English for Speakers of Other Languages
Would you like to improve your English fluency and pronunciation? Do you need to write emails at work or essays at university? Are you learning English for the first time? From beginner level to advanced, we can help you.
You can study on general ESOL courses and practise your speaking, listening, reading or writing. Or you can focus on specific areas such as grammar, conversation and communicating at work. From Entry 1 to Cambridge C2 Proficiency, our wide range of courses will ensure you have the English you need to make progress at work, participate in social life and express yourself fully.
You will learn through a variety of different techniques– drama, dialogue, watching films and singing, making podcasts, games, play and work-based tasks. On all our courses, you will practise the skills most demanded by employers: problem-solving, analysing, working together, decision-making, attending to detail and seeing the bigger picture.
Whether you prefer to study for a qualification or not, our creative and well-qualified tutors will help you become a fluent English speaker, listener, reader and writer.
Which course is right for me?
To make sure you book onto the right course, we'll ask you to do a pre-course assessment. A face to face assessment is best and we advise you to do this. If you can’t do a face to face assessment you can do it online.
- Online assessment - Choose a course from the list below and on the next page, click on ‘Start Assessment’.
- Or book a face-to-face assessment - call 020 8078 0482 or contact us by email at universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk for an appointment.
Face-to-face assessments take place every Wednesday evening between 6 and 8pm
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.
Filters
- Grammar in practice: advanced (level 2+)Course start date: Wed 3 May 2023
Location on this date: Online
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 face-to-face or online. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) 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 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 £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £90.00 - English dialogue: speaking, listening, pronunciation, performance (level 1-2)Course start date: Wed 3 May 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 face-to-face or online. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name). Use Chrome if possible.
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 £159.00 Senior fee £127.00 Concession £80.00 - Business English for professionals: communicating, managing, selling (Level 2)Course start date: Mon 8 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you want to work in business but lack the confidence? Do you already have a job but feel that your language skills are holding you back? This course will help you improve your business and work English so you can approach negotiations, meetings, presentations and workplace communication with confidence. You will focus on the skills that are most frequently called for in London job advertisements including: written and verbal communication, sales, influencing and negotiating, problem-solving and leadership.
You need to do a pre-course assessment face-to-face or online. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) 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 £189.00 Senior fee £151.00 Concession £95.00 - ESOL: Develop your writing through grammar (advanced)Course start date: Wed 1 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
How will you develop your writing? One way is to think about how your writing affects the reader. Grammatical features play a significant role in creating these effects. On this course, you will explore how different grammatical forms can be used to create different impressions on reader and influence them. For example, how modal verbs can express different levels of assertiveness or how information can be made as clear as possible by using certain types of clauses and conjunctions. By becoming aware of how to use grammar to change meaning, your writing will become more sophisticated and impacting.
You need to do a pre-course assessment face-to-face or online. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) 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 £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £90.00 - Communication skills: read well, write well (level 1-level 2)Course start date: Sat 18 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Learning how to write well requires learning how to read well. This course will prepare you for all types of writing but especially essay writing. Learn and practise how to answer essay questions by choosing what to read, how to read it and make notes, and then turning these notes into good pieces of writing with effective introductions and conclusions and well argued opinions. This course will be especially suitable for anyone wanting to study or who works in a job which requires good writing.
You need to do a pre-course assessment face-to-face or online. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) 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 £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £85.00 - English communication skills for professionals: finding the right word in business (advanced)Course start date: Mon 20 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Online
Are you already working at a good level of English but still not sufficient for the needs of your workplace or to develop your career? Do you need to find just the right word, the correct tone, the exact phrase' This course will help you develop the right English for the right situation particularly in the world of work. Learn about different styles of writing, and effective and appropriate communication.
Before this course, you need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name). Use Chrome if possible.
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 £189.00 Senior fee £151.00 Concession £95.00 - Communicating at work: formal, informal and being polite (level 1)Course start date: Thu 2 Mar 2023
Location on this date: Online
Do you need to write reports or give presentations at work? Do you have to talk at meetings or conduct video conferences? Are you writing letters, summaries, minutes, statements or copy for websites? Are you lacking the confidence to apply for this type of work? This course will develop the skills and language you need for the workplace so you can present ideas, persuade and influence colleagues to support these ideas, write them up in reports and also explain your opinions and describe facts. You will develop your ability to communicate with appropriate levels of formality and politeness as well as recognise and understand the polite conventions used in writing and conversations.
You need to do a pre-course assessment face-to-face or online. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name). Use Chrome if possible.
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 £159.00 Senior fee £127.00 Concession £80.00
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