IEP Class Offerings
The IEP offers courses across three levels: Beginning Level , Intermediate Level , and Advanced Level. At each level, students will be enrolled in Reading & Vocabulary, Writing & Grammar, and Listening & Speaking courses.
Each IEP course is a semester long and the IEP offers two semesters per academic year. Fall Semester usually runs from mid-August to mid-December. Spring Semester usually runs from January to May. Check our academic calendar for exact start dates.
Intensive English Program classes meet 20 hours per week and are designed to improve and foster language skills related to reading, writing, listening, and speaking. In addition to these 20 hours of class, students have the opportunity to meet with a Conversation Partner to improve their spoken English. Students can also make an appointment with Mississippi College's Writing Center to get additional help refining and improving their writing skills.
Students are placed into classes according to their performance on the Intensive English Program Placement Test. This test consists of two parts. There is a multiple choice test of a student's grammar, vocabulary, and reading skills. There is also a timed essay writing test.
Beginning Level Reading & Vocabulary
Curricular Aims
Students build basic literacy skills, starting with the alphabet and basic phonics and ending with decoding texts of 150 words about everyday topics. Students also acquire the vocabulary necessary to survive in an English only environment with a focus on accurate spelling and pronunciation. As students expand their reading skills and strategies, the focus shifts to decoding longer texts and connecting information from texts to their life and world. Students also acquire vocabulary and vocabulary decoding strategies that help them interact with their world.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the level, students will be able to:
- read texts of approximately 300 words on general and simplified academic topics and understand the main ideas, scan for specific information, and apply the information to complete a task.
- understand and use information provided in simple non-linear texts to complete basic tasks.
- use, spell, and say select words from the Oxford 3000 and Academic Wordlist focusing on general English lexis.
Beginning Level Writing & Grammar
Curricular Aims
Students build basic literacy skills, starting with the alphabet and basic sentence construction and progressing with students producing 8-10 thematically linked sentences about everyday topics. As students gain mastery in writing sentences, they also expand their writing skills by moving from thematically linked sentences to producing academic paragraphs of 80-100 words with a focus on topic sentences and supporting details. Students also study basic grammatical structures to enable their written production.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the level, students will be able to:
- produce an academic paragraph of 80-100 words on a topic studied in class.
- produce simple and compound sentences.
- connect sentences using basic cohesive devices.
- understand the form, meaning, and function of the “to be” verb, simple present, simple past, present progressive, past progressive, future, can and can’t, models for advice, subject and object pronouns, quantifiers, and count and noncount nouns.
Beginning Level Listening & Speaking
Curricular Aims
Students build their spoken confidence through role plays, modeling and guided practice to enable them to interact with their new environment. As students gain confidence, they expand to participating in class discussions and oral presentations. Students also begin basic listening and note-taking skills through guided practice.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the level, students will be able to:
- listen to modified recordings of routine speech acts and simulated academic situations of 5-8 minutes to find the main idea and specific information.
- interact with instructors, classmates and community members and express basic needs, wants, opinions and relate biographical information.
- participate in class discussions.
Intermediate Level Reading & Vocabulary
Curricular Aims
Students begin to engage with longer, more academic texts with a focus on inferencing and analyzing. Students also acquire vocabulary and vocabulary decoding strategies that help them interact in an academic environment.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the level, students will be able to:
- read texts of approximately 500 words on simplified academic topics with a focus on understanding main idea, scanning for specific information, inferring meaning, and using information to complete an academic task.
- analyze, understand and use information from non-linear texts to complete a task.
- use, spell, and say select words from the Oxford 3000 and Academic Wordlist focusing on building academic lexis.
Intermediate Level Writing & Grammar
Curricular Aims
Students will build their writing ability by moving from paragraphs to a five-paragraph academic essay of around 250 words with a focus on thesis statements, supporting a thesis, and essay organization. Students will also study
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the level, students will be able to:
- produce a five-paragraph academic essay of around 250 words on a topic studied in class.
- produce compound sentences.
- connect sentences and paragraphs using cohesive devices.
