English as a Second Language

ESL102-1 Grammar for Beginners II 

This course provides the most important vocabulary, grammar, and functional expressions needed to communicate at a basic level in a full range of daily situations and contexts. Students who complete this course successfully will acquire the correct use of language in a variety of relevant contexts, a strategy to initiate conversation, a use of indirect conversation, how to ask for clarification, an ability to comprehend and follow instructions in English, and other conversational skills. Prerequisite: ESL101 or equivalent.

ESL102-2 Speaking for Beginners II  

This course is designed to develop basic English conversational skills in American cultural and day-to-day situations for beginning students. The focus of the course is on improving listening comprehension and increasing conversational fluency. Through a broad range of student-centered activities, students are given the opportunities to practice and reinforce important grammatical structures and patterns in realistic contexts. Prerequisite: ESL101 or equivalent.

ESL102-3 Reading for Beginners II 

This course focuses on improving students’ abilities in reading comprehension and building spelling and vocabulary skills. Attention is paid to reading skills such as identifying the main and supporting ideas, using context clues for vocabulary, and summarizing/paraphrasing. Prerequisite: ESL101 or equivalent.

ESL 102-4 Listening for Beginners II 

This course is designed to have students practice listening for main ideas and important details. They will also practice making inferences using given details. In taking this course, students will be able to formulate appropriate questions to use when they meet someone for the first time. They will learn the names of different countries, their common languages, and recognize body language and gestures commonly used in many countries. In addition, they will practice reading numbers in English and learn useful adjectives to describe people and events. Prerequisite: ESL101 or equivalent.

ESL 201-1 Grammar for Intermediate I 

This course provides opportunities to further develop existing knowledge of grammar structures and acquire new ones with the emphasis on the use of present, past, and future tense, pronouns and phrasal verbs, and modals and similar expressions. Writing and speaking activities are included in the class to provide opportunities to practice grammatical structures that students acquire in class. Prerequisite: ESL102 or equivalent.

ESL 201-2 Listening/Speaking for Intermediate I 

This course provides students with the listening and speaking skills necessary to be able to communicate effectively in a range of everyday social, travel, work, and study situations. Students will review grammar and vocabulary that they have acquired from previous classes, learn useful phrases and expressions for a variety of situations, and improve their pronunciation. Some listening and speaking tasks will be complemented by short reading and writing tasks. Prerequisite: ESL102 or equivalent.

ESL 201-3 Reading for Intermediate I 

The goal of this course is to equip students with strong reading skills through exercises focusing on vocabulary building, reading comprehension, understanding details, discussion, and writing. In addition to various reading strategies, students will focus on making inferences, analyzing structures, personalizing the ideas and themes, and exchanging information. Productive activities will give students further training to become independent and confident readers. Prerequisite: ESL102 or equivalent.

ESL201-4 Writing for Intermediate I 

This course is designed to acquaint students with the basic skills required for good writing and help them become confident and independent writers in English. As students learn the fundamental principles of the writing process including prewriting, planning, drafting, revising, and editing and frequently practice writing on a broad range of topics and in various forms, they will acquire basic skills in writing and learn to express themselves in English appropriately in various forms of writing. Prerequisite: ESL102 or equivalent.

ESL 202-1 Grammar for Intermediate II  

This course, as a continuation of ESL 201A/201B, provides opportunities to develop existing knowledge of grammar structures and acquire new ones with the emphasis on the use of present, past, and future tense, pronouns and phrasal verbs, and modals and similar expressions. Writing and speaking activities are included in the class to provide opportunities to practice grammatical structures that students acquire in class. Prerequisite: ESL201 or equivalent.

ESL 202-2 Listening/Speaking for Intermediate II  

This course is designed to develop intermediate conversation, pronunciation, idiomatic expressions, and listening comprehension skills. Conversational skills and usage of idiomatic expressions are developed through a focus on fluent and appropriate use of oral communication skills in a variety of social, business and/or academic situations. Listening comprehension stresses understanding verbal instructions on campus and in the workplace. Students also learn appropriate verbal and non-verbal behavior as well as conversation management techniques to exchange ideas in small and large group settings. Prerequisite: ESL201 or equivalent

ESL 202-3 Reading for Intermediate II 

This course emphasizes the acquisition of reading skills, expansion of receptive and productive vocabulary, and comprehension of medium-length adapted reading selections. Reading skills development includes identifying main and supporting ideas, paraphrasing, scanning/skimming, making inferences, and distinguishing fact vs. opinion. In addition, vocabulary building focuses on acquiring academic vocabulary and slang expressions, and emphasis is placed on vocabulary learning strategies such as using context clues. Prerequisite: ESL201 or equivalent.

