These outlines provide a learning framework for Cactus evening & part-time language courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover, and include typical themes, grammar and vocabulary fields. They are flexible rather than prescriptive, and our teachers are trained to adapt the course syllabus to the level, aims and interests of the class.

• English Beginner 1
• English Beginner 2
• English Beginner 3
• English Elementary 1
• English Elementary 2
• English Elementary 3
• English Intermediate 1
• English Intermediate 2
• Englsih Intermediate 3
• English Upper Intermediate
• English Advanced
• English Proficiency

• English Pronunciation
• IELTS Exam Preparation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Introductions
• Countries & nationalities
• Towns & places in a town
• Food & drink
• Home, work, family
• Likes & dislikes
• Daily routines
• Describing people
• Holidays
• Shopping

Grammar:

• Alphabet
• Numbers
• Verb to be
• This/that/these/those
• There is / There are
• Some/any
• Present simple
• Possessives
• Can & can’t
• Past simple
• Going to future

Cultural content:

• Eating out
• Street life
• Shopping
• Media

Skills work

• Reading
• Writing - punctuation, postcards, description, histories
• Speaking – finding differences, describing, interviewing, comparing

Topics & Vocabulary:

• English you know
• People and places
• You and yours
• Everyday life
• Loves & hates
• Travel
• Eating & drinking
• Extraordinary Lives
• Fact or fiction?

Grammar:

• Verb ‘to be’
• Articles
• Demonstratives
• Present simple
• Adverbs of frequency
• Can & can’t
• There is/there are, some/any, how much/how many
• Past simple was/were, regular/irregular verbs, negatives & questions

Cultural content:

• General knowledge
• Favourite things
• Life in Britain
• Celebrities

Skills work:

• Writing - addresses, punctuation, linkers, filling in forms, writing diaries
• Speaking – about your family, describing differences, telling life stories, interviewing
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Shops & shopping
• Describing people
• The world around us
• Leisure activities
• Education & careers
• Communicating
• Places

Grammar:

• Review, consolidate & extend grammar, including:
• Comparatives & superlatives
• Present simple & continuous
• Modal can for ability
• Future intentions
• Suggestions & offers
• Infinitive of purpose
• Future modals: might & will
• Present perfect & past simple
• Modals of obligation & permission

Cultural content:

• Souvenirs
• General knowledge
• The weather

Skills work:

• Writing – describing places, applications, notes, postcards
• Speaking – choosing, describing, making plans, telephoning
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Leisure & lifestyle
• Describing feelings
• Daily routines
• Jobs
• Special occasions
• Describing people
• Physical appearance

Grammar:

• Review, consolidate & extend grammar, including:
• Question forms
• Present simple
• Past simple
• Time phrases
• Making requests & asking for permission: can/can’t/have to/don’t have to
• Modals of advice: should/shouldn’t
• Present continuous & present simple
• Present continuous for future arrangements
• Comparative & superlative adjectives

Cultural content:

• Keeping fit
• TV
• Birthdays
• New Year celebrations

Skills work:

• Writing – punctuation, linkers, paragraphs, invitations, newspaper reports, descriptions
• Speaking – compiling facts, telling a story, choosing a job, talking about dates & calendars, describing
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Holidays & free time
• Ambitions & dreams
• Countries & cultures
• Geography
• Modern & traditional
• Houses
• Health & accidents

Grammar:

• Review, consolidate & extend grammar, including:
• Intentions & wishes: going to, planning to
• Predictions: will/won’t
• Present perfect & past simple with ‘for’ & other time words
• Articles
• Quantifiers with countable/uncountable nouns
• Future modals: may/might/will
• Used to
• Past continuous

Cultural content:

• Fame
• Dreams
• Social chit-chat
• Heroes

Skills work:

• Writing – postcards, mini-biographies, directions, notes, time phrases in narratives
• Speaking – chit-chat, planning a holiday, asking for & giving directions
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Hobbies & interests
• Surveys
• Everyday objects
• Brands
• Personal characteristics
• Money
• Imagination

Grammar:

• Review, consolidate & extend grammar, including:
• Gerunds after verbs of liking & disliking
• Present simple passive
• Past simple passive
• Present perfect continuous
• Present perfect simple
• Past perfect
• Past time words
• Conditionals

Cultural content:

• Interests
• Popular brands
• Dealing with money

Skills work:

• Writing – replying to invitations, application forms, paying online, letters, correcting errors
• Speaking – surveys, making suggestions, choosing, telling a picture story
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Everyday activities
• People around you
• Remembering and forgetting
• Towns and cities
• Life events
• Characteristics of people

