English level A2 is the second level of language proficiency in the Common European CEFR system, a system for determining different language levels, compiled by the Council of Europe. In everyday speech, this level can be called basic (for example, "I speak basic English"). The term elementary is the official description of the level in CEFR - this is the main level. A student who has mastered a basic level of English can satisfy their basic communication needs.

How to determine that you know English at level A2

The best way to determine if your English language skills are at A2 level is to take a quality standardized test. Below is a list of the main internationally recognized tests and their respective A2 scores:

What can you do with an A2 level of English

The level of English A2 is sufficient for tourist travel in an English-speaking country and communication with native English speakers. However, to establish deeper friendships, the A2 level is considered insufficient. The A2 level of English also allows you to collaborate with English-speaking colleagues, but working communication in English is limited to familiar topics at the A2 level. An A2 level of English is not sufficient to conduct scientific research or to understand English-language media (television, film, radio, magazines, etc.).

According to the official CEFR guidelines, a student who speaks English at A2 level:

1. Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to the main areas of life to which he is directly involved (eg, basic information and family, shopping, geography, employment).
2. Can communicate within simple and daily tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar or everyday topics.
3. Can describe in simple terms certain aspects of his past, present, as well as issues related to areas with which, he, she directly interacts.

More about knowledge of English at Level A2

The formal conclusions about the student's knowledge are broken down into smaller sub-points for educational purposes. Such a detailed classification will help you evaluate your own level of English proficiency or help the teacher assess the level of students. For example, a student with an A2 English level can:

• evaluate the work of a colleague at work.
• talk about events in your life.
• describe your past, giving details of the most important milestones.
• entertain guests at home or visit a friend or colleague at his/her home.
• discuss your holiday plans and tell friends and colleagues about your holiday afterwards.
• talk about nature and travel.
• talk about your favorite movies and choose a movie to watch with your friends.
• discuss clothes and what kind of clothes he/she would like to wear.
• Participate in key discussions at work, including speaking at meetings about familiar topics.
• describe an accident or injury, get medical attention from a doctor, and fill out a prescription for medicines.
• participate in simple business negotiations, welcoming guests and attending general events.
• understand and express the main business proposals in their area of ​​expertise.
• Discuss and explain the rules of the games.

Of course, progress will depend on the type of course and the individual student, but it can be predicted that the student will achieve an A2 English proficiency level in 200 hours of study (total).

Level C1 on the European Framework of Reference for Languages ​​(CEFR) corresponds to such a concept as an “experienced user”. Level B2 is "independent user".

Since CEFR is a scale of competencies, that is, skills, the criteria for it are formulated based on what a person should be able to do.

Let's look at these skills by aspect and try to understand how C1 differs from B2:

Listening comprehension

B2:

I can understand long stretches of spoken language and lectures, and even follow complex developments in arguments, provided I am sufficiently familiar with the topic of the message. I can understand most television news and op-eds. I understand most films with standard pronunciation.

C1:

I can understand long stretches of speech even when it is not explicitly structured, and when the relationship between parts of a text or utterance is only implied, not expressed. I can understand movies and TV shows without undue effort.

Hooray! When moving from levels B to levels C, we can not only understand, but also creatively transform speech in real time - the key thing is that on C1 a person can understand the speech of another even if that other one himself does not speak well.

We can already understand what our interlocutor wants to say, even if he himself did not take care of it. And of course, films and TV shows are no longer difficult for us, although sometimes we still have to work hard.

USEFUL ARTICLE

Reading

B2:

C1:

I understand long and complex fictional or factual texts and can distinguish them by style. I understand articles on professional topics or lengthy technical instructions, even if they are not related to my field of activity.

In reading, the main breakthrough is the ability to read specialized professional literature not in one's specialty and understand it.

Speaking skills, dialogue

B2:

I can engage in dialogue with native speakers, and I communicate quite fluently, without noticeable pauses, and spontaneously, that is, without prior preparation, to the extent that communication is possible. I can take an active part in the discussion of familiar topics, expressing and justifying my views.

