ENGLISH COURSES

BEGINNER GENERAL ENGLISH
(A1 → A2)

For beginners and false beginners who need simple, usable English for school, travel and daily life.

• Speaking and listening skills focus on practical tasks like checking in, buying a coffee, buying clothes, asking the way, ordering a meal, and getting to the airport.

• Vocabulary includes numbers, countries, classroom language, jobs, family, daily routine, weather, food and drink, places, holidays, books, and films.

• Grammar builds from be, pronouns, possessives, imperatives, and present simple to present continuous, can / can’t, past simple, there is / there are, countable / uncountable nouns, comparatives, be going to, adverbs, and present perfect.

The following courses teach general purpose language useful in social, work, travel, and academic contexts.

All courses are practical and focused on building speaking fluency and confidence. They use modern communicative methods informed by the evidence-based natural approach.

Lessons take place face to face in small groups of 6 to 8 students, for €375 per person.

For learners moving from basic English to more confident everyday communication. Sometimes known as the 'Pre-Intermediate' level.

• Speaking and listening skills stay practical through tasks like calling reception, eating out, taking something back to a shop, going to a pharmacy, asking for directions, and speaking on the phone.

• Vocabulary covers relationships, clothes, holidays, airports, restaurants, housework, shopping, health, work, school, sport, biographies, animals, directions, and unusual jobs.

• Grammar develops through question forms, present and past narration, future plans, present perfect, something / anything / nothing, comparatives and superlatives, quantifiers, infinitives and gerunds, have to / must / should, first and second conditionals, passive forms, used to, might, past perfect, and reported speech.

INTERMEDIATE GENERAL ENGLISH
(B1 → B2)

For independent learners who want to speak more naturally and fluently in social, work, travel, and study contexts.

• Speaking and listening skills centre on practical interaction such as reacting to what people say, giving opinions, making suggestions, asking permission, and using indirect questions.

• Vocabulary includes food, money, transport, family, phone language, sport, relationships, cinema, education, housing, work, shopping, technology, and crime.

• Grammar covers present and future forms, present perfect simple and continuous, articles, modals of obligation and ability, past tenses, passives, modals of deduction, first/second/third conditionals, gerunds and infinitives, reported speech, quantifiers, relative clauses, and question tags.

UPPER-INTERMEDIATE GENERAL ENGLISH
(B2 → C1)

For upper-level learners who need more confident, flexible English for discussion, opinion-sharing, and real-world communication.

• Speaking and listening skills remain strongly practical through Colloquial English lessons and listening on topics like medical emergencies, exciting trips, bungee jumping, regrets, arguments, crime, cities, and science

• Vocabulary expands into job interviews, personality, health, fashion, air travel, the environment, feelings, sleep, music, crime, media, business, cities, and science.

• Grammar includes question formation, present perfect simple and continuous, adjective order, narrative tenses, future perfect and future continuous, conditionals, wish, used to / be used to / get used to, gerunds and infinitives, past modals, passives, reporting verbs, clauses of contrast and purpose, quantifiers, and articles.

ADVANCED GENERAL ENGLISH
(C1 → C2)

For advanced learners who want precise, nuanced English for professional, academic, and high-level social communication.

• Speaking and listening skills use sophisticated but practical themes through Colloquial English and listening on topics such as earliest memories, memorable dates, stress, addiction, installation art, difficult journeys, vegetarianism.

• Vocabulary covers personality, work, memory, conflict, books and films, sound, time, money, technology, art, health, travel, animals, food, and words that are often confused.

• Grammar includes lexical vs grammatical have, discourse markers, past habits vs specific incidents, inversion, speculation and deduction, unreal past uses, verb + object + infinitive / gerund, conditionals, permission / obligation / necessity, advanced gerunds and infinitives, ellipsis, relative clauses, and cleft sentences.

ELEMENTARY GENERAL ENGLISH
(A2 → B1)

IELTS PREPARATION COURSES

• All the Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speakings skills that you need for the exam.

• A detailed look at exam questions types with tips and strategies for each type of question.

• Key grammar topics at the B1 level.

• Vocabulary at the B1 level related to the most common IELTS themes.

