ESOL: Speaking & Listening
Courses Online & In London
Do you want to focus on your speaking and listening, your fluency and your pronunciation? These courses will help you express yourself when talking inside and outside work, in formal and informal situations. You will also understand other people better in conversations or on the radio, internet, TV and films.
What is the best course for me?
You need to do a pre-course assessment. You can also do it online, but a face-to-face assessment is best.
- Online assessment - click ‘Start Assessment’ on the course page
- Or book a face-to-face assessment - call 0204 582 0423 or contact us by email at universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk for an appointment. You can also come without an appointment.
Times:
- Every Monday 12- 2pm
- Every Wednesday 6-8pm
- Every Friday 11am-1pm (23rd August – 6th October)
The courses are FREE to most learners if you earn less than £21,547.50 a year or are on Universal Credit, JSA or ESA (WRAG). They are either in the City Lit building or are live online interactive classes. For online courses, you will need a computer with a microphone, a camera and the internet.
- ESOL pronunciation: stage 2 (level 1-2)Course start date: Mon 2 Oct 2023 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
What are the different ways of pronouncing 'a'? Does 'for' always sound like 'four'? Is 't' always pronounced the same way? Learn the answers to these questions as you focus on fluent pronunciation practising linking, rhythm and stress and discover how context affects the pronunciation of English. This course is aimed at students with a good level of English - level 1 and 2 (B2-C1), who have completed Stage 1.
You need to do a pre-course assessment to be a pronunciation course. 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 a) you are on a Low Wage or b) you are either on Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Employment & Support Allowance(ESA) or c) you want to get a job or progress into a better job and you receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit). For more information click here - English dialogue: speaking, listening, pronunciation, performance (level 1-2)Course start date: Thu 19 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
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 a) you are on a Low Wage or b) you are either on Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Employment & Support Allowance(ESA) or c) you want to get a job or progress into a better job and you receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit). For more information click hereFull fee £139.00 Senior fee £111.00 Concession £70.00 - A mile in my shoes: how to tell a story (level 1-2)Course start date: Mon 15 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
What would it feel like for someone else to stand inside your shoes so that just for that one moment they could be you? This course will help them find out because you will learn how to tell a story about something that happened to you. You will work on work on creating and telling your own digital story. You will turn that event into a story which you will then record digitally. You will then invite other people to wear your shoes (literally), walk and listen to your story. This will be part of a small exhibition within City Lit! This is a unique opportunity to develop your English – your speaking, listening, vocabulary, range of expression, grammar and overall communication skill - as well as learn how to create an engaging and impacting story. The course is building on our award-winning ESOL plus arts project with the GLA.
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 a) you are on a Low Wage or b) you are either on Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Employment & Support Allowance(ESA) or c) you want to get a job or progress into a better job and you receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit). For more information click hereFull fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £65.00 - ESOL: Improve your fluency (level 1)Course start date: Tue 16 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
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 a) you are on a Low Wage or b) you are either on Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Employment & Support Allowance(ESA) or c) you want to get a job or progress into a better job and you receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit). For more information click hereFull fee £99.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £50.00 - ESOL pronunciation: stage 1 (level 1-2)Course start date: Mon 22 Jan 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tired of people not understanding you? Would you like to sound 'more English'? Do you need to communicate well with people in your work? Then this specialist course will help you. Learn how to make the individual sounds of English, hear the differences between them, and read and write the phonemic script, a special alphabet of sounds. This course is aimed at students with a good level of English - level 1 and 2 (B2-C1). Highly fluent students at level 3 or above should apply to the courses in the drama department.
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 a) you are on a Low Wage or b) you are either on Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Employment & Support Allowance(ESA) or c) you want to get a job or progress into a better job and you receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit). For more information click here
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £65.00 - Matters of opinion (level 2)Course start date: Wed 17 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you need to improve your fluency, your vocabulary and your pronunciation? Join this course and learn how to express your opinion and talk about important topics: love, politics, films, current affairs, morals. This course will help you develop your grammar and to talk in a more complex way.
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 a) you are on a Low Wage or b) you are either on Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Employment & Support Allowance(ESA) or c) you want to get a job or progress into a better job and you receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit). For more information click hereFull fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £75.00 - ESOL: Develop your speaking and listening skills (entry 3-level 1)Course start date: Tue 30 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Are you tired of asking people to repeat themselves? Do you nod and smile when you don't understand? Do you wish you could understand the TV better or follow phone conversations more easily? Good listening skills are essential to your English language development and students often never learn specific listening techniques. These skills will help your speaking and conversation skills. This course will help you identify the words and focus on the meaning instead of hearing a stream of meaningless sounds.. You will be able to relax when you are having conversations and enjoy films without subtitles!
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 a) you are on a Low Wage or b) you are either on Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Employment & Support Allowance(ESA) or c) you want to get a job or progress into a better job and you receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit). For more information click hereFull fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £65.00 - ESOL and making podcasts: pronunciation, presentation, expression (level 1-2)Course start date: Sun 12 May 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you want to improve your pronunciation, learn more about how you sound when you speak English and develop your speaking? A podcast is a digital recording, which can be used in a very practical way to help develop your English. On this course, you will discover how to make and edit a podcast to record yourself as well as what to say and how to say it. You will be able to practise speaking on your own and interviewing others as well as learn how to prepare what to say and how to say it. Podcasting is a fantastic way of improving your pronunciation, your vocabulary, your spoken accuracy, and your fluency.
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).
Please note you will need to download the free Audacity software and have a headset with mic to do this course.
This course is FREE if a) you are on a Low Wage or b) you are either on Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Employment & Support Allowance(ESA) or c) you want to get a job or progress into a better job and you receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit). For more information click here
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