Frequently Asked Questions

The Free English Program is for immigrant and refugee adults who live in western Massachusetts. Students ages 17 and up are eligible for the program. The program is for people living permanently in the US.

Classes begin in September and end in June. We have ongoing enrollment throughout the year, which means you can sign up anytime.

Evening classes meet two nights a week. Our online classes meet on Zoom from 6-8pm on Monday & Wednesday or Tuesday & Thursday. Our in-person classes meet on Monday & Wednesday from 6:30 – 9 pm at ILI in Northampton. We also offer a 12-week upper intermediate-advanced level intensive class that meets 5 days a week: Monday-Friday from 9am-12pm for 12 weeks. In addition to class time, students in all classes are assigned weekly independent work.

Yes! Students in the Free English Program meet with ILI’s College and Career Advisor at least once per year to map out a plan for achieving your goals. Some students are interested in going to college, others are looking to find a better job. The College and Career Advisor can help with these decisions.

In addition to class time and independent work each week, enrolled students can participate in online or in-person conversation groups, and writing classes. Students can also request the support of a free tutor for extra practice outside of class time.

Fill out the online Free English Program inquiry form and someone will contact you by email, text or phone call.

The minimum age for ILI students is 17 years, however many are already pursuing their careers and tend to be older. Students come from all over the world and from a wide variety of backgrounds with diverse ethnic and religious beliefs. Students enrolled in the Intensive English Program often need to prepare for university studies in the US and need to improve their English skills. Some need to learn English for business purposes, or perhaps they are just here for the experience of living and studying English in the US.

Students enroll in the intensive program for 21 hours a week or more. The typical schedule is Monday through Thursday from nine in the morning to two thirty in the afternoon, nine in the morning until twelve noon on Fridays (There are no classes on Friday afternoons). Some students like to spend the afternoons in our computer lab or with new friends exploring the town, while others may go home and study.

There are many advantages to living with an American host family during your stay with us. The most important benefit is the improvement you will make in your English. You will learn about American culture in a friendly atmosphere where you can ask questions.

Host families can also be a great connection to community resources like local colleges or the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Students often visit local points of interest with their host families. You really become a part of the household during your stay, and often a lifelong friend.

Lots! Our students come from around the world with a variety of backgrounds and goals. While the minimum age is 15, most of our students are adults interested in English for personal, business, and academic purposes. In the past several years our IEP students have come from Japan, Brazil, Turkey, Chile, Italy, Ivory Coast, South Korea, France, Venezuela, Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Mexico, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Belarus, Columbia, Switzerland, Dominican Republic, Chad, among many others.

One month or four weeks.

We generally use Zoom for our online language classes, as it is widely available and the functionality works well for the way we teach. If you are booking language classes online for your company, and you use a different platform (e.g. Google Meet, Microsoft Teams), we will be able to adjust our delivery to fit in with you.

You will meet people from around the world with a variety of backgrounds in your online class. You will practice everything you would in an in-person class: speaking, listening, reading, grammar, pronunciation, and writing. If you are in a group language class, you will have many opportunities to practice speaking with your classmates one-on-one and in small groups.

• Having a hard copy of your class book can be a real help. You can pick one up at our school in Northampton. Just give us a heads up when you can drop by so that we have one ready for you.
• Take a little time before class to get your online learning environment ready. We recommend having good lighting and being within 2-3 feet of your computer camera. This way the teacher and other students can have a more visual feel for how students are reacting to lessons and activities. Have a notebook and something to write with.
• Read the 7 Strategies for Success in your ILI workbook.
• We always recommend that students take a little time before and or after your class to review the lessons.

The benefit of having the luxury of a teacher to yourself, or your small mini group is that the teacher can respond to you personally to a higher degree than in a larger group. It also means you’re almost always in the spotlight – you’ll speak a lot more, and everything will be aimed at you! That makes learning this way very efficient, and intensive. To make the most of these classes, you’ll need to spend plenty of time between classes refreshing and reviewing what you covered last time, and learning vocabulary so you’re ready to move on next lesson.

