BBC Learning English - Lower Intermediate English Syllabus 12/22/23, 8:44 AM

Syllabus: Lower Intermediate

Use this page to find your way around our lower intermediate course. Click the links to go to our other course sitemaps.

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Lower Intermediate Course – A=activity, L=listening, R=reading, V=video

Grammar Vocabulary News and Drama

Unit 1 – Nice to meet you!

L Question forms L Suffixes L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Tipping

R Keith Wallace, travel journalist V Ways to say hello L The Race – Episode 1
Question forms practice Asking questions and giving
R Formal and informal writing information
R Questions forms
Grammar reference

Unit 2 – What to wear

L Present simple and present continuous L Adjectives and adverbs L News Report
6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary How fashionable is business?

V Tom Ford, fashion designer V Smart or scruffy? L The Race – Episode 2

Using present simple and present continuous Describing your clothes Present simple and present
continuous
R Present simple and present continuous
Grammar reference

Unit 3 – Like this, like that

L 'Like' as a verb and preposition L Prefixes L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary How dangerous are cats?

L London voxpops V Do you like cats? L The Race – Episode 3

What's it like where you live? Vocabulary to describe cats Using the word 'like'

R 'Like' L Nick Grimshaw, DJ

Grammar reference Using 'like' as a filler word

Unit 4 – The daily grind

L Adverbs of Frequency L Chunks of language L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Extreme commuting

L London voxpops L Travel vocabulary L The Race – Episode 4

Commuting and adverbs of frequency Adverbs of frequency
L Pronunciation
R Adverbs of frequency

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Grammar Reference Two ways to say 'often'

Unit 5 – Christmas every day

L 'Have to' and 'must' L Binomials L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Christmas dinner

L 'Have to' and 'must' L The Race – Episode 5

Future and past usage 'Have to' and 'must'
L Informal English
L Jagtar's interview 'Have got to' versus 'have to'
Language practice

V Pronunciation
R 'Have to' and 'must'
Silent letters
Grammar reference

Unit 6 – Great achievers

L Past Simple L -ing and –ed adjectives L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Is Ronaldo the perfect player?

L Rob and the triathlon L The pub quiz L The Race – Episode 6
Learn the past simple Using the past simple Using the past simple

A Danny Murphy, footballer V Pronunciation

Past simple questions & negatives Past simple endings

R Past Simple
Grammar reference

Unit 7 – The Titanic

L Past simple and continuous L Lexical sets L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Happy and sad jobs

V Eva's story R Titanic vocabulary L The Race – Episode 7

Past simple and continuous Past simple and continuous
V Eva's animated story
R Learn the language Titanic survivor
Past simple and continuous
R Karen's letter
A Past simple and continuous Titanic survivor
Quiz
L Gus's audio story
R Past simple and continuous Titanic survivor
Grammar reference

Unit 8 - Travel

L Articles L Compound adjectives L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary The island at the end of the earth

L Learn the language L Holiday vocabulary L The Race – Episode 8

Articles Articles
V Pronunciation
A When to use 'the' Articles in spoken English

L When to use the zero article V Talking about your city

St Petersburg
R Articles

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Grammar reference

Unit 9 – The big wedding

L 'Going to' and present continuous L Word stress L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary A wedding on a budget

A Past, present or future? R Wedding vocabulary

Wedding stories L The Race – Episode 9
L Pronunciation 'Going to' and present continuous
A 'Going to' and the present continuous 'Gonna' to talk about the future
Planning a wedding
V Is that rain?
R 'Going to' and present continuous to talk Different ways to talk about the future
about the future
Grammar reference Language for making plans

Unit 10 – Sunny’s job hunt

L Verb patterns L Job Suffixes L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Girl power in Ghana's schools

R When to use the gerund and when the R Sunny's mistakes L The Race – Episode 10
infinitive after a verb Writing a covering letter Verb patterns

R Verb patterns L Craig, BBC HR Manager

Grammar reference Interview advice

Unit 11 – The bucket list

L Present Perfect L Contractions L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Swiss children used as slave
labour
L Londoners' experiences A Life experiences
Past participles and the present perfect Collocations L Frankenstein – Episode 1
Present perfect with 'never' and
A Asking questions R Susan Boyle's present perfect life 'ever'
Present perfect questions
V Pronunciation
R Present perfect Present perfect
Grammar reference

