Our Courses
English Language Courses
At the UCT English Language Centre, we use a learner-centred approach. It focuses on your individual needs and learning style, and gets you communicating confidently from the start. Whether you want to learn English for conversational or business use, or to complete the IELTS, TOEFL, FCE or CAE exams, there is an English course tailored to your needs.
The lessons are based on real-life themes, topics and ideas to help you engage with the language in an exciting and relevant way, and as part of our learner-centred approach, you and your classmates will have the chance to give feedback to your teacher on what kind of topics and activities you want to do in in class. You will also have regular individual tutorial sessions, where your teacher will review your work over the previous few weeks and suggest areas to focus on and techniques to help you improve more quickly. At the end of the course, you will receive a University of Cape Town certificate with your final level, the amount of weeks you have studied with us, and a report from your teacher. All coursebooks and learning materials are provided free of charge.
Our General English courses are ideal if you use English for everyday purposes. We offer year-round General English courses for all levels, from Beginner to Advanced, starting every Monday. With courses ranging from 20 to 30 lessons a week, we have a course to suit different budgets, daily schedules and language learning needs.
Standard
Our Standard class consists of 20 lessons a week from 9am to 1pm. You can choose between our Business English, General English, Academic English or IELTS preparation course. You will learn English vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation together with the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Semi-Intensive
After studying General, Business, Academic English or IELTS in the morning, you will be able to choose from a range of electives to take for two afternoons a week, to focus on the English skills that you most want to improve. These are either reading and writing or listening and speaking.
Intensive
This class consists of daily morning lessons (Monday - Friday) and four afternoons a week. This course is quite demanding and is intended for students who want to improve their English as quickly and efficiently as possible. You can choose between General, Business, Academic English or IELTS preparation in the morning.
Private
Private lessons are most appropriate for students with specific language learning needs or goals, such as needing to learn English for a particular professional context. The timetable is arranged to suit your personal schedule. These lessons are one-on-one and can also be taken online.
Business English
This course is ideal for you if you mainly need to use English at work or in a business environment. It takes place in the morning and can be combined with electives in the afternoons.
The course covers a range of business and work related topics, including speaking in meetings, giving presentations, negotiating, emailing and report writing, networking, decision-making and many more. Students need to be at least upper-intermediate level to join this course.
Academic English
The Academic English course is for students who need to use English in an academic context. The course takes place in the mornings and can be combined with electives in the afternoon.
There are four components: (i) Reading and writing, and (ii) Speaking and Listening. The reading and writing component trains students to produce and respond to complex written academic texts, while the Speaking and Listening component supports students’ ability to participate in seminar discussions, give presentations and understand lectures. Students need to be at least upper intermediate level to join this course.
IELTS Preparation
This course is designed to prepare you for the IELTS academic English exams, with focused training in exam strategies and techniques to allow you to maximise your potential and achieve the grade you need.
The IELTS exams are requirements for degree study at many English-speaking universities, including UCT. They are also used for immigration purposes and for professional accreditation.
This course runs all year round and exams can be taken at regular intervals at a local test centre. It can also be combined with afternoon electives. Please note that this course is subject to availability, and you need to be at least Upper-Intermediate level to join.
Language Excursions
ELC, in collaboration with Kurus English, are proud to offer a unique experiential learning programme, which we call Language Excursions.
The Language Excursions are out-of-classroom communication classes, where your teacher becomes your language guide. This promotes, encourages and links the practice of English through social, historical and cultural excursions.
The Language Excursions are flexible and co-ordinate with actual events in Cape Town, whenever possible and/or desirable. These excursions give you the unique opportunity of improving your English while meeting and encountering the people, the energy and the diversity of Cape Town.