These courses focus on the grammar, vocabulary, and skills (Reading/Listening/Speaking/Writing) tested on the IELTS exam.

Lessons take place face to face in small groups of 6 to 8 students, for €375 per person.

For learners at the B2 level aiming to achieve a 6.5--7.0 IELTS score by focusing on IELTS-specific strategies, skills, grammar, and vocabulary.

IELTS PREPARATION 6.5--7.0
(B2 →C1)

IELTS PREPARATION 5.5--6.0
(B1 → B2)

For learners at the B1 level aiming to achieve a 5.5--6.0 IELTS score by focusing on the specific skills, grammar, and vocabulary tested by the exam.

• All the Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speakings skills that you need for the exam.

• A detailed look at exam questions types with tips and strategies for each type of question.

• Key grammar topics at the B2 level.

• Vocabulary at the B2 level related to the most common IELTS themes.

SPECIALTY COURSES

BUSINESS ENGLISH
(A2→B1, B1→B2, B2→C1, and C1→C2)

For people who want to focus on English used at work, especially speaking skills used in meetings with colleagues and clients.

• Speaking and listening skills focus on language used at work, especially in meetings with colleagues and clients, but also speaking on the phone or giving presentations. For example, speaking topics include networking, running a project update meeting, explaining features and benefits, presenting visual information, negotiating with colleagues, and making plans.

• Vocabulary covers workplace topics such as managing projects, outsourcing, communications technology, cultural differences, logistics and supply chains, and innovation.

These more specialised courses are for individuals (one-on-one) or private groups of 2-10 people. Due to reduced demand, these are 'bring-your-own-group' courses (it's not possible to join a group as an individual).

These courses can be personalised according to your specific learning goals, are available at different lengths, and can also be delivered on location at your home, university, or office.

For a 26-hour course, prices start from €1600/€2000 (online/in-person) for one-on-one lessons and €2400 total for groups.

TOEFL EXAM PREPARATION
(B1→B2 and B2→C1)

For B1- or B2-level learners preparing to take the TOEFL exam.

• All the Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speakings skills that you need for the TOEFL exam.

• A detailed look at exam questions types with tips and strategies for each type of question.

• Key grammar topics most commonly tested by the exam

• Vocabulary related to the most common TOEFL themes.

CAMBRIDGE EXAMS PREPARATION
(B2 First and C1 Advanced)

For people preparing to take B2 First or C1 Advanced exams.

• All the Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speakings skills that you need for the various Cambridge exams.

• A detailed look at exam questions types with tips and strategies for each type of question.

• Key grammar topics most commonly tested by the exam

• Vocabulary related to the most common exam themes.

ACADEMIC WRITING
(B2→C1 and C1→C2)

For those wishing to focus only on academic writing skills.

• Writing skills are the only focus of this course - the goal is to produce academic writing that is clear, well-structured, precise, critical, and persuasive.

• Topics include paragraph structure and essay structure; introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions; linking ideas with cohesive devices; summarising and paraphrasing sources; giving argument with supporting evidence; using an appropriately formal register; and more.

When does the next course start?

New courses start all the time on a 'rolling' basis. When you register, we'll ask you which days/times you are available. As soon as we collect at least six people for a given time slot, we can start the new lesson group. We will then contact you to confirm the starting date.

Are the lessons taught in Dutch or in English?

Lessons are taught 100% in English (slightly above the level where the you can understand everything), even at the Beginner (A1) level. Thus they are equally accessible to everyone, even if you don't speak Dutch.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How are the courses scheduled?

We meet for two hours (with a small break in the middle) at a regular time once a week, for a total of 26 hours (13 weeks). The courses follow the school vacation calendar for the Middle Region.

Courses are available six days a week from Monday to Saturday, at four different times a day (9:30--11:30, 12:30--14:30, 15:00--17:00, and 17:30--19:30).

What method of language teaching do you use? What are the lessons like?

All courses are practical and focused on building speaking fluency and confidence. They use modern communicative methods informed by the evidence-based natural approach. You learn English the same way you learned your native language - by using it intuitively (not by studying the grammar rules analytically). Language ability is a set of skills that need to trained, similar to learning a sport or a musical instrument -- not an academic subject to learned the same way as geography or chemistry.

