NYC Global Center serves a diverse, foreign-born population for whom English is a second language. This institution strives to realize two primary goals:

- Improve students’ ability to comprehend the English language; and

- Provide students with both the vocabulary and grammatical structures necessary to become fluent in English.

NYC Global Center is committed to providing excellent English as a Second Language programs to non-native speakers who are serious about achieving language proficiency needed to successfully communicate with other English speakers, or simply for their own self-improvement. We recognize that our students come from diverse cultures and academic backgrounds and that every student has different strengths and weaknesses, focuses and needs.

NYC Global Center offers 6 levels (courses) in the Intensive English Program. The total number of clock hours for each course within the program’s offerings is 180 (10 weeks).

IEP101 Low Beginning (Intro)

By introducing basic literacy skills as well as oral communication skills in English, this course instills confidence in students as they establish a solid foundation in the basics of English. Class activities include pronunciation drills, paired practice, and guided group activities. This course helps students understand and practice English pronunciation, sounds, and basic vocabulary through guided practice informed by the communicative approach.

This course focuses on basic oral communication skills in day-to-day situations. Listening practice and minimal speaking tasks will satisfy routine classroom and social demands. A variety of conversational activities include focused pronunciation practice and guided pair-work that offer comprehensive practice with words, common phrases, and simple sentences. As an introduction to reading and writing skills in English, this course will help students learn how to read and write basic words, phrases, and simple sentences. Basic English verb tenses in the present and past time are introduced to enable students to produce short and simple sentences and generate simple questions for survival needs.

IEP201 Beginning

This course will help students increase their listening comprehension and speaking fluency in everyday situations by focusing on some essential grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation skills they need. Students will build a smooth, clear, easy-to-use, and easy-to-remember foundation for their spoken and written English.

Specifically, in spoken and written exercises, students use everyday language and situations to practice and establish good usage in full sentences with subject-verb agreement (singular and plural), basic verbs and verb tenses in the present, past, and future time, countable and non-countable nouns, and pronouns. Students will read short reading passages that cover a variety of engaging themes and topics. Emphasis is on content comprehension, recognition of main ideas, and developing basic vocabulary in context.

IEP301 Intermediate

In this course, students will develop communicative competence in English by studying and practicing specific structures, vocabulary, and communicative functions, such as introductions, likes and dislikes, talking about events, and exchanging information by using question and answer techniques. A broad range of communicative activities will assist students as they develop basic but essential oral communication skills they need in their daily lives. These activities include role play, pair and group work, and listening comprehension drills.

This course creates an authentic reading experience through carefully controlled texts, meaning-focused exercises, and extensive vocabulary development. Students are encouraged to practice making inferences and drawing conclusions while reading. They will also go on to respond by writing their own thoughts in short sentences and paragraphs.

IEP401 High Intermediate

This course is designed to meet the needs of high intermediate level students by encouraging them to engage in short discussions and dialogues. Practice is given in oral discussions, presentations, and conversational questioning techniques. Small group discussions will help students develop vocabulary and speaking skills.

Course emphasis is on discussion and analysis of multi-page readings including recognition of main and supporting ideas. Context clues and word formation analysis aid in vocabulary development. To help enhance the grammar skills of high intermediate level non-native speakers of English, use of complex sentences and subjunctive form are introduced and practiced. It broadens the students’ knowledge of grammar as it is used in complex sentence structures.

IEP501 Advanced

Through recordings on diverse themes and topics that stimulate critical thinking, students will build their listening and analytical skills for formal and informal discourse. This course will help learners develop their speaking skills by exploring, analyzing, and explaining matters within a variety of themes and topics.

Students will also get an introduction to listening to short passages on abstract topics and expressing their own thoughts on a given topic. This course provides comprehensive readings that are carefully designed to provide different and intriguing perspectives on a theme. Extensive guided practices in inferential and analytical skills will help students develop critical reading skills in English. Grammar lessons cover various sentence patterns, adjective/adverbial clauses, conditionals, perfect modals, etc. Writing exercises will strengthen the ability to write a short essay using simple and complex sentence patterns.

IEP601 High Advanced

As continuation of advanced level speaking, reading, and writing in American English, this course caters to the needs of high advanced students whose goal is to develop public speaking strategies, idioms, and academic writing skills. Extensive listening and speaking activities with authentic learning materials will exposure students to spontaneous face-to-face conversations, phone conversations, and academic discourses as well.

Communicative group tasks will let students continue to build near-native proficiency, increase comprehension, and broaden their vocabulary for academic purposes. Students are encouraged to develop context analysis skills as they relate to university level subject matter. In addition, advanced writing practices provide students with essential tools to master not only the key steps in the writing process, but also the grammatical structures, lexical knowledge, and rhetorical modes essential for formal writing.