IELTS Academic Intermediate Program

Program Description

The Program is designed to efficiently and strategically prepare intermediate level students for the IELTS Academic Test by teaching them both the English language and IELTS test-taking skills. The program is for students with less than a 5.5 in IELTS OR equivalent (as established through a placement test or alternative standardized test).

The program can be taught in two streams, the English Stream and the Bilingual Stream. The program is divided into five sections, one for each test section, which also correspond to the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), and one assessment section for practice tests. 

The language systems of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and discourse are taught through all of the program sections as appropriate.

Program Objectives

English Language Objectives

At the end of this course students will be able to:

Listening

• Understand verbal instructions.
• Preview and predict when listening.
• Listen for specific information to complete sentences, forms, notes, tables, diagrams, plans and maps.

Speaking

• Use a range of vocabulary when speaking.
• Use a range of grammatical structures when speaking.
• Use comprehensible pronunciation when speaking.
• Speak with minimal hesitation.
• Speak cohesively.

Reading

• Identify a reading passage as narrative, descriptive, discursive or argumentative.
• Identify the main ideas in short reading passages from books, journals, magazines and newspapers.
• Comprehend detailed information in short reading passages from books, journals, magazines and newspapers.
• Comprehend information presented in a diagram, graph and illustration.
• Summarize information presented in short reading passages from books, journals, magazines and newspapers.

Writing

• Write a summary of information presented in a graph or diagram.
• Write an opinion essay.
• Write an argument essay.
• Write a problem-solving essay.Use a range of vocabulary when writing.
• Use a range of grammatical structures when writing.
• Edit written work for accuracy, coherence and cohesion

Test Taking Skills Objectives

At the end of this course students will be able to:

• Identify the overall structure of the IELTS.
• Identify all of the question types within each section of the IELTS.
• Answer each question type efficiently

Program Assessments

Each week, students complete practice tests focusing on the language skills and exam question types learned that week.  These practice tests are completed under testing conditions. The tests are then corrected as a class, the correct answers discussed and feedback provided.

Criteria for Passing the Program

In order to pass the course, students must:

• Attend at least 90% of the classes.
• Achieve at least 75% on the weekly quizzes and practice tests.