Improving your skills
Derby English Language Centre (DELC) provides free, in-session, language classes to help you perform better in your studies. You can take them at any point during your time at Derby, whether you are studying on an undergraduate degree or a postgraduate degree.
These sessions will boost your academic English skills and build your confidence, as well as helping you navigate the expectations of UK study. We can support you to give better presentations, improve your academic writing skills, help you to produce reports, essays and literature reviews or provide help with communication skills.
Sessions are delivered every week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The courses are made up of blocks of one to four sessions. Courses run throughout the year to help you fully develop your skills.
Certificates are available on completion of each course. These courses are available for international students and/or any student whose first language is not English. Free drop-in sessions for help with assignments and coursework can be booked in on Friday afternoons.
Book your place on our in-sessional English courses
Class timetable
In-sessional support summer schedule (6th June to 25th July)
Online: Thursdays 4-5pm (email englishsupport@derby.ac.uk to sign up for sessions and join the Microsoft team ‘In-sessional support 2023-24’)
Recordings will be shared on the ‘In-sessional support 2023-24’ Teams group
Timetable
| What you'll learn |
When |
| Referencing and paraphrasing |
6th June |
| Cohesion (improving sentences) |
13th June |
| Coherence (developing paragraphs and arguments) |
20th June |
| Improving academic style |
27th June |
| Becoming a more critical reader, thinker and writer |
4th July |
| Presentation skills |
11th July |
| Communication skills (discussion skills and group work) |
18th July |
| How to access higher grades |
25th July |
For individual support (June - August) you can email englishsupport@derby.ac.uk to ask questions or to book a 1-1 appointment to discuss your work.
Please note that englishsupport@derby.ac.uk is an advisory and support service and not a proofreading service.
We can offer feedback on things like structure, style and development of arguments and part of this could include some feedback on grammatical use and language accuracy. To do this we will look at 1-2 pages of work. To get the most from this service, you should indicate which section you want us to focus on and highlight specific questions for us.
On campus, face to face at Kedleston Road campus: upcoming for September 2024
Communication skills
| Course |
What you'll learn |
When and where |
| Conversation and discussion in the classroom |
A chance to refresh your spoken skills or to get started and meet people. An opportunity for all students to practise and improve the spontaneity and fluency of spoken interactions in English through conversational English and discussion topics such as AI in the world of work and study, career opportunities and studying abroad |
3 week course
September 2024
|
| Communication skills at University |
Improve and develop your discussion, presentation and overall communication skills |
4 week course
September 2024
|
| Continuing communication round sustainability |
An opportunity to improve and develop your discussion skills through the topic of sustainability |
4 week course
September 2024
|
| Drop in for individual questions |
Come along to ask questions about your assignments! |
September 2024
|
An introduction to academic writing
| Course |
What you'll learn |
When |
| Basics of writing |
Expectations of UK study and key terms to get started |
September 2024
|
| An introduction to academic writing |
- Referencing, citing and paraphrasing
- Structuring arguments and ideas (sentences and paragraphs)
- Academic style
- Critical evaluation vs description
|
4 week course
September 2024
|
| How to listen better to improve assignment grades |
How to make better notes, identify key points from lectures and respond successfully in spoken and written form |
September 2024
|
| Paraphrasing review |
Paraphrase practice and a review of the skills to do it successfully |
September 2024
|
| Academic style review |
A review of how to make your writing more academic in style |
September 2024
|
| Developing vocabulary |
Ways to extend and use academic vocabulary in reading and writing |
September 2024
|
| Ironing out the grammar errors |
A review of tenses, prepositions and articles usage |
September 2024
|
| Proofreading and editing skills |
Tips on how and what to check in your work |
September 2024
|
| Drop in for individual support |
An opportunity to ask questions and get individual support with assignments |
September 2024
|
Advanced academic writing
| Course |
What you'll learn |
When and where |
| Accessing higher grades - taking the basics further to see improvements |
A review of the key features of successful writing |
September 2024
|
| Developing structure in academic writing |
- Review typical report / essay structure
- Writing introductions and conclusions
- Writing the 'main body' and an abstract
|
3 week course
September 2024
|
| Becoming a more efficient reader - making better use of research from reading |
Reading strategies to read quickly and efficiently, making notes and putting your notes into your work |
September 2024
|
| Becoming a more critical reader, thinker and writer |
Each session will review critical thinking skills and practise writing in an evaluative way |
3 week course
September 2024
|
| Improving cohesion and coherence |
- Writing better sentences
- Writing better paragraphs and developing logical arguments
|
2 week course
September 2024
|
| Proofreading and editing skills |
Tips on how and what to check in your work |
September 2024
|
| Drop in for individual questions |
Come along to ask questions about your assignments! |
September 2024
|
Online Fridays
| Course |
What you'll learn |
When and where |
| Writing tips and advice |
- A weekly online webinar to discuss the topics from the on-campus classes:
- Reviewing expectations, key terms and tips for success
- Referencing, citing and paraphrasing
- Structuring arguments and ideas (sentences and paragraphs)
- Academic style
- Academic voice and critical evaluation
- Typical structure of essays and reports
- Introductions and conclusions
- Writing the ‘main body’ and abstract
- Reading in the research process
- Paraphrasing workshop
- Academic style workshop
- Proofreading and editing skills
|
September 2024
|
| Drop in |
Online drop in for assignment help or individual support |
|
For more information, email englishsupport@derby.ac.uk
Book your place
Register your interest for our in-sessional English language courses by filling out our form.
Book onto our in-sessional English courses