Our General English Courses are designed to offer students the opportunity to take top quality English classes and have the flexibility to experience all that makes Dublin so special. We offer our English programmes in the following formats:
- Standard format: - 20 lessons per week
- Intensive format: - 25 lessons per week
- Super-intensive format – 30 lessons per week
Students taking the standard format attend lessons from 09.00 - 13.00 with a 20 minute coffee break, Monday to Friday.
Students choosing the Intensive course have additional lessons on Monday and Tuesday afternoons.
Students choosing the super-intensive format have afternoon lessons from Monday to Thursday, inclusive.
Classes are offered at the following levels:-
Beginner, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Advanced.
(Council of Europe Levels A1 - C1)
- Standard Course: GE01
- Intensive Course: GE02
- Super Intensive Course: GE03
Commencement Dates
Students may commence a General English Course on any Monday throughout the year (except when a public holiday occurs on a Monday. In such cases we provide an excursion on the Monday and classes commence on the following day).
Beginners may start a General English Course on the following dates only: 05/01/09, 06/04/09; 29/06/09; 21/09/09
Format
Standard Course:
Standard courses consist of 20 lessons tuition per week (with a coffee break of 20 minutes each day). Classes are available from 09.00 - 13.00, Monday to Friday inclusive.
Standard courses at some levels may also be taken from 13.30 - 17.30 each day Monday to Friday (with a coffee break of 20 minutes each day)
Intensive Course:
The intensive course consists of 20 lessons tuition per week (with a coffee break of 20 minutes each day) from 09.00 - 13.00, Monday to Friday inclusive and 5 lessons per week, 14.00 - 16.00 Monday and Tuesday.
Super Intensive Course:
The Super-Intensive course consists of 30 lessons tuition per week (with a coffee break of 20 minutes each day) from 09.00 - 13.00, Monday to Friday inclusive and 10 lessons per week, 14.00 - 16.00, Monday to Thursday.
Maximum Class Size
13 Students
Average Class Size
8/9 Students
Course Duration
Participants may join the General English course for a minimum of 1 week. There is no maximum period.
Students may choose, either during their stay in Dublin or on completion of their course, to take extra on-line writing classes with one of their class teachers.
Students may also subscribe, at a specially reduced rate, to an on-line version of the national quality Irish daily newspaper.
Content
Standard Course:
There is a syllabus for each level and a course book and supplementary material are used in conjunction with the syllabus. The syllabus covers the 4 skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing as well as pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar activities. Classes are task based and interactive with students and teachers continually working together to improve language output. Class work includes pair and group work, teacher led discussions, debates, presentations and written tasks.
At the beginning of each week an outline of the programme for the current week is posted in each classroom and discussed at the beginning of the first class on Monday morning. Students are tested at the end of each week on aspects of the week's work.
The pedagogical approaches employed in Alpha College integrate a primarily communicative approach with elements of other approaches to take into account different learners' needs, attitudes and objectives in learning English. The overall approach is learner--centred and aims to equip the student with all the tools essential to becoming an autonomous learner.
Intensive & Super Intensive:
The morning classes are the same as those of the Standard Courses. The afternoon classes are fluency development classes provided to give students further opportunities to practise listening and speaking in English. There is a syllabus at each level and a course book and supplementary material are used in conjunction with that syllabus. Class time is divided between speaking and listening exercises using role play, discussion, debate, audio - visual and taped materials. Students taking this class may also prepare for the TIE (Test of Interactive English) examination as an assisted self study option.
