FOUNDATION 1
- A specially designed course for IELTS candidates of pre-intermediate proficiency-equalling the IELTS band score of 4 to 5-who are aiming to sit the test within 6 to 12 months’ time.
- No exam-oriented approach is adopted throughout this course.
| Grammar Control | Lexical Control | Reading | Writing | Listening | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compound formation | High frequency collocations with ‘hot’ verbs (pre-intermediate) | Understanding the main idea and the gist of paragraphs in the Reading Skill | Basic sentence formation | Understanding the speaker’s main information and attitude in the Listening Skill | Building up candidates’ confidence in the Speaking Skill |
| Sentence formation | Vocabulary for very familiar topics | Basic understanding of ‘paraphrasing’ in the Reading Skill | Basic paragraph writing | Boosting the ability to identify numbers and figures in the Listening Skill | Detail generation practice |
| Sentence patterns (pre-intermediate) | Basic and common phrasal verbs | Looking for specific information | Basic use of linkers | Noting down the spelled out names in the Listening Skill | Talking about basic concepts and past experiences with a reasonable amount of detail (pre-intermediate) |
| Articles Irregular verbs | Basic understanding of ‘referencing’ in the Reading Skill | Basic word and sentence stress practice | |||
| Tense practice (pre-intermediate) | Basic intonation practice | ||||
| Passive voice and the applications (pre-intermediate) | |||||
| Basic sentence linkers | |||||
| Longer and more complex forms, using basic relative clauses |
FOUNDATION 2
- A specially designed course for IELTS candidates of intermediate proficiency-equalling the IELTS band scores of 5 and 5.5-who are aiming to sit the test within 6 months’ time.
- No exam-oriented approach is adopted throughout the course.
| Grammar Control | Lexical Control | Reading | Writing | Listening | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compound formation (intermediate) | High frequency collocations with ‘hot’ verbs (intermediate) | Understanding the writer’s view and attitude in the Reading Skill | Sentence formation and variety | Basic transcribing activities | Building up candidates’ confidence in the Speaking Skill |
| Sentence formation (intermediate) | Vocabulary for a wider range of topics | Paraphrasing’ in the Reading Skill (intermediate) | Linkers and cohesive devices | Remembering word orders | Talking about basic concepts and past experiences with a reasonable amount of detail (Intermediate) |
| Sentence patterns (intermediate) | A wider range of adjectives/ adverbs | Referencing’ in the Reading Skill (intermediate) | Factual and opinion based sentences | Repeating one whole sentence | Detail generation |
| Tenses (intermediate) | Common phrasal verbs | Guessing the meaning of known words | Paragraph writing | Listening for specific information | Wider use of vocabulary |
| Passive voice and the advanced applications | Basic idiomatic language | Basic suffixes and prefixes | Use of pronouns | Grammar control during speech | |
| Relative clauses: a more extensive use. | Locating the right paragraph containing specific information | Word and sentence stress practice | |||
| Comparative / superlative forms and other related patterns | Intonation practice | ||||
| A more extensive practice of modal verbs: the present and past forms | |||||
| Nouns/adjectives prepositions |
SENTENCE WRITING
- A unique 16-hour course with the following objectives. This course is aimed at candidates who have difficulty writing natural and error-free sentences.
| Grammar | Vocabulary | Writing |
|---|---|---|
| Accurate and appropriate use of common tenses | Topic specific words in context | Sentence writing (focusing on natural writing rather than a long, unclear and verbose one) |
| Subject-verb agreement | Awareness of style | Paragraph writing (teaching students how to write an effective paragraph with a clear central topic) |
| Passive voice | Awareness of collocation | Helping learners understand that a simple and coherent piece is much better than a stilted style of writing which impedes communication. |
| The comparative and the superlative | Awareness of nuances | Helping learners do away with as many mistakes and errors as possible, and training them to become fluent writers. |
| Adverbial/adjectival/noun clauses | Prepositions | |
| Compound sentences | Word formation | |
| Gerunds | ||
| Infinitives | ||
| Modal verbs | ||
| Cohesive devices | ||
| Conditionals |
SPEAKING
- In a 24-hour workshop, SPEAKING 1 offers an intensive practice to augment all 4 sub-skills in the IELTS Speaking Test.