Unit 12 – Moving and immigration

L Present perfect with 'for' and 'since' L Adjective order L News Report
6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Mushrooms are the business for
Burmese migrant
R Present perfect reminder L Sourena, broadcast journalist
Changing jobs L Frankenstein – Episode 2
R Present perfect with 'for' and 'since' Present perfect with 'for' and
Grammar reference L How long have you lived here? 'since'
Students speak about the UK

Unit 13 – Welcome to BBC Broadcasting House

L Comparatives and superlatives L Similar words L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Minecraft player builds virtual city

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R Newest, largest and bigger R Find out about the BBC L Frankenstein – Episode 3
Comparatives and superlatives explained Superlatives and comparatives activity Present perfect with 'yet', 'just'
and 'already'
R Much and more V The BBC
More about comparatives A superlative guide

R Comparing nouns L Describing change in your

neighbourhood
R Comparatives and superlatives
Grammar reference

Unit 14 – New Year, New Project

L 'Just', 'already' and 'yet' with the present L Compound nouns L News Report
perfect tense 6 Minute Vocabulary Too many graduates, not enough
6 Minute Grammar jobs
V New Year's resolutions
R 'Just' and 'already' L Frankenstein – Episode 4
The rules A A vegetarian breakfast? Comparatives and superlatives
Present perfect with 'yet', 'just' and
A 'Yet' 'already' practice
More rules

R 'Just', 'already' and 'yet' with the present L 'Just', 'yet' and 'already' in business
perfect tense Business vocabulary
Grammar reference
L The Sagrada Familia
A listening activity

Unit 15 – From Handel to Hendrix

L Defining relative clauses L Homophones L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary The Taj Mahal in your living room

R Handel and Hendrix V Famous London L Frankenstein – Episode 5

Getting a handle on relative clauses Descriptions with relative clauses Relative clauses

R Which, where or that A What does … mean?

A useful question
R Relative clauses
A structure L The Handel House Museum
A listening activity
R Defining relative clauses
Grammar reference

Unit 16 – What’s the weather like?

L May, might and could L Weather words L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Entrepreneurial spark

R The weather supercomputer A Welcome to the weather L Frankenstein – Episode 6

Understanding might, may and could Weather vocabulary and symbols 'May', 'might' and 'could'

R Predicting the weather V A weather forecast

Using will and might Understanding a weather forecast?

R May, might and could for possibility V Climate change

Grammar reference Cause and effect relationships

R Climate change

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Is the risk from extreme weather set to

rise?

L Meet a weather presenter

Using 'could' and 'couldn't

L Britain's great storm

Unit 17 – The Digital Revolution

L Used to L New words L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Experimental schools of the
1970s
R Talking about change V Modern technology is great?
A guide to used to selfie, photobomb and trolling L Frankenstein – Episode 7
Used to
R Used to and the past simple L Modern technology – the debate
What's the difference? old-school, bizarre, video call …

V Used to or use to? R Robot trucks do the jobs

Mining and tech vocabulary
R Used to
Grammar reference L Christine's life
Using 'used to'

Unit 18 – A detective story

L Subject questions L Male and female job words L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Murder mystery

A Inspector Stone's case notes (Ep 1) V Inspector Stone Episode 1 L Frankenstein – Episode 8
Possessive 's' and subject questions Wedding vocabulary Subject questions

R Gathering the evidence V Inspector Stone Episode 2

Forming subject questions Listening for specific information
More on subject questions
R The Inspector finds a notebook
Word order V Inspector Stone Episode 3
Practising the past simple negative
R 'Whose' or 'who's'?
R The mother of the bride
L Inspector Stone's case notes Find the past simple negative mistakes
Intonation and question tags
V Inspector Stone Episode 4
R Subject-object questions Intonation and solving the crime
Grammar reference

Unit 19 – A place to live

L 'Too', 'very', 'enough' L Strong adjectives L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary School shortage

A Modifying adjectives with 'too', 'very' V Goldilocks and the three bears L Frankenstein – Episode 9
and 'enough' 'Too', 'very' and 'enough' 'Too much', 'too many', 'enough',
'not enough', 'very'
R 'Too much', 'too many', 'enough', 'not R London’s housing crisis
enough', 'very' Housing vocabulary
Grammar reference
V 'ough' words
Pronunciation tips for words like ‘enough’

L 'Too', 'very' and 'enough'

Using these words to say what’s wrong

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Unit 20 – The Cult of Celebrity

