English Conversational Skills for Beginners Provided by Edraak and the British Council
Description
These courses are aimed at helping you learn English that you can use practically, immediately. The focus is conversational language – the kind of language you use when you’re speaking – at an Elementary level, and there is special attention paid to useful phrases and vocabulary, as well as pronunciation.
What you’ll learn
- Spoken English you can use in common situations, such as talking about yourself, your habits and routines and your future plans.
- Essential vocabulary areas, such as numbers, and telling the time.
- Pronunciation tips, to help with difficult sounds, stress and other aspects of speaking English.
- Examples of how English differs from Arabic, which can be useful for your understanding.
- Tips on how best to manage your learning, to help you be more effective.
Courses included
This specialization includes the following courses:
English Conversational Skills for Beginners (1)
Description
Have you ever thought about learning English? Whether it is for working in an international environment, studying, travelling abroad, or just talking to someone who doesn’t speak Arabic, even a few words of English can open doors.
This course is aimed at helping you learn English that you can use practically, immediately. The focus is conversational language – the kind of language you use when you’re speaking – at an Elementary level, and there is special attention paid to useful phrases and vocabulary, as well as pronunciation.
Drawing on the British Council’s expertise in English language learning and teaching, the course uses short videos of a group of Arabic-speaking learners on a British Council English course, so you can see the kind of language they are learning. These videos will be presented and commented on by an experienced English language teacher from the British Council who, in Arabic, will highlight important points related to the language, and give you useful tips. You will then have plenty of opportunities to practice that language, in quizzes, discussions and by using specially developed software to help you remember new words and phrases.
What you’ll learn
- Spoken English you can use in common situations, such as talking about yourself, your habits and routines and your future plans.
- Essential vocabulary areas, such as numbers, and telling the time.
- Pronunciation tips, to help with difficult sounds, stress and other aspects of speaking English.
- Examples of how English differs from Arabic, which can be useful for your understanding.
- Tips on how best to manage your learning, to help you be more effective.
Learn English: Conversational Skills 2
Description
Do you want to improve your spoken English? Would you like to be able to hold simple conversations, to talk about yourself and where you come from? A little bit of English can go a long way.
Whether this is your first time you would like to study English, or you are one of the many who took ‘Learn English: Conversational Skills for Beginners’ , this second free course in the series will provide you with English you can use practically, immediately. The focus is on the kind of language you need to communicate and talk about yourself, your interests and your experiences – from learning how you can manage simple conversations in English to talking about your education.
As with the first course in this series, you will benefit from the British Council’s long experience in English language learning and teaching for free. Each week, the content you learn is related to the studies of a group of Arabic-speaking learners on an English course with their British Council teacher, Alan. You will watch extracts of their lessons, which will be commented on by Ismail – another experienced British Council teacher. Ismail will guide you through important aspects, highlight language, and give you practical tips about English grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. As in the first course, you can then practice all of this in quizzes, discussions and in the use of a special software to help you remember new words and phrases.
What you’ll learn
- Language you can use in common situations, such as describing places, or talking about your educational and professional experience.
- Useful areas of English vocabulary, including descriptive adjectives, food and drink, and numbers and prices.
- Pronunciation tips, as in the first course, to help with difficult sounds in English, as well as aspects such as stress and the way sounds link together.
- Examples of how English differs from Arabic, which can be useful for your understanding.
- Tips on how to be a better speaker of English, and how to best manage your learning.
Learn English: Conversational Skills 3
Description
This third course in the series of three is, as with the other courses, designed to help you even if you’ve never studied English formally before. There are four different topics for weeks 1-4, covering areas of useful language such as ‘talking about plans and ambitions’, ‘talking on the phone’, and ‘texting and emailing’. Week 5 is a review of the course.
What you’ll learn
- Language: there are usually two language sections, with video from Alan and Ismail, as well a chance to practice the main points
- Pronunciation: this is a chance for you to learn from Ismail about some of the interesting features of spoken English
- Vocabulary: there is lots of vocabulary for you to practice each week.
- Language in use: here you can watch people using English naturally, talking about the topic of the week
- Learning tips: these are Alan’s tips for you as an Arabic-speaking learner of English, on your journey of studying English
- Your turn: this is a weekly chance for you to practice communicating online, in English
- Review: at the end of weeks 1-4, you can test your understanding with a special quiz. Week 5 is a review of the whole course
About Instructors
Alan Keenan
Alan Keenan is an English Teacher at the British Council in Amman, Jordan. He has a Master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Queen’s University Belfast. He has been teaching English for ten years, mostly in the Arab World. He has taught English to people of all ages. He currently teaches courses in General English for adults and young learners as well as Preparation for IELTS courses. He has learned both Modern Standard Arabic and the Levantine dialects. He is married and has three young children.
Ismail Alsmail
Ismail is an English teacher at the British Council in Amman, Jordan. He has a Master’s degree in TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) from Al Baath University in Syria, and a CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) from the University of Cambridge. Ismail has over seven years of teaching experience in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan. He has experience of teaching students at different language levels, ranging from beginner to advanced.
About The British Council
he British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. It supports peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. The British Council does this through its work in arts and culture, education and the English language. It works with people in over 200 countries and territories and has offices in more than 100 countries. In 2021 to 2022 the British Council reached 650 million people.
We work with governments and our partners in the education, English language and cultural sectors, in the UK and globally. Working together we make a bigger difference, creating benefit for millions of people all over the world.
