Pre-intermediate
At pre-intermediate level students learn to discuss their experiences and future plans. They learn vocabulary related to travelling. In addition they’re able to discuss leisure activities and explain their preferences.
Grammar to cover includes:
✓ Modal verbs: can/can’t, must/mustn’t, will/won’t, should/shouldn’t, may/ may not
✓ Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs.
✓ To be going to: This isn’t a tense but you use this structure to talk about plans.
I am going to have steak for dinner tonight.
✓ Present perfect tense: I’ve eaten.
✓ Past simple tense with irregular verbs: ate, was, were, bent, became, broke, taught, cut, chose etc.
✓ Past continuous tense: I was watching TV.
✓ Adverbs: well, fast and adjectives+ly .
Vocabulary to cover includes:
✓ Types of films: comedy, tragedy, romance, scary/thrill, detective.
✓ Clothes: pants, shirt, coat, skirt, dress, bathing suit, hat, jacket.
✓ Hobbies and interests: jogging, eating out, reading, playing computer games.
✓ Location words: hospital, library, courthouse, fire station, movie theater, grocery store, supermarket, gas station, hotel, restaurant.
✓ Parts of the body: shoulder, knee, elbow, ankle.
✓ Superlatives: the best, the most wonderful
Intermediate
At this level students tend to lose their initial enthusiasm for learning English. They already know how to make sentences that refer to the past, present and future and they have a basic vocabulary for everyday situations. At this level the language you teach adds sophistication and fluency, instead of basic communication. It becomes harder for students to measure their progress so you need to work hard at maintaining interest by using topics they really enjoy.
Grammar to cover includes:
✓ More modal verbs: (should, may, might). Too many modal verbs exist to teach at once so you teach a few at a time.
✓ Conditional: If it rains, I use my umbrella/ If it rains, I’ll use my umbrella/ If it rained, I’d use my umbrella.
✓ Non-defining relative clauses: The man, who I thought looked great, was at the office.
✓ Gerunds and infinitives: going and to go.
✓ The verb will for spontaneous decisions: I’ll pay!
✓ Present perfect continuous tense: I have been singing, he has been dancing.
✓ Past perfect tense: They had seen it, you had not watched it.
Vocabulary to cover includes:
✓ Comparing and contrasting: both, neither, whereas.
✓ Polite forms: Would you mind? I'm afraid I can't.
✓ Reviewing films, books and so on: describing the plot, characters, strengths and weaknesses.
If you enjoy this week's blog, don't forget to come back for next week which will reveal the final two levels: Upper-Intermediate and Advanced
