The Language Centre in the University

The Language Centre offers a wide range of support services for the students and staff of the University of Cambridge.

Language Teaching

Cambridge University Language Programmes (CULP)
CULP offer University wide language courses in Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.

Bespoke Courses
CULP also features a number of specific purpose courses. These courses are either specifically designed for a Department/Faculty/School (eg. German for Historians), or they focus on a specific language skill (eg. reading), or they approach language learning by focusing on a specific 'content' (eg. Italian through Film). For full details of these courses visit LC Online (Raven password required).

English for Academic Purposes
The Language Centre offers two types of EAP support. The Pre-Sessional course is a five-week intensive course which consists of lectures, seminars, workshops and individual supervisions. In-Sessional support is offered over the course of the academic year and consists of one-to-one supervisions and workshops. It is only open to Cambridge students or students who have attended the Pre-Sessional Course.
The EAP programme provides tailored support using authentic materials directly relevant to students' degree courses and focuses on helping students' to improve both their English language and their academic skills.

Language Learning and Teaching Support

English Testing
English testing of international students is carried out for the Board of Graduate Studies and the Institute of Continuing Education as well as for our own English for Academic Purposes programme.

Online and Technical services
The Language Centre provides support and information for staff and students of the University on the use of Information Technology and other media for language learning and teaching.
Access to foreign language broadcasts is provided through live satellite TV channels in 10 languages which, as well as being available in the John Trim Centre, are multi-cast on the Cambridge University Data Network. In addition a range of off-air recordings, especially news broadcasts, are made available on LC Online.
A wide range of language learning resources are offered online. Most online resources were and are being developed in-house in support of the Centre's language learning provision. Past examination papers are available on LC Online, including listening comprehension papers from University language faculties, and listening and reading papers for CULP.
A range of online language testing applications have been developed. These are are used by the language faculties and the Board of Graduate Studies. The Language Centre provides teaching support, for example in the form of resource dossiers for relevant study topics, for example 'French Through Audio-Visual Media', 'Berlin'. Language Centre IT staff teach three modules for MML's Certificate in Humanities Computing for Languages (CHUCOL)

Supporting recruitment and widening participation
The Centre participates in University of Cambridge Open Days and can arrange tours and study sessions for Faculties and Summer schools.

Supporting induction
The Language Centre runs induction talks and tours for new members of the University, both students and staff.