What is ESOL?

Your success in the academic and business worlds in South Africa is largely dependent on your degree of proficiency in English. The English Access Certificate in ESOL will develop your reading, writing, listening and speaking skills to the level of proficiency required for further academic studies or entry into the business environment. Learn to speak English fluently and to interact with confidence in all social contexts.

Admission Requirements

There is no minimum admission requirement. All applicants are required to write a placement test to assess their level of English proficiency before lessons can start.

Who should attend

This programme is aimed at both foreign and second language users of English who want to improve their passive and active knowledge in all areas of English. The programme helps learners to build the competence and confidence they need to use English on a daily basis in all aspects of their lives.

This is the ideal programme for learners who believe that their spoken and/or written English will not meet the requirements of tertiary study or the workplace. The programme aims at improving reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in addition to providing a thorough grasp of English grammar, developing vocabulary and broadening your understanding of the language used in a range of formal and informal social contexts.

Learners are not assessed on the basis of an end of programme test. Instead, assessment of the learner's progress in all skills is continuous and is based on written work, communicative ability and participation in the lesson.
It should be noted that this is not a literacy programme, nor does it focus specifically on English for Business Purposes.

Certification

All facilitators have a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language) teaching qualification.
English Access is registered with City & Guilds, the largest qualifications provider in Britain.

Programme Outcome

• Improve the accuracy of your grammar and pronunciation, expand your vocabulary and develop your skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing across a range of different contexts.

The course programme is based on the guidelines set out by the European threshold levels. Broadly, the programme aims to improve:

• Aspects of English grammar such as the correct use of tenses, pronouns and prepositions
• Reading skills - comprehension of written texts; reviews of newspaper/ magazine articles and books
• Writing skills - postcards, formal and informal letters, essays, etc.
• Listening skills - comprehension exercises based on audio material
• Speaking skills - pair and group interaction; presentations
• The use of English across a range of different social contexts such as a classroom, a hotel, a restaurant, a bank, an interview, a cocktail party and a telephone call.

More specifically, learners, will have the knowledge and understanding  of:

• Auxiliary verbs- do/be/have, short answers
• Present simple and continuous, action and state verbs, present passive
• Past simple and past perfect, past passive
• Modal verbs 1- obligations and permission
• Future forms, present continuous
• Questions with like, verb patterns
• Phrasal verbs
• Present perfect simple, present perfect passive
• Conditionals- first, second, zero, time clauses
• Modal verbs 2- possibility (present and past)

• Present perfect continuous, time expressions
• Indirect questions, question tags
• Reported speech

Vocabulary and speaking/ listening topics:
Inventions, favourite sports, nationality stereotypes, entertaining friends, arranging to meet, geography, weather, food, cooking, careers, surveys, different customs.

General outcomes:
To meet communicative needs in a wide range of situations.

Level of the programme

This Certificate is at NQF Level 3.

Duration and Times

The duration 8 weeks with class attendance required for 3 hours on a Saturday morning.