- Speaking 2 targets a few other common topics to complement Speaking 1 and provide further practice over a 16-hour course within 8 sessions.
| Speaking 1 | Speaking 2 |
|---|---|
| Learning to decide promptly what to say and what NOT to say in response to questions | A similar agenda to Speaking 1 |
| Learning how to manage the thoughts and ideas occurring to candidates when facing unfamiliar questions | The topics in the curriculum include talking about: |
| Unique text files containing upper-intermediate to advanced categorised vocabulary, phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions and metaphors in natural contexts | books, newspapers and magazines, films, TV, the media, animals and the wildlife, nature and the environment, weather and climate, clothes and fashion, money and shopping, sleep |
| Offering unique ‘audio’ files to help save candidates the bother of looking up the new words and phrases in the supplied text files | |
| Categorised vocabulary and ideas required for common part 2 topics | |
| Training candidates to use words flexibly to describe a variety of subjects | |
| Practical grammatical structures and patterns to use in the IELTS Speaking | |
| Individual runs for each part of the test, followed by corrections | |
| Strategies and mind-sets toward ‘fluency’ accompanied by practical solutions | |
| Corrections include comments on fluency, intonation and pronunciation, diction and structure range | |
| On-the-exam-day interaction with the examiner. | |
| Thorough feedback and correction for as many as 40 to 50 audio assignments over a 6-7 week period, covering all three parts of the test | |
| One FREE speaking mock test prior to the candidates’ actual test day | |
| The topics in the curriculum include talking about: | |
| personal information, likes and dislikes, work, studies, home, hometown, city life, feelings, travel, future plans, success and failure, food and eating, sports and games, health, people and character, places, objects, situations |
WRITING
- A 24-hour course with the following objectives. This course is aimed at candidates seeking to achieve band scores 7 and 7.5 in writing.
| Task 1 | Task 2 |
|---|---|
| Letter writing in different styles (General training) | Explaining the band descriptors thoroughly |
| Useful sentences in letter writing (General training) | Training learners to brainstorm different topics effectively |
| 120 sample letters (General training) | Brainstorming 20 task 2 topics |
| The overall structure of the academic module | Idea generation |
| Teaching learners how to deal with line graphs, pie charts ,tables, bar charts, mixed data questions, diagrams and maps | Useful less common words |
| Useful words in the academic module | Topic specific words |
| Feedback on 5 tasks during the course | Covering all the components of an essay |
| Task-oriented practices | |
| Useful complex structures | |
| Feedback on 3 tasks during the course |
READING - LISTENING
- A 24-hour combo course, covering all the required skills for the IELTS Reading and Listening Module, G.T. and AC.
| Reading | Listening |
|---|---|
| Pinpointing the location of specific information, using Eye Movement Techniques. | Boosting the overall listening ability |
| Processing large volumes of information, using Eye Movement Techniques | Specific strategies for dealing with each question type in all 4 parts of the IELTS Listening Test |
| Facilitating grasp of the text by introducing Structural Clues | Ruling out incorrect choices by identifying the ‘distracters’ |
| Introduction of advanced ‘referencing’ devices | Enhancing the candidates’ audio memory |
| Introduction of advanced complex structures, common in the AC. and G.T. IELTS Reading passages | Introducing a thorough transcribing practice plan |
| Advanced guessing techniques | Presenting some commonly confused American and British English pronunciation in the IELTS Listening |
| High Frequency Vocabulary in the AC. and G.T. IELTS Reading | Identifying the weak / strong forms of modals which determine the correct answer |
| Specific strategies for dealing with each question type in the AC. And G.T. IELTS Reading | |
| Introduction of ‘paraphrasing’ techniques used in questions |
OFFLINE
- Our offline classes are suitable for learners who cannot take part in our Live classes for various reasons including shortage of time. This way you can learn at your own pace because you have access to all the course materials and recorded videos.
| Course | Details |
|---|---|
| Speaking | Recorded videos (Links active for 42 days) Course materials Personalized feedback on 50 audio messages covering all three parts of the test |
| Writing | Recorded videos (Links active for 42 days) Course materials Personalized feedback on 8 writing tasks |
| Reading & Listening | Recorded videos (Links active for 42 days) Course materials |