Syllabus: Upper Intermediate

Use this page to find your way around our Upper Intermediate course, or click the links to go to our other course sitemaps.

 

Upper-Intermediate Course – R=reading, V=video

 

Grammar

Vocabulary

Drama

Unit 1 – Go beyond intermediate with our video course

 

V English Class
The third conditional

R Grammar reference
The third conditional

V News Review
James Bond – censor, censorship, ridicule, mockery, make a mockery

V Lingohack
Syria airstrikes; Iraq; Facebook founder giveaway – extremists, raids, pledged

V Stop saying…!
Double contractions

V The White Elephant – Episode 1
Panic!

Unit 2 – Reported speech in 90 seconds!

 

V English Class
Reported speech

R Grammar reference
Reported speech

V News Review
Beijing smog – red alert, toxic, engulf, portmanteau word

V Lingohack
Syrian rebels; Paris warnings; lions poisoned – ceasefire, ringleader, allegations

V Stop saying…!
Say and tell

V The White Elephant – Episode 2
Quick!

Unit 3 – If or whether?

 

V English Class
'If and whether

R Grammar reference
If and whether

V News Review
Star Wars – franchise, merchandising, cash cow

V Lingohack
Solar superpower; South Africa's navy; historic hospital demolished – plant, broke new ground, to renovate

V Stop saying…!
Would you?

V The White Elephant – Episode 3
Broken

Unit 4 – 5 ways to use 'would'

 

V English Class
5 ways to use would

R Grammar reference
5 ways to use 'would'

V News Review
Japan's hunt for whales – fleet, whaling fleet, in the pursuit of

V Lingohack
US/UK in Afghanistan; cancer; athletics boss resignation – confront, reinforces, stepping down

V Stop saying…!
Indirect questions

V The White Elephant – Episode 4
Annoyed

Unit 5 – Let and allow

 

V English Class
'Let' and 'allow'

R Grammar reference
'Let' and 'allow'

V News Review
Obama takes on gun crime – background checks, bypass, executive action

V Lingohack
North Korea bomb; Fifa boss ban; chip makes woman see again – announcement, suspended, bionic

V Stop saying…!
Let’s go

V The White Elephant – Episode 5
Happy

Unit 6 – Passive voice

 

V English Class
Passive voice

R Grammar reference
Active and passive forms

V News Review
Reinventing the light – incandescent, comeback, revamp, significantly, prototype

V Lingohack
Obama's final address; counting Africa's elephants; Elvis celebration – vowed, partisan, bold ambition, census, iconic

V Stop saying…!
Irregular verbs

V The White Elephant – Episode 6
Kindness

Unit 7 – Unless

 

V English Class
'Unless'

R Grammar reference
'Unless'

V News Review
China's economic slowdown – pace, growth, slump, shrinking, depreciation

V Lingohack
New rules for migrants; irregular heartbeat; Spike Lee Oscars comment – evenly, condition, boycott

V Stop saying…!
Answering negative questions

V The White Elephant – Episode 7
Late!

Unit 8 – Mixed conditionals

 

V English Class
Mixed conditionals

R Grammar reference
Mixed conditionals; second and third conditionals

V News Review
Beatrix Potter story discovered – published, double life, archive, unseen, rediscovered, in a spin

V Lingohack
Migrants and refugees in Europe; ebola outbreak over; device detects brain injuries – crossing, sporadic, spot

V Stop saying…!
Present perfect

V The White Elephant – Episode 8

Lucky

Unit 9 – The zero article – in 90 seconds

 

V English Class
Zero articles

R Grammar reference
Zero article

V News Review
Will Zika affect Rio Olympics? – the spread of, constitutes, endangered, outbreak, declared, nightmare

V Lingohack
UK's draft EU deal; China's stranded travellers; groundhog predicts the weather – hailed, hampering, backlog, prediction

V Stop saying…!
Pronouncing the 'th' sound

V The White Elephant – Episode 9
Secrets

Unit 10 – The indefinite article – in 90 seconds

 

V English Class
Indefinite articles with singular countable nouns

R Grammar reference
Definite and indefinite articles

V News Review
Violence on the streets of Hong Kong – batons, clashes, street vendors, warning shots, crackdown

V Lingohack
Trump and Sanders win; Zuma in court; horses don't like long faces – outsider, refurbishing, adapting

V Stop saying…!
Pronouncing unstressed words / schwa

V The White Elephant – Episode 10
Angry

Unit 11 – The. That's right – the! Learn all about it in 90 seconds

 

V English Class
The definite article

R Grammar reference
Definite, indefinite and zero articles

V News Review
Swift's war of words – album, lavish, artist, sweep, diss, all over the place

V Lingohack

US-Cuba flights; Australia drug bust; male cosmetic surgery – restoring, seized, went under the knife

V Stop saying…!

