English Upper Intermediate level: what you need to know to achieve it.

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Upper-Intermediate - a level sufficient for life and communication in a country where English is the official language

The Upper-Intermediate level is designated B2 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages ​​(CEFR). The Upper-Intermediate stage is a serious level of knowledge sufficient to communicate in English language in almost all areas. As you remember, the translation of the word intermediate sounds like “middle”, and upper means “top”, so the Upper-Intermediate level means a step above the average. Upper-Intermediate English learners can start preparing for the international TOEFL or IELTS exams. Certificates of these exams will be useful for admission to foreign universities and employment abroad, as well as for emigration. In addition, upon completion of the course, you can take the FCE exam and receive an international certificate that will confirm your English proficiency at the Upper-Intermediate level.

Upper-Intermediate is figuratively called the level at which “all tails are pulled up”. And this is true, because, having reached such a fairly high level, students should be familiar with all the basic grammatical structures of the English language. Thus, their knowledge at this level is consolidated, systematized and supplemented by more complex cases of using all the same modal verbs, tenses, conditional sentences, and so on.

The Upper-Intermediate level program includes the study of such topics in the curriculum

How will your speaking skills develop in the Upper-Intermediate course?

At the Upper-Intermediate level, special attention is paid to the development speaking skill (Speaking). The speech of an English learner becomes “complex”: you will not just know in theory, but will actively use in practice all aspects of the tenses of the English language, conditional sentences, passive voice phrases, etc. At this stage, you will be able to maintain a conversation with several interlocutors or Express your point of view on almost any topic in a long monologue speech. You stop speaking in short, abrupt sentences: at the end of stage B2, you will build long sentences, linking them together with words and expressing your thoughts clearly.

On the English Upper-Intermediate course, you significantly expand your vocabulary (Vocabulary). At the end of the course, you will know about 3000-4000 words, which will allow you to freely express your thoughts in any environment. At the same time, your speech will be replenished with various synonyms and antonyms of words already familiar to you, phrasal verbs and set expressions, as well as business style vocabulary. This will allow you to communicate in English both at work and at home.

Listening to the speech of native speakers (listening) will gradually improve: you will learn to understand the meaning of what is said, even if the English speaker speaks with a slight accent or at a fast pace. At this stage, you learn to listen to long texts in both standard English, also called the language of the BBC, and variable, that is, with various local features and accents.

Reading skill (Reading) is also actively developing on the Upper-Intermediate course. At this stage, you will read feature articles, journalistic texts and works fiction in non-adapted English with almost complete reading comprehension. On average, the text will contain no more than 10% of unfamiliar vocabulary that will not interfere with the general understanding of the text.

You will be able to spontaneously express your thoughts and in writing (Writing). At the Upper-Intermediate level, you learn to write in certain formats: formal and informal letters, articles, reports, essays, etc.

At the end of the Upper-Intermediate course, you can take the FCE, IELTS or TOEFL exam to document English language skills at B2 level. With such a certificate, you can go to study or live abroad, and you can also present it at an interview in an international company, which requires knowledge of English at a level not lower than Upper-Intermediate.

The term of study at the Upper-Intermediate level

The term for studying English at the Upper-Intermediate level depends on the individual characteristics of the student and the regularity of classes. The average duration of study on the Upper-Intermediate course is 6-9 months.

Training at the Upper-Intermediate level is quite difficult process which requires serious efforts from both the teacher and the student. But your efforts will not be in vain, as knowing English at this level will allow you to get a well-paid job or enter a prestigious foreign university where teaching is conducted in English. In addition, you can not stop there: if you have already successfully completed the previous steps, then you must continue to develop your skills. It is necessary to repeat the material covered so as not to forget it, and to use the acquired knowledge in practice.

If you want to improve your knowledge of the English language, we offer you to improve your level at our school. A competent teacher will determine your level, weaknesses and strengths and help you reach the heights of the English language.

Learning English is like oil painting: initial stage you do underpainting, then with rough strokes you set chiaroscuro, and then you move on to drawing shapes and details.

The Upper-Intermediate level or the English B2 level is just the level at which, on the one hand, you can already complete the full picture, and on the other hand, agree that there is still room for growth and development in order to work on the details in further. Down with allegory! Let's figure it out!

It is at this level that learning begins. official style communication, while learning a large number of idioms, phraseological units, phrases and set phrases. The grammar here is repeated and mostly honed in colloquial speech. Speaking takes most the entire course. So get ready to talk. A lot.

What does Upper-Intermediate mean?

Probably, for many, the important question is the following: “Is it possible to live in an English-speaking country with such a level of English?” We answer (drum roll): “Yes, you can!”, Since this is the level of English at which communication and understanding of English-language information does not cause any particular problems, with the exception of figurative phrases and language phrases that you will soon feel and understand, constantly being in an English-speaking environment.

