Expanding minds Strengthening friendships Unlocking opportunities
For over 100 years, the educational and cultural programs of the English-Speaking Union (ESU) have enriched the lives of students, teachers, English language learners and members worldwide.

Educational Programs

What We Do

Travel and Learn Abroad

The ESU unlocks opportunities to educators, students and lifelong learners to live and learn in the United Kingdom on programs ranging from one week to one year. Merit-based and ESU branch-sponsored scholarships available to renowned British universities and theatre programs.

English Conversations

English in Action matches learners of English with volunteer tutors for weekly conversation practice. The program offers one-to-one conversations and group discussions. Volunteers provide newcomers with a window into U.S. life and culture.

Center for New Immigrants

The Andrew Romay New Immigrant Center (ARNIC) supports the integration of recent immigrants into U.S. social, economic and civic life. The free program offers English language classes, conversation practice, career development services and opportunities for civic and cultural learning. The center builds community for new immigrants from diverse backgrounds.

National Shakespeare Competition

The National Shakespeare Competition is a performance-based program supported by ESU Branches across the country. High school students read, analyze, perform and recite Shakespearean monologues and sonnets. The National Shakespeare Writing Competition provides high school students the opportunity to express their love of Shakespeare through creative and analytical writing.

Debate and Public Speaking

The ESU’s middle and high school debate leagues provide students with the opportunity to develop critical thinking skills through public speaking at debate tournaments in the US throughout the academic year. Students from all over the world also have the opportunity to hone their skills during the International Public Speaking Competition in London.
Support Us
The English-Speaking Union of the United States relies on the generosity of individuals, foundations and corporations in accomplishing our mission.
Your tax-deductible contribution to the ESU will provide meaningful cultural and educational programs that enrich the lives of thousands of middle school, high school and college students nationwide, our members across the country and the greater international community of those teaching, learning and speaking English.
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Happy Hour: Shakespeare: How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall with Eliot A. Cohen

Shakespeare: How Leaders Rise, Rule, and FallMay 1 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Livestream
United States

Perhaps our best teacher on the nature of power – how it is acquired, exercised, and lost – is none other than William Shakespeare. An incisive observer of human nature, Shakespeare educates us on the qualities that make a successful leader and warns how power can corrupt a leader’s moral comp…

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Happy Hour: Discovering Faulkner’s American South in 1990s Pakistan with Dr. Saima Sherazi

May 22 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Livestream
United States

The 1990s found agrarian societies in Pakistan undergoing profound transitions, not unlike the American South in the first part of the twentieth century. William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury” captures the stark confrontation between waning Southern aristocracy (the Compson family) and th…

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ESU 2024 Patron Trip: A Private View of Italy

September 21 – September 27

Founded by art historian Count Stefano Aluffi-Pentini in 1996, A Private View of Italy encourages guests to appreciate the life of historic palaces and villas, and allows them to discover the inaccessible treasures that are hidden behind closed doors. Through the centuries the Italian aristoc…

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