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
- English for professionals: C1 Advanced (Cambridge English: Advanced, CAE)Course start date: Tue 2 May 2023
Location on this date: Online
Do you need proof of your ability to use English to study at graduate level or to work in a professional environment? Do you want to show yourself that you have reached a high level of competency in your new language? Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE) is an internationally recognised in-depth test of English language skill for people with ESOL Level 2 (C1) or above. This course will develop your language skills as well as prepare you for the test and enable you to communicate at a very high level of English either in the UK or abroad. 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 will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £539.00 Senior fee £539.00 Concession £539.00 - 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: Thu 4 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 - Grammar in practice: upper intermediate (level 1-2)Course start date: Fri 3 Feb 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
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 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 £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £75.00 - 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 for hospitality: front of house (level 1-2)Course start date: Tue 9 May 2023
Location on this date: Online
Are you working in hospitality? Would you like to? Do you need to develop your English to help you do the job well? On this course you will focus on the language you need to work front of house across the hospitality sector whether this is in hotels, restaurants, events, or planes. You will focus on key grammar and vocabulary as well as speaking, listening, reading and writing skills so you can ask and answer questions well with appropriate levels of formality, communicate with colleagues and customers, identify and communicate about health and safety concerns, handle complaints and deal with stocks and orders.
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 £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £60.00 - ESOL pronunciation: stage 1 (level 1-2)Course start date: Mon 20 Feb 2023 (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.
Before this course, 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 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 - ESOL and making podcasts: pronunciation, presentation, expression (level 1-2)Course start date: Sun 21 May 2023
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 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). 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 hereFull fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £65.00
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