MyEnglish Student Book

myEnglish
STUDENT BOOK
intermediate 2
www.britishcouncil.org 1
CONTENTS
Welcome ..................................................................................................................................................3
About Your Course ...................................................................................................................................4
Week 1 .....................................................................................................................................................5
Week 2 ...................................................................................................................................................10
Week 3 ...................................................................................................................................................15
Week 4 ...................................................................................................................................................19
Week 5 ...................................................................................................................................................23
Week 6 ...................................................................................................................................................27
Student Diary..........................................................................................................................................31
Optional Writing Tasks ...........................................................................................................................40
WELCOME
Welcome to the British Council myEnglish Intermediate 2 course, we are delighted to have
you with us.
This handbook contains essential information about the course, including the topics, grammar,
vocabulary and communication skills covered including weekly tasks and deadlines.
You may see this icon. This means there is a video for you to watch.
Please read this book carefully and refer to it during the course. If you have any questions,
please ask your teacher, who will be happy to help you.
To find the review videos for each lesson, go to the ‘Resources’ section of your course website.
You will see a list of videos in the section titled ‘Media’. These are useful review videos for each
Live Online Class and give you additional tips, vocabulary and pronunciation around key topics.
Watch these videos and use them along with the Live Online Class Review Tasks in this book.
ABOUT YOUR COURSE
Course: myEnglish Intermediate 2
Course Duration: 6 weeks
This course aims at helping you develop in all language areas, including:
• speaking
• writing
• reading
• listening
• grammar
• vocabulary
• pronunciation
You will study online with the regular help and guidance of a teacher.
Watch the course orientation video .
HOW YOU STUDY & BENEFITS
Live Online Classes Online Activities
2 hours per week 5 hours (minimum) per week

(fixed timings) (flexible timings)
• Join live language classes online • Study in your own time and at your own
• Develop speaking skills and gain pace
confidence in English • Learn using top-quality British Council
• Learn about your course / review progress material
• Learn, communicate and practise in fun, • Expand vocabulary
interactive sessions • Learn/revise grammar
• Improve pronunciation • Practise listening, writing and reading
• Interact with your teacher and classmates • Get instant feedback on progress and
• Review what you have learnt. Each week, check answers
watch a video focusing on language from • Access your course anytime, from
the lesson anywhere.
• Use specially designed Live Online Class
Reviews.
WEEK 1
Week 1 Overview
By the end of this week you will be able to:
• find information about classmates using accurately formed questions
• use banking vocabulary and discuss personal banking habits
• make a formal phone call to report something
• give advice using modal verbs ‘ought to’ and ‘should’
• improve your reading comprehension skills
• improve your listening comprehension skills
• distinguish how many words you can hear in a sentence (pronunciation)
• differentiate between and say the vowel sounds /əʊ/ as in 'Rome' and /ɔː/ as in 'call'
(pronunciation)
Target language
Vocabulary:
 cash machines, money, credit cards
 banks and online banking
 currency and numbers
 travelling and shopping
 phrases for making a formal telephone call
Grammar:
 modal verbs for giving advice: ought to, should
 statements and facts in present tense
 the past simple
 past participle of verbs
 the present perfect continuous
Activities
Topic Learn and Practise Communicate

Optional Writing Task 1:
Introductions Write an email introducing
yourself.
A cash machine in Hong
Kong
Money, Banking and Finance
Lost travellers’ cheques
Live Online Class: Course

Money and Shopping Shopping in Rome familiarisation, banking
vocabulary, formal telephone
conversations
Communicate: Live Online Class Week 1 Review
Watch the recording of the Live Online Class (on the course website).
1. Read the dialogue from the formal telephone call. Listen to how to ask the questions in
bold.
A: How can I help you?

