A person captures the main essence of the story, provided that the topic is familiar to him (as a rule, about work, leisure, school, family, appearance, nature and weather), the speech of the announcer or interlocutor is clear (standard pronunciation and not too high tempo). He understands the basic meaning of programs that deal with current events or familiar topics. The announcer's speech should be sufficiently slow and clear.

B2:

A person understands long fragments of oral speech, traces complex argumentation, provided that the topic of the story is well known to him. He is almost fluent in science fiction and news broadcasts, as well as movies and TV series with standard pronunciation and no complex vocabulary.

Level B1 is characterized by an understanding of the basic essence in everyday situations. At B2 level, the thematic spectrum expands. In addition to everyday directions, topics that are covered in the media become available. In addition, a person not only captures the general meaning, but also traces a chain of facts, understands the development of thought and argumentation.

Everyday topics no longer seem complicated. However, the text should have recognizable vocabulary and standard pronunciation.

Reading

B1:

A person freely understands printed text, which is based mainly on common words and expressions. The range of topics is limited to everyday and everyday topics. It is also easy to read letters that describe events and impressions.

B2:

A person freely reads articles concerning current problems, in which the author expresses a certain point of view. Also reads popular literature quite fluently if there is no specialized vocabulary in it.

At the B2 level, the coverage of topics increases. At this stage, the person understands most of the everyday topics. Such areas as politics, economics, ecology or science are available to him at the level of the average person. He will not be able to understand the complex intricacies, however, he freely perceives articles intended for a wide range of readers without special education. In addition, modern fiction and popular science literature becomes available at this level.

Conversation and dialogue skills

B1:

The person can maintain a conversation in most English-speaking countries. He takes part in the conversation without prior preparation, provided that familiar topics related to his personal interests are raised (for example, family, hobbies, travel and recreation).

B2:

A person communicates freely with native English speakers without additional training. There are no noticeable pauses in the conversation, and the speech is quite fluent and understandable. He takes part in the discussion of familiar topics and freely expresses his judgments, supporting them with facts and conclusions.

At the B1 level, the person had to “cope” with current situations, and the conversation caused difficulties. At stage B2, he speaks fluently and becomes a full-fledged participant in the dialogue. The spectrum is much wider than at the previous level.

At this stage, he can not only state the main thoughts, but also convey feelings, reason and draw conclusions.

Upper-Intermediate level learning readiness

To get the level of English Upper Intermediate, you need to complete the training at the previous levels. How to understand that the student is ready to learn English at the threshold advanced:

talks easily, discusses if necessary;
easily answers questions, talks on any topic;
makes minor mistakes in vocabulary and grammar, but notices mistakes and corrects them on his own;
understands native speakers the first time, although some words may be unfamiliar;
is well versed in grammar and wants to deepen his knowledge;
studied English Upper Intermediate in the past, but forgot;
preparing for the English language proficiency exam (IELTS, TOEFL);
completed the study of the Pre-Intermediate level

The English Upper Intermediate course lasts from 6 to 9 months. This largely depends on the effort of the student and the experience of the teacher. Learning is not an easy process, but it is definitely necessary.

Required knowledge and skills

The upper intermediate level assumes that you need to know certain words, expressions and grammatical structures and have the necessary skills. To understand what Upper Intermediate means, you can identify the necessary characteristics for four basic skills – Listening (listening to speech), Reading (reading), Writing (writing), Speaking (speaking).

Listening

The Upper Intermediate level is, first of all, the ability to speak and understand speech by ear. With intermediate advanced, the student understands audio recordings the first time (adapted) and can easily perceive the speech of native speakers, regardless of accent or speech rate. You can watch foreign TV shows with or without subtitles without any problems, if the vocabulary is not too complicated. The same applies to listening to adapted audiobooks.

Reading

Upper Intermediate – the level of English is sufficient to understand news sites on the Internet. The student can read the works in the original, but without the help of a dictionary, it will not always be possible to do.

