We want our students to know where they’re going, and how long it is going to take.

At The Language Place, we offer 6 language levels from A1 elementary to C2 proficiency. Before you register for a course with us, we can help you understand what your starting level of the language is. Students who have some level of the language already take a short level test and may also have a face-to-face interview. We also make sure you know what level of language you can expect to have at the end of your course.

All our students get a course content programme. Our academic year is divided into 10-week terms for adults and children. Our Autumn term runs from September to December, our Winter term runs from January to March and our Spring term runs from April to June. We offer 10-week Junior and Leaving Cert Extra courses for teenagers from November to February mid-term to prepare for the mock exams and from February to May to prepare for the Easter orals and state exams in June. We also run short intensive courses for teenagers during the Christmas, Easter and summer holidays.

Students can join a course at the start of each term. Students can join most courses after the term has started if there are places available, but this is not possible for elementary students who need to start from the beginning. It takes 60 to 240 hours of guided language learning and practice to complete each level. Below is the length of time we recommend a language learner needs to spend learning and practising at each level:

A1 elementary level: 60-90 hours
A2 pre-intermediate level: 60-90 hours
B1 intermediate level: 180 hours
B2 upper-intermediate level: 180-240 hours
C1 advanced level: 180-240 hours
C2 proficiency level: 180-240 hours

A1+A2 levels = Basic User
It takes approximately 120-180 hours of language learning to reach a level where you can maintain a conversation with native speakers.

B1+B2 levels = Independent User
It takes approximately 360 hours of language learning to reach a level which enables you to live or travel in a country where that language is spoken and be able to deal with most situations. It takes approximately 600 hours of language learning to reach a level where you can work in most jobs or follow most university courses in that language.

C1+C2 = Proficient User
It takes approximately 840 hours of language learning to reach a level where you can work in more complex jobs or follow a specialised university course, e.g. medicine, law, etc. Experts estimate that it takes over 1000 hours of language learning and a productive vocabulary of approximately 26,000 words to reach a level of language proficiency similar to a native speaker educated to the end of third level.

We know that some students will need more time and other students will need less time to reach their language learning goals. So, we regularly review your progress with you to make sure you are on track. The Language Place Guide to Levels A1 to C2

We want our students to be in very comfortable surroundings.

We are currently renovating our building on Jocelyn Place so during the academic year we are running our evening courses for adults online and we are running our courses for teenagers on Saturdays, during the summer months and Christmas and Easter at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).

We want to deliver high quality, relevant language courses.

At The Language Place we design and create our language teaching material. So our programmes are always innovative, relevant and current. We design our materials with you in mind. In class you will practise speaking, listening, reading and writing. You will also get excellent self-study materials to revise, consolidate and extend language areas you have already studied.

We want every student to feel his/her language needs are being met.

At The Language Place most students participate in classes in small groups of approximately eight to ten students. We use a core programme for each level, but we also encourage our students to tell us how we can help them maximise their language learning experience with us. Feel free to make suggestions for future classes. Our teachers love getting new ideas!

We want our students to know how well they are doing.

Our students have regular chats with their teachers to discuss their language progress. On exam preparation courses, we have a system of continuous assessment so our students can see if they are on target for their language exam. Students receive a Certificate of Attendance at the end of their course stating their achievements in each of the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing.

We want to be fair to everybody.

It is important to us that our students make real progress. It is important to do the self-study tasks set by your teacher so that you can participate fully in lessons – we don’t want anybody to be left out. If you have a problem attending one of your classes, we will email you the lesson(s) you miss that day so that you can catch up. If we have to cancel a class or a lesson, we will make up that lesson later in the course. Online classes are recorded with permission of the participants. We are sorry we cannot give refunds for classes our students miss due to short illnesses, holidays or other absences but in the case of serious or prolonged illness, management may give a credit note for another course. Credit is not transferable from one student to another without prior agreement of management.

We want our students to be very happy with our services.

We know it is not always possible to please everybody all of the time but if you have a suggestion, we want to hear it. Our teachers are committed to helping you learn your chosen language and to making your experience at The Language Place as enjoyable as we can. So do let us know if there is something you think we could do better. Speak to your teacher or email us at info@thelanguageplace.ie

We want the sponsors/parents/guardians/fairy-godmothers of our students to be happy with our services too.

Parents/guardians of our students receive a written copy of our policies for underage students which they are asked to read and sign. This policy details: arrival and departure times; internet access and phone use; behaviour and expected levels of participation: punctuality and absenteeism; our illness and accident procedures; security and insurance. Parents of our students are always welcome to discuss their child’s progress with us by appointment.

Companies who sponsor their employees’ language courses receive a written report at the end of each term detailing progress in speaking, writing, listening and reading.
Parents of children in JC Extra or LC Extra courses or on English exam preparation courses also receive a progress report at the end of each term.