Intensive English Program

The English Language Academy is a full time noncredit certificate program. We offer English as a second language (ESL) courses at five levels of English proficiency:

Five Levels of Proficiency

• Foundations Level - the most beginning level*
• Intermediate Level
• High Intermediate Level
• Advanced Level
• University Bridge Level - the most advanced level
  

*Please Note: Our Foundations level (beginning) classes are for students who have studied some English. Before they begin our classes, these students can use or understand 200 to 400 words in English.

Courses offered at each Level

Full-time students take all 4 courses:

• Writing and Word Processing
• Reading and Vocabulary Development
• Grammar
• Spoken English and Listening
  

Class Schedule

All English Language Academy courses are held during the day. Classes meet for 18 hours each week, from 9 a.m. until 2:45 p.m., with a later start time on Monday mornings and an earlier end time on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.

Here is an example of a class schedule for ELA students at all levels, Foundations through University Bridge:

Placement Exams

New students take placement exams given at the beginning of each term to determine their proficiency level. Currently these exams include a 35-minute writing sample, similar to the TOEFL iBT independent-task essay, and an Institutional (paper-based) TOEFL test, which has sections on listening comprehension, structure and written expression, and reading.

In some cases, new student placement is adjusted on the basis of additional diagnostic testing given during the first two weeks of the term.

TOEFL scores vary from term to term, but the average TOEFL score of Foundations students tends to be around 350-375; the average of Intermediate students, around 400; the average of High Intermediate students, around 450; of Advanced students, around 500; and of University Bridge students, around 525. A TOEFL score of 500 and Advanced-level Writing placement are required for study in the ELA’s TOEFL Intensive Program (TIP). Students are not normally admitted to TIP during their first term of study at the ELA.

Continuing ELA students who pass their classes move to the next higher level of course work in the following term.