Writing

The writing skills in the upper intermediate level are well developed, and the student can write formal and informal letters. Writing an essay on a random topic is also not a problem, because the student clearly and clearly expresses his thoughts. When writing, the student competently uses various grammatical constructions and puts verbs at the right time without any problems. In addition, the student must be able to fill out various documents, instructions, business papers.

Speaking

The Upper intermediate level assumes that the student can easily maintain a conversation with two or more people on any topic, answer questions with confidence, without getting lost and clearly expressing their thoughts. The student is able to compose a monologue for several minutes, speak in long sentences. Sentences are coherent, not abrupt. In a conversation, the student uses various grammatical constructions, tenses, voice, and during the conversation he catches the mistakes he made and can correct them.

How to improve your writing

So, let's imagine that you already understand perfectly by ear and speak on any topic, but what happens to the letter? To improve this skill, it is not enough just to write a lot. The point is that writing is directly related to reading. The more we read, the better we write. If you need to improve this skill for the sake of international exams, then you should pay attention to the letter format that is required for a particular exam. After you know about the format, grab the tutorial and see examples. Further, of course, you need to write your own examples and send them to the teacher or familiar carrier for verification. To write beautifully, you need to become familiar with different patterns. The main thing is that the rules are the same as in any other language. Therefore, for those who write beautifully and easily in Russian, it is not difficult to write beautifully in English.

How to improve grammar

English beginners think English grammar is difficult. But those who have already reached the intermediate level understand that grammar is the easiest, if, of course, you study with a teacher who knows how to present it. If at first you were unlucky with the teacher, and there were gaps, then you just need to identify and patch up these holes. For grammar, I always advise you to contact an experienced tutor, because it will save you time and hassle. If you want to improve grammar on your own, then take videos shot by native speakers. Channels like EngVid will help you.

Tip # 1: Set a goal and start moving towards it

Your desire to learn English is the engine of your learning. If you do not have the motivation to study, then it will stretch for a long time.

Important: No teacher can force you to learn a language if you do not want to do it yourself or do not know why you need to learn it.

Therefore, the first thing to do when learning English is to set yourself a goal for which you need a language.

You are studying at the university and want to leave for a year to study in Italy in exchange. For this you need a level – Intermediate and higher.
You want to work in tourism, travel abroad and communicate with foreigners. For this you need a level – Upper-intermediate and above.
You travel a lot and want to find new friends, learn more about the culture of the countries. For such purposes, you need a Pre-intermediate level and above.

However, simply presenting your goal is not enough. You need to start acting in order to achieve it in a short time.

This requires motivation. Describe in detail the benefits of learning English.

How would your life be different if you could speak English right now? Where would you be? Who did you communicate with? What have you read? Where would you go?

Start learning English now, don't delay until Monday, next month or year.

After all, I am sure that if you got together last year and began to study, now you would easily speak English.

Tip # 2: Practice English Every Day

Your progress is directly related to the regularity of your classes.

For example, if you study twice a week, then due to the long intervals between classes, you will forget the material you have covered. Therefore, you will have to spend a lot of time repeating the material.

If you want to get the most out of your time for learning English, you need to practice every day. At the same time, to immerse yourself in the language environment – do at least 2 hours a day.

You can alternate activities as follows.

1 On Monday you pass:

New word list
Parse a few grammar rules

All this you work out orally, making up sentences and pronouncing them.

2 The next day, you practice all the material you have covered in writing by making sentences and writing them down.

Thus, you train your writing skills and consolidate the material covered.

This is exactly what our students do, working out all the material in the class orally and reinforcing it with written homework assignments.

Tip # 3: Talk most of your class

Learning any language consists of 2 parts:

Theoretical (learning words and rules)
Practical (using learned words and rules in your speech)

If you only study theory, you will not be able to use your knowledge in life. That is, you will not be able to speak freely.

This is the same as learning to drive a car by reading books and instructions. You will know in theory how to drive a car, but in practice you will hardly be able to drive.

Without practice, the rules you learn get confused and forgotten in your head. And we very quickly forget what we don't use.

