About CEFR

As this site is created as a reference for teachers, I will not dwell on explaining what the Common European Framework is, but rather certain details about each level that I have found helpful in teaching. I will include my sources for these as I go, in case you want to study the resources more, and they do an excellent job of explaining what it is and the history behind it.

Additionally… The work that I have been carrying out has been focused on Listening and Speaking skills, as I am a native speaker and I am in a country where grammar and reading/writing is already focused on at a young age and by non-native teachers. I am including my sources so you may find the other skills listed if needed.

Here is a brief overview of the levels, as per the website: https://www.coriniumlanguage.co.uk/language-training/cefr

What is the CEFR?

We use the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages to measure and describe our learners’ starting point, objectives and progress in a language. This is used extensively in language teaching across Europe so is very useful as a rough guide.

BASIC USER

A1. Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce themself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where they live, people they know and things they have. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

A2. Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of their background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.

INDEPENDENT USER

B1. Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst traveling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

B2. Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in their field of specialization. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

PROFICIENT USER

C1. Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express themself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organizational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.

C2. Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express themself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations.

B1 – Low Intermediate

Listening Skills:

Respond to statements, questions and commands using some expanded vocabulary
Respond to simple social conversation in familiar contexts (e.g., shopping, employment, school)
Follow simple two-step directions and instructions with some detail
Identify simple information from a conversation or in familiar contexts (i.e., listen with a purpose)
Use context clues to get main ideas and to identify details
Respond to simple requests for clarification
Distinguish language use in informal versus simple formal situations (i.e., pay attention to register)

Speaking Skills:

Produce simple statements, questions, and commands using familiar vocabulary
Participate in routine social conversations in familiar contexts (e.g., shopping, employment, school)
Give simple two-step directions
Retell a simple story
Use simple expressions of satisfaction/dissatisfaction and agreement/disagreement
Use simple expressions to express opinion
Express lack of understanding and ask for repetition or clarification
Use appropriate language in both informal and simple formal situations

Pronunciation Skills:

Recognize/Reproduce shift in meaning when using different emphases in sentence stress
Contrast/Produce intonation difference for questions and sentences

https://www.dllr.state.md.us/adultliteracy/cs/eslcsskill.pdf

Suggested Phrases for Conversation:

Conversation starters
Rejoiners
Giving opinions
Agreeing/disagreeing
Asking for details
Asking permission
Asking for and Giving Advice
Sequencing
Speaking hypothetically
Discussing Sensitive Topics
Accepting and Refusing
Expressions for Description
Indirect Requests
Tag Questions

http://eslgold.com/speaking-4/speaking_situations/

Area Objectives:

Speaking interaction and production objectives
You will be able to:
• Speak regularly with native speakers.
• Discuss familiar topics in detail.
• Give your opinions and explain advantages and disadvantages.

Listening objectives
You will be able to:
• Understand long speech and lectures and follow complex arguments if the topic is reasonably familiar.
• Understand most TV news and current affairs programmes.
• Understand the majority of films in common accents.

Reading objectives
You will be able to:
• Read articles and reports about common topics
• Understand modern novels.

Writing objectives
You will be able to:
• Write clearly and in detail about a wide range of subjects.
• Write an essay or report.
• Write letters about events and personal experiences.

Grammar Syllabus
• Present Continuous
• Comparative and superlative
• Past Simple
• Past Simple Continuous
• Present Perfect
• Going to and will
• Adverbs of frequency and manner
• Reflexive pronouns
• So/ such
• Have to/ need to for obligation
• Present Simple Passive
• When / while
• Must / might for deductions
• As soon as
• Be able to / good at
• Although / however
• First Conditional
• Used to + verb
• Relative clauses

Vocabulary and Topical Syllabus
• Families
• Restaurants and leisure venues
• Personality
• Biographical information
• Buildings and monuments
• Weather
• Clothes and accessories
• Large numbers
• Travel and tourism
• Work and careers
• Hobbies, sports and interests
• Education
• Life changes and events
• Political systems
• Animals
• Descriptions of people, health, fitness and illnesses
• Types of music and concerts