Vowel to vowel linking

V The White Elephant – Episode 11
Success

Unit 12 – The continuous passive

 

V English Class
Continuous passive

R Grammar reference
Continuous passive voice forms

V News Review
Dry Dehli – restored, cut off, canal, vulnerable, grapple, unrest

V Lingohack
Republicans against Guantanamo closure; plastic found in Mars bars; gorilla born in zoo – have come out, recalling, caesarean

V Stop saying…!
Not being direct

V The White Elephant – Episode 12
Shock!

Unit 13 – Future perfect

 

V English Class
The future perfect

R Grammar reference
The future perfect
(will + have + past participle)

V News Review
Calais migrants forced to leave – demolition, dismantle, makeshift, evict, braced for, bulldozer

V Lingohack
Super Tuesday Trump and Clinton; Zika threat to US; back from space – dominated, warning, manned

V Stop saying…!
The future perfect

V The White Elephant – Episode 13
Resilience

Unit 14 – Need + verb-ing

 

V English Class
Need + verb-ing

R Grammar reference
Need + verb-ing

V News Review
Shrapova's failed drug test – outcome, tested positive, let her fans down, suspend, let down, tarnishing

V Lingohack
EU-Turkey plan; Indonesia's three minutes of darkness; fifth Beatle dies – violate, solar eclipse, influential, accomplishments

V Stop saying…!
The disappearing ‘t’

V The White Elephant – Episode 14
Clever

Unit 15 – Have something done

 

V English Class
Have something done

R Grammar reference
Have something done

V News Review
Bangladesh's missing millions – central bank, audacious, breached, heist, cyber, hush up

V Lingohack
Ethiopia drought; hope for MS patients; French anger at new spelling – triggered, remarkable, outrage

V Stop saying…!

Irregular verbs - revision

V The White Elephant – Episode 15
Sad

Unit 16 – Wish

 

V English Class
The verb 'wish'

R Grammar reference
Verb forms that follow 'wish

V News Review
Unlocking the Apple – unlock, postponement, manufacturer, row, hack, back down

V Lingohack
Begium in mourning; Zika virus; online 'fitness challenge' – mourning, odious, abnormally, unrealistic

V Stop saying…!
I wish…

V The White Elephant – Episode 16
Calm!

Unit 17 – Word stress

 

V English Class
Participle clauses

R Grammar reference
Participle clauses

V News Review
Great Barrier Reef damage – reef, episodes, coral bleaching, devastate, aerial, in the grip of

V Lingohack
Driverless cars; cleaning up Dehli's air; south Africa’s power crisis – driverless, choking, toxic, abundance, predominantly

V Stop saying…!
Stress in long words

V The White Elephant – Episode 17
Timing

Unit 18 – Different ways of saying 'if'

 

V English Class
Different ways of saying 'if'

R Grammar reference
Ways of saying 'if'

V News Review
Panama tax leaks – at the heart of, leak, blacklisted, sanctions, links, bombshell

V Lingohack
Fifa president; Sydney railway; dog gets medal – prominent, prompted, honoured

V Stop saying…!
Compound words

V The White Elephant – Episode 18
Excellence

Unit 19 – Passive reporting structures

 

V English Class
Passive reporting structures 

R Grammar reference
Passive reporting structures

V News Review
Brazil's president on the edge – impeachment, stormy, coup, back, hurdle

V Lingohack
Hawking backs space travel project; Russia celebrates cosmonaut; wallaby becomes internet star – ambitious, exceptional, triumph, the height of, winning hearts

V Stop saying…!
Transitive and intransitive verbs

V The White Elephant – Episode 19
Love

Unit 20 – The subjunctive

 

V English Class
The subjunctive

R Grammar reference
The subjunctive

V News Review
Ancient arch triumphs in London – replica, behind, recreate, unveil, on display

V Lingohack
Diabetes increase warning; world heritage sites under threat; UK stamps celebrate Queen at 90 – to date, precious, released

V Stop saying…!
British and American English pronunciation

V The White Elephant – Episode 20
Failure

Unit 21 – When and if

 

V English Class
'When' and 'if'

R Grammar reference
'When' and 'if'

V News Review
Chernobyl remembered – meltdown, reactor, radioactive, swathe, vigils, fallout, on

V Lingohack
Hillsborough inquest; Big ben stops chiming for repairs; gorilla surprise at Prague Zoo – catastrophically, fall silent, scaffolding, glimpse, delivery

