Post Secondary English at King's (PEAK)

The King’s University College (King’s) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is pleased to offer its university ESL program, PEAK. This program is designed to provide international students whose first language is not English, with the English language skills needed for university study and living in Canada.

The two stages of the PEAK program will allow students with varying levels of English proficiency to acquire the knowledge and experience necessary to excel in post-secondary education. Upon successful completion of the PEAK program, and meeting other academic requirements, students may continue in full-time study at King’s.

Students can apply for blended or full time PEAK studies.

PEAK 100/110 – PEAK 100 is the intermediate level, and PEAK 110 is the advanced level course in full time program studies. This full time PEAK program is divided into four areas.

Reading: Level appropriate comprehension materials are used to give pre-reading, comprehension, scanning for details and vocabulary expansion skills. Students will learn new terminology and meaning from context by providing relevant examples and extending their understanding through synonym and antonym work.

Writing: Sentence structure including grammar and mechanics as the foundation for building paragraphs will be covered. Topic sentences and concluding sentences are the focus for writing a thesis statement and conclusion. Basic essay structure is covered within three essay assignments. (Guided Essay, Illustration Essay and Compare or Contrast) Creative writing opportunities are provided. Writing a business letter and resume are covered by request.

Speaking: Daily conversation topics are used to promote speaking in a safe and comfortable atmosphere. Discussions and debates occur on relevant topics including current events. Pronunciation, phrasal verbs and idiomatic language are covered. Reading aloud is practiced to promote fluency and support pronunciation.

Listening: Interactive opportunities such as class visits, games and tag questions are provided to practice. Audio resources are provided. Strategies for listening will be covered including a movie study. Note taking skills from a lecture are covered.

PEAK 105/115 – PEAK 105 is the intermediate level, and PEAK 115 is the advanced level course in the blended program studies. This blended PEAK program is an extension of full time PEAK with an emphasis on writing and researching.

Paragraph structure including grammar and mechanics is the foundation for building thesis statements; writing introductions and conclusions are reviewed with a focus on transitions. Research essays are introduced with the Modern Language Association style guidelines used in English 205. Structure is covered within three essay assignments. (Expository, Persuasion and Compare and Contrast) Creative writing opportunities are provided. Inference, Plot Conventions and Figurative Language will be explored via a novel study.

Blended Program Students

This stream is for students already enrolled at King’s, who have difficulties functioning in the English language. This is discovered either by a diagnostic essay in a first year English course or by their overall academic performance. These students will be placed in a program including both university courses and PEAK courses. They will take 9.5 credits of study in the university courses and have 9 contact hours per week of English Language Study. Once they have completed the blended program and have achieved the necessary marks through an accepted English language test, they are admissible to full time university studies at King’s.