How much time should you devote to “speaking”?

We always recommend that 80% of the class time be devoted to speaking practice.

To do this, you need to practice every piece of theory in practice in oral speech.

If you are studying Present Simple tense, then you should orally form sentences in this tense and pronounce them.

Speak each sentence, working with it in 4 steps:

1 Grammatical correctness

2 Correct pronunciation

Only when you speak the sentences correctly, beautifully and quickly, proceed to the next workout.

In detail about how to properly train conversational English, I told you here.

What if I practice on my own?

In this case, you need to do conversational exercises, but with yourself. You should speak sentences as if you are communicating with someone.

Of course, in this case, there will be a big disadvantage: you will not listen to another person's foreign speech. That is, listening (listening comprehension) will not develop for you.

Tip # 4: Expand Your Vocabulary

Everyone who learns foreign languages has a problem: forgetting words. Many people learn 100 words a day, but there is no sense in it.

To memorize a word, you need to use it and make sentences with it. How to do it correctly, I told in this article.

To make it easier for you to learn words, combine them into small word lists. To do this, combine the necessary words by topic.

For example, take 20 words about family.

Don't learn everything!

To save time, learn only the word lists that you will actually use. For example, if you are not related to business, you do not need to learn business vocabulary.

Better to pick up topics that really come in handy: daily chores, restaurant, shop, etc.

Reinforce the words you have learned with short stories. For example, to review the list of words “family”, tell about your family members.

You can combine themes. For example, by combining the lists of words “appearance and character” and “family”, you will get a detailed story about your family members.

This will help you gradually build up your vocabulary.

Tip # 5: Use your knowledge in life

Don't wait until you learn English perfectly. Start using English in your life right now.

Replace the actions that you did in Russian with English. This way you can use and improve your English at the same time.

Think about where you can use English right now and start doing it.

Here are some tips:

Write to-do lists in English
Start reading foreign blogs in English
Look for information in a search engine in English
Listen to podcasts in English.

Beginner level (A1)

At this level, you can:

Understand and use familiar everyday expressions and simple phrases to solve specific problems.
Introduce yourself, introduce others, ask simple questions of a personal nature, for example, “Where do you live?”, “Where are you from?”, Be able to answer such questions.
Maintain the simplest conversation if the other person speaks slowly, clearly, and helps you.

Many of those who have studied English at school have a command of the language at about the Beginner level. From the vocabulary only elementary ones mother, father, help me, my name is, London is the capital. You can understand well-known words and expressions by ear if they speak very clearly and without an accent, as in the audio lessons for the textbook. You understand texts like the “Exit” sign, but in a conversation with the help of gestures, using individual words, you can express the simplest thoughts.

Elementary level (A2)

At this level, you can:

Understand common expressions on general topics such as: family, shopping, work, etc.
Talk about simple everyday topics in simple phrases.
Tell in simple expressions about yourself, describe simple situations.

If at school you had 4 or 5 in English, but after some time did not use English, then most likely you speak the language at the Elementary level. TV broadcasts in English will not be understandable, except for individual words, but the interlocutor, if he speaks clearly, in simple phrases of 2-3 words in general, will understand. You will also be able to tell the simplest information about yourself, incoherently and with long pauses for thinking, say that the sky is blue and the weather is clear, express a simple wish, and place an order at McDonald's.

Beginner – Elementary levels can be called “survival level”, Survival English. It is enough to “survive” during a trip to a country where the main language is English.

At this level, you can:

Understand the general meaning of clear speech on general, familiar topics related to everyday life (work, study, etc.)
Cope with the most common situations on a trip, travel (at the airport, in a hotel, etc.)
Write a simple, coherent text on topics that are common or familiar to you.
Retell events, describe hopes, dreams, ambitions, be able to briefly talk about plans and explain your point of view.