Grammar:

• Review, consolidate & extend grammar, including:
• Asking and answering questions
• Present & past, simple & continuous
• Used to
• Comparatives & superlatives
• Present perfect, simple & continuous

Cultural content:

• Family life
• Life stories
• Interests & tastes
• Childhood memories
• School & education

Skills work:

• Writing – CVs, emails, note keeping
• Speaking – discussing, designing a tour, giving opinions
• Using dictionaries
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Work
• Social customs & behaviour
• TV & Radio
• News stories
• Reviews – books, music
• Describing objects
• Making arrangements
• Shopping

Grammar:

• Review, consolidate & extend grammar, including:
• Future forms
• -ed & -ing adjectives
• Passives
• Request forms
• Modal verbs – requests, offers, spontaneous decisions
• Relative clauses
• Quantifiers
• Extreme adjectives

Cultural content:

• Success & celebrity
• Traditional job roles
• Formal telephone calls
• British media
• Socializing & nights out
• Possessions

Skills work:

• Writing - covering letters, reviews
• Speaking – decision-making, presenting opinions, choosing,
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Society & change
• Telling stories
• Problems & solutions, advice
• Predicting
• Hypothesising
• Making decisions
• Giving opinions
• Agreeing & disagreeing
• Advantages & disadvantages
• Rules & freedom

Grammar:

• Review, consolidate & extend grammar, including:
• Prediction language
• Conditionals
• Past perfect
• Reported speech
• Modal verbs: obligation/permission
• Past modal verbs – could have/should have/would have
• Linking words

Cultural content:

• Litigation & compensation
• Dilemmas & decisions
• Problems & solutions
• Relationships

Skills work:

• Writing narratives
• Speaking – discussing, giving opinions, narrating, finding solutions
• Listening
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Life circles
• Biographies
• Feelings
• Mishaps
• Storytelling
• The unexpected
• Achievements
• Giving advice & making suggestions
• Events & celebrations
• Strange events
• Making decisions
• Media

Grammar:

• Review, consolidate & extend grammar, including:
• Verb forms – present, past & future
• Nouns, gerunds & infinitives
• Aspect: perfect, continuous
• Passives
• Articles
• Relative clauses
• Modals
• Conditionals
• Reporting & summarising

Cultural content:

• Important life events
• Families
• Comedy
• Events, celebrations festivals
• Celebrity
• Socialising

Skills work:

• Writing –biographies, narratives, formal letters, messages, reviews
• Linking ideas & arguments
• Speaking – discussing life, feelings, telling stories, describing events, summarizing, making decisions
• Listening
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Globalisation
• Emotions
• Image
• Mind, body & spirit
• Learning
• Money
• Living together
• Taste
• Lifestyle
• Truth & lies

Grammar:

• Review, consolidate & extend grammar, including:
• Continuous verb forms
• Language for argument
• Perfect verb forms
• Cleft sentences
• Modals & related verbs
• Abstract nouns
• Relative clauses
• Comparatives &l; superlatives
• Passives
• Particles
• Time & tense
• Inversion
• Infinitives & -ing forms
• Adverbs
• Auxiliaries
• Future forms
• Noun phrases, ellipsis & substitution

Cultural content:

• Varieties of English
• Emotions
• Learning
• Idioms
• Manners & personal behaviour
• Money
• Co-habiting
• Taste

Skills work:

• Writing – music reviews, emails, scripts, leaflets, news articles, statistical summaries, reports, tactful letters
• Speaking - telling stories, action plans, difficult situations, presenting awards, making decisions, ranting,
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• A wide range of possibilities, inc. Entertainment, mass media, work, education, the environment, tourism & travel, news, social & political issues, books, generation changes, cities, people, relationships, the arts, technology, health & fitness, social life, night life, national traditions/customs & culture, consumerism, globalisation, philosophy, science, poetry, literature, speeches, psychology, esoterica

Grammar:

• Review, consolidate & extend grammar, including
• Nuance
• Complex sentences
• Narratives
• Exceptions to the rule
• Word-building (prefix and suffix patterns)
• Word families (noun-verb-adjective-adverb)
• Collocations
• Compound words
• Metaphor
• Phrasal verbs
• Register
• Idioms
• Wide range of functions

Cultural content:

• A wide range of possibilities, including.
• Cliché
• British vs. American English

Skills work:

• Stylistic/stylised writing
• Literary devices, eg. alliteration, onomatopoeia
• Lots of speaking
• Lots of listening
• Nuances of pronunciation