International students

International students

English Language support : External English exams : Self Study advice

English Language Support at Birmingham City University for International Students

International students can access all the support services we offer at the university; for example, 1:1 tutorials and workshops. In addition, we provide English classes for students whose first language is not English, primarily at City North, but also at the Conservatoire and BIAD.

Classes

English classes run from October to May. These cover Academic and General Writing, Academic Listening , Reading and Grammar. At certain times of the year there are also Speaking classes which concentrate on the skills needed to make successful seminar presentations.

1:1 Help

We can provide 1:1 language help for any students who either come to us individually or are referred to us by their tutors. This usually consists of help with writing course assignments: planning, structure, style, accuracy, correct referencing etc. We prefer to see students during the planning and drafting stages of their work in order to work with them and guide them into becoming more autonomous as time goes on.

We do not provide a free proofreading service. We are happy to check the work of students who have made an effort to improve their English - either by coming to classes or getting 1:1 help - but are unable to do this for students we do not know. We can arrange for work to be professionally proofread at the cost of around £14-15 per hour. (Your department may be in a position to help with costs).

External English Examinations

We can arrange for you to take external English Language exams, such as those run by the University of Cambridge, IELTS, TOEFLor GMAT.

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge runs several examinations which are probably the most recognized around the world, in both business and academic fields. Those of most interest to Birmingham City University students are:

FCE: First Certificate in English

CAE: Certificate in Advanced English

CPE: Certificate of Proficiency in English

Each paper consists of five parts: Reading, Writing, Use of English, Listening and Speaking. If you are interested, but are unsure which level is suitable for you, sample papers are available in Galton 316.

Exams are held three times a year in March, June and December, with final entry dates in January, April and November. Proficiency is not available in March. Birmingham City University students sit the exams at The Brasshouse Centre, near the city centre.

In December 2008 the dates and costs are as follows:

FCE

First Certificate in English

Papers 1,2,3,4
Tuesday 9 December

Paper 5 (Speaking)
Saturday 6 December

£75.00

CAE

Certificate in Advanced English

Papers 1,2,3,4
Wednesday 10 December

Paper 5 (Speaking)
Saturday 6 December

£85.00

CPE

Certificate of Proficiency in English

Papers 1,2,3,4
Thursday 11 December

Paper 5 (Speaking)
Saturday 6 December

£95.00

The final date for entries is Friday 31 October 2008.

If you are interested, but unsure of which level, past exam papers are available in G316.

Further details from E219 or you can access the University of Cambridge website.

IELTS

IELTS is a test taken by non-native speakers of English who are mainly planning to study in an English speaking university or college. It is partly administered by The British Council, at whose overseas centres the test is usually taken. BCU students can take the test at Aston University here in Birmingham. The tests are held once a month and results issued within two weeks. The current cost is around £95.

Practice material is available in G312.

Listening, reading, writing and speaking skills are tested, with a choice of writing and reading modules, depending on your intended use of English.

TOEFL

TOEFL is an American English Language test, intended mainly for those wishing to study in the US, although it is recognized at most British academic institutions.

The nearest test centres to Birmingham are in Oxford or Manchester. The test is held monthly.

Self study advice

General advice : Dictionaries : Grammar : Vocabulary : Speaking & Pronunciation : Listening : Reading : Writing
Fun links

General Advice

If you want to improve your general English, here are a few hot tips:

Don't forget that you're in England, so don't spend all your time locked in your room looking at grammar books (you can do that in your country). Try and mix as much as possible with other people: this is by far the best way to improve your speaking and listening. Don't worry too much if they're not native English speakers. If you use English in the future it's very likely that you'll be communicating with people who aren't from the UK or any other English speaking country.Go to social events! Join a society or club!

Don't spend all your time with students from your country speaking your native language!

Listen to the radio. Watch TV. Go to the cinema.

Do as much reading as you can. It doesn't have to be academic books: you can learn a lot, for example, from magazines that deal with your hobbies and interests.