B: I’d like to report a lost card, please.
A: I see. What kind of card was it? Was it a credit card?
B: No, it was a debit card.
A: Can you tell me what happened?
B: Well, I came to work and…
A: Could you give me the details of your card and account please?
B: Sure. It’s ...
A: Do you know the expiry date?
B: I’m afraid I can’t remember.
A: OK, I’ve cancelled your card and we’ll send you a new card in the next 5 working days.
2. Repeat these questions and compare them with the way your teacher says them. How
close are you?
3. Now listen to how the teacher says these key phrases in italics above.
4. Write down the questions/phrases you want to practice and record yourself saying them.
How closely can you copy your teacher’s pronunciation?
Write down any questions / phrases you would like to practise.
Record yourself and compare it with the weekly review video.
NOTES
You can use this page to note down any new language or ideas you have learned.
WEEK 2
Week 2 Overview
• identify the conventions for writing a cover email
• review the layout of a cover email
• identify useful phrases for a cover email
• give advice using appropriate phrases and modals of obligation ‘should’ and ‘ought to’
• identify an action to improve time management
• talk about money, using appropriate vocabulary
• say numbers, dates and times correctly
• use the prepositions on, at and in accurately in time expressions
• use the right stress to pronounce two-syllable words correctly (pronunciation)
Target language
Vocabulary:
 numbers and dates
 banking and trading expressions
 online banking and currency, travel
 job applications , CVs and cover email / letters (letters of application)
 useful phrases for writing cover emails/letters of application
 formal words and expressions
Grammar:
 modal verbs of obligation ‘don't have to’, ‘have to’, ‘must’, ‘mustn't’, ‘needn't’ , ‘ought to’
and ‘should’
 transitive and intransitive verbs
 phrasal verbs / multi-word verbs
 prepositions ‘on’, ‘at’ or ‘in’ with dates and times
Activities
Live Online Class: Useful

Job applications: CVs and
email phrases, Writing a
Cover emails/ letters
Writing cover email, time
management skills, giving
Time management
advice
Numbers, dates and times Changing money in London
Giving advice, Self-study
Verbs
skills
Vocabulary and Grammar

Test
Review

Topic: Writing a covering email, formal phrases and expressions
1. What is the purpose of a covering letter/email? Make notes below.
2. Can you think of some rules for writing a good covering email? Compare them with the
ideas in the video.
3. Look at the useful phrases for writing covering emails shared by the teacher. Note
down the useful phrases you’d like to use in your email.
Write some of the formal phrases you will use in your email:
4. Think about a job you’d like to apply for. Write a covering email using the ideas and
phrases from the class.
5. Send your covering email to your teacher for feedback.
NOTES
WEEK 3
Week 3 Overview
• use adjectives to describe advantages and disadvantages of transport types
• present contrasting ideas using contrasting conjunctions
• express your viewpoint and participate in a debate about transport
• use appropriate body language when giving a presentation
• use question words and appropriate word order to form questions
• make comparisons between items/options
• identify contractions and when they are used in speech (pronunciation)
• identify stress in the pronunciation of longer words (pronunciation)
• distinguish between and say the vowel sounds /uː/ as in ‘choose’ and /ʊə/ as in ‘chose’
correctly (pronunciation)
Target language
Vocabulary:
 travel and tourism
 question words
 city transport
 public transport and types of transport
Grammar:
 asking questions
 contrasting conjunctions
 the second conditional 'if … would'
 the present simple
 comparative adjectives
Activities
At the tourist information

Asking questions
office
Live Online Class: Describing

advantages and
disadvantages, contrasting
Making comparisons City transport
ideas, expressing viewpoints,
Presentation skills (body
language, gestures)
Topic: Describing clothes
1. Listen to how the teacher uses sentence stress for contrasting conjunctions. The
stressed words are in bold:
Bikes are good but not in the rain.

