FAQ > Courses


Courses

Here you will be able to find out about our Courses, including age requirements for courses, materials required for specific courses, and how to apply for a new course.





Q. What courses can my child take?

A. Your child can take a variety of courses at the same time, or focus on one course. In order to add a new course, you will need to update your Learning Plan. For more information, refer to the answer of this question below.


Q. What is the difference between English Foundations and ELA Advanced?

A. English Foundations is one of our Foundational English courses that is targeted for beginner learners and desire to build basic skills of English. For more information on Englih Foundations, click here for more information.


ELA Advanced is our English Language Arts course that is targeted for learners who have already built the necessary basic English skills and will move on to develop advanced skills such as speaking, phonics, reading comprehension, critical thinking, problem solving, and more. For more information on ELA Advanced, click here for more information.



Q. What do the levels mean in English Foundations and ELA Advanced?

A. For both English Foundations and ELA Advanced programs, there are Levels and Grades that determines where your child is at based on their skill level.

English Foundations Levels
English Foundations is our beginner program that focuses on students who may have some or little English learning experience, students who have some skills but requires additional focus on a particular skill, or students who have never studied English at all. This program is primarily focused on students who are starting off learning English as a second language.

ELA Advanced Levels
ELA Advanced is our advanced program that focuses on students who have had some English experience in the past, are going or have gone to an English-speaking international school, have lived/are living abroad, or are fluent English speakers and are continuing their English Language Arts study.

ELA Advanced K
Students in ELA Advanced K have already had past English learning experience and are continuing to build their core English skills. In the Advanced K level, students will be working on improving reading and writing skills, pronunciation and phonics, and building vocabulary for everyday use.

ELA Advanced Grade 1
Students in Grade 1 will have a good grasp on basic reading skills, grammar, and expressing themselves organically. In this grade, students will focus on furthering their grammar skills such as using past/present/future tense, noun/verb agreement, and writing paragraphs.

ELA Advanced Grade 2
Students in Grade 2 focus on advancing their reading comprehension and learning intermediate grammar, such as antonyms, synonyms, adverbs, subjects, predicates, complete and incomplete sentences, executable statements and sentence composition. Students will also learn how to begin mastering using English as a conversational tool that they can use with other English speaking individuals.

ELA Advanced Grade 3
Students in Grade 3 will be diving into reading texts from both fiction and non-fiction books and breaking down each text for further comprehension practice. Students will also be learning how to gather specific information from written text to analyze in-depth information, as well as checking correct usage of problematic homophones, practicing everyday idioms, mastering difficult vocabulary, and strengthening their speaking ability to use in everyday situations.



Q. How do I change or add a course?

A. You can apply for courses in GSA when you update your Learning Plan.

Please note that applying for specific courses will depend on the level of your child.

To add or change courses, please see the steps below:

  1. At the top of the Schedule page, go to Account.
  2. Click on Learning Plan.
  3. Go to +Add Course
  4. You will see a window with the variety of courses appear.
  5. Click on a course that you wish to add, and click the button Add selected course
  6. Depending on your Learning Plan, you may need to update your frequency or schedule to accommodate any new courses chosen.
  7. The new course should now be seen under the Courses section in your Learning Plan.
  8. When you have confirmed your schedule for the new courses, click Continue.


Q. What’s the difference between Story Time and Archive?

A. Our Story Time course is a private one-to-one class in which a GSA teacher reads a story to one student and discusses the story with the student. The Story Time course is 100 coins per class.

Story Time Live is one of our live programs in which a GSA teacher conducts a virtual book reading to an audience without verbal student interaction. While Story Time is a paid class, Story Time Live is free and available to all GSA students and can be viewed from the Archive page.