In-sessional academic English support
- Start date
- Attendance mode
- Part-time, face to face, online
- Russell Square, College Buildings
In-sessional provision operates from Learning Teaching Enhancement (LTE) in D18 library and from LTE intranet pages.
They help International Students with Academic English, especially with the four skills of writing, reading, speaking and listening. In-sessional works in partnership with Study Skills which provides academic support to all students at SOAS. They also help introduce international students to UK university learning, teaching and assessment approaches. Some may be unfamiliar with the UK argument essay, or some types of assessment- podcasts, blogs, book reviews or video essays, for example.
There are four main ways In-sessional support is delivered:
- Workshops (open to all)
- 4 or 5 week classroom based courses with small class sizes either on campus or online (by invitation)
- 1-1 tutorials given over 2 or 3 x 30 minute sessions (by invitation)
- Online materials to access for independent study (open to all)
In-sessional courses, as the name suggests, take place 'in-session', during term time and begin in the first term after you are fully enrolled as a student at SOAS. More information can be found from the LTE intranet pages.
They are free of charge and non-credit bearing and no formal assessments are made. They exist to support international students on their academic journey and are open to all students for whom English is not their first language (English as a Second Language or ESL students).
Who should apply
Foundation Year, Undergraduate, taught Postgraduate (not ODL), Postgraduate Research, Visiting Research are all eligible if the student is ESL. (IFCELS and Distance Learning students currently do not have access to these courses.)
Initially, at the start of term, the In-sessional Lead at LTE will contact some students who might be interested in taking these courses (towards the end of September) by e-mail and invite them to apply.
If you are not contacted you can fill in the self-referral form to get placed.
More about the provision
The online workshops will also be advertised on LTE In-sessional Sharepoint pages and students are invited to register for these. They will cover the four skill areas of writing, reading, speaking and listening. These exist alongside the regular Study Skills LTE workshops.
Workshops are a combination of lecture style input and workshop activities. Q and A is encouraged.
2. Classroom courses
The classroom based courses run five times a year so if you are not accepted initially you can apply again later. These are for smaller groups of 10-15 students and take place face to face. They are 2 hours per week once a week for 4 or 5 week periods. They are accessed through e-mail invitation or by filling in the self-referral form.
Classes are designed to encourage free and open discussion with the teacher and other students, to stimulate questioning and critical thinking within a supportive environment. They are a unique opportunity to meet and work alongside students from different disciplines, and backgrounds, which will often cross-fertilize.
Courses take place in blocks:
- Block 1 is term 1 weeks 2-5 (4 weeks)
- Block 2 is term 1 weeks 6-10 (5 weeks)
- Block 3 is term 2 weeks 1-5 (5 weeks)
- Block 4 is term 2 weeks 6-10 (5 weeks)
- Block 5 is term 3 weeks 1-5
There is no teaching during reading weeks or holidays.
3. ESL 1-1 tutorials
ESL 1-1 tutorials are offered to some students and others can apply for these using the self-referral form. Students can take 2 x 1-1 tutorials per term in focused 30-minute sessions with an Academic Tutor.
4. Online courses
Online self-study provision is self-access and available from the LTE Sharepoint pages all year round and are open to all. These are independent study lessons which take about 1-2 hrs to complete for each lesson with 4-6 of these lessons per course.
Neil Robbie is available in D18 in the library in person at various times on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and is contactable via Teams (0207 898 4815). Please contact Neil at email@example.com prior to visiting to be sure of an appointment if you want talk about what support you may need.
They are not timetabled like your other courses, so you need to make a note of any courses you are accepted on in your personal calendar. You need to know your academic timetable in full before applying. The courses aim to support you in your academic programmes so work around their structure.
The information on the website reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session. The modules are indicative options of the content students can expect and are/have been previously taught as part of these programmes.
However, this information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change.
Teaching and learning
The SOAS moodle offers a variety of online materials for In-sessional support which are accessible on the Learning and Teaching Enhancement sharepoint pages. These can be accessed once you are enrolled. Also the Skill for Success pages and Study Skills pages from LTE are recommended for your independent learning.
Fees and funding
Free in-sessional courses are open to the following part-time and full-time SOAS student groups
- Certificate and Diploma students
- Study Abroad students
- Foundation Year students
- Undergraduate students
- Postgraduate students
- Postgraduate research students
- Doctoral students
- Visiting Research Students
- In-sessional courses are not open to IFCELS students, Distance Learning students or SOAS staff (unless they are enrolled on a SOAS course).