The vocabulary and knowledge of grammar are enough to write simple essays about yourself, describe incidents in life, write a letter to a friend. But in most cases, oral speech lags behind written, you confuse tenses, think over a phrase, pause to pick up a preposition (to or for?), But you can communicate more or less, especially if there is no shyness or fear of making a mistake.

It is much more difficult to understand the interlocutor, and if it is a native speaker, and even with a quick speech and a fancy accent, then it is almost impossible. However, simple, clear speech is well understood, provided the words and phrases are familiar. You generally understand films and series with subtitles, if the text is not very complicated, and with some difficulty you understand the general meaning without subtitles.

At this level, you can:

Understand the general meaning of complex text on specific and abstract topics, including technical (specialized) topics in your profile.
Speak fast enough so that communication with a native speaker occurs without long pauses.
Write clear, detailed text on different topics, explain a point of view, argue for and against different points of view on a topic.

Upper Intermediate is already a good, solid, confident command of the language. If you are talking about a well-known topic with a person whose pronunciation you understand well, then the conversation will go quickly, easily, naturally. An outside observer will tell you that you are fluent in English. However, you can be confused by words and expressions related to topics that you do not understand well, all sorts of jokes, sarcasm, hints, slang.

You know grammar in the volume of the school curriculum – that is, sufficient for most tasks, the vocabulary allows you to read simple fiction in English, understanding most of the text, or literature in your specialty. Uncomplicated films are understandable with or without subtitles, many shows, TV shows are also mostly understandable.

Often the Intermediate – Upper Intermediate level is sufficient for many tasks. For example, it is not uncommon for emigrants to speak the language at this level, and this is enough for them to live and work in an English-speaking country. Having reached this level, many abandon classes in courses, with a tutor and improve their language skills only through practice.

Advanced level (C1)

At this level, you can:

Understand complex, voluminous texts on many topics, understand the hidden meaning (read between the lines).
Speak fluently without thinking about expressions or choosing words.
To master different styles of speech, communicating flexibly and effectively both in an informal environment, and in a professional or academic environment.
Write clear, well-structured and detailed text on complex topics.

Excellent level. If you communicate on topics that you understand, you may be mistaken for a native speaker. You can write freely in English, you can write texts of different genres, using stylistic techniques, pictorial and expressive means of the language. You understand practically everything that you hear by ear, with the exception of difficult special moments, watch movies and TV shows without any problems.

Proficiency Level (C2)

At this level, you can:

Easily understand almost any speech or text.
Summarize information obtained from various oral and written sources, analyze and compose your own presentation based on it.
Speak fluently, unmistakably, expressing subtle nuances of meaning in a variety of difficult situations.

The level of an educated native speaker. You understand almost everything, you can express any thought in any form, using the subtleties of language. The foreigner in you can be betrayed by ignorance of the cultural characteristics of the country. For example, you will not understand a joke from some 90s TV show, a reference to a popular song.

Not all English language learners strive to achieve the Advanced level, and even more so Proficiency. Usually such a good command of the language is simply not needed, a more modest level is enough. However, if you practice a lot, read and listen in English, communicate with native speakers, then you may well reach the Advanced level.

To reach Proficiency, it is desirable to live in an English-speaking country, constantly communicate in English and at the same time consciously and regularly improve your knowledge of the language: read a lot, write, study various subtleties.

The Intermediate English course is based on four elements: listening comprehension, speaking, reading and finally writing skills. This approach allows you to learn how to quickly formulate thoughts, improve phonetic skills, and also gain a sense of language. Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to:

discuss personal and professional plans for the future;
pass an interview in English for work in a foreign company;
talk about your attitude to television and your favorite TV series
argue your preference in music;
talk about healthy lifestyles and healthy habits;
go to restaurants, order food, take part in a conversation at lunch and pay for an order;
Discuss etiquette and advice on how to respond to inappropriate behavior from outside.

Tips for the future

Your goal as an Intermediate level student is to surround yourself with English completely and completely. In this case, special attention can be paid to those topics and aspects that are interesting to you or are directly related to professional activities.

