Foundation Programme
Foundation is the hardest level to begin and the easiest to underestimate. It assumes no English at all and ends with a learner who can introduce themselves, handle a shop, a street and a clinic, and write a few true sentences about their own life. The work is not complexity; it is building the first automatic responses, so that greeting someone or saying where you live no longer requires assembling the sentence first.
What this level contains.
29 lessons
Each lesson runs a full sequence — warm-up, presentation, guided practice, independent practice, writing and homework — with the timing stated in the plan rather than left to the room.
10 listening sets
A scripted listening set for every module, with speaker cues and comprehension work built against the script rather than added afterwards.
10 laboratories
A pronunciation laboratory per module, targeting the sounds, stress patterns and rhythm the module’s own language actually needs.
The 10 modules, in order.
The sequence is deliberate: each module assumes what the one before it taught, and the final module consolidates rather than introduces.
| # | Module |
|---|---|
| 1 | Module 1: Meeting People |
| 2 | Module 2: Everyday Objects & Places |
| 3 | Module 3: Family & Routines |
| 4 | Module 4: Food & Shopping |
| 5 | Module 5: Around Town |
| 6 | Module 6: Describing People & Things |
| 7 | Module 7: Past Experiences |
| 8 | Module 8: Plans & Abilities |
| 9 | Module 9: Health & Feelings |
| 10 | Module 10: Review & Consolidation |
What you will be able to do.
Stated before the teaching is designed, not after. Each outcome is a claim the assessments are built to test, which is why there are 4 of them and not twenty.
| Code | On completion, the learner can | Status |
|---|---|---|
| IEFC-I-LO1 | Exchange personal information, needs and simple plans with a cooperative speaker, and be understood the first time on familiar everyday topics. | interim |
| IEFC-I-LO2 | Use the present simple, the simple past, there is/are, countable and uncountable nouns, possessives, modals of ability and going to, with the accuracy required for a listener to follow without repair. | interim |
| IEFC-I-LO3 | Choose between a polite and a direct form according to the setting and the person addressed, in transactions, requests and advice. | interim |
| IEFC-I-LO4 | Select the grammatical structure a described real-life situation requires, from the range taught across the level, without being told which one applies. | interim |
The Board of Academic Standards & Curriculum Excellence has no appointed members yet, and an outcome cannot be approved by a body that does not sit. These were written under authority delegated to the Press and are recorded as interim until the Board is constituted and reviews them. They are used, and they are not yet ratified — and we would rather say so than describe them as settled.
Four skills, taught and assessed separately.
A learner who reads well and speaks poorly is not at the same level in both, and a single overall grade hides that. Each skill is tracked on its own.
Listening
Understands speech at natural pace, including unfamiliar accents and imperfect conditions
Reading
Reads for argument and detail, not only for gist, across registers
Speaking
Speaks with control of grammar, pronunciation and register, in real time
Writing
Writes to a purpose and an audience, and revises
How the level is judged.
Every instrument is written before the teaching it tests, and the criteria are published to the learner in advance.
10 module quizzes
One at the end of each module, testing the language that module taught and nothing else. Marked automatically, with the correct answer and the reason shown.
10 assignments
Speaking and writing tasks marked by an instructor against a published rubric. These are where the productive skills are actually assessed — a quiz cannot judge whether someone can hold a conversation.
Before every assessment
Each lesson carries a self-check with traps aimed at the mistakes learners at this level really make, so a learner discovers a gap before an examiner does.
How it is taught.
Practice before polish
Guided speaking is built into every lesson, not offered as an extra. Learners speak from the first lesson, before their grammar is ready, because waiting for accuracy is how people stay silent for years.
A shared standard, not a personal style
Every instructor teaches to the same mapped curriculum, so a learner who changes class or cohort does not lose their place, and two learners at the same level have covered the same ground.
A teacher who knows what goes wrong
Instructors work from the Teacher's Companion, which sets out for each lesson what commonly goes wrong, a second way to explain it, and what to do for the learner who is behind and the one who is ahead.
Adjusted to the cohort
Quiz and assignment results are visible to the instructor as the level runs, so teaching responds to how this group is actually performing rather than to how the plan assumed they would.
What you are given.
The learning platform
Lessons, quizzes, self-checks and progress tracking, with your marks and feedback in one record you keep.
Recorded practice
The Listening Lab holds the level’s recorded material with the script, and records your own speaking for pronunciation feedback.
Printed and digital
The curriculum is published as a set of volumes by AIPC Press — the Complete Curriculum, the Assessment Handbook, and for Level I a Student Workbook and Teacher’s Companion.
Where this level sits.
No prior study required
Foundation assumes no English. There is no entry test and no prerequisite — it is written for a learner starting from nothing.
Level II — Elementary Programme
On completion, learners progress to Elementary Programme (A2), which assumes everything taught here.
English Aspirant of Albalagh International Premium College
Entry into the tradition · Post-nominal ApAIPC
Why this award exists
honours the decision, which at A1 is the achievement. Beginning a language in adulthood is harder than any later step and is where most people stop. Overclaims nothing.
What the holder can do
The learner arrives with little or no English. By the end of Foundation, they can introduce themselves, handle short everyday exchanges (shopping, ordering food, asking directions, basic scheduling), read and write short simple texts, and understand slow, clear speech on familiar topics.
AIPC holds no accreditation, and the College has not appointed an External Examiner — the independent post required before any award can properly be conferred. This award is defined, its criteria are published, and it has been conferred on nobody. See About · Institutional Status.
What people ask about this level.
How long does Level I take?
4 months of study by design, covering 120 designed lessons across 10 modules. Learners who need longer are not penalised; the level is a body of work, not a race.
Do I need any English to start?
No. Foundation assumes none, and the first lesson teaches the alphabet and how to say your own name.
What happens if I fail an assessment?
Assessments can be resat. The purpose is to establish what you can do, not to record a single bad afternoon — the appeals and resit procedure is published in full.
Is the award recognised?
The award is defined and its criteria published, but AIPC holds no accreditation and has appointed no External Examiner. We state this plainly rather than implying recognition the College has not obtained.