IEP Courses
Full-time students take 18-22 hours of classes each week depending on their level.
Part-time students, can take up to 16 course hours per week. REMEMBER – in semesters when courses are held online, part-time students can take IEP courses from wherever they happen to be!
6 course hours/week
This class is designed to introduce students to proven strategies designed to increase confidence when conversing with native-English speakers. A key part of an efficient conversation is, of course, understanding what you hear. Therefore, students will also engage in activities designed to increase general listening skills, by listening to authentic lectures, student conversations, and learning how to effectively keep track of important facts and ideas. This class meets 4 hours per week online. Outside activities – including homework assignments and projects requiring interaction with classmates are required. Sample in-class activities for this class include:
- Practicing strategies for following complex conversations
- Navigating small group discussions
- Structuring an academic presentation and clearly present information, opinions, and/or research in front of an audience
- Developing speaking skills so that you are better understood in both informal and formal conversations
6 course hours/week
This class is designed to introduce IEP students to authentic examples of the styles, vocabulary, and reading topics often seen in undergraduate classes at an American college or university. Lessons will focus on reading strategies, critical thinking, annotating, vocabulary skills, and discussing written texts. Students will have opportunities to strengthen their reading comprehension and fluency by reading texts from a variety of reading types (news and business reports, journal articles, academic research, etc.).
8-10 course hours/week depending on level
In order to succeed at work or in school, you must have knowledge and confidence in your ability to write in English. In these classes, our instructors use a variety of writing tasks so that you can practice writing skills and use advanced grammatical structures. Depending on your level, you might find yourself writing some of the following:
- Movie review
- Response to a test or essay question
- Narrative about an architectural structure
- Analytical report
- Business plan
- Compare/contrast magazine article
- Persuasive magazine article
- Data analysis and summary
Additionally, students who place into our highest level will learn how to research and write a short- to medium-length research paper. This task will focus on using appropriate resources and, most importantly, how and when to cite outside sources in a research paper.
1 hour/week
During in-person semesters, we offer our ALUC class. It is specifically designed for new IEP students and is taken during their first semester on campus. ALUC provides discussions with the other IEP students, NC State student mentors, and the course instructor on topics related to being successful as an international student. Topics include:
- Academically-focused aspects of student life such as:
- Communication strategies
- Time management and goal setting
- Academic policies and resources available on campus
- Working effectively in groups
- Cultural information
- Practical advice pertinent to students’ success