General English

Join our vibrant school community any Monday of the year and continue your language learning journey in expert hands. Dynamic integrated skills lessons focus on developing language proficiency, and our CEFR-based curriculum guides you in developing competences in the 21st century skills necessary in an ever-changing world. Collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and developing effective communication strategies are key to our course design.

• We offer General English lessons at all CEFR levels from A1 to C2**.
  * Please check availability in advance for levels A1 and C2
• Study for as many weeks as you like. Short courses (1-week) are possible Monday to Friday.
• Pre-course assessment: Before starting your course, the Academic Team invite you for an online language assessment and can advise you on the best course of study for your needs.
• Clear, structured syllabus at each level to help learners track progress
• Continuous classroom assessment and feedback from experienced and highly qualified teachers.
• Access to a dedicated Academic Team for guidance and self-study planning

General English classes at Levels A2 to C1 are available all year. Please check availability at A1 and C2 before booking.

Students on our Adult Language Programmes must be over the age of 18.

What is the CEFR? (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages)

The CEFR describes what language learners have to learn to do in order to use a language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able to act effectively. The Framework also defines levels of proficiency which allow learners’ progress to be measured at each stage of learning and on a life-long basis.

A1 

In an A1 class, you are working towards achieving CEFR level A1 in English. You can interact in a simple way, ask and answer simple questions about yourself, where you live, people you know, and things you have. You can make and respond to simple statements on very familiar topics.

At this level, your teacher will help you develop fluency- the ability to speak and make sounds in English. Communication is the most important activity to practice.

A2 

In an A2 class, you are working towards achieving CEFR level A2 in English. At this level, you will be able to use simple everyday polite forms of greeting and address, and react to responses and news. You can have short social exchanges as well as simple transactions involved with getting out and about.

At this level, your teacher will help you develop fluency- the ability to speak easily in English. Your teacher will help you structure sentences so that your communication is clear and simple.

A2+/PreB1 

In an A2+/PreB1 class, you are working towards achieving CEFR level A2+/ PreB1 in English. You are becoming more active in conversation but still need some help. You can understand simple, routine interactions without much effort, and can make yourself understood. You can generally share ideas and information on familiar topics in predictable situations.

In conversation, you can express how you feel in simple terms and are able to give an extended description of everyday aspects of your life. At this level, your teacher helps you learn lots of new vocabulary and new grammatical structures.

B1

You are working towards achieving CEFR level B1 in English. This is the level where you are able to maintain interaction and express what you want to say comprehensibly, even though you probably have to pause to think of a word or a structure.

At this level, you can expect to be able to cope flexibly with problems in everyday life, and can enter unprepared into conversations. In class, your teacher will help you develop your fluency and broaden the range of language you use.

You are able to use basic structures correctly and without hesitation and now you can concentrate on expanding the range of grammatical structures and vocabulary that you use in communication.

B2 

You are working towards achieving CEFR level B2 in English. This is the level at which you are able to account for and sustain opinions in discussion by providing relevant explanations, arguments and comments. You can explain a viewpoint on a topical issue, giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

There are two new focuses at this level- being able to more than hold your own in social discourse, initiating, turn taking, sustaining and closing discussion, and, at this level, you should be more aware of language. You are able to correct mistakes if they have led to misunderstanding and are beginning to monitor your speech and writing in order to correct mistakes.

In class, your teacher plans tasks and activities that practice all skills and help you develop strong communication strategies.

B2+ 

You are working towards achieving CEFR level B2+ in English. B2+ is the level at which we expect learners to interact using a wide range of linguistic and strategic skills which demonstrate their ability to explain a viewpoint on a topical issue, giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options, hold their own in social discourse by initiating, turn taking, sustaining and closing discussion.

At this level, you are aware of language and are able to monitor your speech and writing in order to correct mistakes. There is a greater emphasis on how you organize your speech at this level and you are expected to be able to use a wide range language accurately. There is also a greater emphasis on how you express yourself in writing at this level.

