Real English: Take Your Fluency to the Next Level
You’ve come a long way since you first started learning English. You have a good range of vocabulary and your grammar is solid (most of the time). You can hold conversations about your hobbies easily and native speakers rarely correct you.
But you still don’t feel as confident speaking English as you do when speaking your own language. You want to be able to tackle real world problems, find your own writing style and express complex ideas. You’re studying for the same amount of time each day, using the same learning methods that have worked for you before, so why don’t you feel like your fluency is improving anymore?
Progress isn't linear
You won’t improve at the same speed in all stages of your language learning. At the Higher Intermediate level, many students reach a plateau. This can be frustrating and disappointing.
Kaplan’s Real English course is designed to help Higher Intermediate students progress to an advanced level.
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR REAL ENGLISH COURSE
How is Real English different from Kaplan's other English courses?
Unlike traditional language classes, Real English classes aren’t based around grammar or vocabulary. You won’t be conjugating verbs in class; you’ll be challenged to apply your English skills to real life situations, and this is how you’ll progress from Intermediate to Advanced level.
Working collaboratively with other students of different abilities, you’ll develop your language skills by completing a different project each week. These might include:
- Writing and publishing a newsletter
- Organizing a charity event
- Marketing a product
- Designing an app
- Producing a podcast
With Kaplan’s Real English course, you’ll expand your English vocabulary organically through learning about different topics, debating with your fellow students, and feeding your ideas into project plans. You might even discover a talent you didn’t know you had – do you have an undiscovered aptitude for journalism or event planning?
A typical day in the Real English classroom
Let’s say that your project for this week is to create a newspaper reporting Kaplan school news. Firstly, you’ll go around the school finding people to interview to source interesting stories. In class, your teacher will bring you up to speed on the key features of a newspaper article, and you’ll read phrases aloud from real newspapers to help improve your pronunciation.
Once you’ve learned some journalism vocabulary and got to grips with how to structure a news article, you’ll have a go at writing your own. But don’t worry – you won’t be working alone. You’ll type up your article in pairs, and your teacher will be on-hand if you need help with vocabulary, structure, writing style, or anything else.
The final step will be to set out your story like a real newspaper article, by adding in details such as photos, captions and bylines. When all your fellow students have completed their articles, your teacher will print and circulate the newspaper – and you’ll have completed your first journalism project!
Learning that goes beyond the classroom
Based on the Cambridge Framework for Life Competencies, the course will help you build more than just your language skills.
You’ll also work on:
- Creative thinking – creating new content and thinking laterally to solve problems
- Critical thinking – understanding, analyzing and evaluating ideas, arguments and opinions
- Learning to learn – taking control of your own learning and evaluating your own success
- Communication – speaking confidently and using appropriate language and tone for the situation
- Collaboration – listening to others, dividing up work and responding constructively to ideas
- Understanding social responsibilities – discussing global issues, describing your own and others’ cultures
This learning will prepare you for much more than just English exams and a handful of casual conversations – it’ll prepare you for life in the real, English-speaking world.