Come to English classes, or come and see us for individual help.

Dictionaries

A good monolingual (English to English) dictionary is essential. Bilingual dictionaries can be useful up to a point, but can often be misleading if words are not put into a context. For this reason we usually recommend the Collins Cobuild dictionary, as it gives examples of words used in authentic contexts. All the following dictionaries are good, however. Prices are approximate.

Collins Cobuild English Dictionary	Collins	ISBN 0003709418	£15
Cambridge International Dictionary of English	CUP	ISBN 0521484219	£13
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English	Longman	ISBN 0582237505	£13
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary	Oxford	ISBN 0194314227	£13

A very important aspect of language is what is known as "collocation". This refers to how words interact with each other; how sometimes words can go together, but sometimes not.(For example, you can say "a big town" or " a large town"; you can say "a big problem", but you can't say "a large problem".) For this reason we do not recommend using a thesaurus, as words are listed out of context. However, you can buy what is essentially a combined dictionary and thesaurus. Below are examples of this type of book.

Longman Language Activator	Longman	ISBN 0582040930	£16
Longman Essential Activator (Intermediate)	Longman	ISBN 058224742X	£11
Oxford Wordpower Dictionary	OUP	ISBN 0194311384	£9

You might find useful:

Research-It this is intended as a "one-stop" site of research tools and includes dictionaries (English, Computing, Pronunciation); thesauruses; language translators; acronyms; people searches; quotations and some business information such as stock markets reports. Good idea in theory, but in practice it can be a bit slow and limited.

Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus 100,000 entries. From University of Chicago.

Links to 600 dictionaries in 150 languages

Grammar Books

Don't get obsessed by grammar: it is not the be all and end all of language, but a tool which allows you to express your ideas and thoughts. In your university writing, it is these ideas and thoughts which are of paramount importance and some grammar errors will be tolerated. The problem arises when the errors are so bad that communication is impeded, or when there are so many that they put a strain on the reader. If that's the case, then you do need to take some action. A major problem with grammar books is that they tend to become very mechanical. The fashionable format at the moment is for one page of rules, explanations and examples followed by a page of exercises. The exercises, however, very rarely have enough context to make them useful. In fact, I'm sure it would be possible to do some of the exercises without understanding a word. The Swan/Walter recommendation is a step in the right direction; the Murphy is a very popular book and might be useful in small doses. The first recommendation 'Practical English Usage' is the best of the three, but there are no exercises included.

Practical English Usage	Michael Swan	OUP	ISBN 019431197X	£13
How English Works	Swan/Walter	OUP	ISBN 0194314561	£10
English Grammar In Use	Murphy	CUP	ISBN 052143680X	£8

Apart from this site ,there are plenty of others on the Internet which deal with grammar. These include:

Hypergrammar A comprehensive grammar guide from Ottawa University in Canada.

Internet Grammar of English from University College of London Includes exercises

Grammar For English Language Learners Lots of grammar links

Grammar SafariSomething a bit different. Use the search engines to scour the web for authentic examples of grammar in action and then use what you've found in different activities. You do need to have a fairly good knowledge of using the Internet but the instructions are clear. Recommended.

If you are having problems and are not quite sure where you're going wrong, come and see us in E219 and we'll be happy to analyse some of your writing and put together a plan of action with you.

Vocabulary

A lot of tutors say that a wide and appropriate vocabulary is more important than correct grammar. You do, therefore, need to make an effort to enrich your range of vocabulary, and not be content with the words and expressions you use now, which are probably adequate for day to day spoken communication, but may not be sufficient for your written assignments. Here are some more of those hot tips on how to do this:

Pay attention while you're reading: your academic books are one of the best sources of vocabulary.

Try and be systematic. Start a vocabulary book or a database for the new words you come across and think will be useful. Use a system which works for you, but always include the word in as much context as possible. Translating into your language can be useful, but be careful. Putting words and expressions into groups (e.g. words which have a similar meaning to 'say'; types of weather; connecting words etc) is very useful.

