Esol

Education and learning English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) Improving your English can help you get more out of your life in the UK. It will also help if you want to study, improve your CV, or apply to become a British citizen. Improving your English If English isn't your main language, you can do a course to help you improve your English. These courses are called ESOL or English for Speakers of other Languages. Improving your English will make it easier to: talk to doctors and teachers understand the laws and customs of the UK do a course and get a qualification help your child with homework pass the Life in the UK test and become a British citizen What does an ESOL course involve? ESOL courses cover: speaking and listening reading and writing vocabulary punctuation and grammar There are courses at different levels so you'll be able to start at the right level for you. Find a course Where can you get advice? There are ESOL courses throughout the UK and advice is available to help you choose the right course for you. For free advice call the Get On helpline. Lines are open from 8.00 am to 10.00 pm, seven days a week. Get On helpline: 0800 100 900 You can also book a free call back at a time to suit you, by using the interactive telephone service. Book a free call back from a learning adviser Advice in other languages If you'd like advice on learning and careers, you can speak to a learndirect advisor in the following languages: Farsi - 0800 0931116 French - 0800 093 1115 Gujarati - 0800 093 1119 Punjabi - 0800 093 1333 Polish - 0800 093 1114 Somali - 0800 093 1555

Sylheti - 0800 093 1444 Urdu - 0800 093 1118 Welsh - 0800 100 900 The helplines are available from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm from Monday to Friday. Learning English onlineBBC Learning English News, webcasts, quizzes and message boards for learners of English across the world, plus resources for teachers. Learn English with the BBC (opens new window) British Council Learn English or practise your skills online on the British Council Learn English website. Learn English online with the British Council (opens new window) 'Life in the UK' test You take the 'Life in the UK' test if you're applying to be a British citizen and your level of English is ESOL Entry 3 or above. If your level of English is lower than ESOL Entry 3 and you wish to apply for naturalisation, you will need to attend combined English language (ESOL) and citizenship classes instead. For advice on how to assess your level of English, phone learndirect. Lines are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week learndirect: 0800 101 901 To talk to someone about the 'Life in the UK' test, call the 'Life in the UK' helpline. Lines are open from 8.00 am to 10.00 pm, seven days a week. 'Life in the UK' helpline: 0800 015 4245 You can also use the link below to ask for a 'Life in the UK' helpline advisor to call you back, at no cost. Book a free call back from a Life in the UK helpline advisor Find out more about the Life in the UK test (opens new window) More useful links Returning to learning Nationality and citizenship (government, citizens and rights section) Skills for Life qualifications Introduction to ESOL Access for All Home > Introduction to ESOL Access for All Skills for Life, the government's strategy for meeting the needs of the seven million adults in England with low literacy, language and numeracy skills was launched in 2001. As part of this strategy, the core curricula for adult literacy, numeracy and English for

Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) are based on the national standards for adult literacy and numeracy at Entry level, Level 1 and Level 2. There is also a curriculum framework for literacy, language and numeracy learners at Pre-entry level. The adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL core curricula were published in 2001. The adult ESOL core curriculum was published in December 2001 and the adult Pre-entry curriculum framework was published in February 2002. The relevant curriculum documents are available free to all adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL tutors, and to tutors and others who work with learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. In March 2002 Access for All guidance was published by the Department for Education and Skills. It is available to support practitioners in making the adult literacy and numeracy curricula accessible to learners with learning difficulties and disabilities (see www.dfes.gov.uk/readwriteplus). Following Access for All's favourable reception and accompanying national training, here is the Department for Education and Skills' ESOL Access for All. It offers support for ESOL practitioners in making the ESOL curriculum accessible for learning difficulties and disabilities. It completes the suite of support documents for the literacy, language and numeracy curricula. The term 'bilingual learners' is used throughout this document to mean anyone who uses more than one language in their daily life. It does not imply a particular level of competency in either language. This particular use of the word bilingual is current in post-16 education in the UK. It is a term that has been much debated and arose as part of the equal opportunities and anti-racism debates of the late 1980s. Clearly many learners speak more than the two languages that the prefix -bi implies. However, the alternative, which is to refer to individuals as 'ESOL learners' has been rejected by many as labelling individuals by what they can not do well (i.e. speak English) rather than what they can do (i.e. speak more than one language.) (Spiegel and Sunderland, 2006) Talking about ESOL rather than bilingual learners also implies that learners are only to be found within ESOL provision, which is clearly not the case. This introduction to ESOL Access for All updates the content of Introducing Access for All (Department for Education and Skills, 2003), expands it, and includes issues that are particularly relevant to bilingual learners and their teachers.