Bikes are good, however, they are not so good in the rain.
Even though I like bikes, I wouldn’t want to cycle every day.
In spite of the fact that many people have bikes, they aren’t used that much.
Despite having a bike, I rarely cycle.
I don’t like cycling. Nevertheless, I commute by bike.
2. Repeat these sentences, trying to stress the same words.
Write down sentences using contrasting conjunctions you would like to

practice.
NOTES
WEEK 4
Week 4 Overview
• make presentations more effective and develop fluency by using chunking
• improve your writing by using linking or referring expressions
• ask for and give directions
• practice asking and answering questions
• participate in a group discussion, agree and disagree politely
• make polite suggestions and requests
• use indirect questions to sound more polite/formal
• improve your reading and listening comprehension skills
• identify and pronounce the vowel sounds /ɜː/ as in ‘turn’ and /e/ as in ‘next’ correctly
Target language
Vocabulary:
 giving and asking for directions
 language for group discussions
 town and city features
 travel
 connectors (linking or referring expressions)
Grammar:
 question forms: word order, question words
 direct and indirect questions
 agreeing and disagreeing
 suggestions and requests
 non-defining relative clauses
 passive voice
 prepositions in questions
 time expressions
 tenses
 conditionals
Activities
Improve writing: linking Writing - a description of a Optional Writing Task 2:

expressions city Write a magazine article.
Asking for and giving Live Online Class: Asking

Directions questions, talking about
directions
travel, presentation skills
Asking questions, making and pronunciation
plans, Presentation Skills Functions (chunking)
Vocabulary, Grammar and
Test
Pronunciation Review
Topic: Question forms and intonation
1. Listen to how the teacher says these questions. Notice that ‘yes-no’ questions usually
have a rising tone at the end, and ‘wh’ questions usually have a falling tone at the end.
Yes/No Questions
Do you prefer flying to taking the train?

Is the Eiffel Tower a good place to visit?
Has the weather improved in Egypt?
‘Wh’ Questions
What excursions from Colombo do you recommend?

What’s the best way to get there?
How long does the journey take?
What attractions there do you recommend?
2. Practice saying these by repeating how the teacher says them.
Write down questions you would like to practice.
NOTES
WEEK 5
Week 5 Overview
• use polite language in group discussions to clarify a point or change the topic
• use telephone vocabulary and useful phrases for telephoning
• conduct phone calls using appropriate vocabulary
• use phrasal verbs to talk about telephoning
• use passive voice in the right context
• distinguish between and pronounce the vowel sounds /ai/ /au/ and /iə/ correctly
(pronunciation)
• identify and use contractions in speech (pronunciation)
Target language
Vocabulary:
 telephone vocabulary
 phrasal verbs (separable and inseparable)
 phrases for clarifying or checking a point
 phrases for changing the topic
Grammar:
 transitive and intransitive verbs
 phrasal verbs
 passive voice
Activities
Live Online Class:

Calling Cliff
telephoning language,
Making a telephone call passive voice, Group
The language of telephoning
discussion language
(clarifying and changing the
Calling Cliff again
topic)
Self-study skills, Reading skills (See the next page)
Topic: Making a telephone call
1. Listen to how your teacher says these sentences:
a) Just a moment, I’ll look up the number.

b) Could you put me through to Beth, please?
c) Hold on, please.
d) Could you speak up, please?
e) I’ve just hung up the phone.
2. Which words are stressed? Which words are not stressed?
3. Practice these examples of telephone English by repeating them.
Write down sentences or questions you would like to practice.
NOTES
WEEK 6
Week 6 Overview
By the end of this week you will be better able to:
• develop presentation skills by practising a presentation
• give advice, using appropriate phrases
• use telephoning phrases and ask for information
• identify areas for further study
• evaluate British Council learning resources for self-study
• identify success factors / good learning habits
• make polite enquiries using indirect questions
• using the correct intonation when asking questions (pronunciation)
Target language
Vocabulary:
 asking for information
 email writing phrases
 telephone English
 phrasal verbs
 communications
Grammar:
 comparatives and superlatives
 direct and indirect questions
 defining and non-defining relative clauses
 passives
Activities
Writing: Emails, asking for

