You are considering coming to Australia as an international student. English courses for overseas students holding student visas are called ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students) courses.

So why do you want to study English? The English language is generally recognised as the lingua franca – a language used to communicate between people not sharing the same mother tongue – of international business, science, technology and aviation. Being able to communicate in English effectively can open doors for you.  

There are a number of reasons why you as an international student may choose to study English:

• out of your own personal interest and to help you to communicate better, perhaps while travelling or socialising;
• to help improve your employment or career prospects either here in Australia or in your native country when you return home;
• you may need to reach a standard of English needed to enter further study pathways here in Australia either in the vocational education or higher education sectors

When you start studying English at Australian Centre of English (ACE), you will be required to complete a placement test to help us assess your ‘starting’ English level. It is important for you that you join a class that is at your current English level, otherwise it would be either too easy or too difficult for you.

Regardless of your motivation for studying English, Australian Centre of English has an English program to meet your needs. The table below shows a summary of our current ELICOS programs;

ELICOS Programs	Levels	Duration
General English	Elementary	12 weeks
	Intermediate	12 weeks
	Upper Intermediate	12 weeks
IELTS* Preparation (Minimum Intermediate Level of English required)		12 weeks

 The table below shows the score you should get in your placement tests to start each course.

CEFR** Score	General English	IELTS Preparation
A1	Elementary
A2	Pre-intermediate
B1	Intermediate
B2	Upper Intermediate	IELTS Preparation 1
C1
C2

*IELTS:

IELTS is the International English Language Testing System. It is an English test used by governments, universities and many other organisations to measure your English reading, writing, speaking & listening skills. If you have previously completed an IELTS test in your home country or here in Australia, you will have received an IELTS Test Report Form which gives you an IELTS score for the four macro skills, reading, writing, speaking listening, and an overall band score.

While students may have completed some form of English test in the past such as an IELTS examination or TOEFL examination, it is a condition of your enrolment that you complete a placement test when you arrive at Australian Centre of English.

**CEFR

CEFR means the ‘Common European Framework of Reference’. It is a set of guidelines used to describe the knowledge and language skills that learners of foreign languages should be able to show at different levels. There is a range of levels from A1 to C2. So your teacher could say to you, for example, that your starting English level is B1 for Speaking but only A1 for writing.

Visit the other links in the ‘Our English Courses’ tab to find out more about each course.