• Course Introduction

        • Time: 15 hours
        • Free Certificate
        • CEFR Level B1
        Developing skills in a second language involves understanding how the language works and taking the time to practice using it. ESL002 encourages you to work with new grammar ideas and word choices and practice using those topics to write about yourself and develop your writing skills.

        In Unit 1, you will learn how past and present tenses change the meaning of what you read and write. Unit 2 improves your ability to read actively as you skim, scan, and read intensively. In Unit 3, you will read more to collect new vocabulary and learn strategies to develop it more with synonyms, antonyms, and suffixes. Unit 4 brings these skills together as you write a narrative paragraph about something you learned in the past. By the end of ESL002, you will be able to use different tenses to describe past experiences and explain to a reader how you best learn.

        • Course Syllabus

          Ready to start this course? First, read the course syllabus. It contains valuable information that will help you succeed. Then, enroll in the course by clicking "Enroll me".

        • How Good is Your English?

          • Vocabulary Page

            Complete this activity to practice some English vocabulary.

          • Reading Comprehension Page

            Read the story and answer the questions to assess how well you understand what you read in English. You can try this activity again after you have completed this course to see if your comprehension has improved.

          • Grammar Page

            Find out if you know the parts of speech in the English language that you will need for this course and a lifetime of learning!

        • Unit 1: Language Skills

          Unit 1 introduces you to basic concepts related to using verbs in Standard English: tense, aspect, and mood. This will help you explain two things when you speak or write in English. First, you can show when the actions you describe take place. Also, you can show your attitude toward those actions. In this unit, we will focus on the most commonly used tenses in English. We will review how each is formed, what makes them different, and when each is used. Finally, you will practice recognizing these tenses and then using them to create your own sentences.

          Completing this unit should take you approximately 5 hours.

        • Unit 2: Reading to Comprehend

          Unit 2 reviews active reading strategies discussed in ESL001, focusing on careful reading and features of narrative texts. Skimming, scanning, careful reading, making predictions, and using context clues will help you better comprehend (understand) what you read. In this unit, you will practice these skills to improve your comprehension of different texts in English.

          Completing this unit should take you approximately 2 hours.

        • Unit 3: Reading to Improve

          In Unit 3, you'll learn to find synonyms and antonyms and create word families with suffixes. Building your vocabulary with synonyms will help you avoid repetition and be more specific when you explain yourself. In this unit, you'll practice finding multiple meanings for words and their synonyms. This unit concludes with an activity where you'll build your vocabulary using the strategies we'll cover.

          Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.

        • Unit 4: Reading to Write – Writing About the Past

          Unit 4 combines the lessons in units 1, 2, and 3. In this unit, you'll read about events in the past and see how timelines are used to write about events. Then you'll write about an event in your past and share it in the class discussion forum.

          Completing this unit should take you approximately 4 hours.


          • Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

            • distinguish elements in the basic structure of a paragraph; and
            • produce a topic sentence and related support to develop basic cohesive descriptions of past events.

          • 4.1: Paragraph Basics – Let's Study

            The materials below include information about writing basic paragraphs in Standard English. After you read the explanations and watch the videos to learn about narrative paragraphs, you will be able to test your understanding by completing practice activities.

            • Structure and Support Page

              For college students, reading and writing are constant activities. We started this course by looking at basic tenses used to explain our thoughts in Standard English. When we choose present or past to write our sentences in English, we communicate a specific meaning. When writing paragraphs and essays, we carefully choose the tense to match the purpose and meaning of our writing.

            • Narratives Book

              Now that we know more about paragraphs, let's take a closer look at a specific type of paragraph and how we can write one.

          • 4.2: Paragraph Basics – Let's Practice

            These activities allow you to find out how well you understand the basic parts of a paragraph. If you have a difficult time recognizing these elements, you may return to review the information in the Let's Study section and then try these practice activities again.

            • Paragraph Basics Practice Book

              Now that we remember a story's elements and know the parts of a paragraph, let's put it all together in practice.

          • 4.3: Paragraph Basics – Let's Apply

            Now that you know about each element of a paragraph and narratives, let's see if we can use this knowledge to write a narrative paragraph.

            • Write About the Past Page

              The story of Luna and Violeta that you read earlier uses past tense and phrases about time to tell the reader when things occur. It is clear to the reader from the story's beginning that it is not taking place today. You can use these same tools to write about your past. Read this presentation and complete the activity to write five sentences about what you did last week. Don't worry about errors yet. You'll review your sentences and make corrections later. Instead of using the provided box to write your sentences, make sure you have your sentences written or saved somewhere else so you can come back to them later.

            • Basic Writing and Proofreading Page

              Any time you write something for school or work, you need to take time to check it for errors. Read this article on consistent verb tense and word forms. Proofreading can be hard, so many people find it helpful to use checklists and go one step at a time. You'll get some practice with this next.

            • Self-Assessment Checklist Page

              You wrote five sentences about things you did last week using the past tense skills from Unit 1, adjectives and adverbs from Unit 3, and timelines from earlier in Unit 4. Good work! The next step is to check your work and edit it if needed. Use the checklist below to review each sentence for errors. Correct any errors you find. The next step will be to share your work. Be sure to print or download the checklist to save it for future use.

            • Unit 4 Discussion: Review Your Writing Forum
              View Make forum posts: 1

              Share your edited writing in the discussion forum and see what daily activities your classmates complete. Review and respond to one or two other students' posts as well.

          • Putting It All Together

            You have learned about some writing strategies that can help you communicate clearly when writing in English. This section will help you review what you have learned in Unit 4.

            • Let's Review Unit 4 Book

              Watch these videos, which give a basic overview of the writing strategies you learned about in this unit.

          • Unit 4 Assessment

            • Unit 4 Assessment Quiz
              Receive a grade

              Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.

              • This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
              • You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
              • You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.

        • Course Feedback Survey

          Please take a few minutes to give us feedback about this course. We appreciate your feedback, whether you completed the whole course or even just a few resources. Your feedback will help us make our courses better, and we use your feedback each time we make updates to our courses.

          If you come across any urgent problems, email contact@saylor.org or post in our discussion forum.

        • Certificate Final Exam

          Take this exam if you want to earn a free Course Completion Certificate.

          To receive a free Course Completion Certificate, you will need to earn a grade of 70% or higher on this final exam. Your grade for the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. If you do not pass the exam on your first try, you can take it again as many times as you want, with a 7-day waiting period between each attempt.

          Once you pass this final exam, you will be awarded a free Course Completion Certificate.