English as a Second Language

Fill out a free application to the college. Instructions and application can be found here.

• Credit – CCCApply Application
• Noncredit Application

Within a few days, look for your West Valley Student ID number and WVM username/email in an email from the college.

The placement process will take about 10 minutes. It is not a test. You are the best judge of what you can and cannot accomplish in English. You need to think about what you can do now in English in your reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Then you will choose the appropriate level for your skills in the ESL program.

Learn more about the ESL self-placement.

To access the guided ESL placement, you need to sign into the Portal. Find your username and password.

For more assistance after your ESL self-placement, visit the ESL homepage or the Welcome Center.

Register for credit (ESLW) or noncredit (NCEL) classes.

Please note: If the class you want is full, you should add your name to the waitlist. When enough students are on the wait list, the college may open a new class section.

Wait Waitlist for a Course video.

Pay tuition fees for credit classes.

Buy books online.

Choose classes that fit your schedule – take one or both classes (LS and RW) at each level.

Attend an optional ESL information session on Tuesday, August 20 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM in SSC 105A.

Attend the first day of class starting on Saturday, August 24.

The International Partners Program is an on-campus international student exchange program available to all West Valley College students. The program was developed by teachers in 1993 to help American and international students to get to know one another better. It is similar to a pen pal service; however, students actually meet their "pen pal" face-to-face. Students are matched according to their weekly schedules and interests. Partners meet each other at times that are convenient for both of them, for one hour minimum during three consecutive week. Many West Valley instructors give extra credit for participating in the program.

Contact the coordinator, Sylvia Ortega, at [email protected], directly by phone (408) 741-2465, or in LA/SS 3L at West Valley College. Fill out an application form. Once you are matched with a partner, the coordinator will contact you with information about your international partner (name, age, interests, phone number, best time to call and a brief letter of introduction).

Most students spend the first hour sitting in the WVC library cafe or cafeteria and just talking. They talk about everyday things like family, school, work, hobbies, and other interests. They share pictures of their family and friends and learn new words or expressions in their partner's language. When they meet a second time, many students like to:

• go off campus, relax, and talk at a cafe
• compare food in the U.S. with food from other countries
• visit an ethnic grocery store or restaurant
• visit a bookstore together
• take a walk in a park
• share idioms, jokes, and slang
• share photos of family, friends, and pets

International

"I don't feel nervous anymore when I speak English."

"I feel more comfortable talking with Americans now."

"I can speak English a lot [better] than before."

"I met my partner at the school cafeteria and coffee shops at convenient times after school. The program gave me a good chance to talk with a native speaker and understand American culture."

"My partner was so open-minded! I didn't have to hesitate to start a sentence."

"I learned some American slang and [more about the] young people's culture."

"I got along very well with my American partner because both of us are married and we have a lot of things in common. We talked about our culture, family and our foods. I think this is a great program to [become] familiar with people from other cultures and to find good friends."

American

"I feel more comfortable starting conversations with people from other cultures [now]."

"I am able to understand people with accents better."

"I was surprised at how much my partner's English improved this semester."

"We 'traded languages'! I learned a lot of Spanish from her and she learned a lot of English from me."

"I'll always remember how friendly she was and how easily we got along."

"I appreciate other cultures more now because I saw how difficult it was for [my partner] to adapt to American culture. I am also more inclined to listen to news reports about my partner's native country because I know more [about it]."

"Sometimes people feel that immigrants don't want to have anything to do with our society. One positive thing I learned from our interactions was that my partner was very interested in learning about American culture."

• Writing Center: appropriate for 964 and 65 level students
• Library
• Financial Aid Office
• Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS)

• Academic vocabulary quizzes of 20 words arranged by part of speech and frequency with definitions and examples.
• Dave's ESL Cafe for grammar, idioms, and good clean fun
• Grammar for Writing has great videos, instructional summaries, and brief knowledge checks/quizzes on run-ons, conjunctions, restrictive clauses and more!
• Grammar Quizzes Well organized collection of quizzes
• Guide to Grammar and Writing has information and interactive quizzes on a variety of topics at different levels such as Word and Sentence level and Paragraph Level, as well as lots of quizzes and grammar reference.
• Internet TESOL Journal's Self-Study Quizzes for Grammar offers an extensive collection of self-study quizzes on many grammar topics.
• Learn English Feel Good has explanations, exercises, and quizzes for different grammar points.
• Longman Dictionary Online when you're looking for the perfect word
• Prefixes and suffixes - huge list of the building blocks of language!
• Slang
• TOEFL
• Vocabulary Exercises arranged in categories. Best for intermediate to high-intermediate levels

• Randall's Cyber Listening Lab a great place to practice listening at various skill levels
• Elllo Lots of listening activities with a transcript and interactive vocabulary and comprehension quizzes
• Breaking News English Current world news based on date or theme
• Listen and Write  23 levels of dictation difficulty.  A fun way to practice listening and spelling from news, popular songs, & more!
• English Central  speaking and vocabulary practice from commercials, movies, lectures, and news
• English Club - dictations and listen to the news with vocabulary and comprehension questions
• Voice of America worldwide news for English learners

• Computer skills - great presentations on Microsoft Office, internet, email, and computer basics from the Everyday Life Project. Practical interactive presentations on food, money, jobs, and more. 
• Many Things - word games, puzzles, spelling, stories, scrambled sentences, and fun stuff for ESL students
• BBC Learning English - word games, grammar, pronunciation, videos, and a fun soap opera series, The Flatmates.
• Rong Chang's ESL page  - short stories, sentence structure writing practice, listening, vocabulary, pronunciation, and more!

• PBS Public Broadcasting System
• NPR stories from All Things Considered program with transcript
• TED advanced level talks
• ABC News
• FOX Network
• NBC News
• CBS News
• CNN Cable News Network
• Discovery Channel  focuses on science and history
• StoryCorps wonderful illustrated real stories. Short and sweet.

Instructional Lab Assistant

We'd love to have you work for our lab if

• you can interact effectively with people whose first language is not English
• you can meticulously look at sentences and find the grammar errors easily
• you can answer the phone, keep records, and multitask

Work Study Aide for ESL Department

We'd love to have you work for our department if you are a full-time student and qualify for the work study program. Please contact the Financial Aid office for information on the Work Study Program at (408) 741-4639. See our Job Opening postings at the Financial Aid Office.

The faculty of the ESL Department would like to invite you to visit the program. Just choose the class(es) you would like to observe using the course schedule. Then contact the instructor(s) that you would like to observe (give them at least a week's notice).

For directions and a map of the campus. You'll need 12 quarters for parking.

If you want to keep current in the field, consider becoming a member of one or both of these organizations:

• CATESOL (California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages)
• TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages)

West Valley College does not offer graduate-level TESOL courses. If you're interested in getting a certificate or MA in TESOL, here are four institutions in the Bay Area that you could consider.

• Monterey Institute of International Studies
• San Francisco State University
• San Jose State University
• University of California East Bay
• University of California, Santa Cruz, Extension

Associate Faculty Pool

The West Valley-Mission Community College District maintains a joint associate faculty pool.

For general questions, call HR at (408) 741-2155 or visit Human Resources.