Staff and students joining the University of Cambridge from overseas will soon be able to use an online English learning programme to sharpen their language skills.

Learners can take advantage of the “English @ Your Fingertips” course either to improve their day-to-day spoken English, or to learn how to present their papers effectively at International Conferences and write academic papers.

“English @ Your Fingertips” has been developed by the University's Language Centre at three levels and will be available online any time, anywhere and at the click of a mouse. The courses are highly interactive, using video and audio streams, activities and games, as well as text, to help learners hone new skills.

Cambridge has thousands of overseas students, most of them postgraduates, as well as numerous others from EU member states who are counted as “home” students. The University also employs thousands of staff from other countries. The majority need to have English language skills to join, but many wish to sharpen up their English once they arrive.

“English @ Your Fingertips” is a way to support people learning English in the best way possible, using all the resources at our disposal,” Anny King, Executive Director of the Language Centre, said.

“It not only gives users the support they need in learning the English language, but also enables them to familiarise themselves with aspects of English culture in the process.

“The University community is extremely diverse, which means we need a flexible and supportive English learning facility of this sort. The Language Centre already offers numerous opportunities for students who want to learn English, and this new online course is another string to our bow which means they will be able to access high-quality resources that have been carefully developed to suit their needs at any time, no matter where they are.”

Courses are available at three different levels. The “Intermediate” course improves users' day-to-day English skills, the “Higher” level covers the advanced descriptive, narrative and discursive genres of language needed for academic English, and the “Advanced” level is for academic purposes, enabling users to deliver a presentation or lecture in an academic context, and write an academic paper. An online tutor training module is also available.

More information about English @ Your Fingertips, and how to take one of the courses, is available by clicking the link to the right of this page.

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