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Basic ESL

Award Type: Certificate of Competency

The Noncredit English as a Second Language (NESL) basic certificate is designed for non-native English-speaking students who want to read, write, listen, and speak in English at the high-beginning level. These skills provide academic, vocational, career, and life-skills pathways towards college credit classes to obtain a credit certificate or degree, and/or jobs that require higher-level English communication skills. Along with completing NESL 7003 Intro to English B and NESL 7040 Conversation for Beginning ESL, students must also complete of the following courses: NESL 7020 Spanish Literacy, NESL 7000 Intro to English Pre-A, NESL 7001 Intro to English A, NESL 7060 ESL Instructional Lab, or NESL 550 Fundamentals of Grammar. Classes and labs are tuition-free.

The graduate of the Certificate of Competency in Basic ESL will:

  • Demonstrate language proficiency skills in reading, writing, listening to, and speaking English at the Basic ESL Certificate of Competency level.
  • Demonstrate language proficiency skills in grammatical contexts at the Basic ESL Certificate of Competency level.
  • Demonstrate conversational and pronunciation proficiency skills at the Basic ESL Certificate of Competency level.

Program Requirements

Required Courses

Course Number Course Title Units
NESL 7003 Introduction to English B 84.0 - 102.0 hours
and
NESL 7040 Conversations for Beginning ESL 28.0 - 48.0 hours

In addition to the courses above, one additional course is required. Select from one of the following courses:

Course Number Course Title Units
NESL 7001 Introduction to English A 84.0 - 102.0 hours
or
NESL 7020 Spanish Literacy 84.0 - 102.0 hours
or
NESL 7000 Introduction to English: Pre-A 84.0 - 102.0 hours
or
NESL 550 Fundamentals of Grammar
or
NESL 7060 ESL Instructional Lab 8.0 - 240.0 hours