GENERAL ENGLISH COURSES
ELEMENTARY GENERAL ENGLISH
(from A1 to A2)
For beginners and false beginners who need simple, usable English for school, travel and daily life.
Speaking and listening skills focus on practical tasks like checking in, buying a coffee, buying clothes, asking the way, ordering a meal, and getting to the airport.
Vocabulary includes numbers, countries, classroom language, jobs, family, daily routine, weather, food and drink, places, holidays, books, and films.
Grammar builds from be, pronouns, possessives, imperatives, and present simple to present continuous, can / can’t, past simple, there is / there are, countable / uncountable nouns, comparatives, be going to, adverbs, and present perfect.
The following courses teach general purpose language useful in social, work, travel, and academic contexts.
All courses are practical and focused on building speaking fluency and confidence. They use modern communicative methods informed by the evidence-based natural approach.
Lessons take place in Arnhem (in the 'Stikkerbuilding', Meester D.U. Stikkerstraat 10, 6842 CW), face to face in small groups of 6 to 8 students, for €375 per person.
For learners moving from basic English to more confident everyday communication.
Speaking and listening skills stay practical through tasks like calling reception, eating out, taking something back to a shop, going to a pharmacy, asking for directions, and speaking on the phone.
Vocabulary covers relationships, clothes, holidays, airports, restaurants, housework, shopping, health, work, school, sport, biographies, animals, directions, and unusual jobs.
Grammar develops through question forms, present and past narration, future plans, present perfect, something / anything / nothing, comparatives and superlatives, quantifiers, infinitives and gerunds, have to / must / should, first and second conditionals, passive forms, used to, might, past perfect, and reported speech.
INTERMEDIATE GENERAL ENGLISH
(from B1 to B2)
For independent learners who want to speak more naturally and fluently in social, work, travel, and study contexts.
Speaking and listening skills centre on practical interaction such as reacting to what people say, giving opinions, making suggestions, asking permission, and using indirect questions.
Vocabulary includes food, money, transport, family, phone language, sport, relationships, cinema, education, housing, work, shopping, technology, and crime.
Grammar covers present and future forms, present perfect simple and continuous, articles, modals of obligation and ability, past tenses, passives, modals of deduction, first/second/third conditionals, gerunds and infinitives, reported speech, quantifiers, relative clauses, and question tags.
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE GENERAL ENGLISH
(from B2 to C1)
For upper-level learners who need more confident, flexible English for discussion, opinion-sharing, and real-world communication.
Speaking and listening skills remain strongly practical through Colloquial English lessons and listening on topics like medical emergencies, exciting trips, bungee jumping, regrets, arguments, crime, cities, and science
Vocabulary expands into job interviews, personality, health, fashion, air travel, the environment, feelings, sleep, music, crime, media, business, cities, and science.
Grammar includes question formation, present perfect simple and continuous, adjective order, narrative tenses, future perfect and future continuous, conditionals, wish, used to / be used to / get used to, gerunds and infinitives, past modals, passives, reporting verbs, clauses of contrast and purpose, quantifiers, and articles.
ADVANCED GENERAL ENGLISH
(from C1 to C2)
For advanced learners who want precise, nuanced English for professional, academic, and high-level social communication.
Speaking and listening skills use sophisticated but practical themes through Colloquial English and listening on topics such as earliest memories, memorable dates, stress, addiction, installation art, difficult journeys, vegetarianism.
Vocabulary covers personality, work, memory, conflict, books and films, sound, time, money, technology, art, health, travel, animals, food, and words that are often confused.
Grammar includes lexical vs grammatical have, discourse markers, past habits vs specific incidents, inversion, speculation and deduction, unreal past uses, verb + object + infinitive / gerund, conditionals, permission / obligation / necessity, advanced gerunds and infinitives, ellipsis, relative clauses, and cleft sentences.
PRE-INTERMEDIATE GENERAL ENGLISH
(from A2 to B1)
IELTS PREPARATION COURSES
All the Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speakings skills that you need for the exam.
A detailed look at exam questions types with tips and strategies for each type of question.
Key grammar topics at the B1 level.
Vocabulary at the B1 level related to the most common IELTS themes.
These courses focus on the grammar, vocabulary, and skills (Reading/Listening/Speaking/Writing) tested on the IELTS exam.
