IELTS TOEFL Foundation Course

This course has been designed to give the students of Myanmar a set of academic skills that will enable them to be successful in a series of international tests.
During the 6 weeks, each student will learn, practice, and refine these skills so that once they embark on the test preparation courses they can focus solely on the different question types and completing each task to a high standard. All of the four skills will be addressed with specific focus on the productive skills: writing and speaking.

Here are some of the main areas that you will focus on:

Listening:

Students can expect to be exposed to a variety of active listening techniques that include; using ‘t’ charts to capture information from a conversation, linear note-taking to discern relevant information from a lecture, and how to predict what type of information they should hear next.

Reading:

Passage mapping and identifying main ideas are two essential skills needed at this level. Activities include focused passage mapping exercises, additional readings to be completed independently, and a constant reinforcement of these two skills.
Students will also practice using context clues to cope with new vocabulary, as well as having their vocabulary extended by a constant flow of new words/phrases

Writing:

Producing an accurate piece of written work is crucial to achieving a high score, so students will be encouraged to use the basic formats of an academic summary and a 5 paragraph essay. Different planning and revising strategies will also be included.
Students can expect to learn how to create strong thesis statements, use supporting evidence, and how to create the refutation paragraph. Paraphrasing and revising a piece of writing are also important and these effective and efficient techniques will be dealt with.

Speaking:

Students will be given opportunities to produce audio and video responses throughout their course. These will allow for a high level of reflection which, in turn, should help students and teachers to identify key areas to work on.
Students will practice giving descriptions, offering opinions, supporting their opinion, and synthesizing information from a variety of sources. (TOEFL focused exercises)
Weeks 1 – 4 focus on academic skills that are common across the two tests (IELTS + TOEFL).
Weeks 5 + 6 are all about bringing all these skills together and producing various pieces of work.

Reading Comprehension (RC):

Weeks 1 – 5 will see students completing a variety of RC articles independently with the focus being on passage mapping, paraphrasing, increasing the range of vocabulary, multiple choice questions, and increasing general knowledge.
Each passage reflects the most popular topics within the two tests.

Assessments:

There are 5 assessments that are conducted on the Friday of weeks 1 – 5.
Students will be able to improve their tests taking stamina levels with each test taking between 90 minutes and 150 minutes to complete.Relevant feedback will be given and students can expect in-depth insight regarding their capabilities.
Although this course is academic, students do learn much more effectively if they are actively participating in their course. These are not a series of lectures and students will be offered the chance to work independently, in pairs, small groups, and as a class.
Starfish is constantly looking at ways to enhance its students learning experience, so feedback forms will be issued to help us gather relevant information about you course – all anonymous.