The first thing to remember when you’re taking private language lessons is that you get to go at your own pace. That’s because you’re in the driver’s seat!

Since there is no one else in the class, you get to set targets to match your specific goals.

There are no requirements however, we recommend that you follow up after lessons to keep refreshing what you’ve learned.

But the harder you work between lessons (including things like watching TV in the language you’re learning, and all the other great free ways of practicing the language), the faster you’ll get there.

We don’t expect you to do this perfectly, but a lot of language learning is about repetition, so the more times you see, say and hear the language through the week, the more it will sink in and become part of your own vocabulary, ready to expand in the next lesson to impress your teacher!

The easy answer is, it depends. The more complicated answer is that many factors go into determining how long it takes to learn a new language: your learning methods, background, mindset, time put into study among other things. Here’s an in depth article on the topic.

For example: If you’re preparing for fast-paced negotiations with a Spanish supplier, and you’re currently an intermediate level of Spanish, you might need 40 or 50 hours focused on the particular area of Business Spanish for negotiations.

If you want to polish up your rusty school Spanish and become fairly fluent ahead of a new life or extended travels in a Spanish-speaking country, then that might take you 120-150 hours of private individual Spanish lessons.

Flexibility is one of the many benefits of a private tutorial. As long as a teacher is available, you can set up your tutorial to meet their scheduling needs. Most students purchase a block of hours and meet with their teacher once per week for one hour. However, if you want to learn at a faster pace, scheduling lessons more than once per week will help get you to your goal faster. The length of your course is determined by how many hours you purchase and how frequently you are able to meet with your teacher.

Yes you can. We recommend a minimum of 10 hours of private language lessons because as that allows your teacher to plan your learning trajectory and help you achieve the best progress.

Taking private language lessons is the most flexible way to learn with us. If you have one or two friends or colleagues, we will assess them to determine if they are at the same (or a very similar) language level to you. If yes, and you’re available at the same times, we can set up semi-private tutorial classes for you.

Flexibility is one of the many benefits of a private tutorial. As long as the teacher is available, you can set up your tutorial to meet your scheduling needs.

It’s normal to purchase a block of hours and schedule regular lessons with your teacher each week. The length of your private course is then determined by how many hours you purchase.

A semi-private tutorial is two or more students with one teacher. Semi-private tutorials are a good option when you want to learn in a group of two or more of your own friends or classmates of your choice. If you choose this option, you are responsible for finding your own tutorial partner(s). Cancellation protocols apply to this type of tutorial. The cost of a semi-private tutorial is $45 per hour per person.

For cancellations we ask that you give your instructor 24 hours notice. There is no charge the first time you do not attend a confirmed session. After that, any time you do not join a confirmed session, regular charges will apply — even if you send late notification. Refunds are calculated based on the number of hours used and which price tier was reached. For instance: if you purchased 10 hours (10 x $70 = $700, the Tier 2 rate) but only use 7 hours (7 x $75= $525, the Tier 1 rate) your refund will be $175 ($700 – $525)

A private tutorial means one student with one teacher.

1 hour only: $85
Tier 1: 1 to 9 hours of class time at $75.00 per hour
Tier 2: 10 to 19 hours: $70.00 per hour
Tier 3: 20 or more hours: $65.00 per hour
You can purchase any number of tutorial hours. We honor the discounted rate once you accumulate over 9 and again over 19 hours.

In other words, you purchase 5 hours to start at 5 x $75 = $375 then decide to add 5 more which would bring you to 10 accumulated hours. You would then pay the $70 rate ($350)

In most cases, when studying abroad, the availability of food options can vary. Many of our partners offer accommodations with the option of one or two meals a day as part of the package. You may also choose to do all your food shopping or eat out if you prefer.

The cost of studying abroad can vary widely depending on several factors, including how long you go for, the type of course. you choose, accommodation, airport transfers, and other expenses. However, as a general guideline, you can expect to budget approximately $500 per week for tuition and accommodation. Keep in mind that the overall cost may fluctuate based on your specific choices and the duration of your stay as well as airfare and spending money.

