Welcoming the Stranger Classes are FREE for All Students.
Welcoming the Stranger is a nonsectarian non-profit that offers free English, computer skills and citizenship preparation classes to adult immigrants and refugees in Bucks and contiguous counties in PA and several counties in NJ.
Classes are offered online, as well as in-person at locations in Bensalem, Doylestown, Hatboro, Lambertville, Langhorne, Levittown, Morrisville, Richboro, and Warminster.
Classes are offered to all students regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.
Term Schedules for 2025 are:
Winter: January 6, 2025 to March 28, 2025
Spring: April 7, 2025 to June 27, 2025
Fall: September 8, 2025 to November 26, 2025
Free English, Computer, and Citizenship Classes
Winter Term 2025
Free online and in-person classes are available for adult immigrants and refugees who live in Bucks County and nearby areas of Montgomery, Philadelphia, Lehigh and Northampton Counties in Pennsylvania, and Burlington, Hunterdon and Mercer Counties in New Jersey.
Welcoming the Stranger will be offering online and in-person classes during the Winter 2025 term, which will run from January 6, 2025, through March 28, 2025.
ONLINE and IN-PERSON ENGLISH CLASSES
Returning Students may begin registering for Winter 2025 classes on Friday, December 13, 2024. You are a returning student if you registered for and attended an English class during the Fall 2024 term.
All Other Students (students who did not register for and attend an English class during the Fall 2024 term) may begin registering on Friday, December 20, 2024.
If you are a student who did not take an English class with Welcoming the Stranger during the Fall 2024 term, and you submit a registration request before December 20, 2024, you will not be guaranteed a seat in the class for which you registered.
You may only register for one online English class during the Winter term, but you can also register for in-person English classes during that term. All English class students may also register for Citizenship and Computer classes.
ONLINE and IN-PERSON CITIZENSHIP AND COMPUTER CLASSES
Registration for Citizenship and Computer classes will open for all students on Friday, December 13, 2025.
You may register for more than one Citizenship and more than one Computer class.
How to Register
If you are interested in registering for a class, you must use our online class registration system. If you have taken a class with us since Fall 2020, simply click the Register Now button below. You may also want to confirm or update your Account information.
If you are new to Welcoming the Stranger, create an account here so that you can register for classes.
Welcoming the Stranger uses photographs for our website and newsletters and in correspondence with sponsoring agencies. Please let us know if we can use your picture for these purposes by choosing either “yes” or “no” in your Account information.
Once you have an active account, you can register for classes here.
Guide to English Class Levels
This guide is designed to give students a general idea of what will be taught in Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced classes and to help students decide which class level is best for them.
All in-person English classes are multi-level. You can register for any in-person English class whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced level student.
Each online English class specifies the English level of the students who may register for the class. If you have beginner level English skills, you should register for a beginner class; if you have intermediate level English skills, you should register for an intermediate class; and if you have advanced level English skills, you should register for an advanced class.
If you are not sure of your English skill level, please see below the guide that will help you decide which level would be best for you. Also, individual class descriptions may contain additional information about specific classes.
BEGINNER: This class is for people who can speak, read or understand little or no English. Lessons may include:
The alphabet (ABCs), numbers, months, days, names and addresses
Important words related to family members, household objects, shopping and school
Simple questions and answers
Basic adjectives (describing words) and pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they)
Simple present and past tense of common verbs (I walk, I walked, I eat, I ate)
Real-life conversation skills
INTERMEDIATE - This class is meant for people who can communicate understandably with some mistakes. Lessons will be designed to meet the specific needs and goals of the students in the class and may include:
Using statements, questions and commands in appropriate situations
Practicing routine social conversations in common settings (shopping, employment, school, medical visits)
Reading and discussing written materials
Writing simple and compound sentences
Understanding English spoken at a natural rate and in longer statements
Giving and following directions
Learning a broad range of vocabulary, including idioms, collocations and synonyms
Learning and using future and continuous verb tenses and comparative and superlative adjectives
ADVANCED - This class is meant for people who can understand and participate in conversations on a variety of everyday subjects with occasional mistakes. Lessons will be designed to meet the specific needs and goals of the students in the class and may include:
Participating in discussions on topics beyond immediate survival needs (news and events in the workplace, community or society)
Giving and following detailed, multi-step directions and instructions
Using a variety of sentence patterns, new vocabulary and idioms in spontaneous conversation
Learning and using more complex verb forms, connectives, modals and phrasal verbs
Reading and discussing newspaper articles, stories, novels or other materials available to the general population