ESL Class (20 Hours/Week)

The ESL program at AELS consists of 6 levels from Basic to Level 5. First, the student will take a placement test to determine which level they will start their courses. Each level takes 3 months to complete. At the end of the level, the student will take their final test called the CASAS (The Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System). This test helps to measure how you have progressed in speaking, listening, and reading. When the test has been passed satisfactorily, the student can move forward to the next level. Once you have finished Level 5, you will receive a certificate of completion proving that you have completed the ESL program at AELS. The absolute goal of the ESL program is to be able to communicate comfortably in all areas of English, including speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

AELS conducts reading and writing activities at each level. Students will become more familiar with English sentence structure and be able to expand their vocabulary through the level-appropriate reading passages. The writing activities will allow you to write your own sentences for different formats of writing. You will learn to write letters and recipes and progress to formal paragraphs. In addition, you will learn many English idioms through this process and be able to use complex grammar rules. These will help you speak English more naturally and accurately.

AELS offers a variety of thematic and contextual conversation activities to practice speaking and listening skills that are used in real life. All classes focus on conversation between instructors and students. Instructors maximize learning efficiency by giving prompt feedback through constant dialogue with the students and correction of pronunciation and word choice. Through this process, students will practice speaking confidently and gain more listening practice through constant conversation. This is only possible with a small number of students in class, something that AELS is proud to offer.

Basic Level Goal: Students will begin to communicate basic needs in a variety of real life/survival situations.
Level 1 Goal: Students will begin to develop the necessary language competence needed to successfully function in survival and social environments.
Level 2 Goal: Students will achieve the necessary language competence needed to successfully function in survival and social environments.
Level 3 Goal: Students will begin to develop competence to live and work effectively in the U.S.
Level 4 Goal: Students will develop competence to live and work in the U.S. with some difficulty to function in most common environments.
Level 5 Goal: Students will develop competence to live and work in the U.S. with sufficient proficiency to function in most common environments.