Skills for Life - Free Employability & Skills Courses
Develop the skills you need to participate fully in modern life, make progress at work and express yourself with confidence.
Whether you are a cleaner or a junior manager, office or construction worker, beginner or advanced level, our courses will help you develop the most in-demand workplace skills and at same time improve your general communication, English, ESOL, Data Literacy, Maths and Digital Skills. Our courses will also improve your skills and competences for life outside work from going to the doctors and filling out forms to talking about politics and discussing art.
Inside and outside work, in all types of jobs, at all levels, adults need to be problem-solvers, analysers, decision-makers, team-players, to see the bigger picture and be detail-oriented. Join our courses, online or face-to-face, and develop these universal essentials skills with our motivating, innovative and professional tutors.
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
Most of our courses are FREE if you are on a low income or claiming benefits. You will also usually need to do a pre-course assessment. For more details contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk or click the links below.
Filters
- English pronunciation: stage 2Course start date: Thu 27 Apr 2023 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street (other locations are available)
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 £219.00 Senior fee £219.00 Concession £153.00 - English pronunciation: stage 1Course start date: Thu 19 Jan 2023 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street (other locations are available)
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 £219.00 Senior fee £219.00 Concession £153.00 - Develop your confidence in writing: sentence formation, grammar and punctuation in everyday writing (level 1-2)Course start date: Thu 11 May 2023
Location on this date: Online
Would you like to be more confident in the way you write whether emails or reports at work or messages to friends? Do you want to work on how you form sentences, understand grammar and use punctuation so your writing is more creative? It can be tempting to just randomly put a comma in a sentence, avoid adverbs or crumble when it comes to using a clause, but it doesn’t have to be that way. This course will help you be more secure in your professional, academic or creative writing skills and help you improve some of your weak areas around forming and punctuating sentences with appropriate grammatical form. You will develop your confidence in the most essential areas of writing including different sentence structures, writing paragraphs, using punctuation effectively, using active and passive voices and proofreading.
You will need to do a pre-course assessment before joining this course. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) or click the Start Assessment button on the webpage. Please log in with your email (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 £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £75.00 - Develop your English: grammar foundation (level 1-2)Course start date: Thu 18 May 2023
Location on this date: Online
What’s the difference between a verb and a adverb, a subject and an object, a main clause and a subordinate clause? What is a compound sentence? What does a determiner do? Understanding and analysing grammatical structure is a key component in developing your English skills whether speaking, writing or even reading. This course will provide you with all the grammar knowledge you need to become familiar with the language you use everyday and will be a very effective foundation for other work you do to improve your English. It will also assist you when you learn other languages.
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 £139.00 Senior fee £111.00 Concession £70.00 - Develop your writing and reading: spelling, punctuation, vocabulary (entry 3-level 1)Course start date: Thu 18 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you want to be sure of your spelling? Do you want to know when to use a comma rather than a full-stop? Would you like to increase your vocabulary so you can be more expressive and precise when you write? On this course you will improve different types of writing such as letter-writing, work emails, texts, descriptive writing, essays and stories and you will focus on your spelling, punctuation and vocabulary so that you can confident that whatever you write is clear, accurate and professional.
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 the webpage. Log on with your email address (not name).Full fee £0.00 Senior fee £0.00 Concession £0.00 - English language GCSECourse start date: Thu 27 Oct 2022
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Are you excited by the English language? Do you want to engage with fiction and non-fiction? Do you need to improve your writing and critical thinking across a range of topics and themes? An English Language GCSE is an essential qualification for anyone wanting to practise higher-order reading skills and use these to develop fluent and effective writing. It is one of the most commonly required qualifications by employers and universities, and will enhance your job and education prospects. This specification will ensure that you can read fluently and write effectively, demonstrate a confident control of Standard English and write grammatically correct sentences, deploying figurative language, and analyse texts.
(Assessments including mock tests will take place in the City Lit building and you need to be able to attend these in person as required).
You MUST pass the Introduction to English Language GCSE course (see website) before you can join this course. You also need to complete a pre-course assessment face-to-face or in person. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) or click the Start Assessment button on this page.
At the same time you complete your pre-course assessment, please also complete our pre-course form and tell us more about yourself.
. https://forms.gle/2iQBRRsjsuociqVW6.
This course is free for learners who meet the residency criteria and have not achieved a GCSE grade C (4) and higher in EnglishFull fee £0.00 Senior fee £0.00 Concession £0.00 - English for professionals: C2 Proficiency (Cambridge English: Proficiency, CPE )Course start date: Thu 9 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Online
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. 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 £299.00 Senior fee £299.00 Concession £299.00 - Develop your confidence in writing through grammar (level 1-2)Course start date: Thu 9 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Online
Do you need to develop your confidence in writing? One way to improve your writing is by focusing on how it 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 will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £75.00 - Develop your writing and reading: by using grammar (entry 3-level 1)Course start date: Thu 9 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
This course will help you improve your reading and writing by focusing on the meaning of grammar. How does the grammar you use change the meaning of what you write? How can you use your grammar knowledge to better understand what you are reading? How can you use your grammar awareness to write more interesting texts? You will improve your reading and writing by understanding key
grammatical features and how you can use these to add authority to writing, change tone, add emphasis, make arguments more persuasive, change pace and make the information and ideas clearer.
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).Full fee £0.00 Senior fee £0.00 Concession £0.00 - 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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