Prioritise the language people need to live safely and independently, then build towards work, study and community participation.
Priority topics with example can-dos (pre-A1 to A2)
| Priority | Topic | Can-do examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Personal information | Say and spell my name; give my address and phone number; fill in a simple form |
| 1 | Emergencies and safety | Call emergency services and say what is wrong and where; understand warning signs |
| 1 | Health | Make a doctor's appointment; describe symptoms; understand dosage on a medicine label |
| 2 | Housing | Report a repair; understand a simple letter from the landlord; talk to neighbours |
| 2 | Transport | Buy a ticket; ask for directions; read a timetable |
| 2 | Shopping and money | Ask for prices and sizes; understand a receipt; use a bank card and ATM |
| 2 | Children's school | Understand a school message; tell the school my child is absent; talk to a teacher |
| 3 | Work | Talk about my skills and experience; understand workplace safety instructions; fill in an application |
| 3 | Rights and services | Ask for an interpreter; understand appointment letters; know where to get advice |
| 3 | Community and culture | Join a local activity; talk about weather, food, festivals; small talk |
Order the topics with learners: a learner who is pregnant may need health first; parents may need school first.
Delivery
- Intake: oral interview with an interpreter or L1 helper, literacy check (copy a name, read a sign), short
speaking task; record goals and availability (
learner_pathways.py). - Pathways: foundation literacy, script transition, settlement ESOL, work/study (see the script).
- Flexible enrolment: rolling intake with self-contained units of 1-2 weeks.
- Childcare and timing: creche or classes during school hours; women-only groups where requested.
- Real materials: actual forms, letters, maps, medicine labels (anonymised), photos of local places.
- Outside the classroom: visits to the library, clinic, market, job centre; guest speakers from services.
- Volunteers and conversation clubs: extra speaking practice; brief volunteers on trauma-informed practice.
- Progress: can-do checklists, portfolios, recognised qualifications where available (national ESOL qualifications, CEFR-linked certificates) for work and study pathways.
Linking to other provision
| Need | Link to |
|---|---|
| Literacy | Adult literacy ESL lessons (see adult-literacy-esl-lesson-builder) |
| Work | Vocational English, employability services, recognition of qualifications |
| Study | Pre-sessional / EAP, foundation programmes, scholarship advice |
| Wellbeing | Health services, psychosocial support, community organisations |
| Legal / housing | Advice services (refer, do not advise) |
academic-english-eap-course-planner
Plan English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses: pre-sessional, in-sessional, foundation, IELTS preparation and discipline-specific EAP, with syllabus strands (academic reading, lecture listening and note-taking, essay and report writing, paraphrase, summary and synthesis, referencing and plagiarism, seminars and presentations, academic vocabulary, critical thinking), a 10-week pre-sessional outline, exit assessment, IELTS-CEFR alignment and academic style (formality, hedging, cohesion, reporting verbs). Estimates study hours and weeks to close an IELTS gap from overall or per-skill scores (IELTS rounding, minimum per skill, priority skills, feasibility before a deadline), and checks learner texts for contractions, informal words with academic alternatives, unhedged claims, 'you', And/But/So starts, rhetorical questions and missing citations.
actfl-proficiency-curriculum-mapper
Map world language curricula to the ACTFL framework: proficiency levels (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, Distinguished with sublevels), functions, contexts, text types and accuracy, proficiency vs performance, the three modes of communication (interpretive, interpersonal, presentational), the 5 Cs World-Readiness Standards, backward-designed thematic units with Integrated Performance Assessments, typical programme targets and FSI time estimates. Looks up approximate ACTFL-CEFR-ILR equivalences with what each level can do, and checks a unit map for missing modes, rehearsed skits mislabelled as interpersonal, translation or word lists as interpretive tasks, and units without an integrated performance assessment.
adult-literacy-esl-lesson-builder
Build lessons for adult ESL learners who are developing literacy (LESLLA learners: pre-literate, non-literate, semi-literate, literate in a non-Roman script): learner profiles and sensitive initial assessment, principles (oral language first, known to new, systematic phonics with adult-relevant text, repetition, classroom skills, respect for experience), a lesson routine (oral warm-up, review, new grapheme, blending, segmenting, decodable text, writing, functional literacy, Language Experience Approach), a phonics sequence for adults, sight words, functional literacy targets (forms, signs, medicine labels) and portfolio assessment. Checks whether a reading text is decodable with the letter-sound patterns and sight words taught so far, catching untaught digraphs, listing non-decodable words with the untaught part, and suggesting the most useful next patterns.
authentic-material-lesson-adapter
Turn authentic material (news articles, podcasts, videos, songs, menus, timetables, adverts, social media posts, forms, infographics) into language lessons by grading the task rather than the text. Selects texts for interest, relevance, exploitability, coverage, cultural load and rights; finds the 4-6 words to pre-teach, words to gloss on the page and words learners can ignore, plus names and cultural references to explain, with reading time by level; and builds a lesson shape (lead-in, pre-teach, gist or scanning, graded detail task, language focus on chunks and register, response) with task ideas per material type and level from A1 to C1. Covers copyright, fair dealing and fair use, Creative Commons and attribution.
can-do-statement-writer
Write and review can-do statements for language courses, units, lessons and learner self-assessment, CEFR or NCSSFL-ACTFL style: action (observable verb) + text or situation + level-specific conditions, learner ('I can') and descriptor ('Can') versions, progressions of one activity from A1 to C1, and coverage of reception, production, interaction and mediation. Includes a verb bank by mode and level and condition and text-type banks. Lints statements for teacher-centred phrasing, knowledge instead of use (learn, know, understand the passive), missing context, two skills in one statement, vague quality words, grammar items as outcomes, overlong statements and missing modes in a set.
cefr-aligned-syllabus-builder
Build language course syllabuses aligned to the CEFR (A1-C2, plus levels, Companion Volume 2020): entry and exit levels, guided learning hours and course length (with an L1-distance adjustment), syllabus type (topic, functional-notional, task-based, skills-based, multi-strand), unit-by-unit can-do outcomes, grammar from a core inventory by level, vocabulary, functions, pronunciation, balance of reception, production, interaction and mediation, recycling and assessment points. Checks a syllabus for units without can-do statements, core grammar for the level not covered, items above the course level, skills missing from most units and units with no vocabulary or functions.