Classes

I will be contacting a few people from my waiting list for my PM class (That is, I have space for a few new students in the PM for people who applied before. I will email people in the order in which they applied). We are no longer following 10 week class cycles in my classes. Any new student to any of my classes is expected to attend at least 3 months (January through the end of April at least for example). But students can also stay until the end in June 2012. That means, NO, you cannot stay for just 2 months. You are expected to attend at least 80% percent of all classes and stay at least 3 months.


I try to promote greater diversity in my classes and also try to balance the language groups in the class so that no first language becomes dominant in the class :)

Now accepting online applications!

Please read this entire blog. I spent a lot of time to answer your questions here. 

After you read the whole blog, if you are interested in my FREE advanced ESL classes, please fill out the application at the bottom of this web page. 

And please do the application yourself! (If you cannot complete the application yourself, my classes will be too difficult for you.)

Fall Classes Start on 9/8/11

Fall classes will begin on September 8th, 2011. I will also begin testing new people each day for about a week starting on 9/8/11 until 9/16/11 or until my classes are full (whichever is sooner).

Please see eslplans.blogspot.com to get an idea of the topics we might cover in the class. I try to choose stimulating topics to encourage my students to improve their listening, speaking, and vocabulary in English. See the right of the blog on the top where it says "(Possible) Units for Class". These are topics I did last year and the students liked them. I would like to have students who will enjoy the class and the topics we do.

You may subscribe to this blog (www.nycesl.com) and or the class material blog (eslplans.blogspot.com) by filling in your email address on the top right of either blog where it says "follow by email". That way you will know whenever I update the blogs.


If you would like to try to be a new student with me, please fill out the application below near the bottom of this blog.

You can also see the class calendar on the bottom of either blog.

(PS: I'm on vacation at the moment through August)

Daytime classes ONLY

I am sorry, I no longer teach Saturday or evening classes anymore. I only teach daytime classes in the morning (8:30 AM-12 PM) and in the afternoon (12:30 PM - 4:12 PM). All classes meet 5 days a week from Monday through Friday. You are expected to attend a minimum of 3 months at least in any of my classes with an average attendance of at least 80%. You may also stay longer if you wish (classes ens in June of 2012).

Listen to Andy's former students talk about the classes

Go to my other blog here if you want to to see and listen to videos of my former students talking about their experiences learning English with me at Hartley House.

What kind of classes do I teach?

We try to emphasize listening and speaking skills the most. If you are looking for a class that will do a lot of reading, writing, and grammar, then my classes would NOT be a good choice for you. You should take a college ESL class that specializes in those areas.


My classes are free to people aged 21 and over who have  a New York City (Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, etc) address. You must have a NYC address when you fill out the registration form.

 We try to improve our listening through listening to music and learning songs and also by watching parts of movies on DVDs. In addition, the students do a lot of oral presentations. Each day one student comes in front of the class and presents for 10 to 15 minutes. The oral presentations are often supported pictures from a Google Presentation on line that the student made (like Microsoft Power Point, but free. We don't use Power Point in class. I prefer everyone to use Google Presentations when they want to use pictures to make it simple for everyone).


We do not really use textbooks since we emphasize listening and speaking in the class. We read articles that I have found online from many different web sites, but we read them mostly so we can learn new vocabulary and to get topics for conversation. We try to learn a lot of new words. We try to spend a part of every day doing conversation in groups. I also believe learning about American culture is equally important to learning English in order to really understand things and people.


The students generally have a lot of fun and enjoy the classes a lot.      
I post links online to articles and some video clips that I might be using for my classes so that students can prepare in advance for the lessons if they like. See my planning blog here at eslplans.blogspot.com if you are curious.
  Here are some youtube videos I made of the kinds of typical conversation topics we might have in class.


   

Daytime Classes

All my advanced ESL classes emphasize oral skills (NOT grammar or writing), and also cover vocabulary and American culture.


Note: It is very helpful for the class if you already have your own PC, regular internet access, have a gmail account to use Google services, and at least know how to make a slide show with power point and Google presentations (docs.google.com ).

My advanced AM class meets from 8:30 to 12:00 pm Monday through Friday. My advanced PM class meets from 12:30 to 4:12 pm Monday through Friday. Both classes start on September 8th, 2011. These daytime classes meet at Hartley House.

Directions to Hartley House

TRAVEL DIRECTIONS HERE:

Hartley House is located at 413 W.46th Street. This is on the West Side of Manhattan near 9th Avenue. The closest subway stop is the 42nd street stop of the blue IND line (A,C, or E trains). If you are coming downtown, sit in the last car and go out the 44th Street exit. You will be at 44th Street and 8th Avenue.

You can also take the N, Q, or R trains to 49th street and go out at the the 47th Street exit. You will be at 47th Street and 7th Avenue.

Or you may take any train that goes to Times Square, 42nd Street. The school is a short walk away.







Hopstop is a great free service that will give you subway or directions to go places in NYC. Enter the address you want to go (413 West 46th Street, NYC, NY 10036) and the address that you are coming from and they will give you travel directions.

See a hopstop map here: 413 West 46th Street

We CANNOT give I-20s

I am sorry, we cannot give you an I-20 student visa. We are a free program from the NYC Department of Education. We DO NOT give out student visas. If you need a visa, you will need to go to a program where you need to PAY. Some colleges can give you a visa to study ESL. And many private schools in NYC can give you a student visa. WE cannot give you an I-20 visa. I also cannot recommend any specific schools that can give you a visa either. Sorry.

Check out my vocabulary blog...

I try to post the words that we go over in class to a vocabulary blog. I prefer that my students NOT spend all their time in class with their noses attached to a dictionary. I believe that class time, as much as possible, should be for actually using the language. I want students to listen and speak as much as possible during the class.

For this reason I try to take the responsibility for posting the most important words we learn in class on a blog. I also try to make an mp3 audio post of the words for each class. I usually post every day. Sometimes things get busy and then I catch up on the weekend.

Would you like to see the blog? Click here.


If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to my vocabulary podcasts here.
Don't have iTunes? Download it here for free


You can also see my videos on youtube for discussion topics for my classes. go to http://www.youtube.com/user/nycesltalk

Contact Info

See my complete blog here at nycesl.com. You can find information about my free ESL classes there including the schedule and you can also sign up for the waiting list. If you would like to see videos of my former students talking about the classes you go here: whatdothestudentssay.blogspot.com

If you still have questions after reading all the information at www.nycesl.com, and you need more information, please contact me by email at:

andy.nycesl@gmail.com Reading emails is much easier for me and it is easier to keep track of our conversations that way).



But please, do read this whole blog before emailing me. I spent a lot of time trying to answer your questions here and more than likely your questions are already answered in this blog.

Online Application for 2011~ 2012