Academics

The Goals of Instruction

The goal of our English Immersion Program is to strengthen the student’s ability to communicate in English through English instruction and a variety of cultural, recreational, and fine arts activities.

Philosophy of Education

To provide an effective, high quality ESL program, we believe in a communicative experimental approach. In the classroom, we approach language learning through interactive and thematic units. Students participate in a wide variety of reading, writing, speaking and listening activities.

“ESL students learn English better when there is a meaningful and purposeful context for communication and a holistic approach to instruction is used. Research and experience have shown that studying language in “bits and pieces” is not a very effective way of learning it.”

ESL: Policy, Guidelines, and Resources for Teachers (1999)
British Columbia: Ministry of Education Policy Framework

The Principles of Learning

We believe in the principles of learning outlined in all British Columbia Ministry of Education curriculum documents:

• Learning requires the active participation of the student
• People learn in a variety of ways at different rates
• Learning is both an individual and group process

Teaching Staff Qualifications

Our English teaching staff is made up of highly qualified Language Arts, English and ESL teachers who have a broad range of both domestic and international teaching experience.

In addition, most of our activities and workshop staff are qualified teachers from a variety of subject areas.

Class Size Ratio

Our Class sizes range between 15 and 18 students.

Initial Assessment for Placement

On the first day of the program, the students complete a written placement test and an oral interview. The students are placed into different levels according to their written test scores and their oral test placement.

Final Evaluation

At the end of the program, students will receive a copy of their course outline and a certificate.
Overall evaluation is broken down as follows:

Classroom participation: 75 %

• Homework / Academics
• Orals
• Midterm / Final

Socio-cultural Activities / Workshops: 25 %