Communications: Writing an information
email
An office in New York
Live Online Class:

Presentation skills,
Grammar and Vocabulary
Review Test telephoning and asking for
Review, Self-study skills
information, self-study
resources
Topic: Review of course language
1. Learning a language is a continuous process. At the end of your course, it’s important to
think about how you will continue learning English. Listen to the examples given by the
teacher. Then, think about your future learning goals. Use the phrases below to express
them.
• I want to get better at…
• I really want to improve…
• I need to work on…
• I have to … at work/college etc.
Write down 2-3 future learning goals.
2. Now, think about what advice you’d give someone who wants to continue learning
English. Consider the examples given by the teacher. Then, use the phrases below to
give some more advice.
• It’s (not) a good idea to…

• You should/shouldn’t…
• You need to…
• You must…
Write down 2-3 future learning goals.
3. Make a plan to continue learning after the course finishes. Visit

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en and explore the website. How can you use it to
continue learning English?
Write down the resources you would like to visit or use.
NOTES
STUDENT
DIARY
A typical week on the course
Alia is a myEnglish student. Read her ‘Week 1 checklist’. Compare it to what she wrote in her
student diary. Has she completed everything on their checklist?
My student diary
Started course! Attended my first Live Online Class – it was great

seeing and speaking to everyone. I got to practice speaking a lot! I had
Saturday
some questions that I thought of after, so I wrote an email to my
(2 hours)
teacher.
Sunday
Downloaded the Student Book and planned study times for the week.
(40 mins)
Monday First topic ‘Learn and practice’ activities – I did reading, listening, fill in
(1 hour) the gaps, matching: what fun!
Tuesday Only had twenty minutes today so looked at the next tasks for this
(20 mins) week and did some ‘Learn and practice’ activities.
I had more time today, so I did more online activities. One was quite
Wednesday difficult, so I did the activity several times until I got the right answers
(40 mins) – now I understand it much better. I also looked at some grammar
review tasks to help me. The explanations were really helpful.
Finished all my work for this week. Looked at the Live Online Class
Friday Review task and did some pronunciation exercises with the video. It was
(2 hours) really helpful for review. I feel really confident with the language we
studied this week ☺.
Week 1 Checklist
 Read Student Book
 Complete learn and practice activities
 Attend Live Online Class
 Do Live Online Class Review Task -
pronunciation
 Make notes on new language
Read Alia’s student diary again and answer these questions:
1) When did Alia download the Student Book?

2) After the Live Online Class, Alia had questions to ask the teacher. How did she do this?
3) How did she get extra practise of the language from the Live Online Class?
4) How many times did she log in this week?
Try making your own student diary, using the following pages. We’ve given you a useful
checklist on each page. Enter your activity on the course each week, say how much you worked
and when. Note down which activities you did online and any thoughts from the Live Online
Classes.
My student diary: Week 1
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Week 1 Checklist
 Read Student Book
 Complete learn and practice activities
 Attend Live Online Class
 Do Live Online Class Review Task -
pronunciation
 Make notes on new language
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Week 2 Checklist
pronunciation
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Week 3 Checklist
pronunciation
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Week 4 Checklist
pronunciation
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Week 5 Checklist
pronunciation
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Week 6 Checklist
pronunciation
OPTIONAL
WRITING
TASKS
Optional Writing Tasks
Through the course, we will track and give you feedback on your progress in all areas of
language. We know that you might be looking forward to improving your writing skills on the
course. We are pleased to share the optional writing assignments with you for this course.
The writing assignments relate to language and topics studied on the course and will give you
extra writing and language practice. Your teacher will give you individual feedback on your
writing skills if you share your written task with her by the deadlines below:
Writing Assignment 1: End of Week 2 of your course.
Writing Assignment 2: End of Week 5 of your course.
Please note:
These writing tasks are optional – they do not affect your final course grade.
Please email the completed writing task to your teacher. The teacher will share feedback on
your writing within seven days post-deadline.
In order to give you timely and constructive feedback, these deadlines are fixed and cannot be
extended for any reason.
As ever, do please get in touch with your teacher if you have any questions.
Feedback
Your teacher will give you feedback on the following areas:
AREA DESCRIPTION MARKS
Task Achievement, Completes all areas of the task. Demonstrates /10

