You must have a TOEFL score of 500 (173 on the computer version) to gain admission to Foothill College. During your first week at Foothill College, you will take an English test so that we can properly place you in an English class. As part of regular academic coursework, Foothill College international students take English as a Second Language courses. Foothill offers a comprehensive English as a Second Language program at six different levels of proficiency, focusing on oral communication, grammar, reading skills, composition, listening comprehension, pronunciation, and conversation. Students move from the ESL program into regular college-level English with U.S. students.

A summer language program is available to students with a TOEFL score between 475 and 499 who would like to enroll in Foothill College the following fall (the Foothill Summer Bridge Program). If you do not have a 475 or 500 TOEFL, you may wish to attend a local language school to improve your English, and then come to Foothill once your English has improved. A brochure and application for the Foothill Summer Bridge Program are available online. For more information on the Foothill Summer Bridge Program or local language schools in the Foothill College area, contact the International Programs staff.

The following are classes in the Foothill College ESL program:

Grammar: ESL 146, 156, and 166

These courses are useful both for students with little formal instruction in English and those who have studied English grammar for a number of years but still find it difficult to express themselves correctly in English. The grammar classes are not simply a series of drills and rules to memorize, but focus on correct usage in oral and written communication.

This course is helpful both for students with little formal instruction in English and for those with years of formal instruction with little opportunity to speak or hear everyday English. Listening and speaking skills are improved by watching an entertaining romantic comedy on video and becoming involved in the lives of the characters on the screen.

These courses are especially helpful for those who hate to read in English and need a dictionary by them at all times. In these reading skills classes, students will learn how to develop reading strategies that will increase reading speed, improve comprehension, expand vocabulary, and make it easier to do reading assignments in other academic classes.

These courses are geared to the student who is reluctant to write for fear of making mistakes. The students learn to express ideas freely before considering organization and language. Improvement of writing skills comes by doing multiple drafts while at the same time receiving instruction on how to find and correct the most troublesome language errors. These courses have an academic focus since both ESL 25 and 26 fulfill the composition requirement for the AA degree. ESL 26 satisfies the freshman composition reading selections, argumentation, and synthesizing information into a research paper.

Geared toward students who are difficult to understand no matter how hard they try. The course teaches which sounds to focus on in a word, in a phrase, or in an entire conversation. As a result, both listening comprehension and pronunciation are improved.

This course is geared toward students who do not have the opportunity to speak English or are too shy to try. In this course, there is plenty of opportunity to speak English in a relaxed, non-threatening atmosphere while learning about other cultures.

Students will be placed in one of these ESL classes following their English placement test during orientation. The following chart shows how a student might progress (upwards) through ESL classes into college-level English.