C1:

I can express my thoughts in fluent speech without preparation, and I do not have to pause in search of the right words. I can use the language flexibly and effectively in my personal, daily life and work.
I can formulate my thoughts and express my opinion accurately and in such a way that other participants in the conversation can easily understand how my words relate to their remarks.

The key difference is how much you can fit in during the dialogue. In C1, it is important not only to speak clearly, but also to speak in such a way that it is clear to everyone else that you understood them, how you understood them, and how everything you say now follows from this.

Speaking skills, monologue

B2:

I can speak clearly and in detail on a fairly wide range of topics that interest me. I can give a point of view on a particular topic, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of different options.

C1:

I can speak clearly and at length on complex topics, dividing them into subtopics, developing certain aspects, and ending my discourses with a suitable conclusion.

As in the previous aspect, on C1 it becomes important how much you can control how you will be understood. Instead of simply expressing your point of view, as in B2, in C1 it is important to be able to convince the interlocutor. In general, the transition from B2 to C1 is determined by how much you can go from your own independence to caring about how your listener understands you.

Letter:

B2:

I can write clear and detailed text on a fairly large number of topics related to my area of ​​interest. I can write an essay or report that provides information or argues for or against a particular point of view. I can write a letter emphasizing the personal significance of events or reflecting on my life experience.

C1:

I can express my thoughts in clear, well-structured text, giving some text to other points of view. I can write an essay, a report or a letter on a complex topic, and at the same time indicate which issues I consider the most important. I can choose the style that is acceptable to the recipient of my message.

In writing, when moving from level B2 to C1, it is important that we can write text not only about what we are interested in, but also on abstract topics, and not only speak out, but also structure the text, think about the reader, take care of to make him comfortable.

Thus, it can be imagined that instead of one speech personality, we develop several at once, and choose between them depending on the context.

In general, the transition to level C1 means that a person gets out of the shell of his personal interests and begins to focus on the world around him and partly on the interlocutor. Therefore, in the classroom, you need to reinforce this transition.

How to study to move from B2 to C1

Perception of oral speech:

Listen to thematic popular science or journalistic programs, write down their transcript and draw up a plan of expression based on the results of this transcript. Paraphrase and write synopses, short summaries of what you heard, highlighting the main points and emphasis.

Reading

Read popular science and non-fiction articles, while consciously choosing those that are the furthest from your area of ​​​​interest. Maintain a glossary of terms and expressions that appear in these articles.

Catalogs and descriptions of special-purpose devices are the best material for this. Learn about the world around you and write non-fiction style notes for yourself about what you've learned.

Dialog

To develop dialogue skills, you will definitely need a trained interlocutor. A professional teacher is the best. Organize discussions with him, write polemics, or prepare short presentations with a question and answer session.

A conversation club is only suitable if it is organized as part of a course with a group that has studied the same topics as you and is at the same level as you. Otherwise, it is useless, unless the teacher has organized an ingenious scheme of mutual learning, but no one does that.

Letter

In writing, it is important that you know how to choose the genre in which you will write. Therefore, take the topic that you touched upon when you practiced listening or reading and write three texts on it -

presentation report, article or essay and official letter. So you will learn how to choose a style and implement different communicative intentions in a letter.

What to use?

It is best to use the literature for preparing for the Cambridge CAE or CPE exams - there the texts are selected for the most popular topics, and the writing tasks are well formulated to force you to practice different styles.

If you don't like textbooks, take authentic materials: TED, BBC. Discovery, Bloomberg thematic sites on economics, politics, medicine - everything will help.

Group, yourself, tutor, carrier?

At this level, there is something that you can do on your own - listening practice, reading, vocabulary building, but there are also things for which you need a qualified partner, a teacher: to make a presentation for yourself or write an article that you yourself will read - occupation is strange.

Host or our person?