Coherence & understanding of audience and purpose of
Cohesion communication. Organises ideas well using paragraphs
and discourse markers.
Grammatical Range & Uses a range of grammar and punctuation for this level. /10
Accuracy Accuracy and suitability of structures used.
Lexical Range & Uses a range of vocabulary for this level, appropriate to /10
Accuracy purpose and audience. Accuracy in spelling, form and
usage.
Task 1
Deadline: End of Week 2 of your course
Task:
Write an email to your teacher introducing yourself. You can include the following
information:
• What do you do (job / studies etc.)?

• When did you start learning English?
• Why did you decide to take this course?
• What do you like doing in your free time?
• Where did you last go on vacation?
Points to note:
Try to use the following:

• Varied tenses: e.g. present simple, present perfect and past simple
Task 2
Deadline: End of Week 5 of your course
Task:
Write a magazine article for visitors to a city you know well. Write a description of the city.
You can include the following:
• Details of places of interest

• Events and activities in the city
• Information and advice visitors will find useful
Points to note:
Try to use the following:

• Clear structure, with paragraphs
• Organisation of ideas use linking expressions

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Course Duration: 6 weeks

Watch the course orientation video .

HOW YOU STUDY & BENEFITS

Live Online Classes Online Activities

2 hours per week 5 hours (minimum) per week

Topic Learn and Practise Communicate

Live Online Class: Course

A: How can I help you?

Write down any questions / phrases you would like to practise.

Record yourself and compare it with the weekly review video.

Topic Learn and Practise Communicate

Live Online Class: Useful

Numbers, dates and times Changing money in London

Vocabulary and Grammar

Communicate: Live Online Class Week 2 Review

1. What is the purpose of a covering letter/email? Make notes below.

5. Send your covering email to your teacher for feedback.

Topic Learn and Practise Communicate

At the tourist information

Live Online Class: Describing

Bikes are good but not in the rain.

2. Repeat these sentences, trying to stress the same words.

Write down sentences using contrasting conjunctions you would like to

Record yourself and compare it with the weekly review video.

Improve writing: linking Writing - a description of a Optional Writing Task 2:

Asking for and giving Live Online Class: Asking

Do you prefer flying to taking the train?

What excursions from Colombo do you recommend?

2. Practice saying these by repeating how the teacher says them.

Write down questions you would like to practice.

Record yourself and compare it with the weekly review video.

Topic Learn and Practise Communicate

Live Online Class:

Self-study skills, Reading skills (See the next page)

1. Listen to how your teacher says these sentences:

a) Just a moment, I’ll look up the number.

2. Which words are stressed? Which words are not stressed?

3. Practice these examples of telephone English by repeating them.

Write down sentences or questions you would like to practice.

Record yourself and compare it with the weekly review video.

Topic Learn and Practise Communicate

Writing: Emails, asking for

Live Online Class:

Write down 2-3 future learning goals.

• It’s (not) a good idea to…

3. Make a plan to continue learning after the course finishes. Visit

Started course! Attended my first Live Online Class – it was great

1) When did Alia download the Student Book?

Writing Assignment 1: End of Week 2 of your course.

Writing Assignment 2: End of Week 5 of your course.

Your teacher will give you feedback on the following areas:

AREA DESCRIPTION MARKS

Task Achievement, Completes all areas of the task. Demonstrates /10

Deadline: End of Week 2 of your course

• What do you do (job / studies etc.)?

Try to use the following:

Deadline: End of Week 5 of your course

You can include the following:

• Details of places of interest

Try to use the following:

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