curriculum for intensive courses

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goye2cz
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2003 12:49 pm

curriculum for intensive courses

Post by goye2cz » Wed Feb 19, 2003 12:59 pm

Hi,
I direct an English school in the Czech Republic. We currently have fall and spring semesters. We would like to be able to offer some intensive summer courses. Our normal curriculum takes us 15 weeks and 60 hours to teach. I'm concerned that if we try to do an intensive with that curriculum we won't be able to finish it or give it sufficient practice time. I don't want our normal students to take a summer course and still not be prepared to go the next level in the fall. They would be too far along to back to their normal class, but not far enough to move up to the next one.
So, I was thinking of looking at a different curriculum that might teach different material and therefore not conflict. I don't know if this is a good option or not.
Any input you might be able to give will be much appreciated.
Thanks.

noonlite
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Feb 23, 2003 10:23 pm

Post by noonlite » Wed Mar 12, 2003 5:50 am

I think you are wise to be careful with the idea of setting two contrasting curriculae side by side. It is hard to give concrete advise, however, with the limited information provided.

What is covered in the existing 15 weeks and 60 hours curriculum? What is the basic scope and sequence and the general content? Is it just one course with combined skills or is it several different courses focussing on different skills? Do you have any thematic units? Is the program leveled? How is it leveled and how many levels are there? What are the goals of your students? Have you recognized any other goals that are not being met? Are you looking to attract the same clients with the new course(s)?

With answers to these questions, I may be able to offer you some ideas. In general, I would recommend doing some kind of needs survey either formally or informally to get in touch with what your students (or other students you are not currently reaching) are looking for so that you can find needs that are not being met to guide you curriculum decisions.

A curriculum that is designed and specifically tailored to meet the needs of your students will always be more effective than any packaged curriculum available. The down side is that it requires knowledgeable professionals to do a good job and it is time consuming and more expensive. In long run, however, it will pay for itself many times over.

goye2cz
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2003 12:49 pm

thanks for the reply

Post by goye2cz » Wed Mar 12, 2003 10:30 am

I appreciate your taking the time to reply. We currently use New Interchange for our 15 week semester. It has 4 levels. Then we also use Pasages which was designed to follow New Interchange. It has 2 levels. Our students seem to like both.
To be honest, I'm leaning away from using something different and looking at some other options. I'm always looking for advice though, and would love to hear whatever you might have to say.
Our students are mostly adults who need English for their jobs or for travel. We have a few high school and college students as well.
Thanks.

corey
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:28 pm
Location: Canada
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Post by corey » Sat Oct 04, 2003 10:55 pm

You mean you use one NI book for 15 weeks or all four books?

Corey

hojusaram
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Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2003 8:16 am
Location: Kahng Won Doe, Wonjuu City
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New Interchange Books

Post by hojusaram » Thu Oct 16, 2003 8:24 am

Hi Im teaching in an intensive program for Korean English Secondary teachers with the Ministry of Education at KNUE. We are doing a 5 month intensive program for secondary teachers. Our session each semester is broken up into three sessions of 6,7,7 weeks followed by Secondary teachers doing a small placement overseas in a native english speaking country.
There are 9 teacher in all, 3 are doing listening with Impact listening at Intermediatte and Advanced level, 3 are doing Composition and three are doing Conversation using NI 2 and 3..however only parts of the NI books as we do a unit of about 6,7 hrs per week and bascially you could do about 30-40 hours per unit if you used everything. We just use the NI as a theme basis and then produce our own stuff to make the lessons more pro-active.
We also teach Pronunication, TETE (text book) and hold a home room class each session period. Hours are between 21 and 28 per week. Anyway just thought I'd let you know what we're up to.
Regards,
Lance.

sita
Posts: 261
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2003 11:59 am
Location: Germany
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Post by sita » Fri Oct 17, 2003 4:42 am

HI!

I make the most money with these courses

mail me

as I do not want my scripts pinched

Siân :D :D :D :shock: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

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