The key strength of St. Thomas University has always been the close personal attention it gives each individual student. This personal approach to students guides our curriculum in our ESL support.

St. Thomas offers a unique way of testing and placing students. We recognize that individual students have individual needs. We believe that the course of a student’s education should not be dictated by the results of any single language test. We believe that students deserve better than that.

At St. Thomas University, every student who has not yet fully mastered the English language meets immediately upon arrival with the ESL Director. The Director will assess the student’s ability through an oral interview, a vocabulary and grammar test, and an essay assignment. Based on the results of these tests, the Director will develop an individualized curriculum for each student that suits his or her level. The Director’s objective is to provide each student with a curriculum that will be challenging, but not overwhelming.

The ESL Director will create a curriculum for each individual student out of the following four options:

• Special for-credit ESL: These are courses that focus on the major skills of listening, speaking, reading, and academic writing.
• Sheltered Courses: These are sections of regular St. Thomas courses (such as Introduction to Sociology or Introduction to Psychology) that are reserved for ESL students. They are taught by St. Thomas professors who meet with the class for an extra hour each week so that they can present the material more slowly and take extra care to ensure that the students understand. Typically, these classes have enrolments of only 10 to 20 students.
• Assisted Courses: These are regular St. Thomas courses open to all students, but ESL students are provided with a tutor from the course who meets with them after class to review the material that was presented.
• Regular Courses: These are the regular course offerings for all St. Thomas students. Approximately twenty-five different courses are available for first-year students each semester.

The first semester curriculum for students who attain an intermediate level in their English language skills test will include one ESL course and two sheltered courses. Students whose English is very advanced may be advised to take five regular courses. Most students are provided with a curriculum that is somewhere between these two options, a personally tailored combination of the four types of courses listed above.

Summer Session and Intersession

The ESL Director may determine that some of our full-time ESL students would be best served by taking fewer than five courses per semester, the normal full-time course load.

Any St. Thomas student who takes less than five courses during the regular academic year will normally make up the missing credits by taking courses at Intersession (May-June) or Summer Session (July-August). St. Thomas University permits ESL students who are directed to take less than five courses to make up those credits at Intersession or Summer Session free of charge. For details, check with the Director of ESL.

Admission Requirements

Students who meet the following minimum English Language Proficiency scores and the St. Thomas academic admissions requirements are eligible for the ESL programme.
TOEFL: 173 (computer-based)
TOEFL: 500 (paper-based)
MELAB: 69
IELTS: 5.0

Note: Students with TOEFL scores of 230 (computer-based) or 570 (paper-based), a MELAB score of 80, or an IELTS score of 6.5 or greater are eligible to take five regular academic courses, but may take Sheltered and Assisted Courses if they wish.

For more information please contact:

St. Thomas University
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 5G3
Phone: 506.452.-0532 Fax: 506.452.0617
Email: Admissions Office

Request for information and/or application to be sent by mail.