ESL Classes
Summer 2023
Community English as a Second Language Program
Whether you need to improve your English for professional, educational or personal reasons, the Community ESL Program at Queensborough Community College has the right class for you. We offer six levels from Basic Beginners to Advanced. Classes are taught by a highly experienced team of instructors eager to have you improve your English skills. Classes are held in classrooms equipped with state of the art technology. In order for us to place you in the proper level, we will ask you to register, pay the tuition take a short placement test. More information with be provided regarding the placement test that will be scheduled a few days prior to the start of the class.
The English as a Second Language program offers six levels of instruction:
Placement Test for ESL Classes
Online
Date/Time: TBD
Instructor Abel Hassan
Price: FREE with registration and full payment for Community ESL class
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GED-Pathway to the High School Diploma
GED Pre-Assessment
Online test
This assessment will test your ability to read and write the English language at a high school level. It is also highly recommended that you be familiar with basic math operations and the English measurement system.
Wednesday, July 5, 2023, 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Instructor: Abel Hassan
Price: FREE with registration and full payment for GED class
GED Preparation Course for Adults (BEX198)
GED Preparation Course for the HSE Diploma
This course is online
This program prepares adults to take the exam for the High School Equivalency Diploma (GED). Our highly qualified instructors will focus on the major subjects of the exam encompassing Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Reading and Writing (Reading through Language Arts, RLA)
The program has two instructors teaching back to back, one for humanities and one for math.
The humanities section (60 hours of instruction) focuses on Reasoning through Language Arts (RLA) which includes reading for meaning, identifying and creating arguments, writing essays and reviewing grammar and language skills. The other three subjects are Social Studies; analyzing historical events and interpreting numbers, graphs, and Science; interpreting experiments and working with numbers and graphs.
The math section (60 hours of instruction) focuses on getting familiar with math concepts and applying them to solve problems. It includes solving geometry and algebra problems, working with functions, and analyzing graphs.
Students will also acquire test-taking strategies to prepare them for the GED exam.
Students who are ready to apply for the GED test upon completion the program, can contact their instructor or the program coordinator for assistance in selecting a test center near them and a time of their choice. Continuing Education and Workforce Development at Queensborough Community College only offers the preparation course.
Schedule:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
6:00pm-10:00pm
Start date: 07/10/2023
End Date: 08/11/2023
Instructors: Sean Rivera, Humanities: Reading and Writing (RLA), Social Studies and Science)
Nataliya Matsay, Mathematics
Price: $285
Textbook: GED PREP 2022-2023, Kaplan Publishing, Revised Edition, ISBN-978-1-5062-7732-5
ESL Course Descriptions
Students in the Basic English Foundation level will learn to introduce themselves by exchanging greetings and communicating with peers using basic phrases and expressions, describing familiar places and completing simple forms. Students will learn to ask and answer questions about personal details. Writing will include practicing basic sentences in the present tense with an emphasis on spelling and pronunciation. Reading will focus on understanding limited dialogues and asking and answering simple questions.
Class Schedule: Monday and Wednesday, 6:00 pm t 8:30 pm for ten weeks (50 hours of instruction)
Star Date: June 12, 2023-End Date: August 9, 2023
The Beginner class is designed to give students the ability to narrate and inquire about the world around them. Students will work on their basic command of the English language by covering everyday-life events. They will learn to master basic sentence structures using simple tenses, present, past and future in the affirmative and interrogative forms while working toward adding more complex sentences sentences. Reading skills will include identifying the topic and the main ideas, scanning for specific information and summarizing. Speaking skills will incorporate asking and answering questions and participating in role-plays and short discussions on topics related to daily situations such as asking for information and directions, comparing holidays, looking for work and preparing for job interviews. Vocabulary will include words and idiomatic expressions relevant to each topic.
Class Schedule: Monday and Wednesday, 6:00 pm t 8:30 pm for ten weeks (50 hours of instruction)
Star Date: June 12, 2023-End Date: August 9, 2023
Pre-Intermediate students will discuss future plans, habits and routines and learn to summarize and make inferences and predictions on a variety of topics through interactive readings. They will also express agreement or disagreement with an emphasis on emotions, experiences and feelings. Students will write simple stories and link sentences using connectors such as basic subordinations and coordinations. Students will start writing outlines and simple paragraphs. The emphasis is on social communication both face to face or through social media.