Functional Syllabus
• Asking personal questions
• Talking about personal experiences
• Asking directions
• Describing personality
• Making travel arrangements
• Ordering in a restaurant
• Talking about preferences
• Expressing preferences
• Making deductions
• Making predictions
• Offering and suggesting
• Talking about obligation
• Requesting

https://www.sprachkurse-oxford.de/level3.html

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Listening Skills

Interpret statements, questions and commands in a variety of familiar situations
Follow multi-step directions to a specific location
Follow multi-step instructions on how to do something
Interpret information from a conversation and in a variety of contexts (e.g., in person, on telephone, over announcement)
Identify key information/details in a description
Respond to requests for clarification and elaboration
Understand more complex structures
Distinguish between facts and opinions in conversation
Recognize/respond to some common idioms

Speaking Skills:

Produce statements, questions, and commands (i.e., interact) in less familiar contexts with some detail
Ask and answer questions – using complete sentences when appropriate
Give directions to a specific location
Provide two and three step instructions with detail on how to do something
Request information and express needs (e.g., in person or by phone)
Express satisfaction/dissatisfaction and agreement/disagreement
Provide simple descriptions (e.g., describe a person, place or event)
Express opinions and provide factual information

Pronunciation Skills:

Recognize shift in meanings when using different emphases in sentence stress
Articulating word endings
Produce intonation differences for questions and sentences
Phrase words into “thought groups or chunks” and pause between the phrases

https://www.dllr.state.md.us/adultliteracy/cs/eslcsskill.pdf

Suggested Phrases for Conversation:

Supporting opinions
Exploring options
Contrasting
Classifying
Discussion techniques
Elaborating
Clarifying
Interrupting
Giving instructions
Simple presentations
Checking for Understanding
Conceding to Make a Point
Analyzing Problems

http://eslgold.com/speaking-4/speaking_situations/

Area Objectives

Speaking interaction and production objectives
You will be able to:
• Speak regularly with native speakers.
• Discuss familiar topics in detail.
• Give your opinions and explain advantages and disadvantages.
• Speak fluently without searching for language.
• Communicate effectively in social and professional situations.
• Give ideas and opinions and relate your ideas to those of other speakers.
• Talk about complex subjects and develop arguments.

Listening objectives
You will be able to:
• Understand long speech and lectures and follow complex arguments if the topic is reasonably familiar.
• Understand most TV news and current affairs programmes.
• Understand the majority of films in common accents.
• Understand long complex speech.
• Understand most television programmes and films.

Reading objectives
You will be able to:
• Read articles and reports about common topics
• Understand modern novels.
• Understand long and complex factual and literary texts, with different styles.
• Understand specialized articles and long technical instructions.

Writing objectives
You will be able to:
• Write clearly and in detail about a wide range of subjects.
• Write an essay or report.
• Write letters about events and personal experiences.

• Write long, clear, well-structured text to express your points of view.
• Write about complex subjects in a letter, an essay or a report.
• Write in an appropriate style.

Also you will learn about:
Grammar Syllabus
• Used to + infinitive
• Past Simple and Present Perfect
• Neither / so do I
• Modal verbs
• Reported speech
• First, second conditional
• Adverbs of manner and modifiers
• Relative clauses
• Adjectives and their connotations
• Present Perfect Continuous
• Look + adjective, look like + noun
• Passives
• Past Perfect Simple
• A / few and a / little
• Although / in spite of / despite
• Question tags
• Habit in the Present and the Past
• Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect Continuous
• Past Simple and Past Continuous and Past Perfect
• Question tags
• Will. going to, Present Simple, Present Continuous for the future
• Future Perfect
• Phrasal verbs
• Zero, first, second and third conditionals
• Wish and if only
• Passive
• Compounds of some , any, no, every.
• Reported speech
• Relative clauses
• Conjunctions: although, despite, in spite of , otherwise, unless
• Modals: present and perfect
• Always for frequency /+ present continuous

Vocabulary and Topical Syllabus
• Education
• Appearances
• Clothes
• Character
• Make and do
• Housework
• Holidays and travel brochures
• Illness
• Cooking
• Weather
• Furniture and appliances
• Types of books, films, and TV programmes
• Crime and punishment
• Political systems
• Family relationships
• Pets
• Hotel facilities
• Affixes
• Participles
• Affixes
• Collocations
• Work, working conditions
• Approximations with -ish
• Transport and exploration
• Phrasal verbs
• Crime and punishment
• Relationships
• Festivals and celebrations
• Connotation
• Homonyms
• Idiomatic expressions
• Sport and leisure
• Euphemisms
• Adverbs of manner and modifiers
• Geography and climate
• Participle adjectives
• Banks / money
• Colloquial expressions and slang