C1 

You are working towards achieving CEFR level C1 in English. At this level. You have good access to a broad range of language, which allows fluent, spontaneous communication. There is little obvious searching for expressions or avoidance strategies; only a conceptually difficult subject can hinder a natural, smooth flow of language.

The discourse skills characterised at B2+ continue to be evident with an emphasis on more fluency with clear, smoothly-flowing, speech showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors, and cohesive devices. In class, your teacher pushes you to actively take control of your learning and will use material from C2 level if appropriate.

Standard & Intensive English Language courses have Lunchtime Skills Workshops from 12:30 to 13:15.  

These daily lunchtime skills workshops or tutorials are open to all students, regardless of level. These sessions focus on speaking and reflect the workplace or social arena where proficient and independent users of English interact and communicate on a daily basis in an environment where language is not graded as it would be in a class. Teachers respond to learners’ interests and provide interactive, short sessions where students learn about Irish culture, each other’s cultural contexts, and use English meaningfully in a social environment. The development of mediation strategies is a key learning outcome of these workshops as learners use all of their resources to communicate effectively.

Lesson activities focus on developing the following areas: 

Communication Strategies: Communication and interaction are key to making progress using a language. Teachers will organize pair-work and group work so that you can develop communication strategies e.g. interaction, collaboration, and cooperation for problem-solving, decision-making, negotiating an outcome.  

Productive Skills: Speaking is usually the main skill that learners want to improve in class. Teachers will maximise opportunities for speaking practice with activities ranging from pair-work collaboration, group discussions and debates, as well as individual presentations. Writing is an important part of language learning and you teacher will include regular writing activities in class.  

Receptive Skills: Reading and Listening are important skills to be practised in class. These are integrated into lessons that will always include follow-on speaking and/or writing stages. Reading and Listening provide models of the language that you are learning in class, and your teacher will guide you in activities that will help you summarise and speak about what you have just read or heard. 

Real-world discussions about topics that are affecting the world around you are great for pushing you to express yourself clearly. It is important that the language we learn is in the context of the ever-changing 21st-century world and helps prepare you for your social, professional, or academic life outside of the language classroom. 

Personalisation is a key part of engaging you as the learner, and teachers are responsible for maximizing the learning potential of every learner in class by drawing on your experiences in the real world as well as adequately identifying the linguistic outcomes you need to work towards. Your teacher will help you to explain your ideas more precisely on topics that interest you in your own life. 

Making mistakes is good. Never forget that as a student your role is to communicate first; the message is always most important. Your teacher is always listening and taking notes on the language that you use so that they can plan feedback and follow up lessons. It is your teacher’s job to help you learn from your mistakes. 

Feedback is essential for learning. Our teachers are all highly trained so they know how to give feedback that is constructive and will create the best learning outcomes.

We offer customised courses for individuals with specific learning goals, which can be focused on in one-to-one lessons with an expert tutor. The timetable for this programme is flexible and can be taken online or in-person.

A pre-course language assessment and needs analysis is carried out with our Academic Team so that an effective course of study can be designed that actively helps you achieve success in your target area. Below are some possible areas for focus in one-to-one lessons.

• Pronunciation and phrasing, including language skills and strategies for delivering clear and effective presentations. Teachers respond to the individual phonological needs of the learner i.e. problem sounds, rhythm and stress in speech, intonation, and phrasing. Many professionals like to receive coaching for a particular presentation or meeting and are given the opportunity to record a ‘practice run’, which can be used for feedback, analysis, and objective setting.
• Thematic Development: Building skills for expressing and developing ideas coherently and cohesively. Many professionals already have the required technical language necessary for their job but may need to work on ways to clearly organise their speech. Teachers help learners organise their speech by using a range of discourse markers and linking devices to deliver effective and efficient oral and/or written texts.
• Precision of Meaning: Developing the ability to formulate ideas and propositions so that the meaning is clear and precise. Teachers help the learner focus on how to formulate speech/text to ensure that others understand exactly what s/he means, minimising the possibility of misunderstandings.