Below are some strategies to improve your English skills in the future:

change the language settings of devices, email, social media accounts to English. In this way, you will constantly use English in your daily life;
read as much as possible in English. For a start, you can give preference to modern magazines or articles from news newspapers. If you study or work in international relations, business and finance, gradually move to the English-language version of the Financial Times or Wall Street Journal. Don't forget to take notes and pay attention to phrases and phrases;
listen to audiobooks and podcasts. Focus on the version of English that you need: British, American, or, for example, Australian;
if you listen to modern music, then you can safely go to karaoke with friends or find the lyrics of your favorite English songs and sing them at home. Don't be shy!

Continue to study with the teacher

“I don't know what to grasp first” is one of the main reasons why it is difficult for the student to overcome the plateau effect. At the intermediate level, many roads are open to you: you can listen to podcasts, read books, watch movies, etc. Therefore, many English learners from this level drop out of classes with a teacher and start studying on their own. However, choosing the right way to learn English yourself is difficult, because this is the first time you find yourself at such a fork. Therefore, in order to quickly improve the level of English, we advise you to continue to study with your teacher, who has experienced the effect of the plateau effect on himself and his students and knows how to cope with it. In addition, lessons with a teacher are disciplined: you will be less tempted to skip class or postpone something for later.

Try lessons with a native speaker

Speaking is a skill that those who continue to work hard on. And at the middle stage, classes with a native English speaker will be an effective way to develop this skill. He will teach you to communicate naturally, to use idioms, phrasal verbs, slang in speech – those “zests” of the language that distinguish the speech of a person with a high level of English proficiency from a person at an intermediate level of knowledge. This is how you can move to the next level of foreign language proficiency. If you wish, you can combine lessons with a native speaker and lessons with a Russian-speaking teacher, this will also be effective.

The surest way to find out if you have reached the next level of English is to pass an international exam, in which case you will receive an independent assessment of your knowledge. For example, if your knowledge is at the Intermediate level, set yourself a goal to pass the FCE. In this case, during the preparation, you will solve various tasks corresponding to the next level – Upper-Intermediate, and you will be able to see what you should know at this new level for yourself. And after you are handed a certificate of successful passing of the exam, there will be no trace of the plateau.

Learn English grammar for intermediate learners

It would seem that up to the Intermediate level you have already met all tenses of English, but there are important grammatical constructions that are required to move to the next level of knowledge. We'll point out resources you can rely on to learn English grammar for advanced learners.

Sources of knowledge:

It will be difficult to study grammar without a good textbook, because everything is systematized in the book. We recommend continuing the “blue Murphy” – the textbook “English Grammar in Use” at the Intermediate level (it is also suitable for Upper-Intermediate.) You can also take the Oxford Practice Grammar at the Intermediate level. These books provide a concise and understandable theory and many practical exercises.
For theory and practice with practical exercises, check out our blog for Intermediate English Grammar, select the Intermediate tab.
As you learn grammar, test yourself to see how the plateau effect is gradually replaced by the effect of an ascent to the next level of knowledge. Find Resources to Test Your Achievements in 8 Cool Online English Grammar Test Sites

Keep learning new words

Your vocabulary is already large enough, but the more you expand it, the faster you can improve your English level.

What words to teach continuing:

