Student Learning Commons: English as an Additional Language Workshops and Workshop Series

This is a list of all English as an Additional Language workshops offered by the Student Learning Commons. All upcoming workshops are listed here.

All SLC English As An Additional Language (EAL) Workshops are recognized on the Co-Curricular Record (CCR), an official University document that tracks students’ co-curricular involvement at SFU. Learn more about the Co-Curricular Record. 

For further information about SLC workshops and services, contact us.

Workshop Series

Academic English Grammar and Writing for Multilingual Learners of English

A seminar-style workshop series on academic grammar, critical thinking, and essay writing. Sessions are held once per week for 2 hours each. Offered 2-3 times per year. Open to undergraduate only.

Pronunciation for Social, Academic, and Professional Settings

This seminar-style workshop series provides the rules, learning strategies, and contextualized practice in the stress, rhythm, and melody of English words, phrases, and discourse. Students will also learn how a Canadian accent differs from American, British, and Australian varieties of English by analyzing popular TV shows. Offered 1-2 times per year. Open to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Workshops

Writing

Fantastic Vocabularies and How to Learn Them - for Multilingual Students

Why is it so difficult to learn new vocabulary? Do you find yourself forgetting the meaning of the new word you just looked up?This workshop will walk you through exercises to help improve vocabulary retention, including reading in context, practising using new words, and coming up with strategies that work best for you. Bring your vocabulary notebook—if you don’t have one, consider starting one.

Navigating Field, Tenor, and Mode for Effective Communication - for Multilingual Students

Discover the power of Field (subject matter), Tenor (relationship between participants), and Mode (communication medium) as essential tools for crafting effective messages. Participants will learn to apply these elements, enabling them to create content that is not only clear and relevant but also finely attuned to the specific needs and expectations of their audience.

Paragraph Patterns - for Multilingual Students

Learn how to write effective paragraphs using the principles of theme and information flow.

Structuring Ideas through Grammar - for Multilingual Students

In this workshop, students will learn to structure their writing by becoming familiar with the types of sentences and parts of speech. We will discuss improving the clarity of writing by using parallel structure, varying sentence lengths, and avoiding dangling modifiers and unclear subordinate phrases.

Understanding Familiar-to-New Information Flow - for Multilingual Students

Learn practical strategies for guiding your readers through the transitions from familiar to new information in your writing, ensuring clarity and engagement.

Writing Cohesively with Thematic Progression - for Multilingual Students

In this webinar, you will learn language strategies to move from one statement in a text to the next to establish a clear connection of ideas in your writing.

Reading

Academic Reading Skills

Multilingual students often find reading academic texts difficult as they encounter unfamiliar vocabulary and writing styles. This webinar will give you some ideas for what to do when you come across new vocabulary words and how to learn strategies to make sense of your reading.

Speaking

Enhance your Comprehensibility - for Multilingual Students

Learn strategies for improving English stress, rhythm and melody of spoken English.

Facilitated Conversation Groups

Let’s Talk!

Join your peers in a friendly group setting to practice and improve your speaking and listening skills. Let's Talk! is open to all SFU students, both undergraduate and graduate. Interested faculty, including visiting professors, are also most welcome.

Let's Talk Food!

We have food every day. Something as mundane as food can spark interesting conversations. 
Let’s talk Food! is a workshop in which we discuss and share our passion for food. Share with us your favourite dishes, ingredients, and cooking methods. Tell us how certain types of food give you that nostalgic feeling or remind you of a distant memory. Discuss why you do not like certain foods with your peers. You can also listen to your peers’ food-related stories. You may be convinced to try some new foods yourselves. Foods represent a part of our diverse cultures. Foods connect traditions with moderns. Foods transverse any borders.
Come and join Let’s talk Food! to let food bring us all together.

Let's Talk Life!

We believe everybody has a story to tell, life experiences that make you who you are. 
Let’s Talk Life! is a discussion-based workshop about sharing and learning how different situations contribute to our development.  Daily occurrences that are just another day for you might be the perfect motivation for others.  Share a story yourself, learn how to put your experiences in front of the world, or just listen to your peers share their stories and learn from their experiences. 
Join us as we share and discuss how challenges can be turned into opportunities and every stone on your journey in life can be turned into a milestone.