Advanced Level

ESL Advanced Level (CEFR B2 - IELTS6 - TOFEL 84)

The Advanced ESL program (CEFR Level B2) seeks to provide the necessary academic skills required for success at Luther High School and beyond. The Advanced class is an academically rigorous course that prepares students to find success in their regular Luther College High School classes. 

To graduate from the Advanced Program, students in this course must maintain a 75% average in their ESL classes and meet the CEFR standards for the class. Assessments for these classes are benchmarked using the CEFR B2/C1 standard as their goal.

ESL Advanced Classes

In addition to a larger selection of Grade 9 classes, students in the advanced class will take 3 specialized ESL courses. The classes at the Advanced level use a number of strategies to develop and strengthen the academic language needed to succeed at Luther and post-secondary school after graduation. These include a strong emphasis on reflection, team/individual writing, daily journals, critical thinking, and research methods. Careful attention to planning and strategic order fosters effective scaffolding of academic skills throughout the semester. Each student in the Advanced class will participate in a daily main class, a writing class, and a one-to-one language coaching session.

Where the Foundations course at the Intermediate level strives to build communicative confidence, the Advanced program starts to focus on competence. The daily main class begins by developing note-taking and course management skills. It then, quickly, moves into English literature, presentations, and research. These units teach students to read more closely, reflect, and analyze content. This analysis will lead to more in-depth writing assignments where the students will be expected to use the standard conventions of academic writing in English. 

The elevated expectations in writing at the Advanced level are supported with a writing class that is held every second day (5 classes in 2 weeks). In this class, students focus on several issues that have been identified as essential to thrive in our competitive academic environment. This class will focus on global writing skills as well as grammatical forms. These include paragraph and essay structure, quotations and citations, organization, reflections, and a daily writing exercise that seeks to extend our students vocabulary and depth in their writing. 

Finally, each student at the Advanced level will meet every second day (5 classes every 2 weeks) with their personalized language coach. These sessions are designed to help support any additional learning and questions our students may encounter in their Advanced class, or other classes they may have. The language coaching sessions are divided into student-lead days and teacher lead days. On student-lead days, students will bring questions from their classes. Leading their own learning session helps to develop responsibility and autonomy in learning. The language coach will help the students in an attempt to foster successful habits and bridge the gaps in language learning opportunities. On teacher lead days, our language coaches will develop and facilitate language learning lessons that are specific to the needs of the individual student. These may include writing techniques, conversation, specific focus on grammatical issues, writing style, and several other elements. In addition to helping students with their language, our coaches also strive to develop relationships with students to help them navigate Canadian culture and the Luther Community. 

Additional Classes

Students in the Advanced class will only be allowed to take one Humanities course (English, History, Ethics) while in the Advanced program. More than one Humanities class is too overwhelming for students at this level. Advanced ESL students are typically be placed in English 9 where they can learn about and experience the expectations of our Humanities classes at Luther High School. Students at this level may start participating in Math and Science classes where the reading and writing expectations begin to increase for our regular student body as well as our ESL students. In addition to Maths and Science classes, our students are encouraged to take credit classes in wellness, health, art, music, choir, and drama.