When it comes to making arrangements for flights and transportation from the airport to your accommodation, students are responsible for purchasing their flight tickets independently. However, our partner schools often offer the convenience of airport transfers, which can be booked in conjunction with the courses and accommodations. This service simplifies the process of getting from the airport to your destination once you arrive at your study location.

Our students typically travel on their own, accompanied by a partner, friend, or family members. Additionally, our partner schools have the capability to host group trips, and we can assist in organizing these group language travel experiences. However, currently, we do not personally accompany the groups on these trips. Perhaps in the future, we might consider offering such a service as we continue growing!

Click here to see a map of our partner schools’ locations.

Click here to see a map of our partner schools’ locations.

Yes. Many of our partner schools offer language classes for younger kids as well so there could be opportunities to plan a family language travel experience depending on your destination.

We are accredited by the International Association of Language Centres (IALC) and have created great partnerships with other small language schools around the world.

We have sent students to a number of schools and in exchange we receive a commission on the student’s tuition for the recommendation at no extra cost to you. We put this money towards our Free English Program for Immigrants and Refugees. This helps close the gap on funding we receive from the state of Massachusetts and what the program actually costs to run.

Most of our partner schools have a minimum of one week requirement for their language travel program so you can go for a week or more!

Most of our partners offer homestay, shared or studio apartments options.

Some of our partner schools have campuses in different ciites and allow students to spend part of their time in one location and continue their studies in another one as they follow the same curriculum.

Yes. Many of our partners offer Language + Activity type of courses. Here are some example courses: Spanish and cooking; French and wine tasting; Italian and fashion; Portuguese and surfing and many more combinations.

Click here to see a map of our partner schools’ locations.

Click here to see a map of our partner schools’ locations.

ILI has many requests to observe classes. Participants in our TESOL program and tutors in our Volunteer Tutor Program may do this without charge, after which they process their observations in their respective programs.

For those not part of TESOL or the Volunteer Tutor Program, the procedure for independent observers is the following:

1. Submit the short observation application form, which you can download here.
2. Upon receipt of the application, an ILI trainer will arrange a class for the observer to watch.  Upon confirmation from the teacher, the ILI trainer will notify the observer and discuss the observation process.
3. For a single class observation: after the class, the trainer and observer will talk again to process the observation. (This can also be done by email.) The charge for this is $50.
4. For a block of 20 hours: the observer will meet with the trainer at the beginning, twice during the observation time frame, and once at the end. The observer may, upon a teacher’s agreement, teach a 20-min. observed lesson. The charge for a 20-hr.- observation block is $400.

Five Graduate Credits are available through the World Learning SIT TESOL Certificate.

You have the choice of whether or not to pursue graduate credit, but need to decide before the course begins. Regulations state that once the course has begun there is no reconsideration on the part of the World Learning SIT Graduate Institute Registrar’s Office. If you wish to pursue graduate credit you will be given a link by the Training Center at which you have enrolled in the course, and will register for credit on an online World Learning SIT registration site.

Choosing the credit option means that you will pay an additional $500 fee directly to World Learning SIT, and upon successful completion of the course you will be awarded five graduate credits. Ordinary payment method is by check, but as a convenience, SIT offers the choice of credit card online payments by Master Card, Visa, or Discover with a flat convenience fee of $50 per transaction for payment of the registration fee.

In submitting the graduate credit application you indicate that you have chosen to take the course for graduate credit, and that you understand that if you change your mind or fail to complete the course credit requirements the cost of credit will not be refunded.

This program is the same as the one-month, intensive 180-hour teacher-training course that provides participants with the practical skills and confidence they need to be successful in the ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classroom. This course meets one Saturday a month and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for three months.

The class meets live on Zoom. The schedule is one Saturday each month, from 10am – 5pm (Lunch from 1 – 2pm), and every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 4:30 – 9pm.

