ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)

Do you want to improve your English and learn about London, its history, culture and people at the same time? On this course, you will visit places of interest and learn about the history of these places especially about the different people and cultures who have lived there, and about important events which have shaped the city. You will do your own research and so improve your reading and writing skills as well as your speaking and listening. In addition, you will feel more at home in London and able to participate in its rich and diverse life.



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

Have you been learning English for a long time but your writing just doesn’t seem to be improving? Are you quite a fluent speaker but find formal speaking difficult? Do you feel ‘stuck’. This course will release you! You will focus on how to improve the structure of your writing both the whole text, paragraphs and sentences. You will work on understanding the grammar of the language, and the skills you learn to develop your writing will help you improve your more formal speaking whether this is for job interviews, meetings at work or giving presentations. This course is ideal if you have been living in the UK for several years, feel quite comfortable in speaking English as a second language, but lack confidence in your literacy skills.



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

Is your grammar holding you back? Learn how to communicate more effectively by analysing, discussing and experimenting with English grammar. This course will help you realise that grammar is really about meaning: understanding better the meaning of what someone is saying and expressing yourself more meaningfully.



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name). The course runs over three terms (though you may start any term, places allowing).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

Do you want to sound ‘more English’ when you speak? Do you want the chance to experiment with becoming expressive in English, playing with how you sound when you speak different dialogues? On this course, you will work on different dialogues from everyday speech and well known plays. And you will also create your own! The chance to work on how to perform and enact this speech will enable you to focus on how to link and ‘chunk’ words, develop your rhythm and stress, work on your fluency and ensure that the meaning of what you are saying becomes expressed. You will also be working with ‘real’ language, not the sometimes artificial language of English course books. Although you will be performing the texts, you do not need to be an actor, just willing to give it a go. By writing your own dialogues, you will also develop your writing skills so by the end of the course you can write and perform together with your classmates your own 5 minute play!.



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

Unsure when to use present perfect or past perfect? Is reported speech still causing you problems? Do you need to practise your conditionals? Join this course and put your grammar into practice in speaking, writing, reading and listening. Gain confidence in using grammar effectively through high level and engaging tasks



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

Do you want to develop your writing and speaking skills? Would you also like to improve your digital skills? On this course you will work on writing, enacting and recording short radio programmes about news items, arts, hobbies, and other areas of interest. By doing this, you will improve your communication skills including emphasising meaning, choosing the right words, speaking and writing concisely with the right tone and creating emotions. You will also focus on your pronunciation and fluency. You will work on how to edit and put together a programme. We hope we can distribute your programme to friendly listeners!



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

Do you already have a good level of writing but wanting to take it up to a level suitiable for professional work? Are you wanting to develop your expressive skills in general? This course will help you improve your writing by focusing on meaning and how you can become a more skilful user of English, not concerned only with accuracy. You will work on how you can use grammar in different ways to say different things. You will expand your vocabulary so you can say more with fewer words. And you will work on how you can influence your reader.



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

Do you want to speak more easily and communicate in English without translating from your first language? Do you think too much about what to say or write? Would you like your English to be more automatic? This course will help you become more relaxed when you speak and write English so you can be confident you can express yourself in a way people understand and not be worried about making mistakes. You will develop your fluency in both speaking and writing but you will focus more on speaking.



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

Are you a professional wanting to refine your English? Are you on a post-graduate course or completing a PhD and need some help to communicate at this level? Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) qualification shows the world that you have reached an exceptional level of English. It the ultimate proof that you can communicate with the fluency and sophistication of a highly competent English speaker and that you have the level of English required to work or study at a top level. This course will develop your language skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening and provide you with the preparation needed to pass the exam.



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here