The Office for Research Careers, Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, and the Biomedical Research Institute are pleased to offer English as a Scientific Language Courses for Postdoctoral Fellows.  Other BWH researchers may apply and will be accepted as space allows. 

This course is designed to improve the communication skills of postdoctoral research fellows whose first language is not English and to help integrate them into their English-speaking environment. It will include both scientific and everyday English. At the end of the course, the participants will be better able to participate in lab meetings, and present and discuss their research in formal and informal settings. Class activities will focus on:

1. Reading and discussion of scientific articles
2. Expanding knowledge of academic and colloquial vocabulary
3. Exploring grammatical structures used in academic and scientific writing
4. Listening to tapes of scientists discussing their work
5. Practicing presentations with classmates
6. Exercises which address common pronunciation problems

Three course levels will be offered, geared toward the majority of the participants, and based upon the results of placement testing.  Courses will be held onsite at BWH, once weekly.  Specific room assignments will be made after placement testing.  There will be a separate Call for Applications for EACH semester. 

Spring 2010 SEMESTER: Call for Applications open - November 23, 2009

APPLICATION FORM 

COURSE PAYMENT:  $100 per student: $50 from student (Checks payable to "BWH Biomedical Research Institute"), $50 from PI (Cost center included on application).

IMPORTANT DATES:  (subject to change)
11/23/09 - CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
12/14/09 - APPLICATION DEADLINE
1/11/10 - PLACEMENT TESTING DATES BEGIN
1/20/10 - PLACEMENT TESTING COMPLETED
1/22/10 - PARTICIPANTS NOTIFIED ON CLASS PLACEMENT
1/25/10 - CLASSES BEGIN
5/6/10 - SEMESTER ENDS

Enrollment in this course is limited.  Contact ORC with questions: BWHORC@partners.org or 617 525-9323.

Other ESL Programs:

Brigham and Women's Hospital's Workforce Development group also provides ESL classes on-site that focus on cross-cultural communication in the workplace, oral proficiency, reading and writing messages.  To find out about availability and schedule a 15-minute assessment, please contact Irasema Ramirez to get an assessment. More Information here.

ESL Meetup Group in Boston. Practice your English with other internationals in Boston.

Click here for a list of other ESL Schools and Providers 

Online ESL Learning:

LANGUAGE LAB
o       English League's Language Lab

WRITING TUTORIALS
o       English Writing
o       Writing Tutorial

SCIENTIFIC WRITING
o       Writing Abstracts         
o       Writing Handouts
o       Writing Handouts

CAREER DEVELOPMENT:

o       Professional, Technical and Job search writing
o       Cover Letters and Resumes

LISTENING

o       Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab. Listening & exercises.
o       Short book reviews on a variety of topics. A program on WBZ radio. Reading and listening.
o       Voice of America (VOA). News and stories in Special (easy) English.
o       Voice of America (VOA). News and stories in regular English.
o       CNN in regular, fast English
o       An interactive literacy site with listening
o       Living on Earth: Reports on the environment. Listening and texts.
o       Listening games: conversations: choose the correct item.
o       Oral English on-line. Conversations.
o       Phrases for conversation
o       Useful expressions for business English
o       Dialogs and conversations

READING:  ARTICLES & EXERCISES
o    A variety of reading texts and activities
o    America’s story from the Library of Congress

PRONOUNICATION

o       Sounds of English Diagrams of how and where sounds are made in the mouth.
o       Minimal pairs (words where there is a difference in one sound).
o       Minimal pairs
o       Tongue twisters

GRAMMAR

o       A very large collection of grammar exercises 
o       Interesting things for ESL students, including a large grammar section
o       A collection of grammar exercises
o       A collection of grammar quizzes
o       Grammar exercises, some with listening and dialogs

SPELLING
o       Spelling Exercises

IDIOMS
o       Idioms with their meanings and sentences containing the idioms 
o       Sports idioms and how they are used in business English.
o       Slang idioms 
o       Phrasal verbs (2-word verbs) 
o       Idiom Connection 
o       Read, Write, Think

GENERAL LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES 
o       Interesting things for ESL students 
o       General website with a variety of activities 
o       General website with a variety of activities
o       Grammar, reading, vocabulary, etc.
o       General website with a variety of activities
o       The Internet Archive.  Websites with moving images, audio, print, educational.

US CITIZENSHIP TEST QUESTIONS
o       Citizenship Test Questions