There is a minimum of 4 participants required for ILI to run the SIT TESOL Certificate course. However, ILI may offer the ILI TESOL Certificate for 3 or fewer participants. This course is very similar to the SIT course in that student-centered teaching is also the focus. The same trainers provide both courses.

With fewer participants, the ILI course offers even more individual attention and more practice teaching hours. In the ILI course, participants also examine existing methodologies and investigate integrated activities while looking at the components of a lesson. Like the SIT course, the ILI course covers the cornerstones of language teaching: Eliciting, materials, error correction, feedback and evaluation, as well as grammar (how, when and why we teach it), pronunciation, intonation, speaking styles, and understanding and recycling vocabulary. Both courses address learning styles and provide suggestions for multi-level classrooms.

ILI does not offer financial aid for the TESOL Certificate Course. However, the TESOL Certificate Course is an approved training course for the following programs in Massachusetts that may offer grants:

Financial aid is available for Vermont residents through VSAC (Vermont Student Assistance Corporation).

If SIT TESOL Certificate graduates later pursue a Master’s degree in TESOL at the SIT Graduate Institute, a $2,000 discount will be applied to their tuition.

Program cost is $2,500, which includes a $300 non-refundable application fee. The full payment is due no later than one week before the beginning of the course. If the candidate is not accepted or the course is cancelled due to low enrollment, the $300 deposit will be returned (along with the $125 housing search fee, if applicable).

Your daily schedule will be Monday through Friday from 9 am to 12 pm. Lunch from 12 to 1 pm. Afternoon from 1 to 4 pm. There are no classes or meetings on the weekends.

Participants teach 6 hours during the program, with group planning sessions before every class taught and group processing sessions afterwards.

If you are a prospective or novice teacher, the course offers practical teaching techniques to help you enter the classroom with confidence, even if you have never taught before.

If you are an experienced teacher, you will explore a wide range of teaching and classroom management techniques. Through a process of reflection, you will critique your teaching, deepen your practice and principles, and implement positive changes in a supportive environment.

ILI’s trainers are certified by SIT, a world leader in the TESOL field. Our trainers have worked together for many years and bring a wealth of practical teaching and cross-cultural experience to the course.

We still have options. We can provide semi-private tutorials or have your employees join the World Language classes that we regularly run. We can bill you, as the employer, directly.

Whether you’re a business training up your staff in Spanish or other language or an international firm tightening up your team’s English business writing skills, our aim is to teach practical language skills that can be put to use in the workplace immediately.

Our Workplace language training also includes a cultural component to help your employees collaborate proactively with colleagues and contribute meaningfully to the mission of your organization.

We offer all levels of language classes to students with specialized terminology added depending on the specific workplace. Generally, most students need to learn how to communicate in the target language using basic grammar. Specific workplace dependent vocabulary is built into general lessons. For instance, vocabulary like policy, agent, deductible, theft, loss accident, etc. can be added to our curriculum because the grammar constructions (past, present, future, continuous grammar tenses…) are the same no matter the vocabulary.

Maximum on-line class capacity: 10 students per section
Maximum in-person class capacity: 10 students per section

• Relevant materials
• First day assessment
• On-going informal evaluations and supervisor check-ins as needed
• Final evaluations and recommendations for further study

It is possible that your company may qualify for the Workforce Training Fund. Click here for more information.

Please click here for FAQ about eligibility and other funding questions.

Courses are designed to be flexible and focused on effective communication that can be used outside of class right away. Our language training for employees integrates the four skill areas: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. At the lower levels, participants focus on speaking and understanding to make an immediate impact in the workplace. Our courses incorporate the specific grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation skills that make the most sense for your employees to learn and practice. Class activities include pair and group work, role plays, work with pictures and authentic materials (readings, audio and video, etc.), writing exercises, and vocabulary building.

A typical 12 week (18 hour) class costs $5,400 ($300/hour flat fee)*. Program length can be customized.

Classes can be held at our school in Northampton, at your workplace if you are within 30 miles of ILI or online.