Intensive English Program (IEP)

The mission of the Intensive English Program at Hawaiʻi Community College is to provide academic English language instruction and comprehensive support services to international students seeking academic, personal, and professional goals in a rich, cross-cultural environment.

The IEP offers 18 hours a week of academic English instruction in reading, writing, listening, speaking and grammar skills. Students are prepared with the skills that they need to study in an American university.

Hawaiʻi Community College is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), an institutional accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the U.S. Department of Education.

Students who complete the IEP are expected to be able to do the following:

• Apply writing and critical thinking skills to personal and academic assignments.
• Apply appropriate skills to read, comprehend and respond to introductory-level academic and authentic texts.
• Apply listening and speaking skills to lectures, presentations, and in-class discussions.
• Understand grammar concepts and apply them to the other skill areas.

The IEP courses range from a low to higher-intermediate level. You will work with your classmates to complete projects on topics of interest, thus learning English in context. You can expect to spend two sessions to transfer to a Hawaiʻi Community College credit English course. 

There are 2 core classes which build the four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening:
Intensive English 1
Intensive English 2
There is one additional English class whose content changes.
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