Description - Our 'general English course' includes the following:
18 hours per week of English tuition
Accurate level placement, using Oxford Placement Test and interview
All levels - beginners to advanced
Small classes average of 12 per class - max 15 per class
Progress Report signed by 2 teachers
Certificate of Attendance signed by the Director
Classes are: Culturally-based (UK and students' countries) - Interactive - Communicative - Challenging - Fun - Informative
Groups are multi-lingual: Variety of between 4-8 nationalities per class (we welcome approx 30 nationalities throughout summer)
All teachers hold appropraite qualifications in education and in teaching English.
All teachers are native English speakers (mostly British but also from a variety of nationalities)
Structure - Throughout one week students will receive:
5 x 90 minutes 'Language Awareness' lessons
(inc. work based on popular and credible textbooks, focussing on grammar, language structures, listening, vocabulary, reading etc.)
5 x 90 minutes 'Communication Skills' lessons
(inc. a range of popular topics/current issues, with discussion/group-work/information-finding games and activities etc.)
3 x 1 hour Project English sessions in the early evenings
(inc. focussing on UK culture/cities/history and the MC Discovery & Social Programme etc.)
MC English Timetable:
- Lessons from 09:15am to 12:45pm
- Once a week 2 classes are combined for a joint lesson with one teacher
- Sometimes students only receive a full complement of 18hrs per week tuition only if they depart after lesson 2 on the day of departure
- Students leave class for a 30min refreshment break, 10:45am to 11:15am
Click here for a sample timetable of 'Language Awareness' and 'Communication Skills' Lessons.
MC testing and placement procedures:
On the second day students are tested to evaluate their level. The multiple choice test we use is the Oxford University Press (OUP) and University of Cambridge (UCLES) 'Quick Placement Test'. It is developed to give teachers a reliable method of finding a student's level - it tests their grammar, vocabulary and reading. Students also have an interview with a teacher to assess their oral ability. Students are placed into classes according to their level at all skills. On the third day, students go to class.
MC teachers:
Our team of EFL teachers are appropriately qualified and are native English speakers, some return to work for Manor Courses for many years. The teachers employ a range of teaching methods and techniques to ensure that the English lessons are lively and challenging. Each group of students has 2 teachers - after break they change teacher. This gives students a variety of teaching styles, accents, ages, nationality, gender etc.
MC resources:
Manor Courses teachers do not use coursebooks for all of the lessons. The content of the lesson is at the discretion of the teacher. However, teachers do use some of the top publishers' books as the basis for the 'Language Awareness' lessons. This provides a truly teacher-created yet student-centred course of learning. The coursebooks (and publishers) we use for 'Language Awareness' lessons include: English in Mind (Cambridge University Press), Move (Macmillan), Inspiration (Macmillan), and World Around (Helbling Languages).
Extra English study:
Although we provide classes for all levels, we assume students have already had some exposure to English (either formal education or informal experience). We recommend some study of the English language before arriving at Hurst College. Our links page on the website gives a few recommended online activities for practising vocabulary, grammar etc. before and after the summer:
www.manorcourses.co.uk/Links
MC Juniors:
The lesson contents vary slightly to the above. The teachers take a more student-centred approach, dependent on the individual children.