Moreover, it is with the Upper-Intermediate level that you can safely go to take the test in order to receive an international certificate of knowledge of the language. If you are purposefully preparing for admission to educational institution or moving and looking for work abroad, we recommend that you pay attention to which exam is recognized by a particular country. For example, if the goal is the USA/Canada, then you should take the TOEFL; if Britain / Australia / New Zealand, - IELTS.

Knowledge of English at the level of Upper-Intermediate

First, imagine one of your favorite topics (or ask someone to come up with one for you). Done? Now, in theory, it will not be so difficult for you to talk about this for a short time (about 3 minutes). Easy! However, your speech should be rich in introductory expressions, such as, for example: in my opinion, to my mind, if you don’t mind me asking, it goes without saying, etc. You should be able to build elaborate and complex sentences with mixed grammatical structures and, of course, complete the absence of errors in the grammar of the Elementary and Pre-Intermediate levels. Think you can do that?

At the Upper-Intermediate level, you already need to start watching foreign news channels. You most likely won’t understand everything, but don’t fall into despair - this skill will come to you soon (before Advanced is within easy reach), but you "ve got to understand some part of fast English. Keep that in mind!

The Upper-Intermediate level program includes the study of the following topics.

Components of the course at Upper-Intermediate

The main directions of the English Upper-Intermediate course are: reading English-language texts and literature, listening to English speech, correspondence in English, using the acquired knowledge in live speech. Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• take part in long and varied conversations on various topics;
• fluently write in the language and understand most of the information presented in the text;
• use and navigate freely large volume advanced grammar;
• watch TV programs, video presentations and discussions with the exception of technical and theoretical topics.

Term of study for Upper-Intermediate

As mentioned earlier, the pace of learning English is set by you. If you pay attention to the duration on average, then it usually takes about two years. This refers to the time period that the student must pass from Beginner level to Upper-Intermediate. If you are at a higher level, then, accordingly, the period will be less. One way or another, about half a year is conditionally allotted for the full and successful completion of the course on the level of the English language.

If the Upper-Intermediate level is not enough for you, and you want to get to the very top, then the tips below will suit your taste:

• As with English grammar, most English learners understand many more words than they actually use. However, there is no reason to put aside in the passive memory box those words that you spent a lot of time studying. Therefore, it is necessary to get out of the comfort zone for using simple and lean phrases, and use this vocabulary in practice.

• An advanced English course where natives use idioms and emotional expressions in their daily speech. One way to get to the next level is to learn the top frequently used phrases for all occasions. Special attention pay attention to the nuances of using them in speech (ideally practice with a native English speaker), otherwise, due to verbal swordsmanship, you can easily fall into the dirt on your face.

• One of the reasons why English learners fail to progress to the next stage is literature, which is read only because it comes easily. To continue improving your reading skills, choose a newspaper or magazine that you have never read before. Find a new literary genre. By meeting a wider range of authors, you are exposed to a more diverse language.

Conclusion

Well, now the masterpiece is finished, whether to stop at this stage or work on the details depends entirely on future goals and motivation. We hope that thanks to this article you have drawn a complete picture of what Upper-Intermediate (B2) is and what lexical and grammatical topics a student should master at this level.

Achieve your goals and do not stop there, because the potential of the English language is inexhaustible!

Big and friendly family EnglishDom

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Intermediate is the level of English proficiency most often required by employers from candidates. But how to determine if you speak the language at the Intermediate level or not? And what is this scale? According to the European Framework of Reference for Languages, the level English Intermediate designated as B1 and comes after the Pre-Intermediate level. In general, you can download that Intermediate is a confident "medium" English. People with these skills can speak fluently foreign language, communicate on business or everyday topics, understand spoken language and even write letters.

What should a student at the Intermediate level know?

Once a student reaches this level, it can be considered that he has already achieved some success. Your speaking or speaking skills must also be at an acceptable level. To improve your speaking skills, try to talk more in class, talk about topics that are new to you, and don't be afraid to express your point of view. Vocabulary or vocabulary includes expressions of general colloquial vocabulary and some words on a business topic. Moreover, Intermediate is various idioms, common phrases, turns of speech, set expressions, etc. Try to write down and memorize all new words. For many students, it remains difficult to get used to listening or Listening. Audio texts of the Intermediate level are more capacious and complex than at the previous stages. To simplify tasks, divide large sound files into parts and translate them separately. At this level of English, you should be able to understand text related to business, education, household chores, and so on. At the same time, try to get rid of the accent and pay attention to the details in the texts.

The main topics covered at the Intermediate Level

How much do you need to study to reach the Intermediate Level?

