ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)
City Lit has a wide range of courses to help you develop your reading, writing, and speaking and listening skills in English (ESOL).
The courses are FREE to most learners. Click into the courses below for more information.
For more information about our live online courses, please see our guide to online learning.
Our offer includes both a year long and short termly courses at different levels.
- Level 2
- Level 1
- Entry 3
- Entry 2
- Entry 2
- Pre-Entry
- Maths for ESOL
- Conversation Club
- Grammar in practice
- Writing skills in Practice
- ESOL, maths and digital skills for Life
- Learn English- learn about London
- ESOL and making podcasts: pronunciation, presentation, expression (level 1-2)Course start date: Sun 11 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
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 you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here
Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £65.00 - Workplace communication skills: how to get a better job (ESOL entry 3-level 1)Course start date: Mon 12 May 2025
Location on this date: Online
Are you looking for a new or better job? Do you feel nervous in interviews? Would you like to learn the English you need to impress an employer? This course will help you with the language you need to do well in interviews, to feel calm and relaxed. You will work on predicting the types of questions an employer will ask you and you will practise answering them. You will work on your pronunciation including stress and you will role play different situations that take place in an interview.
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
Full fee £49.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £25.00 - ESOL - communication skills for life and work -level 1 (Writing)Course start date: Tue 20 May 2025 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
This is the Writing unit of the ESOL course to give you confidence in writing a range of sentences for personal writing, and formal and informal texts. You will focus on using correct grammar (such as subject-verb agreement, correct use of tense) and become aware of the distinct differences between spoken and written English. You will focus on notetaking, planning and organising writing into paragraphs, developing a narrative and ending writing with a summary or conclusion.
This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here
Full fee £129.00 - Learn English - learn about London (entry 2-entry 3)Course start date: Tue 8 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you want to improve your English and learn about London at the same time? This course will help you feel more confident about living in London and using your English. You will visit interesting places and learn about the history of the city and the people who live there. You will also learn about important events in the city in the past and now. You will improve your speaking, listening, reading and writing. You will learn a lot of new words to describe people and places and how to express yourself fluently and correctly.
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).Full fee £59.00 Concession £30.00 - English pronunciation: stage 1 (intensive)Course start date: Mon 21 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: David John GwillimImprove your pronunciation of standard English on this intensive course, running each day in the same week, which includes detailed study of vowel and consonant sounds. This course is for speakers of other languages who are fluent in English. Some homework required.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £160.00 - English pronunciation: stage 2 (intensive)Course start date: Mon 28 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: David John GwillimIdeal if you have completed 'English Pronunciation: stage 1', this intensive course develops fluency and clarity and explores diphthongs and triphthongs, inflexion and intonation, and the rhythms of standard English.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £160.00 - ESOL - communication skills for life and work - level 1 (Reading)Course start date: Mon 15 Sep 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
This is the Reading unit of the ESOL course to give you confidence in reading straightforward and some complex texts. You will practice reading different types of text including emails, letters, adverts, posters, books, newspapers, and websites. You will read interesting everyday topics and practice finding information and understanding general meaning of stories, news, descriptions, messages, signs, and notices.
This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here
Full fee £479.00 Senior fee £383.00 Concession £240.00 - English communication skills for life and work (ESOL entry 2)Course start date: Tue 15 Apr 2025 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Can you have short conversations in English, and read and write simple emails, but want to do more? This course will help you talk, read and write about more interesting subjects and make fewer mistakes so people can understand you, you can understand them and you can read and write important messages, emails, forms and news stories. You will improve your vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. By the end of this three-term programme you will able to interact confidently with English speakers in your daily life. You can join the course at any time.
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
Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £90.00 - English communication skills for life and work (ESOL entry 1)Course start date: Wed 30 Apr 2025 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
For students who can speak or write only a few words in English or maybe none at all. On this beginners' course, you will learn new words and grammar, how to ask and answer questions, how to read and write about yourself, your family, and friends, and how to complete forms and short emails.
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
Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £75.00 - Develop your writing and language skills (level 1-level 2)Course start date: Thu 8 May 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
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
Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £65.00 - Grammar in practice: intermediate (entry 3-level 1)Course start date: Mon 28 Apr 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Confused by verb tenses? Need to know when to use past simple or present perfect? Puzzled by the passive? This course will make English grammar simpler for you and increase your confidence by giving you lots of opportunities to put your grammar into practice.
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
Full fee £0.00 - English pronunciation: stage 1Course start date: Sat 26 Apr 2025 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: David John GwillimAre you a non-native fluent speaker who wants to improve your pronunciation of English and to speak the language more clearly and confidently? Work on clear formation of vowel and consonant sounds including the English neutral vowel and the distinction between voiced and unvoiced sounds. This term the course will be taught in the college.Full fee £259.00 Senior fee £259.00 Concession £181.00 - Conversation ClubCourse start date: Wed 24 Sep 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you speak English as a second language? Do you want to practise your speaking and listening skills in an immersive and engaging environment? Want to practise making good conversation? Would you like to improve your fluency and learn social cues, norms and natural key phrases we use in the English language. The conversation club will allow you to develop your verbal and non-verbal communication skills. You will meet different people on the course and explore different themes and topics.
This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here
Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £85.00 - English pronunciation: stage 2Course start date: Thu 1 May 2025 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: David John GwillimDesigned for people who have completed ‘English Pronunciation: stage 1’ although new students with sufficient skills can join. Develop confidence and clarity, explore diphthongs and triphthongs, inflection and the rhythms of Standard English. This term the course will be taught in the college.Full fee £259.00 Senior fee £259.00 Concession £181.00 - English dialogue: speaking, listening, pronunciation, performance (level 1-2)Course start date: Thu 9 Oct 2025
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 you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here
Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £90.00
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