Language and skills support

• Free short courses in language and skills for study
• Option to study online or face-to-face
• No assessments
• All materials provided
• Access to individualised one-to-one language and skills study support.

Academic Listening (9 weeks, face to face)

The aim of this course is to help you understand spoken English. It focuses particularly on the skills needed for understanding and taking notes in lectures and seminars.

Academic Reading (4 weeks, face to face/online)

The aim of this course is to help you improve your academic reading skills. These include active reading strategies such as surveying/skimming a text, identifying main arguments, and critical reading techniques.

Academic Speaking (9 weeks, face to face)

This course will help you with the kind of speaking skills you need for academic study, including participating in discussions, tutorials and seminars and delivering presentations.

Academic Vocabulary (4 weeks, face to face/online)

This course will raise your awareness of the words that are most commonly used in academic texts and provide you with practice in using them, both in your academic reading and writing.

AI for Academic Reading and Writing (4 weeks, face to face/online)

You will learn how AI can be used to enhance your academic studies. You will revise what AI is, the opportunities and threats it presents, and how to use it to understand assignment rubrics; find, map and manage academic sources; understand, evaluate and reference academic sources; and improve your writing. Importantly, you will also learn about university policy and assessment guidelines regarding ethical use.

Assignment Writing (9 weeks, face to face/online)

This course covers all the major skills involved in writing assignments, including interpreting the task; academic style; referencing and paragraphing.

Critical Thinking (9 weeks, face to face/online)

This course will help you to develop the crucial skill of critical thinking by analysing and evaluating real academic texts. It will focus on topics such as recognising critical writing, evaluating evidence and identifying limitations in academic research.

Dissertation Writing (4 weeks, face to face/online)

In semester 1, this 4-week course is intended for students submitting their dissertation in January/February and focuses on writing the different sections, e.g. the Literature Review, the Results and the Discussion parts. In semester 2, this course is for those students who submit during the summer.

English for Employment Skills (4 weeks, face to face/online)

Employability skills are key to successful career planning. On this course you will look at a range of skills and language related to employability such as developing your CV to meet the standards required by employers in the UK, writing cover letters, developing your job searching skills and learning how to tackle a range of assessment centre tasks.

Everyday Speaking (9 weeks, face to face)

This course will help you with the kind of speaking skills you need in social and everyday situations.

Grammar for Academic Writing (9 weeks, face to face/online)

This course provides explanations and practice in the areas of written grammar which cause the most difficulty for students.

Presentation Skills (9 weeks, face to face)

This course will help you prepare to give academic presentations. It covers the different stages of a presentation, visual aids, body language and handling questions and answers. All students will have the opportunity to practice their presentation skills.

Pronunciation (4 weeks, face to face)

Working with a tutor and language laboratory resources, this course will help you with your particular pronunciation difficulties. You will practice sounds stress and intonation, which will help you to be understood and to understand others more easily.

Technical Writing 1 (Lab reports) for undergraduate (9 weeks, face to face/online)

This course is particularly relevant to scientists and engineers at undergraduate level. It provides guidelines for effective writing, concentrating on different aspects of technical reports and other forms of technical writing.

Technical Writing 2 (Advanced) for postgraduate (9 weeks, face to face/online)

This course is particularly relevant to scientists and engineers at PGR level. It provides guidelines for effective writing, concentrating on different aspects of technical reports and other forms of technical writing.

Find a course

Courses last 4 or 9 weeks and consist of one 50-minute lesson per week. You can choose to study face-to-face or online. The 4-week courses run twice per semester in two blocks, allowing you the flexibility to choose the time that suits you best. You can choose a maximum of three courses per semester.

Should I choose a face-to-face or online course?

This depends on your goals and availability. If you would like the opportunity for small group work and a chance to get to know your classmates, we would recommend choosing face-to-face.

Sign-up online

You can sign-up online for CLASS courses and one-to-one support.

Enrolment

Registration for Semester 2 will open on Monday 26 January 2026. 

9 week courses start from Monday 9 February 2026.

4 week, Block 1 courses start from Monday 9 February 2026.

4 week Block 2 courses start from Monday 9 March 2026.

Contact us

• class@surrey.ac.uk.

Access to “Talk to a Tutor” sessions of 25 or 50 minutes to support you with your written assignments, presentations and study skills. Students may only apply for one session per week.

The criteria to qualify for individual tutorials are as follows:

• Regular attendance on a current or recently completed CLASS course
• Previous regular attendance on a CLASS course.

William from Norway

“Your writing class has helped me and resulted in great results. Throughout this semester I have been mainly obtaining firsts for my modules (which are all assignment based - reports and essays). For my latest essay I obtained 8/10 in writing style and structure, and my overall grade for the last essay was 67.”

Yixuanzi from China

"The speaking courses really helped me become more confident in giving a presentation for my course and speaking with classmates and my lecturers."

Jubitha from India

"Thank you for your support during the English for Employment Skills class in Semester 2 and for directing me towards the Surrey Pathfinder page. I found your sessions extremely useful in identifying and rectifying mistakes I had made in my CV and cover letter."

Giuseppe from Italy

"Albeit I have taken many English courses, I still have no words to express how valuable they are. They are just perfect: 50 minutes a week, no homework, for free. The course I am evaluating has been one of the best and most useful and should be mandatory even for native speakers."

Rachel from UK

"The ELSP courses (now known as CLASS) have been invaluable to me to help to think about so many things I didn't know I needed to be thinking about. The tutors are really helpful and friendly and I really like the resources provided as a helpful way to understand an idea/concept etc. As a mature student, a long time since I was at school, the ELSP programme (now known as CLASS) has been so important in helping me this semester, I honestly would have been a lot more lost without it. Thank you to all the lovely staff for their fantastic support and guidance."

University of Surrey students have free access to:

• 10 English Language software packages designed to help improve your academic English skills. Click on the links to access the software. You do not need to enter a username and password (just click on Start).
• uTalk - a language learning app, which can be used on compatible devices. University of students and staff can log in with their university details ("students login") for free access to over 25 languages.
• British Sign language website (free to all) 

All students have access to satellite TV in the Language Study Area with foreign language channels and AV equipment to watch DVDs from our film collection. You can also access a lot of content online, including TV series and films in different languages. For more information, see our film and television page (SurreyLearn login required) for more details about the channels we have available and other options for listening to film and TV in other languages.