Functional Syllabus
• Describing location, people and things
• Stating preferences and opinions
• Talking about obligation
• Reporting requests and orders
• Advising
• Making deductions
• Guessing
• Talking about possibility / probability and certainty
• Refusing
• Describing faulty goods
• Giving opinions
• Summarizing
• Expressing regret
• Drawing conclusions
• Making offers
• Describing cause and effect
• Stating purpose
• Emphasizing
• Stating contrast
• Adding information
• Congratulating
• Commiserating
• Clarifying
• Guessing
• Order arguments
• Giving examples

https://www.sprachkurse-oxford.de/level4.html & https://www.sprachkurse-oxford.de/level5.html

C1 – Advanced

Listening Skills:

Respond to topics beyond immediate survival needs (e.g., news and events in the workplace or community)
Follow detailed multi-step directions and instructions in familiar situations
Respond to requests for clarification, elaboration, opinion, etc.
Identify details in a description (e.g., of a person, place or an event)
Obtain detailed information in a variety of contexts (e.g., from conversation or broadcast)
Recognize/respond appropriately to social cues in conversation in familiar contexts
Recognize/respond to conversational openers/closures and polite expressions as used by native speakers (e.g., “I have to get going….”, “I’d rather not…”, “How about going to…”)
Recognize/respond to idiomatic expressions in familiar situations

Speaking Skills:

Participate in discussions on topics beyond immediate survival needs (e.g., local news)
Explain concepts/ideas in organized manner using examples or details
Tell anecdotal stories as a part of conversation
Give detailed, multi-step directions and instructions in familiar settings
Clarify utterances by rewording or repeating in order to be understood by the general public
Select and report pertinent information (e.g., regarding an accident, change in procedure, etc.)
Request specific information in person or by phone
Use a variety of sentence patterns, new vocabulary, and high-frequency idioms in spontaneous conversation
Participate in social interactions using the appropriate degree of formality
Negotiate a solution/ compromise
Use persuasion in conversation

Pronunciation Skills:

Stress of multisyllabic words using learned rules to guess stress of new words
Phrasing words into thought groups and pausing between the phrases
Conversation management techniques, such as interrupting and “turn-taking”

https://www.dllr.state.md.us/adultliteracy/cs/eslcsskill.pdf

Suggested Phrases for Conversation:

Commenting
Paraphrasing

http://eslgold.com/speaking-4/speaking_situations/

Area Objectives

Speaking interaction and production objectives
You will be able to:
• Take part fluently and effortlessly in any conversation and have a good familiarity with idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms.
• Present a clear, smoothly-flowing description or argument in a style appropriate to the context and with an effective logical structure.

Listening objectives
You will be able to:
• Understand any kind of spoken language, live or broadcast, at fast native speed, when you have some time to get familiar with the accent.

Reading objectives
You will be able to:
• Read with ease abstract, structurally or linguistically complex texts such as manuals, specialized articles and literary works.

Writing objectives
You will be able to:
• Write clear, smoothly-flowing text in an appropriate style.
• Write complex letters, reports or articles which present a case with an effective logical structure.
• Write summaries and reviews of professional or literary works.

Also you will learn about:
Grammar Syllabus
• Uses of continuous tenses
• Uses of would
• Articles
• Past Perfect
• Order of adverbs
• Order of adjectives
• Participles
• Modal verbs
• Ellipsis and elision
• Question tags
• Future Continuous
• Relative clauses
• Mixed conditionals
• Passive
• Inversions and negative adverbials
• Reported speech

Vocabulary and Topical Syllabus
• Astrology and religions
• Nostalgia
• Coincidences and experiences
• Learning and educational systems
• Eccentricity and individuality
• Creativity
• Age and cultural differences
• Gender
• Current affairs
• Diet and health
• Types of communication
• Moral and personal dilemmas
• Road and home safety and risk
• Environmental issues
• Children’s development
• Advertising
• Architecture

Functional Syllabus
• Contradicting
• Instructing
• Describing
• Advising
• Expressing opinions formally and informally
• Checking and clarifying information
• Paraphrasing
• Expanding and exemplifying
• Persuading and convincing
• Speculating
• Expressing annoyance
• Expressing regrets
• Comparing and contrasting
• Describing people and things and situations

https://www.sprachkurse-oxford.de/level6.html

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