English as a Second Language
10 courses · El Camino College · 2026-2027 Catalog
Classes: Fall 2026 · Spring 2027
ESL 51A Introduction to English in Conversation
- Units
- 5
- Hours
- 5 hours lecture
- Advisory
- qualification by assessment
This introductory course is designed to increase a student's English-speaking and comprehension skills in a supportive atmosphere. The course includes cross-cultural communication topics, role play and other small group activities, introduction to common American idioms and expressions, pronunciation exercises designed to improve intelligibility, and listening comprehension practice.
ESL 51B Intermediate Listening, Speaking and Pronunciation
- Units
- 5
- Hours
- 5 hours lecture
- Prerequisite
- ESL 51A with a minimum grade of C, NESL 51A or qualification by assessment
Students in this course gain greater confidence and skill in listening to and speaking English by participating in activities such as listening to mini-lectures and taking notes; presenting impromptu speeches, prepared speeches, and oral reports; conducting surveys and interviews; role playing; and discussing and debating controversial topics. Students improve their pronunciation, intonation and stress, listening comprehension, and knowledge of American culture.
ESL 51C Advanced Listening, Speaking and Pronunciation
- Units
- 5
- Hours
- 5 hours lecture
- Prerequisite
- ESL 51B with a minimum grade of C, NESL 51B qualification by assessment
This course provides instruction in listening and speaking, emphasizing oral communication, pronunciation, and idiomatic expressions in a multi-cultural academic setting. Students practice listening to and taking notes on lectures from across the curriculum such as history, business, and science, and other listening material. Students present research-based speeches and participate in group discussions and panel presentations.
ESL 52A Introduction to Reading and Vocabulary Building
- Units
- 5
- Hours
- 5 hours lecture
- Advisory
- qualification by assessment
This is an introductory course designed to transfer literacy in the first language to English by building basic reading skills and expanding vocabulary. Through the use of reading texts, reading kits, main idea exercises, and skimming and scanning activities, the foundation skills are developed through regular application. The aim of the course is to identify and reinforce good reading habits and to free students from over-dependence on dictionaries, with a focus on context as the key to meaning.
ESL 52B Intermediate Reading and Vocabulary Building
- Units
- 5
- Hours
- 5 hours lecture
- Prerequisite
- ESL 52A with a minimum grade of C, NESL 52A with a Pass or qualification by assessment
This is an intermediate level course designed to teach appropriate reading skills, such as the ability to make inferences, draw conclusions, understand the meaning of vocabulary words in context through word analysis and contextual clues, and determine the main idea from a passage. Students read from a variety of sources, including newspapers, essays, short stories, and novels. Students also increase their academic vocabulary through vocabulary building activities.
ESL 52C Advanced Reading
- Units
- 5
- Hours
- 5 hours lecture
- Prerequisite
- ESL 52B with a minimum grade of C, NESL 52B with a Pass, or qualification by assessment
This advanced-level reading course teaches interpretive, critical, and analytical reading skills for closer reading and better understanding of fiction and nonfiction works. It includes an in-depth study of a novel, and the terminology necessary to discuss and write critically about works of various genres. Students also increase their vocabulary through vocabulary building activities.
ESL 53A Elementary Writing and Grammar
- Units
- 5
- Hours
- 5 hours lecture
- Advisory
- qualification by assessment
This entry-level academic composition course offers students an intensive writing experience. Students will write well-organized and coherent paragraphs transitioning to multi-paragraph essays. Students will identify and address grammar problems in their writing.
ESL 53B Intermediate Writing and Grammar
- Units
- 5
- Hours
- 5 hours lecture
- Prerequisite
- ESL 53A with a minimum grade of C, NESL 53A, or qualification by assessment
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
This course offers students intensive experience in preparing to write college-level essays. Students will learn to write well-organized, coherent expository essays, including critical reactions to reading. They will review basic rhetorical modes such as summary, narration, description and process, and will be introduced to the rhetorical modes of comparison-contrast and argumentation. Simple, progressive and present perfect verbs, and other basic grammar rules will be reviewed, and passive voice, conditionals, past perfect, perfect modals, and other intermediate grammar topics will be introduced.
ESL 53C Advanced Essay Writing and Grammar
- Units
- 5
- Hours
- 5 hours lecture
- Prerequisite
- English as a Second Language 53B with a minimum grade of C or Noncredit English as a Second Language 53B, or qualification by assessment
- Advisory
- English as a Second Language 52B or Noncredit English as a Second Language 52B
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
This course strengthens college-level critical reading, writing, and research skills in preparation for English 1A for English learners. It develops students' abilities to analyze and respond to texts from culturally diverse traditions. Students read articles, essays, poetry, and works of fiction or non-fiction which are of literary and cultural value. In response to these texts, students write approximately four academic essays (including at least one in-class essay) of at least 750 words each in which they support a thesis using textual evidence. Students review advanced grammar and sentence skills. In addition, students develop critical research strategies to write a thesis-driven, multi-source MLA-style research paper.
ESL 100 Supervised Tutoring: English Support Center
- Units
- 0
- Hours
- 12 hours lecture
This is a supervised tutoring course that provides English as a Second Language students with the listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills necessary for success on the specific assignments and assessments in the courses for which they seek tutorial support.