With sufficient qualifications of a Russian teacher, if he is well erudite and interested in understanding the intricacies of new topics together with you, this is the best choice.
A native speaker will do well if he has a deep knowledge of the complex areas that you will have to study, and if he is well versed in the psychological and structural aspects of speech. In other words, if it is a highly qualified teacher with extensive experience. Find one - your happiness. I've seen a couple of these in 18 years.

A - Elementary proficiency		B - Self Ownership		C - Fluency
A1	A2	B1	B2	C1	C2
Survival Level	Pre-threshold level	threshold level	Threshold advanced level	Proficiency level	Ownership at the carrier level
,		intermediate

Do you want to know if your knowledge corresponds to the Intermediate level? Take our course and get recommendations to help you improve your English.

Intermediate is the level required by most employers

Intermediate - what level is it? How to determine if your knowledge is appropriate for this level?

The level of English Intermediate, which is marked B1 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, comes next after Pre-Intermediate. The name of this step comes from the word intermediate, the translation of which is “medium”. So, Intermediate is the so-called "intermediate" level of language proficiency, which allows you to speak English quite fluently, discuss many professional and everyday topics, understand by ear almost everything said in English at a normal pace. The level of language proficiency B1 allows you to take entrance exams to Russian universities and preparatory courses abroad. However, the most important thing is that virtually all employers require that their potential or actual employees know English at a level not lower than Intermediate.

We recommend that you start learning English at the Intermediate level if you:

• speak fluently, able to keep up the conversation, but choose your words, so you want to “talk”;
• you have a good vocabulary, but it is not always easy to operate with it, you often have to check the dictionary;
• correctly understand the questions of a foreign interlocutor and the English speech in the recording, but only if the speaker speaks clearly and measuredly;
• you understand the basic grammar of the English language and operate with different tenses of English, but you feel insecure in more complex grammar;
• studied English at this level for a long time, remember a lot and now you want to refresh your knowledge;
• recently completed an English course at the Pre-Intermediate level.

Material that people with knowledge of English at the Intermediate level should know

How to determine that you know English at level B1? The table shows what knowledge a person with the Intermediate level should have.

Skill	your knowledge
Grammar (Grammar)	You know all tenses of English: Present, Past and Future Simple; Present, Past and Future Continuous; Present, Past and Future Perfect; Present, Past and Future Perfect Continuous. Do you know what the essence of the sentences I used to play football and I’m used to playing football (constructs used to do and to be used to doing). When you talk about the future tense, you understand the difference between: I'm going to visit John (construct to be going to), I'm visiting John tomorrow at 5 o'clock (Present Continuous for future action) and I'll visit John next month (Future Simple). You understand the difference between You mustn "t do exercises and You don" t have to do exercises (modal verbs). Understand the difference between: I stopped to rest and I stopped resting (use of gerund and infinitive after the verb). You know the comparative degrees of adjectives (hot-hotter-hottest). You understand in what cases the words little/few and a little/a few (words denoting quantity in English) are used. You see the difference between: If you come home, we'll go shopping, If you came home, we would go shopping and If you had come home, we would have gone shopping (first, second and third types of conditionals). Can you correctly paraphrase the direct speech She asked: “What are you doing?” into the indirect She asked what I was doing. You easily create questions to clarify something: You don’t like coffee, do you? (Question tags)
Vocabulary (Vocabulary)	Your vocabulary is between 2000 and 3000 words and phrases. You are familiar with some idioms and phrasal verbs. You can communicate with business partners without delving into special business terminology (you know basic business vocabulary). Actively use constructions neither ... nor, in addition to, as well as, apart from, due to, because of.
speaking (Speaking)	You speak clearly, have a good pronunciation, others understand your speech. You understand where to make logical pauses in sentences, in which part of the sentence to raise or lower your voice. You speak quite fluently, do not make long pauses during a conversation. You can describe your appearance, talk about your education and work experience, express your opinion on various issues, you can speak on almost any topic. You use phrasal verbs and some idioms in speech. You do not simplify speech, you use quite complex grammatical constructions: different types of conditional sentences, passive voice, different tenses, indirect speech.
Reading (Reading)	You have a good understanding of the adapted literature of your level. You understand general articles on the Internet, newspapers and magazines, although you encounter vocabulary that is unfamiliar to you.
listening (Listening)	You perfectly understand audio recordings adapted to your level. You understand the meaning of non-adapted audio even if you don't know some of the words and the speaker speaks with an accent. You distinguish the accent of native speakers from the accent of non-English speakers. You watch movies and series in the original language with subtitles. You can listen to simple original or adapted audiobooks for your level.
Letter (Writing)	You construct sentences grammatically correctly. You can write an informal or small formal letter. If necessary, you can fill out official papers in English. You can give a written description of any places, events, people, comment on the proposed text.

