ESOL: English for Life and Work in the UK

Course overview

This course teaches the English you actually need to live and work in the UK. Not grammar rules for their own sake — the real situations that people find difficult.

Booking a doctor's appointment. Understanding a letter from the council. Saying you do not understand, without feeling embarrassed. Asking your manager for time off. Reading a payslip. Making a phone call when you cannot see the other person's face.

Many learners can read and write English reasonably well but freeze on the telephone, or understand their colleagues but not an official letter. This course works on those specific gaps.

Each lesson gives you language you can use the same day.

Who this course is for

Adults living in the UK who speak English as a second or additional language, at roughly Entry Level 2 to Level 1 — you can already have a simple conversation and read short texts, but you find official language, telephone calls and workplace English difficult.

If you are a complete beginner in English, this course will be too fast. Look for an Entry Level 1 class with a teacher first.

How the course is taught

Five modules. Each module has three lessons and a knowledge check. Every lesson ends with a Check your understanding task that asks you to use the language in your own life.

The English in this course is written plainly on purpose. Sentences are short. Difficult words are explained. Idioms are always explained, because idioms are where confident learners are caught out.

Assessment

Five module knowledge checks and a final assessment. The pass mark is 70%, you can try as many times as you like, and every question explains the answer.

Recognition and scope — please read this carefully

This course is not a Secure English Language Test (SELT). It cannot be used for a UK visa, settlement or citizenship application.

For immigration purposes the Home Office accepts tests only from four approved providers: Trinity College London, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LANGUAGECERT and Pearson. You must book with one of them, at an approved test centre. Note also that ESOL Skills for Life qualifications are no longer accepted for visa and citizenship purposes, even though they once were.

This course is also not an Ofqual-regulated ESOL qualification. It does not give you an Entry Level or Level 1 certificate in ESOL Skills for Life. Those are awarded by organisations such as Trinity College London, City & Guilds, Gateway Qualifications and Skills and Education Group Awards, usually through a college.

What this course gives you is practical English skill and confidence, and an EduQan certificate of completion that an employer can check through our public credential service. It is good preparation before a regulated course, and useful alongside one.

If you need English for a visa, book a SELT. Do not rely on this course, or on any online course that does not name one of the four approved providers.

Progression

Many learners take a college ESOL Skills for Life course next — these are often free or low cost for eligible adults. If your English is for work, our Customer Service and CV Writing courses are good next steps.