The Portland English Language Academy is conveniently located inside the Lloyd Center in the heart of Portland’s Lloyd District. The Lloyd District is the main area for working, living, shopping, and entertainment in Portland’s central city area. PELA is within 1 block of three MAX light rail trains, the Portland Streetcar, and many bus and bike routes.

"In the matrix model, according to Macalister, “the same items are met with [in] different contexts.” In PELA’s curriculum, this means that the structures and communicative functions taught in a grammar or speaking class will reappear in different formats in an integrated skills course.

"For example, the modal verbs that appear in a Grammar class will reappear in a Writing class in a unit on argumentation, in a Speaking class exercise on evaluation of options, and in an Integrated skills class role-playing activity on giving parenting advice."

Another important difference between PELA and many other schools of higher education is that our terms are only 4 weeks long, compared to other language schools or universities which have terms that are as long as 12 to 15 weeks.

What does this mean for what a PELA student studies in their classes? 

As you can see in the graphic above, the length of 3 PELA terms is equal to one term at a typical American university or college. So, over three terms at PELA, a student might 'revisit' content from a previous month, because it takes more than one month to absorb and master most grammatical concepts. A PELA teacher may introduce a grammatical concepts in Term A and revisit it in Terms B & C, helping a student build a stronger and deeper understanding of the grammatical concept. This same process occurs in most university and college courses, but is contained in a single 12-week term.

However, with PELA's 4-week Term system, students can do something that a student in a university cannot do: a PELA student can move up to the next English level class faster!

Every month, PELA students can take a "Level-Up Test". If a student gets a high enough score on that test, they can jump to the next English level in the next term without having to stay 2 or 3 terms at the same level as most students do.

Why does PELA do this? 

PELA understands that some students have studied English for years in school but never had a chance to use it in the real world--they have a lot of English knowledge, but have never had any English practice.

Once they are living and studying in Portland, however, they may find all that English knowledge that they have absorbed over years of study is suddenly 'coming out of their head'. PELA has seen many students' English ability 'jump up' dramatically over the course of their first and second months studying with us. Our Level Up Test gives those students a chance to reach the most appropriate level for them, so that they can continue to build on what they already know.