If you are not sure that you have all the knowledge required at this level, we recommend that you check if you have knowledge of the English language at the level.

The Intermediate level program involves the study of such topics in the curriculum

Grammar Topics

Conversational Topics

Present (Simple, Continuous, Perfect, Perfect Continuous) action and state verbs Past (Simple, Continuous, Perfect, Perfect Continuous) Future forms (to be going to, Present Continuous, will/shall) Modal verbs (must, have to, should, may, might, can, could, to be able to) Gerund and Infinitive Comparative and superlative adjectives Used to do something and to be used to doing something Articles: a/an, the, no article Quantifiers (any, some, few, a lot of, a piece of) First, Second and Third Conditional, Future time clauses Relative clauses: defining and non-defining Reported Speech: statements, questions, commands Passive Voice Question tags Phrasal verbs

Family and Personality Describing people's appearance and character Jobs, Money and Success business Education Modern manners Transport and Travel Places to live nature and environment climate and natural disasters communication Television and Media Cinema and Movies Shopping Food and Restaurants lifestyle Sport Friendship Challenges and Success good and bad luck Crime and Punishment

How will your speaking skills develop in the Intermediate course?

The Intermediate level is a kind of key stage where the student really starts to "take off" in speaking skills (Speaking skills). At this stage, you become a "speaking" student. If you want to speak fluently, try to talk as much as possible in class. Do not be afraid to argue and express your point of view, try to use complex colloquial clichés.

Concerning vocabulary (Vocabulary), in addition to general vocabulary, at the Intermediate level you learn the so-called "general business" English - widely used words that are associated with communication in the business sphere. In addition, the "intermediate" level is rich in various phrases, idioms, turns of speech and set expressions. You memorize not just words, but whole phrases in context, learn to build new words using prefixes and suffixes. Much attention is paid to the ability to explain the meaning of a word in English, to name its synonyms and antonyms.

listening(listening) is still a problem for many students starting at the Intermediate level. The audio texts of this level are much longer than the texts for the Pre-Intermediate level, however, long tracks are divided into parts, to which different types of tasks are offered. An Intermediate student can understand factual information related to work, study and everyday life, distinguishing both general meaning and individual details; while speech can be with a slight accent.

Concerning reading(Reading), the Intermediate level allows you to understand rather complex, although still adapted texts, but you can try to read non-adapted literature. At level B1, a simple retelling of the read text is no longer enough, you need to be able to give your assessment, express an opinion for or against, imagine yourself in the place of heroes, etc. All texts for reading the Intermediate level are a kind of “context” for consolidating and automating the use of the studied vocabulary and grammar.

Another aspect that receives a lot of attention is letter (Writing). You will learn how to write English sentences not only in colloquial but also in formal style. Level B1 usually includes the following writing assignments:

• Describing a person
• Telling a story
• An informal letter
• Describing a house or flat
• Formal letter and CV
• A film review
• An article for a magazine

Upon completion of the Intermediate level, the student will be able to use English quite successfully in a variety of standard situations, to clearly express his opinion. In addition, he will learn how to write letters, fill out declarations, questionnaires and other documents that require the provision of basic information about himself, take part in negotiations, make presentations and correspond with native speakers. Knowledge of English at the Intermediate level is a good achievement and provides a variety of opportunities, such as an advantage in employment. From this level, you can start preparing for exams and.

