Intensive English Program (IEP)
New York Language Learning Center’s Intensive English Program (IEP) provides students with up to 25 hours a week of English Language Instruction. Classes and workshops meet five days a week, Monday – Friday, during morning, afternoon, and evening sections. NYLLC offers one of the most robust, productive, and fun English Programs in New York City.
The IEP educational philosophy is “post theory”, which means that teachers employ Communicative methods and explicit grammar instruction while helping students develop agency. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays students study with an integrated skills teacher who uses a communicative approach in conjunction with an integrated textbook to teach skills in context. This class also takes fieldtrips once every two weeks in order for the students to get real world English speaking practice in New York City. Classes go to Central Park, Macy’s, Soho, the Union Square Green Market, the Strand Bookstore, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, all of the City’s museums, and more! On Tuesdays and Thursdays, students study grammar skills in isolation. These classes are useful for students who appreciate structure and want to understand the rules behind the language. When students attend class five days a week with their personal textbook, they report great gains in their ability to understand and produce natural English.
The curriculum outcomes and standards are drawn from those developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The IEP’s five levels correspond with the CEFR’s A1, A2, B1, B2, and C1. According to the ACTFL, the IEP levels correspond with Novice Mid, Novice High, Intermediate Low, Intermediate High, and Advanced.
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 | ||
| Understanding | Listening | Can recognize basic phrases. | Can understand phrases and the highest frequency vocabulary. Can understand the main point of messages and announcements. | Can understand the main points of clear standard speech. Can understand main point of media programs on familiar topics when the speaker is clear. | Can understand extended speech, lectures, and arguments. Can follow most TV News and films. | Can understand unclear extended speech where relationships are implied. Can understand TV and movies without much effort. |
| Reading | Can read simple notices and posters. | Can find specific, predictable information in everyday materials. | Can understand texts that consist of mainly high frequency words. Can understand descriptions of feelings, events, and wishes. | Can read articles and reports concerned with contemporary problems. Can understand writer viewpoints. | Can understand long and complex factual, technical, and literary texts. Can appreciate a writer’s style. | |
| Speaking | Spoken Interaction | Can interact with someone who will help the student. | Can communicate in simple and routine tasks. Can respond in very short social exchanges. | Can deal with most likely travel situations. Can enter unprepared into conversation on topics that are familiar. | Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes conversation with a native speaker very possible. | Can express self fluently and spontaneously without much obvious difficulty. Can use speech socially and professionally. |
| Spoken Production | Can use simple phrases and sentences to say where the student lives and who he know. | Can use a series of phrases and sentences to describe my family, living conditions, education, and my job. | Can connect phrases in a simple way to describe events, dreams, hopes. Can briefly give reasons and explanations. Can tell a story. | Can present clear, detailed descriptions on wide range of subjects. Can explain advantages and disadvantages of various options. | Can present clear, detailed descriptions of complex subjects integrating sub-themes, developing particular points, and rounding off with a conclusion. | |
| Writing | Writing | Can write a simple post card, send a holiday greeting, and fill out forms with personal details. | Can write short simple notes and messages relating to immediate needs. | Can write simple connected text on familiar topics. Can write personal letter describing experiences and impressions. | Can write clear, detailed text on a wide variety of subjects. Can write letters of personal interest and essays for or against a point of view. | Can express self in clear, well-structured text. Can express points of view at some length. Can write complex letters, essays, or reports. |
