Full-Time General English

Full-Time General English Courses

What English will I learn?

Our full-time General English course offers intensive study and practice across all areas of the language.

Improve your grammar and vocabulary in the morning

The full-time General English course morning classes have a grammar focus and we loosely follow the syllabus of the course book. We try to give you what you can’t do easily in your own country: lots of focus on speaking and listening. While learning the grammar and vocabulary of the topic, you’ll get reading and writing practice.

Focus on speaking, listening, and everyday English in the afternoon

In the afternoon, you’ll practise English for everyday situations and use your listening, reading, writing and speaking skills to explore a range of interesting themes. The afternoon is a chance for you to immerse yourself in real-world English. Don’t be surprised if your teacher takes you out of the class and into town to complete a real-world speaking activity such as interviewing native English speakers on the street or ordering food and drink in a cafe. A chance to learn useful phrases will really increase your confidence in real-life social situations!

An English course that improves all your skills

The teacher of the morning class and the afternoon class meet regularly to discuss their class and the individual students in them. In these meetings, the teachers talk about the progress students are making, areas of improvement for the students, and the aims of the day/week.

This way they can create a plan of what to teach for the week and make sure that all their students are making the kind of progress they want. In addition, the teachers can ensure that everyone in their group is getting the right amounts of pronunciation, writing, reading, listening, speaking, vocabulary, and grammar practice. It’s important to remember that the main focus of the LSI/IH Portsmouth General English course is on communication.

Did you know?

✅ Our maximum class size of 12 is smaller
than the UK Average – 14 or even 16 students.

✅ Our courses are more intensive (22.5 hours per week)
than most UK schools.

Academic IELTS or General IELTS preparation?

  • LSI/IH Portsmouth is ranked the joint number one English Language school in the UK. This ranking was given to us in part due to the excellent standard of our IELTS course and the dedication of our IELTS specialist teaching team.
  • IELTS Authors
  • UK IELTS Specialists
  • You can take your IELTS test in our school

One of our Director of Studies, Lewis Richards, has written and co-written not one, but two IELTS textbooks! IELTS Advantage and Build Up to IELTS and are used by teachers and in schools internationally. Not only is Lewis a published IELTS author, but he is a highly demanded public speaker who attends many events throughout the year to give presentations on a variety of English language teaching related topics, from how to improve your IELTS score to teaching IELTS exam preparation skills to different levels.

“About the school, it is outstanding. I have no words to describe how much I’ve liked being here. I’ve improved my English a lot in just 4 months. The people who work at the school make you feel like in your home. I’m sad to go back to Brazil, but I have to return to my normal life. About the classes, everything depends on your target. The classes are amazing and the teachers are super prepared.”

Riccardo, Brazil

The IELTS module consists of 4 sections. Each one related to the essential English language skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking. Both IELTS General English and IELTS Academic English share the same speaking and listening tests, but the Reading and writing sections for the General and Academic English exams are different.

Through dynamic lessons, we’ll focus on all the skills tested in the exam but also on those specific areas necessary for IELTS. You will have the opportunity to practice with a wide range of activities to improve your performance.

Academic IELTS or General IELTS preparation?

The IELTS module consists of 4 sections. Each one related to the essential English language skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking. Both IELTS General English and IELTS Academic English share the same speaking and listening tests, but the Reading and writing sections for the General and Academic English exams are different.
Through dynamic lessons, we’ll focus on all the skills tested in the exam but also on those specific areas necessary for IELTS. You will have the opportunity to practice with a wide range of activities to improve your performance.

08.30 – 09.00: Optional Self-Access

09.00 – 10.15: Grammar/Vocabulary Skills/Pronunciation

10.15 – 10.30: Morning Coffee Break

10.30 – 11.45: Grammar/Vocabulary Skills/Pronunciation

11.45 – 13.00: Lunch/Optional supervised self-access

13.00 – 14.15: Everyday English functions

14.15 – 14.30: Afternoon coffee break

14.30 – 15.45: Everyday English themes speaking/listening

15.45 – 17.15: Optional supervised self-access

There are no lessons on Friday afternoons, so you are free to do additional supervised self-study. Alternatively, you may like to join in the social programme (click here to find out more) or do additional 1:1 lessons to focus on specialist areas of your language studies (at an extra cost).

You will be given a test and a tutorial with your teacher at least once every 2 weeks, as well as regular homework. The test and the homework can help you to monitor your progress during your language stay here in Portsmouth. The tutorial is a chance to sit down with your teacher and tell them how you’re feeling in the class and what you want to focus on.

It is important to remember that during your stay at LSI/IH Portsmouth, you will find your teachers very approachable and friendly, if you want to talk to them about your progress, you will be able to do this before or after any lesson.

All new students do a placement test on their first day at school. It involves a grammar and vocabulary test, a free writing test and a 5 to 10-minute interview with a teacher. You are then placed in a class appropriate to your level. This will tell us if you need English for beginners or an advanced English course in Portsmouth.

There are no fixed start dates for General English. You can start on any Monday.
LSI/IH Portsmouth operates a continuous enrolment system, where students start on any Monday and leave on any Friday. New students learn whatever grammar and functions are being studied at the time.

Our teaching involves a lot of reviewing of grammar and vocabulary and our aim is to help you make as much progress as you can in the time you have booked with us.

This depends on how much English you already have and how often you are using English outside class time. Students who go on all the social programme activities, making friends with people of other nationalities, and those who speak English with their host families, tend to make faster progress. Reading regularly also helps a lot. Moving up a level can take as little as 8 weeks or as long as 12.

So you want to learn English in the UK? Do you need English for beginners, or an advanced English course? Whatever you need to know, if you’re interested in English lessons we have the answers for you. We’ve been teaching since 1985, so whether you want an advanced English course in Portsmouth or English for beginners, we can help.

Find out what life is like on a General English course from one of our students:

Talk to us

Would you like to know more about our prices or special offers?

Do you have special needs you’d like to discuss?

If you have any questions or want to know any more information about LSI/IH Portsmouth, please get in touch! E-mail us: [email protected].

Key Facts

Accommodation

While studying IELTS in Portsmouth, we can help to find the best accommodation for you! Whether you want to live with a local homestay family, in one of our self-catering residences, or choose to find your own accommodation.
Find out how we can help!

Social Programme

Studying English doesn’t happen in a classroom! with our full, varied and exciting social programme you can have fun, meet other people with the same interests, and practise your English in a social setting! Find out more about our after-school activities and weekend trip!