JBC CLASSES: ENGLISH/TOEFL/JAPANESE

JBC Course Descriptions

Note: Scheduling Your Enrollment

Students at JBC Language School are expected to combine their core English level course with electives every week to maintain the number of hours that they are required to attend. For international students on an F-1 Visa, this is an 18 hour minimum per week. The core classes provide 12 hours of instruction each week. The remaining 6 weekly required hours must come from a combination of elective classes or private instructional hours. The JBC Director of Education will advise you on which classes are appropriate for your ability level.   

Core English Level 1 (12 hours/week) This beginner class teaches basic grammar, vocabulary, and conversation strategies for everyday interaction. Lessons include: using verbs with pronouns, verb conjugations, noun articles, simple present tense statements and questions, present continuous, simple past, countable and uncountable nouns.

Entrance requirements: placement via the Pearson/Longman placement test.

Core English Level 2 (12 hours/week) Continuing from Level 1, this beginner class teaches more basic grammar, vocabulary, and conversation strategies for everyday interaction. Lessons include: verb forms and prepositions, object pronouns, simple present and present continuous, future with “going to,” general and specific use of determiners, infinitives for reasons, reflexive pronouns and comparative adjectives.

Entrance requirements: placement via the Pearson/Longman placement test.

Core English Level 3 (12 hours/week) Continuing from Level 2, his intermediate class teaches low-intermediate level grammar, vocabulary, and conversation strategies for everyday interaction. Lessons include: manner adverbs and adjectives, present perfect statements, superlatives, quantifiers, the future tense, subject relative clauses, questions within sentences, modal verbs, and phrasal verbs.

Entrance requirements: placement via the Pearson/Longman placement test.

Core English Level 4 (12 hours/week) Continuing from Level 3, this intermediate class teaches upper-intermediate level grammar, vocabulary, and conversation strategies for everyday interaction. Lessons include: making comparisons with “as,” inseparable phrasal verbs, the passive of modal verbs, the past perfect, speaking hypothetically about the past, reported speech, tag questions, passive of present continuous, future continuous and future perfect.

Entrance requirements: placement via the Pearson/Longman placement test.

Core English Level 5 (12 hours/week) Building from the skills learned in the first four levels, this advanced class teaches writing, reading, listening and speaking. Lessons include: verbs followed by gerunds, phrasal modals of obligation, order of modifiers, adverbs with the simple past and past perfect, reduced relative clauses, present unreal conditional, and mixed conditionals.

Entrance requirements: placement via the Pearson/Longman placement test.

Core English Level 6 (12 hours/week) Continuing from Level 5, this advanced class teaches writing, reading, listening and speaking. Lessons include: phrasal verbs, gerund constructions, reporting clauses in the passive, sentence adverbs, double comparatives, optional and required relative pronouns, verbs in the subjunctive, compound adjectives and adverb clauses of condition.

Entrance requirements: placement via the Pearson/Longman placement test.

TOEFL Preparation Class (18 hours/week) This course prepares students to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language, a worldwide academic standard for English language ability. The course emphasizes reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, divided into a half-term of review followed by a half-term of practice TOEFL testing. Students can expect daily vocabulary quizzes and weekly idiom reviews. Once this course is completed, JBC staff can assist students in scheduling to take the TOEFL.

Entrance requirements: Level 5 or higher on the Pearson/Longman placement test.

Vocabulary and Conversation (Elective Course, 2 hours/week) This course is offered as an elective to expand the vocabulary and improve the conversational skills of our students. It is offered in two levels, beginner/lower-intermediate and upper-intermediate/advanced. Lessons include reading discussions and topic discussions. Students are expected to participate in the classroom conversations.

Grammar and Writing (Elective Course, 4 hours/week) This elective course is offered to provide an additional opportunity for students to improve their reading and writing skills. This course uses brief reading assignments as a warm-up, followed by paragraph and essay writing. Students are given writing instructions in a workshop environment, with their progress monitored by the teacher.

Idioms (Elective Course, 2 hours/week) This elective course is offered to assist students with learning and mastering common idioms of the English language. Proper use of idioms is absolutely necessary for fluent English speaking. This course is offered in two levels, beginner/lower-intermediate, and upper-intermediate/advanced. 

Easy English News (Elective Course, 2 hours/week) This elective course is offered to assist our students in applying their conversational skills to discussions of real-world events, in a roundtable setting. Popular news items from headlines are used as the topics for discussion. Students are also exposed to common cultural attitudes of Americans, with regards to news items.

Customized English Tutoring (Elective, Various Hours) JBC students have the option of attending private lessons to supplement their class instruction. These lessons are scheduled in 1 hour units, usually in the afternoon. If you wish to schedule private lessons, contact the Director of Education.

Japanese Level 1 (1.5 Hours, Weekly) JBC’s Japanese Level 1 introduces students to the basics of the Japanese language grammar and vocabulary. The four primary skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing are emphasized, with students mastering the two phonetic alphabets, hiragana and katakana. This course is available in separate curricula for adults, students, and children.

Entrance requirements: placement interview

Japanese Level 2 (1.5 Hours, Weekly) JBC’s Japanese Level 2 builds upon the grammar, vocabulary and literacy skills introduced during level 1. The four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing are further developed, with students practicing and learning the simpler kanji Chinese characters. This course is available in separate curricula for adults, students, and children.

Entrance requirements: Completion of Level 1 or placement interview

Japanese Level 3 (1.5 Hours, Weekly) JBC’s Level 3 further develops the skills that students learned in Level 2. More advanced grammar and vocabulary lessons are taught, focusing upon speaking, listening, reading and writing. Additional kanji are practiced by the students. This course is available in separate curricula for adults, students, and children.

Entrance requirements: Completion of Level 2 or placement interview

JLPT Prep Course (1.5 Hours, Weekly) JBC’s JLPT Preparation Course prepares students to take the Nihongo Noryoku Shiken, also known as the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which is the international standard for the ability to use the Japanese language. This test is administered annually in the U.S., in five levels of difficulty. JBC’s JLPT Prep Course caters the curriculum to students’ ability levels, and offers practice and instruction accordingly. 

Entrance requirements: placement interview

Customized Japanese Tutoring (Hours Vary) The JBC Language instructors are also available for private Japanese language tutoring throughout the week, for all ages and levels of ability. This tutoring is a powerful learning opportunity for enthusiastic students who wish to supplement their weekly classes with additional instruction, such as focusing upon business Japanese. If you wish to schedule private lessons, contact the Director of Education.