What kind of professional experience do your teachers have?

Our teachers are native English speakers with decades of experience teaching English in The Netherlands and around the world. They are trained in modern, evidence-based, communicative teaching methods.

How do I register for a course?

Please fill out this registration form with your availability and preferences. You need to first take this diagnostic test to determine your current English level.

What types of courses do you offer?

Please see the course information page for details. There are two types of group courses you can join as an individual: General English and IELTS prep. We also offer specialty courses (e.g. Business English) that are available for private groups or one-on-one.

General English is an all-purpose course that teaches a broad range of language useful for school, work, travel, and socialising -- a mix of Reading, Writing, Listening, and above all Speaking skills, as well as the most commonly used vocabulary and grammar.

Do you have courses for complete beginners? What about for advanced experts?

General English is available at all levels from A1 (Beginner) to C1 (Advanced). IELTS exam preparation is available at the B1 and B2 levels. Private/one-on-one courses are available at all levels.

How do I know my language level?

You can take this diagnostic test to determine your Reading and Listening levels according to the CEFR scale. Those interested in exam prep courses should instead take this longer test that also assesses your Speaking and Writing.

The CEFR scale is a standardised measure of language ability:

A1: Beginner
A2: Elementary
B1: Intermediate
B2: Upper-intermediate
C1: Advanced
C2: Proficient

For more detailed descriptions of the CEFR levels, click here.

Your courses last 13 weeks, but what if I want to work towards a long-term goal, such as reaching the next CEFR level?

That's possible; each CEFR level is divided into three 26-hour courses, so after you finish one course (for example, A2.1) you can continue to the next sub-level (A2.2), and indeed to the next sub-levels after that (A2.3, then B1.1, B1.2, B1.3, B2.1, B2.2, B2.3, C1.1, etc.). We use the same textbook series for every level (Oxford University Press' English File series), so it's even possible to progress all the way from Beginner (A1) to Advanced (C1) level using the same unified curriculum.

REGISTER FOR A GROUP COURSE

In order to place you in a group with others of the same English level, it's important to take this online diagnostic test. Please email the results to info@arnhemenglishschool.nl.

Those registering for an exam preparation course should instead take this longer test that also checks Speaking and Writing skills.

ABOUT US

Matt Rooks

Director / English Teacher

In addition to teaching many of the English courses himself, Matt organises and supervises all of the education at Arnhem English School. Matt is a native speaker who grew up in the small village of Saranac Lake, New York, in the northeastern United States. He's been teaching English since 2009, about seventeen years. Before moving to The Netherlands in 2016, Matt taught English to adults in Turkey, Bahrain, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Besides English he speaks B2 (Upper-Intermediate) Dutch, A2 (Elementary) French, and A2 (Elementary) Turkish.

Kelley Jackson

English Teacher

Esther Ticheler

English and Dutch (NT2) Teacher

Esther teaches English and also the occasional private Dutch (NT2) group course. She grew up bilingual in Enschede, The Netherlands. Esther has been teaching English since 2012, about fourteen years. Before she moved back to The Netherlands with Matt in 2016, Esther taught English to adults in Turkey, Bahrain, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Esther speaks both English and Dutch with native fluency.

Kelley teaches English and exam preparation courses. A native speaker from Vinalhaven, Maine, in the northeastern United States, Kelley met Matt and Esther back in 2011 when they worked together at the same language school in Istanbul. He's taught English since 2010, about sixteen years, in Turkey, Greece, Myanmar, Vietnam, and China. In addition to English Kelley also speaks A2 (Elementary) Turkish.

Pawel Kolodziejczyk

Marketing

Pawel handles the marketing, advertising, and web design for Arnhem English School. Originally from Kraków, Poland, Pawel moved to Istanbul's Kadıköy neighbourhood twenty years ago and never looked back. There he taught English at universities for many years before switching careers in 2016 to become the Marketing guru and Sales wizard that he is today. Besides native Polish Pawel speaks English at the C2 (native) level, Turkish at the B2 (Upper-Intermediate) level, and A2 (Elementary) French.

CONTACT

Questions? Get in touch.

info@ArnhemEnglishSchool.nl

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