Your Lessons

• Your Lessons
• Curriculum
• Classes
• Books
• Conduct and attendance
• Tests and examinations
• Dress Code
• F1 student visas

Our classes are designed to help you learn and improve your ability to communicate successfully in the real world.  LAL Fort Lauderdale provides students with a communicative, immersion-approached language learning experience focusing on the four skills of language: listening, reading, speaking and writing.  The more listening you do, the better speaker you become and the more reading you do, the better writer you become.  The skills are practiced on a daily basis during class time, but should also be practiced as much as possible during the rest of the day and at weekends.  It is extremely important for all students to immerse themselves in English.  Take advantage of this golden opportunity as research has proved that students, who speak English as much as possible during their stay, improve their knowledge and communication skills by up to 30 percent.  While it is very easy to speak your native language with other students, we ask that you make a commitment to yourself to practice English as much as possible.

All students have a first and second lesson and some have an additional third lesson as follows:

First lesson

A new point of grammar or topic of discussion is introduced and practiced and includes Test Preparation courses that specifically prepare our students for taking TOEFL, TOEIC and Cambridge Exams.

Second lesson

This new point or topic is reinforced through active practice with a focus on communication and includes Test Preparation courses that specifically prepare our students for taking TOEFL, TOEIC and Cambridge Exams.

Third lesson

This includes Private Tuition classes that address your personal needs profile, conversation classes that provide a fun, speaking centered atmosphere Test Preparation courses that specifically prepare our students for taking TOEFL, TOEIC and Cambridge Exams.

Books at LAL Fort Lauderdale are class sets and must remain in the classroom at all times except when teachers assign specific homework from the book.  We kindly ask you not to write in the books and please treat them with care since other students will be using them in the future.  If a book(s) is returned to us in very poor condition, you may be charged the cost of the book.

• New Interchange (Intro through 3) are for Levels 0 through 3.
• Passages I and II are for Levels 4 and 5.
• Focus on Grammar is for Level 6.

You are expected to show respect for your teachers, LAL Fort Lauderdale staff and other students.  You should arrive on time and attend all your classes in order to maintain your status in school.  Students who are more than 15 minutes late to class may be refused entry and asked to wait for the second class.  Arrivals more than 30 minutes late are equal to one absence.  If you know you are going to be late to a class, please advise your teacher in advance.

Placement Tests

On arrival at LAL Fort Lauderdale, you will be given a placement test to evaluate your reading, writing, speaking and listening skills so that you can be placed in the appropriate level (0 to 6).  If you feel that you have been placed in the incorrect level, please discuss this with the Director of Studies, Ferdinand Estuniga, or in his absence with the Assistant Director of Studies, Mary Sturm.

Progress Tests

Each class takes a progress test every Thursday to help both students and teachers measure the students’ progress.  Test scores of less than 70% may result in a change to a lower level class.

Exit Tests

After completing all 8 weeks at one level, you will be given an exit test allowing us to determine whether you are ready to move to the next level.

Final Certificate

After successfully completing your studies, LAL Fort Lauderdale will present you with a Certificate of Attendance.  The certificate states your name, dates of attendance, course taken and the number of lessons taken weekly and is signed by the Director of Studies.

All students are expected to dress in a way that respects the rights of others and we ask that you dress appropriately when at school:

• Footwear is required at all times.  
• Revealing clothing or clothing that exposes the torso is not allowed.  
• Garments including, but not limited to, pyjamas and boxer shorts, which were traditionally designed as undergarments, sleepwear, or beachwear, may not be worn as outer garments.

If you are a student with an F-1 Student Visa, please hand in the following documents to the front desk on your first Monday at school:

• I-20 Student Visa
• Passport
• Airline Ticket
• I-94

We will make photocopies of your documents and return the originals to you.

Any changes to your stay may require changes to your I-20.  If you travel outside and return to the US during your stay with us, you must request that your I-20 form be signed in advance by Yvonne Hanis, our Sales and Marketing Executive and Primary Designated School Official.

Depending upon your nationality, an additional visa for another country or island (for example Mexico or the Bahamas) may be required.  Please contact the appropriate embassy for further information.

Holding a US Visa in your passport is a serious responsibility.  Please fully inform yourself of this responsibility and the requirements of staying in this country.

Although we prefer that you look after your own passport while you are here at LAL Fort Lauderdale, we can keep some passports in our safe for short periods of time.  It is your responsibility to get your passport back from us if you are returning home or going away to the Bahamas for the weekend, for example.