General English Courses

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« Check out the special offers for General English classes full time 10 weeks or more for Townsville and Cairns. »

Both JCU English Language Centres offer an exciting range of language courses that are designed for:

• Students who want to continue to academic studies at university or TAFE.
• Students who want to improve their English communication skills.
• Working Holiday Visa students who need to improve their language skills before entering the Australian workplace.

General English

This intensive course is offered from Elementary to Advanced levels with a focus on: listening, speaking, reading, writing skills; increasing understanding of English grammar; vocabulary and pronunciation. The General English (GE) course aims to:

• develop students’ confidence in using English for general purposes;
• develop students’ English proficiency so they can focus on English for Academic Purposes once they have attained the Intermediate to Advanced level of English;
• improve students’ skills in the areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing in order to communicate effectively in English in both formal and informal settings.

We have courses for students of levels from pre-intermediate to advanced. All students are tested on arrival and then placed in a class at the correct level. We closely monitor students’ progress throughout their course by weekly revision sessions, regular testing and daily homework.

Elementary Level

On completion of the Elementary level course students will have:

• completed up to 20 weeks of study
• an understanding and practical grasp of key grammatical items at this level
• written work at paragraph level with basic use of conjunctions and punctuation
• a productive competence limited to familiar situations with basic transactional or discursive capability
• a limited range of vocabulary and expression
• limited communicative ability when using language of high frequency corresponding to IELTS level 3 (Extremely Limited User) or level 4 (Limited User).

Intermediate Level

On completion of the Intermediate level course students will have:

• completed up to 20 weeks of study
• an understanding of key grammatical items at this level
• written work with basic ability to organise material into linked paragraphs, increasing use of linkers such as however, although
• a partial command of the language and ability to understand overall meaning in most situations though they are likely to make many mistakes
• They should be able to communicate their ideas and opinions in sustained conversation, albeit with considerable inaccuracy and limited range of vocabulary and expression
• Communicative ability would correspond to an IELTS level 4 (Limited User) or level 5 (Modest User).

Advanced Level

On completion of the Advanced level course a student will have:

• completed up to 20 weeks of study
• a practical grasp of key grammatical items at this level
• the ability to understand and deal with a range of non-specific authentic reading and listening texts and to be able to follow detailed reasoning
• be able to produce a logically developed and presented narrative or discursive essay with clear paragraphing skills and advanced use of punctuation and sentence structure
• an effective command of the language despite some inaccurate or inappropriate use of lexis and expression.
• an ability to understand fairly complex language incorporating a broad range of lexis and expression, particularly in familiar situations
• communicative ability would correspond to IELTS level 6 (Competent User) or level 7.5 (Good User).