V Stop saying…!
Not finishing conditional sentences

V The White Elephant – Episode 21
Clean

Unit 22 – Inversion

 

V English Class
Inversion

R Grammar reference
Inversion

V News Review
Leicester City win the Premier League – squad, outsiders, bookmakers, fairytale, nuts, bonkers, a one-off

V Lingohack
Trump knocks out Cruz; antibiotics overprescribed; escalator behaviour trial – presumptive, inappropriately, long-standing

V Stop saying…!
Adjective or adverb

V The White Elephant – Episode 22
Disaster

Unit 23 – Phrasal verbs

 

V English Class
Phrasal verbs

R Grammar reference
Multi-word verbs / Phrasal verbs type 1, 2, 3, 4

V News Review
Plants facing extinction – species, sprawling, habitats, at risk of, kill off

V Lingohack
Obama visit to Hiroshima; Canada wildlife aftermath; NASA discovers new planets – highly symbolic, obliterated, inflicted, exoplanets

V Stop saying…!
More phrasals

V The White Elephant – Episode 23
Sleepy

Unit 24 – The future

 

V English Class
Seven ways to talk about the future

R Grammar reference
Future forms – will, present continuous, be going to, future continuous, future perfect, present simple, be + to + infinitive

V News Review
Wild bee numbers decline – abundant, an abundance of, boom, biofuels, decline, on the decline, dwindle

V Lingohack
Sri Lanka mudslide; art rescued from sea; football heroes’ welcome – missing, submerged, rapturous

V Stop saying…!
Different futures

V The White Elephant – Episode 24
Honesty

Unit 25 – Modals in the past

 

V English Class
Modal verbs in the past

R Grammar reference
Modal verbs – might, may, could, must, can’t

V News Review
Flying fox bats invade – declared an emergency, besieged, relocate, state of emergency, plague, bat’s insane

V Lingohack
EU money for Greece; Russian athletes' doping; friendly robots – bailout funds, samples, collaborative

V Stop saying…!
The 'dark L'

V The White Elephant – Episode 25
Brave

Unit 26 – Narrative tenses

 

V English Class
Narrative tenses – 'used to', past perfect, past perfect continuous, past continuous

R Grammar reference
Narrative tenses – past simple, past continuous, past perfect

V News Review
Threat from new superbug - resistant, antibiotics, strain, superbug, nightmare, drug-proof

V Lingohack
Worker unrest in France; world's longest rail tunnel; an unusual race – bitter stand-off, the heart of, thriving

V Stop saying…!
Alternatives to 'and'

V The White Elephant – Episode 26
Sick

Unit 27 – Phrasal verb myths

 

V English Class
More phrasal verbs – take out, pick up, make up, give away, bring up

R Grammar reference
Multi-word verbs/Phrasal verbs type 1, 2, 3, 4

V News Review
Muhammad's funeral plans – heavyweight, nomination, pallbearers, memorial, a biopic, an autobiography

V Lingohack
Clinton historic moment; Chelsea doctor dismissal; surfing in Australia

V Stop saying…!
Phrasal verbs: informal, formal or neutral?

V The White Elephant – Episode 27
Fashion

Unit 28 – Conditionals review

 

V English Class
Conditionals – zero, first, second, third and mixed conditionals

R Grammar reference
Conditionals review

V News Review
Remembering Orlando's victims – vigils, to honour, tributes, gather, a gathering, moving

V Lingohack
French police warn against football violence; alligator drags boy into water; Tate modern extension opens – on high alert, paddling, range

V Stop saying…!
Do native English speakers make mistakes?

V The White Elephant – Episode 28
Empathy

Unit 29 – Used to – review

 

V English Class
'Used to' review

R Grammar reference
'Used to'

V News Review
Floppy disks control US weapons – arsenal, upgrade, deterrent, phase out, nukes, ancient

V Lingohack
A dangerous route to Europe; safety concerns in Mumbai; bad news for British school pupils – cracks down, merciless, infrastructure, think tank

V Stop saying…!

Past habits without 'used to'

V The White Elephant – Episode 29
Competition

 

Unit 30 – Linking words of contrast

 

V English Class
Linking words of contrast – though/although/even though, despite/in spite of

R Grammar reference
Linking words of contrast

V News Review
Brexit: What next for the UK and the EU? – face, triggers, mechanism, rule out, divorce, unleash

V Lingohack
Bomb in Turkey; Cameron meets EU leaders; Hockney's latest exhibition – propaganda, urged, distinguished

V Stop saying…!
Climbing to advanced level

V The White Elephant – Episode 30
Hope

More