Class Schedule: Monday and Wednesday, 6:00 pm t 8:30 pm for ten weeks (50 hours of instruction)
Star Date: June 12, 2023-End Date: August 9, 2023
Students in the intermediate level will continue to improve their fluency in the English language with the emphasis on speaking, listening, reading and writing. Students will participate in group discussions, role-plays and in-class presentations on a wide range of topics from different media such as newspaper articles, short stories, videos and songs. The emphasis will be on exchanging ideas and expressing opinions. Reading and writing skills will focus on making inferences, developing critical thinking, organizing information and writing short paragraphs. Grammar will focus on more complex sentence structures with compound words, simple and perfect tenses and proper spelling while increasing vocabulary through reading materials from the assigned textbook.
Class Schedule: Monday and Wednesday, 6:00 pm t 8:30 pm for ten weeks (50 hours of instruction)
Star Date: June 12, 2023-End Date: August 9, 2023
The Upper Intermediate class is designed to increase the student confidence in the language by focusing on all skills; speaking, listening, reading and writing. Students will explore concrete and abstract topics and develop language flexibility for social, academic and professional needs by getting involved in group discussions, giving presentations and practicing writing with at least two types of essays.. Students will also work toward mastering advanced grammar and syntax by expressing ideas using a wide variety of connectors for more complex sentences
Class Schedule: Monday and Wednesday, 6:00 pm t 8:30 pm for ten weeks (50 hours of instruction)
Star Date: June 12, 2023-End Date: August 9, 2023
The advanced course is designed to give the opportunity to students who completed the previous five levels to continue improving their fluency in the English language with an emphasis on speaking and writing. Students will participate in group discussions and oral presentations on a variety of current events and topics. These activities will give the students the chance to improve confidence in expressing themselves utilizing proper documentation, targeted vocabulary and advanced grammar to convince an audience. Writing skills will expand beyond the short essay with the production of complex papers using multiple transition signals and more complex sentences. Students will also learn to organize their thoughts using an outline and do research on the internet to support their topic development.
Class Schedule: Monday and Wednesday, 6:00 pm t 8:30 pm for ten weeks (50 hours of instruction)
Star Date: June 12, 2023-End Date: August 9, 2023
Testimonials
"My name is Tania Montesdeoca. I’m from the city of Cuenca in Ecuador. I came to the US to find better study opportunities and a better quality of life. Well, what Mr. Prato teaches us is helpful and in particular for me when he asks me a question, and I answer wrong. He makes me repeat correctly regardless of how many times I have to do it. He is a really good teacher. Mr. Prato is a terrific teacher. He always has the energy that transmits to the class. In addition, his learning topics are very helpful to improve English as a second language."
-Tania Montesdeoca
"For the past few months I have been enrolled in a life changing program that has impacted and altered the course of my pandemic and has given me an opportunity to advance academically. I would like to give a special thank you to both of my professors, Sean Rivera and Nataliya Matsay dedicated, enlightened and professional mentors who are patient and understanding with students’ needs and learning curves. I greatly appreciate each time and efforts of both individuals. Throughout this program I have advanced in knowledge and I am ready to take on my TASC test, and a special THANK YOU to Abel Hassan, ESL/HSE Coordinator for providing me with all of the information and insight in regards to obtaining my HSE diploma. I highly recommend enrolling in this course as it has guided and prepared me towards a huge milestone in my education and life. Thank you!"
-Ashley Chiswick

"My name is Yonglin Cheng. I came to the USA because my husband works here. The activities that I like are speaking, writing and listening. They are very helpful for me to improve my English skills. The ESL class is wonderful, and the class time is perfect for me. The teacher is very nice and he’s very smart. I can learn lots of new vocabulary, practice writing, listening and speaking skills in every lesson. It helps me a lot. I will recommend this class to my friends who want to improve their English skills."
-Yonglin ChengContact Us:
Abel Hassan, Program Coordinator
ahassan@qcc.cuny.edu