General English
A1 Elementary Course (General 1)
What level does this course aim at?
1 Beginners aim at the A1 level in English, as outlined by the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).
What are the components of the course?
The course content includes reading, writing, audiovisual, listening and speaking components,
and uses cutting edge educational technologies. The Information Handbook given to
students upon registration includes a detailed description of the course components.
This course is a prerequisite for:
Beginner Course
We expect that you will:
• Participate actively in all class activities
• Follow your teacher’s instructions
• Submit assignments on time
• Attend every lesson on time
• Complete each course successfully to proceed to the next one
What will I learn?
Through this course, you will develop the level:
- accuracy and fluency in speaking and writing
- awareness of the writing process
- reading sub-skills
- listening sub-skills
What is the level of this course?
This course aims at the A1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).
At A1 level you can:
- understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type.
- introduce themselves and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has.
- interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
What are the components of the course?
The course content includes speaking, grammar, listening, writing, reading, vocabulary, and educational technology components.
- The topics covered in the reading, speaking and listening components are introductions and greetings; names; countries and nationalities; jobs; workplaces and school; daily schedules; clock time; shopping and prices; clothing and personal items; colors and materials; music, movies, and TV programs; entertainers; invitations and excuses; dates and times, families, sports, fitness, routines, free time activities, chores, vacations, stores and places, neighborhoods, houses, and apartments, appearance and dress, clothing styles, past experiences, unusual activities, cities, hometowns, countries, health problems, medications and remedies, food and restaurants, world geography and facts, invitations and excuses, leisure time activities, telephone messages, life changes, plans, and hopes.
- The speaking component consists of pronunciation practice, and being able to introduce oneself, exchanging personal information, common expressions, describing work and school, asking for and giving opinions, describing daily schedules, discussing preferences, making comparisons, buying and selling things, talking about likes and
dislikes, making invitations and excuses, being able to talk about families, the present, routines, exercise, frequency, sports and athletes, abilities, past events, past experiences, vacations, locations, neighborhoods, quantities and people’s appearance, being able to talk about cities, ask for and give suggestions/advice, talk about travel and tourism, health problems, make requests, talk about likes and dislikes, agree and disagree, order a meal, describe countries, make comparisons, express opinions, talk about distances and measurements, plans, make/accept/refuse invitations, give reasons, take and leave messages, exchange personal information, talk about changes, future plans.
- The following grammar items are included in this course: Wh-questions and statements with be/do, information and yes/no questions and answers with be/do, subject, object pronouns, possessive adjectives, simple present Wh-questions and statements, time expressions, demonstratives, comparisons, would, verb+to+verb, present continuous/ simple past/present perfect yes/no and Wh-questions, statements and short answers, quantifiers, pronoun: no one, adverbs of frequency, Past of be, There is/there are, one, any and some, prepositions of place, questions: how many, how much, count and noncount nouns, questions for describing people, modifiers with participles and prepositions, already and yet, present perfect vs simple past, for and since, adverbs before adjectives, conjunctions, modals: can, should, infinitive complements, should for suggestions, can, could, may for requests, so, too, neither, either, modals will and would for requests, comparatives and superlatives, How-questions, future with present continuous and be going to, messages with tell and ask, describing changes with present, past, present perfect and the comparative, verb + infinitive.
- The listening component consists of listening for names and countries, listening to descriptions of jobs and daily schedules, to people shopping, listening for likes, and dislikes. Also, it refers to family relationships, people talking about free-time activities, sports participation, past events, vacations, locations, and events, to cities, incorrect
information, health problems and advice, restaurant orders, a TV game show, telephone messages, changes.
- The reading component consists of a variety of short adopted texts (300 – 600 words) on topics such as popular names, people who need jobs, online shopping, and a famous entertainer, an American family, a health and fitness quiz, vacation, a New York City neighborhood, clothing styles, and unusual or dangerous sports, famous cities, natural products, tipping customs, the environment, cell phone manners, a proposal for a class party.
The vocabulary in this course includes high-frequency words and expressions commonly associated with the topics mentioned above.