Level up your English!
Programmes For Teens
IH Galway Junior Programmes have been meticulously designed to meet the needs and interests of our students. Our programmes motivate and challenge our junior students as they are based on authentic, personalised materials. As our language programme is linked to the activity programme, it also provides students with the opportunity to discover Galway and Ireland, as well as other countries and cultures.
Course Programme
Our customised and personalised course programme, which is based on motivating and educational projects, has been designed by our Cambridge qualified teachers for our students, and we also select other materials which are suitable for the learning context, the English level of the group and the learners’ cultural background. The programme is designed to ensure a balance of skills, as well as some useful vocabulary to help students build a useful bank of words and expressions which they can use inside and outside the classroom. The weekly programme consists of 60-minute lessons of English, with practice of the four skills, vocabulary, grammar, project work and presentations, incorporating IT and leadership skills.
Our objective
Our aim is to help our students develop their knowledge of authentic English, focusing on the skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing, with a strong focus also on vocabulary development, as these elements are what learners need in order to be able to communicate effectively. The course programme includes a series of projects and presentations to help the participants develop the four skills. As they are linked to the planned visits, the projects will help the participants focus on the visits with some background knowledge provided in advance of the visit. On the visits, they will complete some tasks, which will then be used in follow up lessons. Projects and presentations are assessed and there will be prizes given at the final ceremony for the outstanding ones. These projects and presentations will form part of the students’ portfolio, which they will take home with them following their course.
Programmes For Teens
We focus on...
Vocabulary
Vocabulary acquisition is a key part of the programme as we believe that a good vocabulary base is a fundamental part of language acquisition. Materials will draw on the learners’ own experiences and they will also introduce them to aspects of Irish history and culture, making their experience in Galway a richer one. We also incorporate aspects of Content and Language Integrated Learning, CLIL, into their programme to help them focus on areas of history, geography and science in English. Some essential elements of grammar will also be focused on. The students will also receive training in using dictionaries and apps in order to become more independent learners, which will help them continue to develop following the course.
Weekly Objectives
At the beginning of the week, we show our students their weekly objectives in the form of ‘can-do’ descriptors, and this helps students to focus on what they are going to study that week. They can also contribute some ideas to the programme. The use of can-do statements, plus the added input from the students, provides motivation and engagement in the program as they know in advance what they are going to be looking at and they have an input also. At the beginning of each lesson, the teacher helps the learners focus on what the lesson aims are. This will help to focus students’ attention on the lesson objectives and content and the teacher looks again at these aims at the end of the lesson to help them see what they have achieved.
Portfolio
Our students complete a portfolio with all the materials they use and develop on their programme. Students will take their portfolios, with their materials and their projects, home with them following the course, and they will have these materials for ever!
International House Galway Portal
Students have the opportunity to develop their language skills further with our tutor-directed self-study programme, where we help our students focus on aspects of language they want extra practice in, such as grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing or speaking, guided by their tutor. And our students can start their language journey with us from their home! Once you book your course with us, we give you access to the IH Galway Portal, and this access continues after you finish your course with us.