Designing an IELTS program
Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:33 am
Hi all,
My school has asked me to design an IELTS program, and they want me to estimate how many hours of instruction we need for a "Core" program (covering the main IELTS skills and strategies) and a longer "Guaranteed" program. The "Guarantee" means that if the student fails to get 6.5 on the IELTS, they can take the course again for free. We'll give students an initial placement test, and those who score below band 4.0 will not be allowed to enter the Guaranteed program at all. Also, students who fail to do their homework will be kicked out and sent to the Core program.
How many hours do you think these programs should be? We've been thinking 40 hours for the Core program and 120 hours for the Guaranteed. How many hours of instruction does an "average" student need to go from an overall band score of 4.0 to 6.5? (I know that "average" is pretty hard-to-define)
The context is Canada, near Vancouver, in a suburb where over 50% of the population are of Chinese descent (and the majority of those being immigrants). Most of the students are probably going to be high school students who have been here fewer than three years, are graduating soon, and are trying to meet the English requirements to enter the local universities. Even though it is easy to avoid speaking English around here, we expect that most of the students will not have a problem with the Speaking test, since they have to speak a lot of English in high school. The other sections will be harder. We think the way they have to get the Listening and Reading answers *exactly* right is going to make things difficult for them.
The number of classes per week, and the length of the classes, will vary in each iteration of the course, but more often than not the courses will be probably be intensive (eg: three hours a day, five days a week).
If anyone has any guesstimates on how many instructional hours these students need to jump from 4.0 to 6.5, or any other advice or resources, I would greatly appreciate it!
Many thanks,
Stephanie
My school has asked me to design an IELTS program, and they want me to estimate how many hours of instruction we need for a "Core" program (covering the main IELTS skills and strategies) and a longer "Guaranteed" program. The "Guarantee" means that if the student fails to get 6.5 on the IELTS, they can take the course again for free. We'll give students an initial placement test, and those who score below band 4.0 will not be allowed to enter the Guaranteed program at all. Also, students who fail to do their homework will be kicked out and sent to the Core program.
How many hours do you think these programs should be? We've been thinking 40 hours for the Core program and 120 hours for the Guaranteed. How many hours of instruction does an "average" student need to go from an overall band score of 4.0 to 6.5? (I know that "average" is pretty hard-to-define)
The context is Canada, near Vancouver, in a suburb where over 50% of the population are of Chinese descent (and the majority of those being immigrants). Most of the students are probably going to be high school students who have been here fewer than three years, are graduating soon, and are trying to meet the English requirements to enter the local universities. Even though it is easy to avoid speaking English around here, we expect that most of the students will not have a problem with the Speaking test, since they have to speak a lot of English in high school. The other sections will be harder. We think the way they have to get the Listening and Reading answers *exactly* right is going to make things difficult for them.
The number of classes per week, and the length of the classes, will vary in each iteration of the course, but more often than not the courses will be probably be intensive (eg: three hours a day, five days a week).
If anyone has any guesstimates on how many instructional hours these students need to jump from 4.0 to 6.5, or any other advice or resources, I would greatly appreciate it!
Many thanks,
Stephanie