Lessons

A2 to B1: the tenses and structures school exams check, writing letters and messages, and the mistakes teachers mark most.

1. 1A2GrammarPresent perfect: introductionHow to form the present perfect with have and the past participle, and how to use it for experience, recent news and situations that continue up to now.
2. 2A2GrammarPresent perfect or past simpleHow to choose between I have done and I did. The choice depends on the time, not on the action.
3. 3A2GrammarPast continuousHow to form the past continuous with was and were, and how to use it for an action in progress at a moment in the past, often interrupted by a shorter one.
4. 4A2GrammarGoing toHow to use be going to for plans and intentions you decided on earlier, and for predictions based on what you can see now.
5. 5A2GrammarWill for the futureHow to use will for predictions, promises, offers and decisions made while you speak, and how it differs from going to.
6. 6A2GrammarFirst conditionalIf it rains, we will stay at home. How to talk about a real possibility in the future and its result.
7. 7A2GrammarZero conditionalIf you heat ice, it melts. Present simple in both halves for facts, habits and rules that are always true.
8. 8A2GrammarRelative clauses: who, which, thatHow to add information about a person or thing inside the same sentence: the woman who lives next door, the book which I lost.
9. 9B1VocabularySchool and universityWords for school subjects, exams and university life, the British and American terms learners meet, and the verbs that go with them.
10. 10A2VocabularyHobbies and sportHow to talk about free time: common hobbies and sports, the verbs play, go and do, and phrases for saying how often and how well you do things.
11. 11A2Writing and speakingInformal messages and emailsHow to write a short note, text or email to a friend: a greeting, your news, a question or invitation, and a friendly ending.
12. 12B1GrammarPresent perfect continuousHow to talk about an activity that started in the past and is still going on, or has only just stopped, using have been and the -ing form.
13. 13B1GrammarPast perfectHow to show that one past action happened before another past action, using had and the past participle.
14. 14B1GrammarUsed to and would for past habitsHow to talk about habits and situations that were true in the past but are not true now, with used to and would.
15. 15B1GrammarSecond conditionalHow to talk about imaginary or unlikely situations in the present and future, using if with a past form and would.
16. 16B1GrammarPassive voice: introductionHow to put the action before the doer with be and the past participle, in the present simple and past simple.
17. 17B1GrammarReported speech: introductionHow to report what someone said without quoting them, with say, tell and ask, and how the tense moves back one step.
18. 18B1GrammarModals of deduction: must, might, can'tHow to say how sure you are about something, from certain to impossible, with must, may, might, could and can't.
19. 19B1GrammarQuestion tagsHow to add a short question such as isn't it or did you to the end of a statement, and what a rising or falling voice tells the listener.
20. 20B1GrammarGerunds and infinitivesWhen a verb is followed by the -ing form, when by to plus the base form, and the small group of verbs whose meaning changes with the choice.
21. 21B1VocabularyFeelings and characterAdjectives for emotions and personality, the difference between -ed and -ing adjectives, and the prepositions that follow words like afraid and proud.
22. 22B1VocabularyTechnology and the internetEveryday words for devices, apps and being online, the verbs English uses with them, and the small words learners often get wrong: on, online, log in.
23. 23B1Writing and speakingFormal emailsHow to write to a teacher, a company or an office: the right greeting, a clear reason for writing, polite requests and a standard ending.
24. 24B1Writing and speakingDescribing a pictureHow to talk about a photo in an exam or a lesson: what it shows, where things are, what people are doing, and what you think is happening.
25. 25B1Typical mistakesFalse friendsEnglish words that look like Ukrainian or Russian ones but mean something else, such as magazine, fabric, accurate and sympathetic, with the word you actually need.
26. 26B1Typical mistakesSince and for with the present perfectWhy English says I have lived here for five years where Ukrainian and Russian use the present tense, and how to choose between since, for and ago.
27. 27B1Typical mistakesPrepositions that differ from Ukrainian and RussianDepend on, married to, arrive at, angry with, in the picture, on the bus. The prepositions that do not match their Ukrainian and Russian equivalents, grouped for learning.
28. 28B1Typical mistakesConfusing pairs of wordsBorrow or lend, learn or teach, rob or steal, bored or boring. English pairs that match one Ukrainian or Russian word, and how to tell them apart.
29. 29B1PronunciationWeak forms and sentence stressWhich words carry stress in a sentence, why to, of and can shrink to /tə/, /əv/ and /kən/, and how this creates English rhythm.