Of course, it all depends on your knowledge and desire to learn. Usually for beginners this period is 8-10 months, for advanced students - 5-6 months. Remember that Intermediate is the final stage in the formation of your vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. In the future, you will deepen and improve your active and passive vocabulary in order to immerse yourself in your knowledge of English and become a full-fledged native speaker. And in order to determine your level of English proficiency, it is not at all necessary to sign up for an exam at a training center or university. To do this, just go through the free testing, which is provided by many resources on the Internet.

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In this post you will learn how I myself, without tutors and courses, without spending a penny, learned English in a year from almost full 0 to Upper Intermediate.

So, it's pretty simple: Motivation! It was she who gave impetus to self-development and a thirst for knowledge. English rules, words and letters. Agree, nothing will stop you if you have motivation ...

Everyone may have their own motivation: for some it is to go abroad in search of a better life / work / study, for others to watch films in the original and enjoy the voices of the actors, and not listen to our cool, flawed translations, for others, to understand English-language lectures, thereby killing two birds with one stone: learning English, expanding your vocabulary, and developing in the area that interests you. (Purely for reference, in almost every field, whether it's anatomy, programming, drawing or whatever, there are a lot of different courses and materials, and there are even more of them in English, they are cooler and better. That is, you have more options for what to watch and read.

When everything became clear with motivation, you need to outline a training plan. It can be individual for everyone, because reading is better for one, listening for another, chatting for the third ... You need to find for yourself golden mean. That is, spend more time on one and less on the other, so that there is no bias such as you read well, but speak poorly or something like that.

It's clear that without knowing the basic set of words, you won't get very far in any of these sections. Therefore, you need to start with the cramming of words, yes, it is with the memorization of words. Services such as Anki and LinguaLeo are very helpful with this. In both of them, this is very convenient: there are spaced repetition functions, there are voiceovers of words, their transcriptions and visual representations. Anki can be downloaded for Android for free, but Apple users will have to pay almost 1000 rubles for it. This can be circumvented by practicing on Anki's own website without downloading the app on an Iphone or iPad. LinguaLeo is free for both Android and Apple, but has some limitations, such as the limit of adding words to the dictionary, truncated grammar, and so on. A full subscription for a year costs 1200r. You can get a free subscription by inviting friends. See Leo's website for details.

Once you have learned a basic set of words, such that you can understand what is required of you in the textbook (English / American textbook in English!) you can move on to grammar. In parallel with cramming the basic set of words, I recommend practicing these words by pronouncing them. It is quite convenient to do this using the method of Dr. Pimsleur, (his lessons can be downloaded, they are free). The essence of this method is that you listen to simple dialogues and repeat them. Very convenient, allows you to fix words. Along with this, you need to read! Reading is very important, do not underestimate it, it is on it that a lot of people who took toefl / ielts got burned. (international exam in English).

Reading should begin to develop with simple adapted stories for stupid, beginners, such as winnie the pooh or something like that.

As soon as we pushed away complete zero, and we can say / write / read something intelligible, we must move on, namely, to complicate! In grammar, “Red Murphy or Oxford Grammar (both elementary)” will help you, in listening - BBC podcasts for English learners, conversation - native speaker (English for practice) or at worst, watch adapted videos, write out phrases from dialogues and pronounce them, reading - the same adapted books. We also continue to use Anki and LinguaLeo. Leo, for example, is full of materials that will help you learn grammar, improve reading and listening.

Once this milestone is passed, you can speak clearly (describe yourself, talk about your goals / desires, etc., using simple phrases and sentences), move on. You can start watching normal videos/series/materials for further study... Videos created by natives for natives. Wow! You can start watching Friends!

All the same ones will help you in grammar, but the already blue Murphy (blue) and the yellowed Oxford (yellow), I recommend going through both textbooks, because grammar is well stated in one, practice is well given in the other. In listening - BBC podcasts, Luke's English podcast (I especially liked it), songs, etc. (). Conversation - look for natives, this can be done using the sites interpals and scout (More on this in the next article). Reading - texts for exams like toefl/ielts. We continue to use Anki and LinguaLeo to improve our vocabulary.

After this milestone, you can safely move on to something more serious, namely, to read English literature in the original, watch films in the original, speak various themes with natives, listen to podcasts for natives created by natives and take greener Murphy and greener Oxford by storm.

Listening and reading can be done on the road, but grammar and conversation will have to be allocated time during the day. The Internet is a very useful thing, it has a lot of textbooks, materials that can be downloaded for free! You can learn English without spending anything but time on it! The main thing is your desire, motivation and faith in yourself. With motivation and a good start, classes will become a habit for you and then it will be easier and more enjoyable for you ...

Below are links to tutorials, podcasts, courses, and more.
(A little tip: determine what you are very interested in, and watch and read about it in English, so learning will be a great pleasure)

Learn and develop and motivate others to do the same! If any of the readers have their own success story, please write in the comments.