Buy the best dictionary you can afford.

Try and use the new vocabulary in your writing and when you're speaking (but don't forget the differences between formal and informal English).

One quite good book is:

English Vocabulary In Use

McCarthy/O'Dell

CUP

ISBN 0521423961

£9

Speaking & Pronunciation

The best (and only) way to improve your speaking and pronunciation is ... by speaking! This is of course easier said than done, particularly if you have a lot of friends who speak your native language and if you've found UK students difficult to get to know. You do need to make an effort though, and remember that speaking with other international students can be just as useful as speaking with home students. Some other advice:

Don't be afraid of making mistakes when you speak. We do it all the time, and usually they're not important. People can always ask you to repeat what you said. Bad pronunciation is more of a problem, but you're only going to improve that by speaking.

If you are worried about your pronunciation, we do have some self-study materials you can use in E219.

If you have to make seminar presentations, come to the Seminar Skills classes.

Listening

As with any language skill, the only way you can improve it is by actually getting practice in it. So be patient and listen carefully when people are speaking to you or when you're listening to the radio or TV.

Reading

Reading is one of the best ways of improving your English, particularly your writing skills and vocabulary range. You will of course have ample course reading to do, but any sort of reading will help you, be it newspapers, magazines, football programmes or the latest Barbara Cartland epic. You should find something of interest in any newsagents; the two main bookshops in Birmingham, Dillons (at the bottom of the ramp to New Street station) and Waterstones (at the end of New Street near the Pavilions shopping arcade) are both very good (Dillons is probably best for English Language books); and you can even find reading material on the Internet. Here are some on-line magazines and newspapers which you might find useful:

An excellent on-line version of The Daily Telegraph with lots of links to sites related to news stories. You have to register, but it's free.

The Guardian's site has recently been improved and enlarged; now very comprehensive. There is also a dedicated news site at NewsUnlimited

Slightly idiosyncratic site but good once you know how to get around it.

Financial Times: free registration.

Free trial, but then you have to pay for each article you access from the archives (well, it is The Economist!).

There are a lot of online news sources, some of which are excellent. Try:

The BBC online news includes audio and video (also news in different languages). Great site.

Updated very regularly and also includes audio and video. Claims to be 'interactive', but it's not really.

Here are some on-line versions of magazines dealing with particular interests:

American view of British culture, history etc

Weekly contemporary music paper.

Fairly easy to read and digest.

Writing

There is a wealth of material which can help you with your writing. If you're having problems or need some advice, the first thing to do is come to see us in E219 or check out the advice we give on these pages. We can arrange a series of 1:1 sessions concentrating on your particular needs, direct you towards the best self study materials or check over any work you've done. Please note, however, that we do not offer a free proof-reading service, but instead work with you to help you improve your writing.

If simple proof-reading is all you want, we can direct you to professional proof-readers who will correct your work. Expect to pay around £12-15 an hour for the service.

The Internet is a much better source of writing aids than traditional books. The advice given is usually more up-to-date and therefore more relevant to student needs. Most of it at the moment is from American universities, but is still by and large appropriate for the UK.. Here are some of the best Academic Writing sites:

Purdue University Perhaps the best site; certainly one of the most comprehensive. 130 'handouts' on a full range of writing topics.

Writer's Web: University of Richmond Another good source of advice.

Rensselaer University Handouts from their writing centre. Mainly scientific writing.

Grammar and Style Notes Well regarded advice

Online Technical Writing For all you technical people

Fun links
Here are some links to a few other less academic sites which might help you with your English. Let me know if you come across any other good ones.

Dave's ESL Cafe Chat, discussion, grammar help, links etc

ITS Online And again (from International House in Portugal)

Crossword Puzzles for ESL students Crossword puzzles for ESL learners!