The term of study at the Intermediate level

The term for studying English at the Intermediate level may vary, it depends on the initial knowledge and personal characteristics of the student. On average, the training period is 6-9 months. It is the Intermediate level that is considered a strong base, the final stage in the formation of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. Further levels are the deepening and expansion of the active and passive vocabulary, immersion in the subtleties and shades of the language.

To finally make sure that this course of study is right for you, we recommend that you take our course, which tests basic English skills. And if you want to not only accurately know your level of knowledge of the English language, but also improve it, we suggest enrolling in our school. The teacher will determine your level, weaknesses and strengths and help you improve your knowledge.

Or in courses, you will definitely come across the concept of “English language levels” or “English language proficiency levels”, as well as such incomprehensible designations as A1, B2, and more understandable Beginner, Intermediate and so on. From this article, you will learn what these formulations mean and what levels of knowledge of the language distinguish, as well as how to determine your level of english.

The levels of English were invented so that language learners could be divided into groups with approximately similar knowledge and skills in reading, writing, speaking and writing, as well as to simplify testing procedures, exams, for various purposes related to emigration, study abroad and employment. Such a classification helps in recruiting students into a group and preparing teaching aids, methods, and language teaching programs.

Of course, there is no clear boundary between the levels, this division is rather conditional, necessary not so much for students as for teachers. In total, there are 6 levels of language proficiency, there are two types of division:

• Levels A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2,
• Beginner, Elementary, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Advanced, Proficiency levels.

In fact, these are just two different names for the same thing. These 6 levels are divided into three groups.

Table: English language proficiency levels

The classification was developed in the late eighties - early nineties of the last century, it is fully called the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (abbr. CERF).

English levels: detailed description

Beginner level (A1)

At this level you can:

• Understand and use familiar everyday expressions and simple phrases aimed at solving specific problems.
• Introduce yourself, introduce other people, ask simple personal questions, such as “Where do you live?”, “Where are you from?”, be able to answer such questions.
• Maintain a simple conversation if the other person speaks slowly, clearly, and helps you.

Many who studied English at school speak the language at about the Beginner level. From the vocabulary only elementary mother, father, help me, my name is, London is the capital. You can understand well-known words and expressions by ear if they speak very clearly and without an accent, as in audio lessons for a textbook. You understand texts like the “Exit” sign, and in a conversation with the help of gestures, using individual words, you can express the simplest thoughts.

Elementary level (A2)

At this level you can:

• Understand common expressions on general topics such as: family, shopping, work, etc.
• Talk about simple everyday topics, using simple phrases.
• Tell in simple terms about yourself, describe simple situations.

If at school you had 4 or 5 in English, but after that you didn’t use English for some time, then most likely you speak the language at the Elementary level. TV shows in English will not be understood, except for individual words, but if the interlocutor speaks clearly, in simple phrases of 2-3 words, you will generally understand. You can also incoherently and with long pauses for reflection tell the simplest information about yourself, say that the sky is blue and the weather is clear, express a simple wish, make an order at McDonald's.

Beginner - Elementary levels can be called "survival level", Survival English. It is enough to "survive" during a trip to a country where the main language is English.

Intermediate level (B1)

At this level you can:

• Understand the general meaning of distinct speech on general, familiar topics related to everyday life (work, study, etc.)
• Cope with the most typical situations on a trip, travel (at the airport, in a hotel, etc.)
• Write simple connected text on topics that are common or familiar to you personally.
• Retell events, describe hopes, dreams, ambitions, be able to briefly talk about plans and explain your point of view.

Vocabulary and knowledge of grammar is enough to write simple essays about yourself, describe cases from life, write a letter to a friend. But in most cases, oral speech lags behind written speech, you confuse tenses, think over a phrase, pause to pick up a preposition (to or for?), but you can more or less communicate, especially if there is no shyness or fear of making a mistake.

It is much more difficult to understand the interlocutor, and if it is a native speaker, and even with fast speech and a bizarre accent, then it is almost impossible. However, simple, clear speech is understood well, provided that the words and expressions are familiar. You generally understand if the text is not very complex, and with some difficulty understand the general meaning without subtitles.