Lexicon from special textbooks. English vocabulary textbooks are the best helpers for advanced students. Their value lies in the fact that they give you thematic collections of words presented in texts, dialogues and practice exercises. These tutorials teach you not just new words, but how to use them. We recommend continuing the following textbooks: “English Vocabulary in Use” at the Pre-Intermediate – Intermediate or Upper-Intermediate – Advanced level, “Oxford Word Skills” at the Intermediate or Advanced level, the 4000 Essential English Words tutorial series. These books have answers to all tasks, so you can even learn from them on your own.
Unfamiliar words from texts. Books or articles in English are a valuable source of new vocabulary. Write out unfamiliar words that often appear in the text or play an important role in understanding the meaning of what you read, and learn them. At the same time, give preference to modern literature, books and articles on the Internet in English adapted for your level of knowledge.
Synonyms and antonyms of words you already know. Good and bad are good words to use in early levels. At the intermediate level, you need to expand your vocabulary with synonyms and antonyms of similar words. Fortunately, you don't even have to search for them yourself, you can always find this information in electronic dictionaries. For example, in the search bar on merriam-webster.com, enter the word good, and under the heading “Related to GOOD” you will see a fairly extensive list of synonyms and antonyms for it.
Phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs are used as widely and are as difficult to learn as idioms. We recommend that you learn such vocabulary using a special textbook “Phrasal Verbs in Use”, as well as take note of the application “The Phrasal Verbs Machine” (Android, iOS).
Collocations. Collocations are stable phrases. They need to be taught so that it is easier for you to correctly match words to each other and make sentences. In addition, phrases are easier to remember than single words. It is best to learn such phrases using the textbook “English Collocations in Use Intermediate”. In addition, you can use the special dictionary “Oxford Dictionary Collocations”.
Idioms. This vocabulary will brighten your speech, make it more natural and expressive. Native speakers use idioms all over the place, even in formal speech. We advise you to use the special textbook “English Idioms in Use Intermediate”, it presents various practical exercises to help you remember fixed expressions and the rules for their use. Learning proverbs and idioms is not always easy, so we wrote several useful articles: “How to learn English idioms and whether you need to learn them”, “7 best sites with English idioms: learn and memorize.” In addition, you can install applications for learning the idioms “English Idioms and Phrases” (Android) and “English Idioms Illustrated” (iOS) on your gadget.
Slang. Slang words and expressions will be found in almost all books, films and TV series. Therefore, it is important to take the time to memorize such vocabulary in order to improve your English proficiency. The meaning of slang expressions can be found in the specialized dictionary Urban Dictionary.
Word lists from educational blogs. Check out the “Language tip” articles on the Macmillan Online Dictionary site. Each of these short notes contains examples of sentences with useful vocabulary on a specific topic.
Words on special electronic resources. Specialized vocabulary sites for advanced students will help you learn new vocabulary with a variety of tests. We recommend using esl.fis.edu or englishteststore.net, they are just aimed at people with an intermediate level of knowledge of English.

How to improve your English levels

To improve your level, the most basic will be the desire to learn a foreign language, to develop it. This is not an easy task. This is a daily hard work. It will not work if you study the language in snatches. It's important to take time to learn English every day. This way, your brain will always be ready to receive new information. There are many ways to improve your language:

English language courses and specialized schools,
lessons with a tutor at home or via Skype,
self-study guides,
watching English films and cartoons,
Reading books,
speaking clubs,
groups in social networks.

It is important to choose the one that suits you best. You can combine several methods at the same time. It is important that it be beneficial. It all depends only on you and your desire.

Output

Learning English from zero to intermediate is easy. It is much more difficult to push off the intermediate level and achieve fluent spoken English. Do not let this scare you, but only motivate you. Challenge difficulties and get additional opportunities for work, study, travel and self-development as a reward.

Sources used and useful links on the topic: https://organic-english.ru/2017/09/13/ot-intermediate-do-upper-intermediate-kak-zanimatsya-urovni-b1-b2/ https: // puzzle- english.com/directory/upper-intermediate https://english-poskype.ru/kak-povysit-uroven-anglijskogo-do-advanced/ https://organic-english.ru/2017/11/11/kak-bystro -povysit-uroven-anglijskogo-samostoyatelno / https://langformula.ru/urovni-anglijskogo-yazyka/ https://zen.yandex.ru/media/englishdom/samyi-prostoi-sposob-povysit-uroven-angliiskogo-do -intermediate-5b3e1d8a9d936000a8dcbc7e https://englex.ru/how-to-learn-english-at-an-intermediate-level/ https://LearnEnglish4.ru/urovni-anglijskogo-yazyka/ https: //www.EnglishDom. com / blog / anglijskij-dlya-prodolzhayushhix /

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