A perspective on ELICOS in an independent school

This paper examines the relevance of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) in independent schools, and discusses how schools can develop the curriculum framework, organisational qualities and pedagogical approaches to implement English language intensive courses for overseas students (ELICOS). A variety of ELICOS institutions in the private, university and TAFE sectors offer ELICOS but few Australian schools in the independent education sector conduct their own programs. The paper offers a perspective on operating ELICOS as a TESOL service in one independent school to illustrate how it renewed its curriculum using ELICOS to prepare full-fee-paying international students for further education studies in Australia. The discussion focuses on designing curriculum for high school and foundation studies preparation and on developing an ELICOS program in the context of an independent school.