After breakfast, students go to class on campus, where they spend the morning learning and making new friends. Each morning is made up of three sessions, all taught by the same teacher. Each day’s lessons include giving and correcting homework, studying grammar, vocabulary and phonology and doing task-based activities. A lot of the material is unique to FCLC, especially the PowerPoint presentations about our weekly themes and excursions.
Teachers give their students two pieces of homework each day and check them the following day: An activity based on the lesson and a writing activity based on the weekly theme or life at FCLC. The students keep what they have written in a diary given to them by FCLC. We hope our students and their families will enjoy reading about their friends, their thoughts about FCLC, Edinburgh and Scotland and what they have learned when they go home.
The students improve their grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation through material related to the weekly theme with a focus on accuracy.
The students use their new and existing language in different activities, which could be short and intense or longer and more relaxed, all based on the weekly theme. Students want to communicate meaningfully and these activities are perfect for that.
To help our students get the most from our excursions, each day the teachers introduce one place they will visit, using PowerPoint presentations, language input, videos, activities and discussions.
Language teaching and learning cannot be neatly divided. As the different language skills are related, they may be covered in any of the three sessions to make the lessons different and interesting.
The teachers prepare interesting lessons at the correct level for their classes based around our weekly themes. Every day’s lessons include reading, writing, listening and speaking as well as vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar. The students also use English to do different activities and to speak with each other about important ideas.
As excursions are an important part of our programme, the teachers prepare their students for them in class using our own material.
Our teachers, from a variety of countries, are all qualified to teach English as a foreign language. Additionally, they have all passed a police background check and have done safeguarding training and a course in delivering the FCLC academic programme.
17.5 hours of classroom tuition per week
Motivating lessons for all students from A1 to C1 level
9 hours of teacher contact time on three afternoon excursions
All lessons are based around our unique weekly themes
26.5 hours of total teacher contact time per week
All materials used in lessons and on excursions are provided by our team
Maximum of 14 students per class, average class size of 12 students
Online placement test taken at home prior to arrival at FCLC
Lessons are held in our modern and comfortable learning centre, the Spens Building. The classrooms are large and bright and and there is a room on the top floor for project work. Each room has an interactive whiteboard, which the teachers use as much as possible, to keep the students interested and engaged. It’s only a short walk from the Spens Building to the Dining Hall, where snacks are served between the first and second lesson of each day. We feel that all of these things make a perfect environment for learning English.
On three afternoons per week, students visit places of interest in Edinburgh with their class and teacher, which are linked to the theme of that week. Places may include the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh, the National Galleries of Modern Art, the Scottish National Museum, Edinburgh Castle, Dean Village, the Museum of Edinburgh, Calton Hill and Edinburgh’s world famous Royal Mile. Students are prepared for these excursions in class and complete activities while on the excursions to make the visits educational as well as enjoyable.
All necessary course materials including a pen, a folder and learning resources like activity sheets are provided. Students are encouraged to keep the resources along with their diary and take them home at the end of their course so they can review their lessons later. As FCLC does not use a course book, our teachers can prepare lessons that meet their students’ wants and needs. All our classrooms have an interactive whiteboard and there is free Wi-Fi access throughout the campus.
On the last Friday of their course, students receive a certificate and a report individually prepared by their teacher. These are presented at a graduation ceremony, which takes place in the beautiful Fettes College Chapel at the top of the main school building.
