Private, independent ESL schools are present in major metropolitan areas around the world. These organizations have English classes broken up by levels and by learning needs. If you are a professional who needs to use English on a regular basis in a business setting, you can take business English classes. Students preparing for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam to enter college can also take classes that focus specifically on the content of this test.
Community colleges offer academic English classes to international students who want to succeed in U.S. colleges. These programs are often not for college credit but are prerequisites to enroll as regular students in the college. Community colleges may also offer basic English classes to area residents. These classes are not for college credit, and they are not academically-based.
Four-year colleges offer higher-level English courses for those who want to attend U.S. colleges or take college English language programs in other countries. These classes are academically-based, and they are meant to prepare students for the rigors of attending lectures entirely in English, writing essays in English and competing in a business world dominated by the English language.
Nonprofit ESL programs may offer classes at churches or other places of worship, in community centers or out of a nonprofit organization's offices. One ESL-focused nonprofit organization in Boulder County, Colorado, called Intercambio de Comunidades, provides trained volunteer teachers to teach small groups of English language learners in public buildings, their offices and even in individual students' homes for a low fee. (See Reference 1.) The adult education center in your community's school district also likely offers ESL classes for low cost or for free.