L Tenses L –ic and –ical adjectives L News Report

6 Minute Grammar – present simple, present 6 Minute Vocabulary Robin Williams honoured
continuous, past simple, present perfect,
going to, present continuous with future V Life after The Box L Frankenstein – Episode 10
meaning Talking about plans for the future Past simple, present simple,
present perfect, present
V Daisy's audition R Daisy goes global continuous, 'going to' future
Present simple, present continuous, past Fame vocabulary
simple, present perfect
R A disease called fame
V Living in The Box Fame vocabulary
Present simple, present continuous, past
simple, present perfect

R Mixed tenses
Grammar reference

Unit 21 – Welcome to your new job

L Indirect questions L Multi-word verbs L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Work after sport

R Indirect questions V Going Up: Amith's First Day L Alice in Wonderland – Part 1
Polite language Indirect questions
R Indirect questions
Grammar reference R Indirect questions with 'if' and
'whether'

L 'I wonder if you could help me'

Listening to phone messages

R French cafe causes a stir

Read an article about a French cafe

Unit 22 – Beyond the planets

L Present and past passives L Onomatopoeia L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Comets

R The passive voice L NASA's last shuttle flight L Alice in Wonderland – Part 2
Space vocabulary Present and past simple passives
R Present and past passives
Grammar reference R Is there hope for the future?
Stories about the future

Unit 23 – Great expectations!

L First conditional L Silent letters L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Dads attending births

L Advice for new mums L Baby talk L Alice in Wonderland – Part 3

Using the first conditional Idioms relating to having a baby The first conditional

R First conditional L Parents-to-be

Grammar reference 'If' + present simple + will

R Different countries, different

systems
Reading about healthcare and pregnancy

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Unit 24 – Eco-tourism

L The second conditional L Re- pre- and pro- L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary
If cars could run themselves
L Would the world be better if… R Would you go to Antarctica?
Second conditionals Eco-tourism vocabulary L Alice in Wonderland – Part 4
The second conditional
R Second conditional L My dream holiday
Grammar reference Talking about dream destinations

Unit 25 – Moving house

L State verbs L Phrasal verbs and context L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Sharing accommodation

A State verbs: 'love' and 'hate' R Finding somewhere to live L Alice in Wonderland – Part 5
Vocabulary relating to living together State verbs
R State verbs and action verbs
Grammar reference L Getting along with your housemates
Talking about living together

R How can you avoid choosing a

terrible flatmate?
Talking about the problems of living
together

Unit 26 – It must be love

L Present perfect and past simple L Spelling words that begin with /s/ L News Report
6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Breaking News

R Present perfect and past simple L She’s the one L Alice in Wonderland – Part 6
Grammar reference Talking about relationships Present perfect and past simple

R The man who robbed a bank for love

Unit 27 – Job hunting success… and failure

L Question tags L Business jargon L News Report

6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Job interviews

A Making questions in English R The ideal candidate L Alice in Wonderland – Part 7

Vocabulary of job adverts Question tags
A Find the correct question tags
R The dos and don'ts of job interviews
R Question tags Vocabulary relating to job interview
Grammar reference processes

Unit 28 – Speeding into the future

L 'Will', 'going to', 'might' and 'be likely to' L British and American English L News Report
6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary The future of travel

R Predicting the future R Too much tech? L Alice in Wonderland – Part 8

'Will', 'going to', 'be likely to' and 'might' Vocabulary relating to digital technology 'Will', 'going to', 'might'

R 'Will', 'going to', 'be likely to', 'might' R Do we need to rescue our kids from
Grammar reference the digital world?
Vocabulary relating to use of digital

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technology

Unit 29 – Lost arts

L 'Used to' and 'would' L Pronouncing verbs and nouns L News Report
6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Health stories

R 'Used to' and 'would' L The Knowledge L Alice in Wonderland – Part 9

Grammar reference 'Used to' and 'would' in context 'Used to' and 'would'

R How to plant the perfect tree

Suggestions, instructions and advice

Unit 30 – Tales of survival

L 'Can', 'could', 'be able to', 'manage' L Words with double letters L News Report
6 Minute Grammar 6 Minute Vocabulary Surviving the tsunami

R Turning tragedy into triumph R Surviving in tough times L Alice in Wonderland – Part 10
'Can', 'could', 'be able to' and 'manage to' in Talking about ability Expressions of ability in the past
context and present
R After Typhoon Haiyan
R Present and past modals of ability Vocabulary relating to natural disasters
Grammar reference
L Meet Jackie
Broadcasting in and about disaster zones

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