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR COURSE
Course Objectives
IELTS
Summary
The IELTS class is intended for learners functioning at Band 4 and 5, and
hopes to take them to Band 5 or 6 respectively so that they can access a
university Foundation programme or a Level 3 course at a Further Education
institution. The structural/functional/lexical syllabus is aimed at students who
are at an Intermediate/Upper Intermediate level of English. Some learners will,
however, be able to achieve much higher than this.
Students will study once a week for 3 hours. They can do this part-time, part of
the full time programme, or in combination with other part-time courses.
Students can enrol termly or for the academic year.
For a detailed overview of the exam and available materials, go to the
Cambridge ESOL website
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/ielts/index.html
Or the official IELTS site
http://www.ielts.org/PDF/IELTS%20Guide%20for%20Teachers_British_FA%2
002_LR(v.2).pdf
Listening and Reading
Learners will be able to demonstrate a variety of listening and reading skills
(skimming, scanning, interpreting tone and purpose etc.) in both social (e.g.
asking for information at the Student Fayre) and more academic contexts (e.g.
listening to an extract from a lecture) through the following tasks:
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Multiple choice
Short answers
Sentence completion
Note/summary/flow chart/table/completion
Label diagrams
Classification
Matching
In addition learners will be able to interpret written information to determine
whether a fact or opinion is true, false or not part of the text.
The source for the skills practice will be: short and longer dialogues involving
two or more speakers; short lecture formats. For reading skills journals, books,
newspapers regarding general interest topics are used.
Writing
Learners will be able to organise, compare and present data in a short piece
based on a visual; describe a process; describe an object or a series of events;
explain how something works.
Learners will also be able to present a solution to a problem; justify and opinion;
compare and contrast opinions; evaluate ideas, in a more extended discursive
piece.
Speaking
Learners will be able to manage a series of questions appropriate to personal
exchanges; speak on a topic for a longer turn; participate in a discussion on a
more abstract nature