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Centre for English Language Teaching (CELT)

CELT offers a range of face-to-face and online English language workshops and one-to-one consultations for international students throughout the academic year.

The aim is meaningful, practical support.

The focus is on the enhancement and mastery of academic English language skills.

These sessions are voluntary and are offered at no extra cost to Ulster students.

As freestanding lessons, students can sign up to as many or few workshops as they wish. Lessons are offered at different times during the week to accommodate students’ timetables.

If you feel you can improve your use of English at university, you are very welcome to join a workshop and engage in the friendly learning process that CELT provides.

You are also warmly invited to arrange a one-to-one online consultation with a CELT tutor, where the focus will be entirely on your English and your work.

Register for a workshop

  • Academic Writing Workshops
    • What is an academic essay? Features of academic writing/text types/genres
    • Academic style and register
    • The process of writing academic essays: Understanding essay titles, planning an essay and organising notes
    • Building a paragraph including topic sentences
    • Writing introductions and conclusions Thesis statements
    • Note-taking, paraphrasing and summarising
    • Text Cohesion and Signposting
    • Using sources and referencing
    • Avoiding plagiarism
    • Critical thinking
  • Grammar and Accuracy Workshops
    • Passive and active voice
    • Cautious language: models, generalising, possibility
    • Verbs of reference and verb tenses
    • Complex and compound sentence structures
  • Presentation Skills Workshops
    • The structure and signposting language in a presentation
    • Language and visuals including parallelism
    • Pronunciation/intonation/pacing and pausing
    • Practicing your presentation and obtaining feedback
  • Academic Vocabulary Workshops
    • Strategies for vocabulary learning
    • Synonyms
    • Academic Vocabulary: Nouns and Adjectives
    • Academic Vocabulary: Verbs and Adverbs
    • Word formation/prefixes and suffixes
  • Extended Writing and Research Skills
    • Selecting information effectively
    • Project management and planning
    • Use of evidence to support ideas
    • Note-taking, summarising and paraphrasing
    • Acknowledgement of sources
    • Development of content
    • Writing abstracts
    • Proof-reading practice
  • English for Everyday Life
    • "Northern Irish" English
    • Idioms and local sayings
    • Formal and informal discussion skills
    • Pronunciation skills

One to one Consultations Booking

CELT offers free, online one-to-one academic consultations for non-native speakers of English who are registered students at Ulster University.

These are friendly and supportive sessions and are held during Semesters 1 and 2 (September – December; January – May).

The main purpose is to identify and address problems that may occur frequently in the student’s writing.

The Consultation

During your 30-minute online session, the Teaching Fellow will provide you with direct specific support. For example, the Teaching Fellow may look at your structure, paragraphs, coherence, lexical skills or any other areas of concern.

We strongly advise you to make a one-to-one appointment well in advance to avoid disappointment.

All consultations are for 30 minutes and you will receive a reply confirming your time and the name of the Teaching Fellow you have selected to meet.

Please bear in mind that all classes and consultations are UK time, although one-to-one consultations will show up in your emails in the local time zone from where the booking was made.

  • Prepare for the Consultation

    Please email the Teaching Fellow with a draft of your work no later than 24 hours before your consultation and highlight any particular areas you would like to focus on.

    Remember that the consultation will last for a maximum of 30 minutes and it is in your interest to be as clear as possible about your specific tutorial needs.

  • Proof-reading

    The Teaching Fellow will identify and correct examples of certain errors which may occur frequently in your writing.

    It is also possible to focus on the development and organisation of your ideas.

    The tutor will not correct all spelling and grammar errors, but s/he will help you avoid them in future.

    Our goal is to help you to become a more confident writer.

    This is a teaching and learning service to help you develop your academic skills, not a proof reading and finalising facility.

Consultations are limited to one per student per week.