For the postgraduate students from non-English speaking countries preparing to begin their higher academic journey, you may come across the LSE’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Programme. Whether or not you have heard of it before, this blog will introduce you to the English pre-sessional programme at the LSE with some first-hand insights from a 2020 alumnus.

What exactly is an EAP?

EAP, short for English for Academic Purposes, is a pre-sessional short course programme taught every year by the LSE Language Centre during the summer break. EAP serves as a way to fulfil the English language condition for conditional offer holders. However, like me, one can voluntarily enrol on this course to familiarise themselves with the English speaking academic environment. The course has two lengths, five weeks and ten weeks, depending on your preference, with the term time running roughly between the second half of July and the end of August.

What is taught in the EAP?

The EAP covers all four English skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. What makes it different is that it is adjusted to academic purposes, a style that you will encounter every day in your time at LSE. You will get to practice several types of conversation for speaking skills: a monologue where you do all the talking, a discussion between two people, or even a debate with a group of three or more people. As for listening skills, you can practice listening to a lecture or a discussion while also developing your note-taking skills, which will be helpful in your academic life. Furthermore, reading skills will immerse you with a research article or a textbook chapter, a type of reading you will encounter in your reading lists. Among other things, you will be taught how to effectively read it and draw the author’s main argument or main idea. Lastly, and this is the one that I found most valuable to me, the writing skill. You will get to practice how to write an “academic essay”, a strange beast that is not quite the same as a general essay. And this is the type of essay you will encounter in your academic life that requires some practice before acing it.

What is it like to study in this summer school?

As the EAP is taught during July and August before the Michaelmas term starts, it is considered a summer school at the LSE. And as the name suggests, spending your summer in London has several advantages.

• While this may be specific for the student whose native language is not English, you get to prepare for the English-speaking environment. But more importantly, I befriended a group of good friends who came from different cultures and backgrounds. We had three Thais, five Japanese, one Korean, and three Chinese in our 2020 sub-classes. We had fun exchanging our experiences and have kept in touch until this day.
• You can explore London in the beautiful summertime. Long days, nice weather and lots of places to discover, there is no better time to explore London than the summer. So you still have time to enjoy your life before the Michaelmas term starts, and everything jumps on you.
• You get to see and familiarise yourself with the campus in all its glory. Trust me, the LSE campus in the summer is almost a ghost town. I never realised that until the Michaelmas term started and the lively and bustling energy flowed everywhere on campus. In the summer, you can explore the campus beforehand, find your favourite canteen and café, find your favourite study spot. After that, you are ready for everything that will come your way in the new academic year!