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SUNY ESF
English for Speakers of Other Languages Center

The ESOL Center is a free student service that provides language support and cultural orientation to multilingual students and scholars. We also serve as a resource for international education to students, faculty, and staff.

Undergraduate and graduate students whose home language is not English are invited to take advantage of the free tutorial services and other offerings at the ESOL Center. This semester, the ESOL staff and ESF student conversation partners will help multilingual students achieve success both personally and in their courses across the curriculum.

The ESOL Center is offering both online and face-to-face tutoring during the spring 2023 semester. To make appointments please visit: https://esf.mywconline.com/ and register a new account. From the pull-down menu located at the top of the screen, choose "ESOL Center Spring 2023," and from there access the tutoring schedule for the ESOL Center.

Our Goals

The ESOL Center is the hub for an array of services: language tutoring, conversation groups, pronunciation workshops, professional consultations, and a conversation partner program. These offerings aim to meet the following goals:

  • Provide comprehensive English language support to multilingual students and scholars
  • Provide students at ESF with the cultural knowledge and awareness needed to succeed socially and academically
  • Provide consultation to faculty and staff regarding teaching in multicultural settings

 

What We Offer

  • Free Grammar Class (Graduate Students; Thursdays 10:00-11:00 a.m.) The class explores elements of English grammar for the purpose of strengthening students' abilities to communicate with confidence and clarity. The course focus is largely practical, and assignments are built on hands-on exercises. 
  • Conversations through Art: Free Conversation Class for multilingual students and scholars. (Mondays 3:30-4:30 p.m.): Multilingual students looking to improve their English skills in a fun and engaging way are invited to join the class. Fellow ESF students seeking to be a resource to multilingual students are co-leading this meeting every week. The class held in person
  • Honing English Skills: Free online class for multilingual students, scholars and adult family members (Tuesdays 2:00-3:00 p.m.): This informal class provides the opportunity to practice English language and conversation skills. The topics include culture and cultural differences, American traditions, language used in everyday and academic conversations, vocabulary development, current events, and social issues.
  • Culture Through Film (TBA): The goal of the Culture Through Film event is to encourage the development of cross-cultural awareness and competence. ESF students and/or faculty familiar with the historical background, language(s), and culture(s) represented in the film will share insights and facilitate discussions.

  • Pronunciation Workshops (by appointment at https://esf.mywconline.com). These individual communication workshops provide students and scholars with the opportunity to learn the rules for speaking American English clearly, get feedback on pronunciation, and practice speaking.

  • Language Tutoring (by appointment at https://esf.mywconline.com): Individual tutoring sessions support graduate and undergraduate students seeking to improve their writing, speaking, reading, and listening.

  • Conversation Partners: Multilingual students can request a conversation partner to help them improve their speaking skills, share their viewpoints and background, and learn about American culture. As peers, both partners can learn new cultural perspectives while one student is learning and practicing English in a conversational setting. Please email Dr. Nino Jakhaia to request a conversation partner.

The COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English)
The source to improve language use by using appropriate collocations. Click here!

Grammar Girl's Quick & Dirty Tips
Practical grammar tips and interesting explanations of frequently misused English words Click here!

Guide to Grammar and Writing
Grammar explanations, sentence/paragraph/essay writing tips, and interactive quizzes Click here!

Grammarly
Corrects grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes (free and paid versions) Click here!

Michigan Corpus of Upper-Level Student Papers
Database of undergraduate and graduate papers that is searchable by discipline and textual features (abstract, literature review, etc.) and provides models of successful writing Click here!

Purdue Online Writing Lab
General writing tips, advice for ESL writers, and style guides Click here!

YouGlish
Collection of YouTube videos for a term or phrase in the context. Click here!

Bibliography on Supporting Multilingual Writers from Cornell University
Click here!

Resources for Working with Multilingual Writers from University of UW-Madison
Click here!