Level Upper Intermediate (B2)

At this level you can:

• Understand the general meaning of complex text on concrete and abstract topics, including technical (specialized) topics in your profile.
• Speak quickly enough so that communication with a native speaker occurs without long pauses.
• Compose clear, detailed text on various topics, explain the point of view, give arguments for and against various points of view on the topic.

Upper Intermediate is already a good, solid, confident command of the language. If you are talking on a well-known topic with a person whose pronunciation you understand well, then the conversation will go quickly, easily, naturally. An outside observer will say that you are fluent in English. However, you can be confused by words and expressions related to topics that are poorly understood by you, all sorts of jokes, sarcasm, allusions, slang.

You are asked to answer 36 questions to test listening, writing, speaking and grammar.

It is noteworthy that to test listening comprehension, phrases such as “London is the capital” recorded by the announcer are not used, but short excerpts from films (Puzzle English specializes in learning English from films and TV shows). In English-language films, the speech of the characters is close to how people speak in real life, so the test may seem harsh.

Chandler from Friends doesn't have the most intelligible pronunciation.

To check the letter, you need to translate several phrases from English into Russian and from Russian into English. The program provides several translation options for each phrase. To test knowledge of grammar, a completely ordinary test is used, where you need to choose one option from several proposed ones.

But you are probably wondering how the program can test the skill of speaking? Of course, the online English proficiency test will not test your speech as a person, but the test developers came up with an original solution. In the task, you need to listen to a phrase from the movie and choose a cue that is suitable for continuing the dialogue.

Talking is not enough, you also need to understand the interlocutor!

The ability to speak English consists of two skills: to understand the speech of the interlocutor by ear and to express one's thoughts. This task, albeit in a simplified form, tests how you cope with both tasks.

At the end of the test, you will be shown a complete list of questions with the correct answers, you will find out where you made mistakes. And of course, you will see a chart showing your level on a scale from Beginner to Upper Intermediate.

2. Test to determine the level of English with a teacher

To get a professional, “live” (not automated, as in tests) assessment of the level of English, you need English teacher who will test you with assignments and an interview in English.

This consultation is free of charge. Firstly, there may be a language school in your city that offers free language testing and even a trial lesson. Now this is a common practice.

In short, I signed up for a trial test lesson, got in touch on Skype at the appointed time, and the teacher Alexandra and I held a lesson, during which she “tortured” me in every possible way with various tasks. All communication was in English.

My trial lesson on SkyEng. Checking grammar knowledge.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher explained to me in detail in which direction I should develop my English, what problems I had, and a little later she sent a letter with a detailed description of the level of language skills (with grades on a 5-point scale) and methodological recommendations.

This method took some time: three days passed from the application to the lesson, and the lesson itself lasted about 40 minutes. But it is much more interesting than any online test.

English proficiency levels. A1 to C2

Preparation for English language exams

There are two options for determining the level of language proficiency. The first one was developed by British Council linguists and concerns only English. The second (CEFR) was developed as part of the "Learning Languages ​​for European Citizenship" project and is the same for determining the level of proficiency in any of the European languages.

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages ​​(Common European Framework of Reference, CEFR) is a system of levels of foreign language proficiency used in the European Union. The main goal of the CEFR system is to provide an assessment and teaching method applicable to all European languages.

• A Elementary possession
• B Self-sufficient ownership
• C Fluency

Compared to the olympiads, the USE is a simple exam, for which it is more than enough to pass, for example, the Gateway series textbooks. To win the Olympiad and to enter foreign universities, the level of English is significantly higher than for the successful passing of the Unified State Examination, however, textbooks for preparation are also available (see below), so everything is in your hands.