- understand the form, meaning, and function of present perfect, comparatives and superlatives, and modals of permission, request and possibility.
Intermediate Level Listening & Speaking
Curricular Aims
Students continue to build their listening and speaking skills through role plays, modeling, guided practice, class discussions and oral presentations. Students also begin building note-taking skills through guided practice.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the level, students will be able to:
- listen to modified recordings of routine speech acts and simulated academic situations of 5-8 minutes to find the main idea and specific information.
- interact with community members and express basic needs, wants, opinions and relate biographical information.
- participate in class discussions.
- present a group presentation of 1-3 minutes on a topic related to daily routines, personal experience and/or biographical information.
Advanced Level Reading & Vocabulary
Curricular Aims
Students interact with longer, more academic text extensively and intensively with a focus on connecting ideas across texts, understanding explicit and implicit meaning and applying information. Students also acquire vocabulary and vocabulary decoding strategies that help them interact in an academic environment.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the level, students will be able to:
- read texts of 750+ words on academic topics with a focus on understanding main ideas, inferring meaning, connecting ideas across texts and using information to complete an academic task.
- analyze, understand and use information from complex non-linear texts and diagrams to complete a task.
- use, spell, and say select words from the Academic Wordlist focusing on building academic English lexis.
Advanced Level Writing & Grammar
Curricular Aims
Students will move from writing five-paragraph essays to producing longer research papers of 700+ words with a focus on conducting appropriate academic research, incorporating sources, and appropriate citation. Students will also study more advanced grammar structures that will enable them to produce longer, more academic writing.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the level, students will be able to:
- understand the form, meaning, and function of passive voice, past perfect, conditionals, gerunds and infinitives, and adjective clauses.
- produce a research paper of 700+ words on a topic studied in class which incorporates information from independent research.
- connect sentences, paragraphs, and sections using appropriate cohesive devices.
- avoid plagiarism by using appropriate citation and reference lists.
Advanced Level Listening & Speaking
Curricular Aims
Students interact with their classmates and instructor in academic class discussions and debates with fluency and confidence. Students also extend their note-taking skills by listening to/watching simulated academic lectures and applying the information to complete a task. At this level, students apply research skills to prepare an academic oral presentation complete with visual aids and references.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the level, students will be able to:
- listen to / watch semi-authentic academic lectures of 13+ minutes to understand main idea, specific details, speaker’s opinion, infer meaning, and apply information to an academic task.
- participate in class discussions and debates using information from class recordings and readings to support opinions and ideas with limited prompting.
- research, prepare, and present an individual and/or group oral presentation of 10-15 minutes on a topic covered in class or related to the student’s area of study.
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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
|
9:00-10:15 Listening & Speaking |
9:00-10:15 Listening & Speaking |
9:00-10:15 Listening & Speaking |
9:00-10:15 Listening & Speaking |
9:00-10:15 Listening & Speaking |
|
10:15-10:30 Break |
10:15-10:30 Break |
10:15-10:30 Break |
10:15-10:30 Break |
10:15-10:30 Break |
|
10:30-11:45 Reading & Vocabulary |
10:30-11:45 Reading & Vocabulary |
10:30-11:45 Reading & Vocabulary |
10:30-11:45 Reading & Vocabulary |
10:30-11:45 Reading & Vocabulary |
|
11:45-1:30 Lunch |
11:45-1:30 Lunch |
11:45-1:30 Lunch |
11:45-1:30 Lunch |
|
|
1:30-3:30 Writing & Grammar |
1:30-3:30 Writing & Grammar |
1:30-3:30 Writing & Grammar |
1:30-3:30 Writing & Grammar |
* Subject to change
IEP Courses are short and intensive, because of this, all students are required to purchase all the appropriate course books and materials from the Mississippi College Bookstore. The Mississippi College IEP's policy for textbooks is as follows:
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All students must have new books.
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All students must have the correct edition.
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All students must purchase their books from the Mississippi College Bookstore.
All IEP students will receive their books from the Mississippi College Bookstore and the cost for the books will be automatically charged to the student’s MC Business Account. The MC Bookstore charges list price for all books and there is no additional charge for this service.
