Course organization

Course Admission and Graduation

Guaranteeing Academic Success through Study Plans

Kai En Teaching Materials

Supplementary Materials

Kai En Student Profile

Course organization

The Kai En conversation program for adults consists of a ten level program. Level 1-7 focus on building conversational skills while levels 8-10 focus on teaching the language of business. There are ten levels, ranging from absolute beginners to almost fluent. The two most basic classes are taught by English-speaking Chinese teachers only (to allow basic students to ask questions in their own language). Class level 3 and 4 are taught by both a local teacher and a native speaker who teach lessons alternatively. For example, the local teacher might teach a three hour lesson on Tuesday evening and her foreign teaching partner would then teach the three-hour class on Thursday (we include a Chinese teacher here for the same reason as with the basic levels). The remaining six levels are taught exclusively by foreign teachers.

Level	Outcomes: A student who successfully completes this level will be able to:	Teacher(s)	Materials
Low Beginning	use complete sentences to answer simple questions in English. ask questions to get basic information in English. give personal information about hobbies, family, jobs, etc. understand basic English if spoken slowly and clearly	Chinese	Kai En Textbook 1
High Beginning	talk about daily topics such as work, weather, hobbies communicate with a native speaker who speaks some Chinese. Ask and give information about every day activities Understand spoken English if it is spoken slowly	Chinese	Kai En Textbook 2
Low Elementary	Have a short conversation with a native speaker about daily topics have a short conversation with a native speaker without too many grammar errors affecting communication communicate with a native speaker who doesn’t speak Chinese but who speaks English slowly and clearly	Chinese and Foreign	Kai En Textbook 3
Elementary	understand the main ideas in a conversation with a native speaker. communicate socially with a native speaker who doesn’t speak Chinese, but on a small number of topics. To talk about more detailed topics than simply daily small talk Have the confidence to talk to native speakers.	Chinese and Foreign	Kai En Textbook 4
High Elementary	communicate with a native speaker one-on-one in a social situation on a variety of topics without confusion Have a meaningful conversation with a native speaker where fluency doesn’t affect communication Speak confidently and without grammar errors affecting the conversation.	Foreign	Kai En Textbook 5
Low Intermediate	Understand and participate in one-on-one conversations with a native speaker about a wide variety of topics of interest. communicate with a native speaker in a social and professional environment about issues related to your life be able to deal with foreign customers and colleagues at work an on the telephone with some difficulty.	Foreign	Kai En Textbook 6
High Intermediate	understand conversations with native speakers who speak fluently understand business meetings and presentations in English have conversations with native speakers on a variety of topics where fluency and vocabulary don’t affect communication	Foreign	Kai En Textbook 7
Low Advanced	actively participate in business meetings and presentations in English communicate in a group of native speakers. Present your company and product successfully Use English in social and entertainment situations Clearly communicate ideas on critical business issues directly related to your job or company	Foreign	Market Leader
Advanced	Engage in problem solving and decision making discussions Negotiate competently on familiar business topics Make presentations that communicate the message clearly Interact confidently with international clients and colleagues in social situations Clearly convey ideas about today’s critical business issues Communicate with foreign colleagues competently and without confusion	Foreign	Market Leader
High Advanced	Use English to effectively manage people Negotiate at higher levels and handle difficult situations with confidence Make professional presentations of a high standard Competently deal with problem solving discussions Resolve conflict in difficult situations Clearly convey ideas about today’s critical business issues Communicate with foreign colleagues in-depth and without confusion	Foreign	Market Leader

top

Course Admission and Graduation

During the class students will spend most of the time interacting and communicating with each other while the teacher monitors and provides feedback. In such a class success depends on the students having a similar English level. When students come to our centers, they are first given a written test followed by a language consultation and then placed in classes according to their English speaking ability.

The same procedure is followed at the end of the course. In order for students to graduate to the next level, they must pass a written test and pass a graduation language consultation [oral test]. These admission and graduation oral tests are conducted by a senior teacher to ensure independent assessment and to guarantee academic standards.

The maximum number of students in each class is 16. Classes typically meet twice a week for 3 hours each time and run for a total of eight weeks. Students are encouraged to continue studying and moving up the ladder of classes.

top

Guaranteeing Academic Success through Study Plans

The Study Plan (SP) is an academic service that is unique to Kai En. In brief, it offers students valuable consulting advice to help set realistic goals and expectations, and then, if the student chooses the plan, it offers them an individually planned program of study designed to help achieve their personal goals under close Kai En supervision. Our confidence in our academic quality and the validity of the plans we make means we are able to give our students the guarantee of success.

The Study Plan student commits to studying between four to twelve months.The teacher monitors each SP student’s progress and provides feedback to the senior teacher or branch manager.Students who are falling behind in their studies may be assigned extra classes free of charge in order to ensure they reach their study plan objective.

top

Kai En Teaching Materials

The Kai En adult conversation program is centered around books written exclusively for Kai En by Brian McCloskey. The books were written for use in China based on the authors’ 18 years of teaching experience in both China and Taiwan. Each level in the series includes:

• A textbook with an audio cd
• A workbook with an audio cd
• An end of course test
• A teacher’s resource pack with supplementary activities
• A teacher’s manual

The textbooks have been designed to facilitate student-centered classes in which the students are given the maximum opportunity to interact and communicate using English.

top

SupplementaryMaterials

At the end of each course, the senior teacher conducts a final oral assessment interview. The questions in this interview are closely related to the topics and language taught in the book. Therefore, teachers need to cover the material in our textbook [Kai En Real Talk series].

However, teachers do have access to photocopiers and reference materials should they wish to supplement the topics and materials taught in the textbook. This allows teachers to be creative using different materials. The only proviso is that the materials should be related to the topics taught in the textbook so that the students can see continuity in planning and implementing lessons.

top

Kai En Student Profile

Kai En's adult conversation program offers conversational English courses to students of all levels from beginning to advance. Students over 14 years old are eligible to enrol in the adult program. There is no upper limit on the age of students, but most of the students are between 20 and 35 years old.

Standard Student Profile

Age:26 years old

Gender:Male or female

Marital Status:single

Education:University graduate

Occupation:clerk in an international company

Personality:optimistic, ambitious and diligentOur students have various reasons for wanting to improve their English. The most common reasons are to get a promotion or a better job, to increase their marketability after graduation from high school or college, or to prepare for study or travel abroad or emigration. The majority of our students work, or want to work, in large foreign invested companies where English is the working language. Many companies desire to improve their employees' level of English to increase the effectiveness of their operations both internally and externally.

top