General English for International Students

This course is intended for students that want to improve their general English. We offer programmes to support a range of English language levels, from beginner to higher intermediate (CEFR A1-B2).

Each course covers the four key language skills of speaking, writing, reading and listening, as well as grammar, vocabulary and cultural aspects of the language. You will not only develop your proficiency in the English language, but also your confidence to communicate and use English in the real world.

What you will study

Speaking

You will take part in interactive communication tasks that are appropriate for your level, such as role-plays, discussions, information gathering and interviews. You will also focus on managing conversations and pronunciation. You will receive personalised feedback from your teacher and participate in peer-feedback activities.

Listening  

You will have the opportunity to practice listening for general understanding and for detail from a variety of sources on a range of topics.  Tasks may include note-taking, blank filling, sentence completion and matching multiple-choice. 

Reading 

You will be encouraged to read widely whilst studying with us at the CAVC English Academy.  In class, you will be given a range of texts to read with accompanying tasks that are appropriate for your level. 

These texts may be authentic and come from newspapers, magazine articles, public notices, fiction, brochures, or graded texts from a coursebook. You will be building both your range of vocabulary and your general understanding.

Writing 

You will be given the opportunity to develop your written accuracy, focusing on spelling, punctuation, sentence structure and text coherence. You will practice writing formal and informal texts, such as letters, emails, essays and stories. You will also receive valuable oral and written feedback from your class teacher to help you to improve your writing skills.   

Grammar 
You will study and review the important structures such as tenses, word order, and question formation.  You will be given the opportunity to practise the new structures actively in both writing and speaking, through controlled practice and freer communicative activities and homework exercises. 

Vocabulary

You will study essential areas of basic vocabulary according to your level and topic-related vocabulary.  You will be given the opportunity to try out your new words and phrases actively in both writing and speaking, through controlled practice and freer communication activities in class, and homework exercises.

Pronunciation

You will study the key areas of pronunciation including individual English sounds, syllable stress, connected speech, intonation, rhythm and word stress. You will be taught the phonemic symbols of English sound in order to help you understand how to say ‘new’ vocabulary correctly.