A General English Course will help you develop your knowledge of the language and your ability to use it for a variety of purposes. Your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation should improve together with the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, all in a setting that will broaden your knowledge of British culture. Our current General English Courses are at the following levels: Beginners, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate and Pre-Advanced.  

We adapt our courses according to our students’ needs, and these vary according to the composition of the class (and the time of year). Our lower level classes at the moment tend to need a substantial element of Everyday English, while many of those at the Upper-Intermediate level are preparing for the IELTS exam. Some of our current Pre-Advanced students are very interested in Business English and Academic Writing, and so these are components of their course.

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Beginners learn:
•    how to introduce themselves and greet others
•    how to share personal information
•    how to ask for things
•    lots of new vocabulary on topics such as jobs, sport, food, clothes and furniture
•    lots of useful grammar, including the present and past simple, prepositions, possessive adjectives
•    how to pronounce words clearly
•    how to ask for clarification
•    how to listen to get the general idea
•    how to listen for details
•    how to take part in social conversation
•    how to use everyday English in a variety of settings
•    how to follow a short story on a familiar topic
•    how to use knowledge of the alphabet to sound out unfamiliar words
•    how to make simple sentences
•    how to use basic punctuation
•    how to spell common words
•    how to develop learning strategies

Elementary students learn:
•    how to greet each other politely
•    how to order coffee, make a hotel reservation, buy clothes
•    how to make requests, ask for permission and ask for action
•    how to ask for directions
•    how to describe people
•    how to listen for gist and respond in a face-to-face situation
•    how to listen and extract key information
•    how to recognize a speaker’s feeling and attitude
•    how to follow a short narrative on a familiar topic
•    lots of new vocabulary on topics such as shopping, education, music, the family, holidays and adventures
•    lots of useful grammar, including adverbs of frequency, quantifiers, comparative adjectives
•    how to describe a friend, complete a form, write a letter
•    how to develop all language skills

Pre-Intermediate students learn:
•    how to develop conversations, face to face and on the phone
•    how to describe countries, give directions, talk at the doctor's
•    how to use English practically in airports, hotels and restaurants
•    how to use stress and intonation adequately to support comprehension
•    how to make requests, ask for factual information, directions and instructions
•    how to express statements of fact, give explanations, take part in more formal interaction
•    how to extract the main points when listening to presentations
•    how to listen for details in short narratives and explanations
•    lots of new vocabulary on topics such as work, travel, animals, sport, school subjects and shopping
•    lots of new collocations, adverbs, adjectives, verbs
•    lots of useful grammar, including present perfect simple, continuous tenses, modals and conditionals
•    how to use context and both phonic and graphic knowledge to decode words
•    how to obtain information from illustrations, maps, diagrams and captions
•    how to exchange information orally, write book and film reviews, emails and informal letters
•    how to obtain information from a simplified dictionary to find meanings of unfamiliar words
•    how to use punctuation and capitalization to aid understanding
•    how to write descriptive texts and give opinions
•    how to construct simple and complex sentences using conjunctions, such as ‘and’ and ‘but’
•    how to develop strategies to aid spelling

Intermediate students learn:
•    how to make suggestions, offers and polite requests, express opinions, agree and disagree
•    how to make predictions, discuss obligations, permission and dilemmas
•    how to book a flight, show interest, make social arrangements
•    how to use formal language and register when appropriate
•    how to make arrangements
•    how to use formal and informal English in appropriate settings, including over the phone
•    how to use stress and intonation to make meaning clear
•    how to take appropriate turns in conversation
•    how to recognize context and predict meaning in a range of listening texts
•    how to listen for relevant and new information on radio, TV or in live presentations
•    how to listen and respond appropriately to others’ points of view
•    how to follow a discussion actively
•    lots of new vocabulary on topics such as leisure, art, work, life events, literature, society and the weather
•    lots of useful grammar, including modal verbs, conditionals, relative clauses, quantifiers, phrases for comparing, reported speech
•    how to trace and understand the main events of chronological, continuous descriptive texts
•    how to recognize the key organizational features of instructional texts
•    how to extract the main points and ideas, and predict words from context
•    how to use knowledge of syntax and grammar to work out meaning and confirm understanding
•    how to use a variety of reading strategies to help read and understand an increasing range of unfamiliar words
•    how to plan an essay
•    how to structure paragraphs
•    how to make appropriate use of discourse markers and conjunctions
•    how to write a letter of application, role-play an interview, write a biography, produce a curriculum vitae, write a book or film review
•    how to complete forms with complex features
•    how to apply knowledge of spelling to a wide range of common words and special-interest vocabulary
•    how to proof-read for content and expression

Upper-Intermediate students learn:
•    how to make conversation, respond sympathetically, give advice and make suggestions
•    how to deal with unexpected and awkward situations face-to-face and problems on the telephone
•    how to give and report opinions
•    how to articulate the sounds of English clearly in connected natural speech
•    how to take part in more formal interactions
•    how to listen for grammatical or phonological detail
•    how to use strategies to clarify and confirm understanding
•    how to provide feedback and confirmation to others
•    lots of new vocabulary on topics such as mysteries, the media, fame and fortune, nature, adventures and mishaps, unusual achievements
•    how to understand and identify the different ways in which meaning is built up in texts
•    how to understand how main points and specific detail are presented and linked
•    how to use skimming, scanning and detailed reading in different ways for different purposes
•    how to use implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge, together with prior experiential knowledge, to predict meaning, try out possible meanings and read and check for sense
•    how to develop an increasing understanding of a range of vocabulary, using knowledge of word structure, related words, word roots and borrowings
•    how to structure texts sequentially and coherently
•    how to choose language suitable for purpose and audience
•    how to select format and appropriate structure for different purposes
•    how to write using complex sentences
•    how to use sentence grammar accurately to achieve purpose
•     how to proof-read for content, accuracy of grammar, spelling and punctuation, and expression

We also have advanced classes.


Please download our full list of Courses and Fees