English Language Support

Distance Learning Programs

If you would like to improve your English skills individually at home with 24/7 access, ELS offers the following programs:
Paper Partners
Listening Skills
Reading Skills
Pronunciation Practise

• Paper Partners On-Line: Help with written assignments.
  For students who are unable to make on-campus appointments, a limited number of appointments are now offered on-line via Skype.
  Make sure you have a free Skype account (this takes less than 5 minutes to set up - please use your Ryerson email when setting this up) - you will also need a microphone. Also make sure that no other applications are open during your appointment, and please turn off your cell phone. Add ELS to your contact list: USER NAME = english.support1
  Log-in to Skype at the time of your appointment - the ELS staff member will call you - open the paper that you will be working on - you will be able to screen share your assignment during your appointment.
  
  Please note: Most regular Paper Partner appointments (i.e. on-campus) can be offered via Skype - just let us know well in advance (els@ryerson.ca) and a confirmation will be sent back.
  Click here to make an appointment.
  
  If the appointment schedule does not allow you to participate, a limited number of appointments can be made at other times - please email els@ryerson.ca and suggest several days & times for a possible appointment - we will email you back with a confirmation. Please use your Ryerson email when contacting ELS.

• Listening Skills:
  An extensive set of academic listening materials is available at http://www.language-learning.ca/index.html. Instructions are given on the site.

• Reading Skills:
  Improve your reading comprehension and speed. Choose an area of interest, such as economics, nursing, physics, etc. Each area of interest contains exercises that focus on the following:

  • understanding concepts,
  • identifying main points,
  • increasing reading speed,
  • and comprehending word problems.
  • Click Here to open up the Table of Contents.
  • Note: For exercises in category 2b (Focus on Speed: Tachistoscopic Readings) you will need to download a tachistoscope program. This is a program that displays an image on the screen for a set amount of time. Any of the .txt files in category 2b may be used with a tachistoscope. A good tachistoscope can be downloaded, free of charge from:
    http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/languages/classical/ram/ram.html
  • Note: The answers to most of the exercises are given. A few exercises are without answers. To check your responses to those exercises, please contact Robert Roseberry at http://mail%20to:%20rroseber@ryerson.ca.
    
     

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• Pronunciation Practise:
  To practise pronunciation, you should have a mirror and a voice recorder. A free voice recorder can be downloaded from http://audacity.sourceforge.net.
• Step 1: Diagnostic Test

1. Email els@ryerson.ca to set up an appointment for a brief diagnostic test.
   
2. This test takes about ten minutes and will be done by telephone.
3. The test sentences will be emailed to you beforehand.
4. The results of your test will be discussed with you immediately after the test.
5. A summary of results and recommendations will be emailed to you
6. Click on the following links to go to web pages that are designed to help you     with your pronunciation.
7. To practise the sounds of English, go to: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/
8. To practise the sounds of vowel combinations, go to: www.paulmeier.com/ipa/diphthongs.html
9. To practise how to tell the difference between sounds that are similar, go to: http://www.manythings.org/pp/