ESL 202-4 Writing for Intermediate II 

This course emphasizes competency in standard written English with a focus on high-intermediate grammar and writing skills based on the functions of an utterance such as introducing people, listing-order paragraphs, giving instructions, describing a place, stating reasons and using examples, and expressing opinions. Instruction on proper punctuation, formatting, and grammar are also provided in class. Prerequisite: ESL201 or equivalent.

ESL 301-1 Grammar for Advanced I  

The focus of the advanced grammar course is to develop integrating skills providing students plenty of practice to bridge the gap between knowing and using grammatical structures in speaking and writing. Students will practice new structures in a variety of contexts in order to internalize and master them. Prerequisite: ESL202 or equivalent.

ESL 301-2 Listening/Speaking for Advanced I

This course focuses on listening and understanding other people’s ideas, communicating students’ ideas, and exchanging them with fellow classmates. This course provides students with a unique collection of fluency practice activities designed to improve listening and speaking abilities. Students who complete this course successfully will be able to express their ideas in English, understand a wide range of advertisements, maps, pictures, and recordings, solve problems, exchange information, and describe experiences in class. Prerequisite: ESL202 or equivalent.

ESL 301-3 Academic Reading/Writing for Advanced I

The aim of this course is to serve students who wish to gain entry to higher education institutions, pursue career advancement, or better function in English speaking communities. Topics are chosen to develop critical thinking skills and language usage through reading and writing. Students will be able to practice paragraph-based writing on many topics with a focus on academic topics and standards. They will also learn and review some essential grammatical knowledge in order to apply it to their actual writing as well. Prerequisite: ESL202 or equivalent. 

ESL 301-4 Discussion for Advanced I

The focus of the course is to assist learners in attaining communicative competence on a variety of issues and topics. Students are encouraged to express their opinions on discussion topics to promote critical thinking. At the same time, the students are challenged to speak English naturally and develop accuracy as well as fluency. Prerequisite: ESL202 or equivalent.

This is an advanced grammar course which emphasizes usage of formal English grammar in written work and in speech. Students will develop skills for complex and compound sentence formation, parallelism and complementation in the context of effective writing and speaking. Prerequisite: ESL301 or equivalent.

ESL 302-2 Listening/Speaking for Advanced II  

The primary focus of this course is to promote conversational fluency and to facilitate language acquisition through the understanding of American culture. This course is also designed to help strengthen and expand students’ academic vocabulary. Words introduced are essential for higher educational programs. Students who complete this course successfully will be able to increase their cultural awareness and social skills, demonstrate accuracy in their spoken English, and express their thoughts and feelings through a diverse range of vocabulary. Prerequisite: ESL301 or equivalent.

ESL 302-3 Academic Reading/Writing for Advanced II 

This course is designed to improve writing effectiveness. Students will be required to expand their reading and writing skills learned in ESL 301 and apply these skills to selected writing assignments. They will continue to study various rhetorical patterns and use their writing skills to develop essays in these patterns. The rhetorical patterns studied in this course are process analysis, cause and effect, and argument/persuasion. Students will also learn the process and skills needed to write a clear, precise, and accurate term paper. Prerequisite: ESL301 or equivalent.

ESL 302-4 Discussion for Advanced II 

This course explores provocative scenarios and questions as means of practicing the skills necessary to achieve success in academic conversations. The course consists mainly of classroom discussion. In addition to discussions about short readings, students review common dialogue scenarios, American idioms/slang, newspaper articles, and current events. Students are encouraged to pose new situations and ask questions with an emphasis on analyzing and communicating different points of view. Prerequisite: ESL301 or equivalent.

The TOEFL preparation course is designed to improve TOEFL scores within 10 weeks. This course is designed with three important elements for success on TOEFL: problem solving principles, practice and review, and authentic practice resources. Through this course, students will be able to experience college preparatory content while improving their English proficiency by practicing with authentic TOEFL practice tests which cover Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Prerequisite: ESL301 or equivalent.

ESL 081 Introduction to ESL: Functional English

This course is designed to be an introduction to basic spoken English for new learners. Students will be able to understand what English expressions are necessary to survive in America. They will practice the useful expressions in class and also utilize them in their real life. Prerequisite: None.

ESL 082 Introduction to ESL: Holidays and Events in America

Students will be able to understand universal and unique characteristics of holidays. Through diverse activities, students will develop their four language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing skills while doing activities. In addition, they will be able to compare and contrast their own holiday cultures at the end.

ESL 091 Current Events in the News Media 

This course is designed to give students the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of current issues and to boost the habit of using their English skills to practice reading and understanding outside the demands of the ESL classroom. This class also offers numerous opportunities for students to improve their critical thinking skills. Prerequisite: None.

