English for Adult Learners
Start here
Hello! This is English. You learn English here.
You learn one word at a time. You learn the most common words first. Each word has a picture.
You hear the word. You say the word.
You read short stories. You learn a little grammar.
How to use this course
- See the picture.
- Hear and say the word.
- Read the story.
Good luck!
For teachers and advanced readers
This section is for adults who already read English well, and for teachers choosing material. I taught English for a year as a language assistant in Le Havre, after an Erasmus year in Madrid, and the same few things tripped up learner after learner.
Where English is easy, and where it is hard
The grammar is light. Everything else is heavy.
| Area | Easy or hard | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Nouns | grammatical gender, endings | |
| Verb endings | I work, she works: that final s is nearly the whole present tense | |
| Through, though, thought, tough, thorough: learn sound and spelling as two facts | ||
| Phrasal verbs | Get up, get over, get by, get away with: thousands, and natives use them constantly | |
| A, an, the or nothing; brutal for speakers of Russian, Mandarin, Polish or Japanese | ||
| Rhythm | Stress-timed: weak syllables collapse to a schwa (uh), unlike Spanish or French | |
| Collocation | Make a decision, not "do a decision"; heavy rain, not "strong rain" | |
| Vocabulary | , -synonyms |
None of the hard areas yields to a rule learnt on a Sunday. All of them yield to volume of exposure.
British vs American
The grammar is over 95% shared and both are fully understood everywhere. Pick one to speak and write, keep it consistent, and treat the other as listening practice.
| Difference | British | American |
|---|---|---|
| , , organise | color, center, organize | |
| Vocabulary | , , lorry, , autumn | , , , , |
| The r sound | dropped in car, hard | pronounced |
| Grammar | I've just eaten, got | I just ate, gotten |
| UK, Ireland, Europe, Commonwealth | , |
How long each level takes
Guided-learning hours (structured study with a course or teacher), with self-study on top. Times assume about 30 minutes a day.
| CEFR level | Hours | At 30 min/day | Exam, roughly |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 (beginner) | 90-100 | 6 9 | A2 (), IELTS |
| A2 (elementary) | 180-200 | 1 1.5 | A2 , IELTS 3.0 3.5 |
| B1 (intermediate) | 350-400 | 2 2.5 | B1 Preliminary, IELTS 4.0 5.0 |
| B2 ( intermediate) | 500-600 | 3 3.5 | B2 , IELTS 5.5 6.5 |
| C1 () | 700-800 | 4 5 | C1 , IELTS 7.0 8.0 |
| C2 (mastery) | 1,000-1,200 | 6+ | C2 Proficiency, IELTS 8.5 9.0 |
B2 First and IELTS 6.5 unlock most universities and skilled work. C1 is where you operate fully; most adults should not chase C2.
Why learners stall at B1
The skills that reach B1 (memorising words and simple sentence frames) do not reach B2. Apps under-deliver on exactly what B2 needs:
- : perhaps 40 to 60 hours of slow audio across a whole app course, when B2 takes hundreds.
- : speech recognition checks that you said something, not that a person understood you.
- Chunks: apps teach single words, but English is built from phrasal verbs and collocations.
- : taught apart, so learners can read words they cannot say or hear.
Learners who break the plateau in six to nine months add all four: volume listening, free reading at level, speaking with a tutor, and chunks rather than words.
What to do next
- A1 A2: work through the Core 1,000 English words and read the English stories, which use only that vocabulary.
- Grammar: use the English grammar hub for articles, tenses and the patterns that trip learners up.
- B1 B2: follow the English curriculum in order, and push listening and reading past what feels comfortable.