The course aims to enable students in:
- improving language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing;
- consolidating English grammatical forms and use;
- broadening and extending vocabulary;
- selecting varied stimulating activities and themes;
- improving of pronunciation, stress and intonation; and
- increasing knowledge of everyday expressions in English.

By the end of the course, the following language skills should be extensively
developed and practiced:
- reading for meaning through group analysis of authentic subject-specific texts and articles;
- listening for, and interpreting information through exposure to a variety to authentic materials.

HESL 1 English as a Second Language I
HESL II English as a Second Language II

The English as a Second Language course is designed for students who wish to improve their language skills, pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary in a student – centred environment. The course aims to give students an opportunity to develop their knowledge in all aspects of English as a second language, to develop all language skills moving towards greater fluency and more precise use of vocabulary. The course also aims to encourage, foster and stimulate an informed interpretation and response to the English Language. English is seen as contributing valuably to personal development and to general communicative ability as well as being useful preparation for many different careers. Primarily, the course is designed to cater for students drawn from all faculties within the University who either have French or Portuguese as their mother tongue and wish to have English as a second language. The course is designed also to cater for students who might have English as a second language, but wish to improve their language skills.