ESL 092 Pronunciation 

This class is designed to help students improve their pronunciation. It gives intermediate students the tools, tips, and techniques they need to speak clearly, accurately, and fluently. All aspects of pronunciation are included-consonants, vowels, stress, rhythm, and intonation. Students are also involved in the variety of activities for flexible and fun learning. Using a voice recorder, students become aware of their speaking habits and have a chance to listen to their pronunciation improvement. Prerequisite: None.

ESL 093 English through American Culture 

This course is designed to help students learn a variety of expressions used during daily activities and routines through American manners and customs related stories, which could be accomplished through reading the textbook and sub materials. This class introduces various authentic contexts for students and provides greater chances of exposure to authentic English usage. Students will improve their English skills by reading stories and solving comprehension questions. Prerequisite: None.

ESL 094 Idioms in American English

This class is designed to allow students to have daily practice with practical idioms and vocabulary expressions through the study and recitation of authentic American English expressions. Students may watch a related video, read an article, role play, and discuss what they found in their daily life. At the end of this course, students will be able to better understand colloquial expressions and express their thoughts more fluently and authentically with advanced vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. Prerequisite: None.

ESL 095 Grammar through Conversation 

This class is designed to help students use proper grammar in speaking. This class is designed to be individualized and student-centered. Students are encouraged to share grammar mistakes they commonly make in daily life or any uncertain expression that they hesitate to use. In addition, they talk about the latest breaking news and information on the latest top stories. 

ESL 096 Listening Comprehension 

This class is designed to have students learn English by reading a chapter book and listening to music. To help them with a better understanding of the story, students are asked to analyze the story element: title, characters, settings, problems, and solutions, and they participate in a literacy circle where they are asked to share their thoughts and understanding with a group. Moreover, listening to American music, students learn useful, descriptive languages as well as developing listening skills. 

ESL 097 English through Visual Media

This class is designed to have students practice daily, practical expressions by watching TV sitcoms. Students watch episodes in class and learn about American life, culture, idioms, and slang. Students reenact scenes as a role play exercise in order to practice learned expressions in conversation.

I. Non-Discrimination Policy 

Columbia College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, or disability. The College complies with the Civic Rights Act of 1964, related executive orders 11246 and 11375, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veteran’s Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 and all Civil Rights Laws of the state of Virginia. 

II. Required Materials for International Students

1. A completed application forms
2. Non-refundable application fee
3. Academic diploma/school transcript (at least high school) or International High School Equivalency certificate 
4. A copy of a photo ID (passport, driver’s license, state-issued ID)
5. Student enrollment agreement form
6. I-20 request form
7. Financial document (bank statement)
8. I-901 SEVIS student exchange/visitor processing fee receipt
9. Language proficiency test score should meet to the minimum required score range if applying for an Associate Degree Program 

III. Admission Procedures 

1. A completed application for admission with the non-refundable application fee ($100.00).
2. Proof of graduation from a high school or equivalent certified by the State Department of Education. Under certain or special circumstances where is, the applicant’s high school diploma is not available, prospective student will be required to complete the high school diploma waiver form for verification of graduation.
3. Students must complete an enrollment agreement, which defines all tuition and fees along with the method of payment, in order to secure a position in their desired classes. The enrollment agreement is usually completed during the interview. Out-of- town students can submit a completed agreement by mail.
4. For international students to obtain a Certificate of Eligibility (Form I-20), he or she must provide the financial document and/or an Affidavit of Support Form (I-134) to the admissions office. I-134 form verifies that all funds will be available for educational and living expenses while a student is studying in the United States. Once accepted, prospective students in foreign countries must apply to the American Consulate in their country for a special student non-quota F-1 visa. 

* Columbia College will not issue an I-20 form or an acceptance letter if an applicant fails to submit the required documentation and to pay the appropriate fees. 

IV. Orientation 

All new students are required to attend the new student orientation. The purpose of the new student orientation at Columbia College is to provide new students with a blueprint of all available resources the school has to offer. 

Columbia College provides a comprehensive orientation that fully prepares students, thereby providing an orderly and smooth transition into the school. During the orientation, new students will meet the school staff. It also includes library orientation about the on-site and online library which is available for all Columbia College students. Its goal is to facilitate a smooth transition into the College. After the orientation, new students will be given assistance with the registration process, receive an overview of each program which may be helpful in the transition process. An introduction to learning resources and student services available and provided with information on how to access and receive assistance from the school. The orientation date will be given to students prior to the start of their initial session. 

Student Handbook

2024-2025 Academic Calendar