For children, we also recommend Oxford Better Spelling (on 7-9 years old, on the 9-11 years old). See photo review of these benefits. This is an easy-to-use course for daily based, neat book that contains 3000 words for each year, from 7 to 9 years old (or 9 to 11 years old). 5 words per day plus additional material to reinforce (about 8-9 words per day in total): this is a guide easily puts the spelling of difficult words. Here are the Oxford Children's Corpus target words that children most often misspell, along with the primary words of any curriculum. Children will learn all the words they need to be able to spell correctly. These manuals do not replace textbooks ( you also need to know grammar and be able to build phrases, speak, listen), but help greatly expand vocabulary and learn how to write words correctly: from childhood and for life. This is an excellent base that will give a great advantage in the future.

• English textbook, level C1
• English in focus. spotlight. Grade 11. Textbook
• English in focus. spotlight. Grade 10. Textbook
• 2000 test items in English
• Lomonosov school: how to prepare
• spotlight. Workbook and textbook. 6th grade
• Olympiads in English. 5-8 grades, with audio application
• Series of books Vocational education (Urayt)
• Human anatomy. Complete compact atlas
• Tasks of school Olympiads in social studies
• Biology textbooks and how to supplement them
• Chemistry textbooks and how to supplement them
• OGE-2016. English language
• Vseros in biology: what to read to win?
• Cribs in the palm of your hand. English language
• Cribs in the palm of your hand on various subjects, photo review

And what about the textbooks that we use in schools?.. Are there any normal ones among them?

Let's just say that really good textbooks are from reputable British publishers: Oxford, Cambridge, Macmillan, Pearson.
Our teacher can choose a textbook from the federal list and work on it. Usually this is Vereshchagin, Biboletova, Spotlight.
Spotlight is bad because it has very bad initial textbooks, it does not teach you to read, it does not provide a normal base. It simply won’t work to learn from it alone: ​​you need a tutor or additional textbooks.
Vereshchagin, Biboletov - also nothing good, unfortunately.
I really like Ter-Minasova (read more), but they don’t let her teachers take it. It could be combined with Spotlight.
Today the situation is such that if the parents do not know the language and cannot study with the children themselves, in an ordinary school, rest assured, the child will not be given the language, that is for sure. Need a tutor right away, and a good one.
The trouble with tutors is that many can somehow teach, but they speak very badly. Correcting the pronunciation later is a darkness. When children say "Z" to the sound "th" (with many sounds a problem) - quiet horror. They cannot recognize words in the speech of native speakers, i.e. they simply do not understand the language. They will definitely not pass the listening exam, and speaking too.
Oh, and they don’t teach you to write capital letters !! I don't understand this at all either. There is an essay at the OGE and the USE - and how are the children supposed to write it if they were not taught letters, except for printed ones?

And one more thing - none of our textbooks could find what level they give? B2? It would be nice. But I strongly doubt this, especially since there is no mention of the level of preparation in our textbooks anywhere.
If anyone knows what level Spotlight gives (if, theoretically, imagine that the child was able to take the entire Spotlight program up to grade 11, which is unlikely without a well-speaking assistant), write!
That is, it turns out that they don’t really teach the language in our schools.

Often teachers write that Vereshchagin and Biboletov are better than Spotlight. At the end of Spotlight Grade 2, kids usually can't read, unfortunately. You can learn to read from Biboletova's textbook. Spotlight only comes with a good tutor, it's not at school.

The USE compared to the 9th-10th grade Olympiad is just complete nonsense, for example! But in the Olympiad - such words and idioms that I can’t imagine what kind of teenager can know. At the level of C1-C2, such a feeling. It is clear that the Olympiads themselves prepare according to additional textbooks, but it is still prohibitive. Some of the tasks are adequate, and some are simply "lethal".

Thank you so much for this clear explanation!
We are in the 8th grade, we were at the English Olympiad that year, the level was very surprising, after schooling we did not quite expect this. Now it is clear how to prepare.

The school does not prepare not only for the Olympiad, but in general, such a feeling, does not give the language. Probably, only in special schools it can be learned, with extra. Textbooks and materials, and a good teacher. Today, if the parents do not know the language and the child is not in a special language school, English remains at a level below the average - and this is by the end of the school.