For learners at the B2 level aiming to achieve a 6.5--7.0 IELTS score by focusing on IELTS-specific strategies, skills, grammar, and vocabulary.
IELTS PREPARATION 6.5--7.0
(from B2 to C1)
IELTS PREPARATION 5.5--6.0
(from B1 to B2)
For learners at the B1 level aiming to achieve a 5.5--6.0 IELTS score by focusing on the specific skills, grammar, and vocabulary tested by the exam.
All the Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speakings skills that you need for the exam.
A detailed look at exam questions types with tips and strategies for each type of question.
Key grammar topics at the B2 level.
Vocabulary at the B2 level related to the most common IELTS themes.
SPECIALTY COURSES
BUSINESS ENGLISH
(available from A2 to C1)
For people who want to focus on English used at work, especially speaking skills used in meetings with colleagues and clients.
Speaking and listening skills focus on language used at work, especially in meetings with colleagues and clients, but also speaking on the phone or giving presentations. For example, speaking topics include networking, running a project update meeting, explaining features and benefits, presenting visual information, negotiating with colleagues, and making plans.
Vocabulary covers workplace topics such as managing projects, outsourcing, communications technology, cultural differences, logistics and supply chains, and innovation.
These more specialised courses are for individuals (one-on-one) or private groups of 2-10 people. Due to reduced demand, these are 'bring-your-own-group' courses (thus they are not available to join as an individual).
These courses can be personalised according to your specific learning goals, are available at different lengths, and can also be delivered on location at your home, school, or office.
For a 26-hour course, prices start from €1600/€2000 (online/in-person) for one-on-one lessons and €2400 total for groups.
TOEFL EXAM PREPARATION
(available from B1 to C1)
For B1- or B2-level learners preparing to take the TOEFL exam.
All the Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speakings skills that you need for the TOEFL exam.
A detailed look at exam questions types with tips and strategies for each type of question.
Key grammar topics most commonly tested by the exam
Vocabulary related to the most common TOEFL themes.
CAMBRIDGE EXAMS PREPARATION
(B2 First and C1 Advanced)
For people preparing to take B2 First or C1 Advanced exams.
All the Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speakings skills that you need for the various Cambridge exams.
A detailed look at exam questions types with tips and strategies for each type of question.
Key grammar topics most commonly tested by the exam
Vocabulary related to the most common exam themes.
ACADEMIC WRITING
(available from B2 to C1)
For those wishing to focus only on academic writing skills.
Writing skills are the only focus of this course - the goal is to produce academic writing that is clear, well-structured, precise, critical, and persuasive.
Topics include paragraph structure and essay structure; introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions; linking ideas with cohesive devices; summarising and paraphrasing sources; giving argument with supporting evidence; using an appropriately formal register; and more.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REGISTER FOR A GROUP COURSE
In order to place you in a group with others of the same English level, it's important to take this online diagnostic test. Please email the results to info@arnhemenglishschool.nl.
Those registering for an exam preparation course should instead take this longer test that also checks Speaking and Writing skills.
ABOUT US
Matt Rooks
Director / English Teacher
In addition to teaching many of the English courses himself, Matt organises and supervises all of the education at Arnhem English School. Matt is a native speaker who grew up in the small village of Saranac Lake, New York, in the northeastern United States. He's been teaching English since 2009, about seventeen years. Before moving to The Netherlands in 2016, Matt taught English to adults in Turkey, Bahrain, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Besides English he speaks B2 (Upper-Intermediate) Dutch, A2 (Elementary) French, and A2 (Elementary) Turkish.
Kelley Jackson
English Teacher
Esther Ticheler
English and Dutch (NT2) Teacher
Esther teaches English and also the occasional private Dutch (NT2) group course. She grew up bilingual in Enschede, The Netherlands. Esther has been teaching English since 2012, about fourteen years. Before she moved back to The Netherlands with Matt in 2016, Esther taught English to adults in Turkey, Bahrain, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Esther speaks both English and Dutch with native fluency.
Kelley teaches English and exam preparation courses. A native speaker from Vinalhaven, Maine, in the northeastern United States, Kelley met Matt and Esther back in 2011 when they worked together at the same language school in Istanbul. He's taught English since 2010, about sixteen years, in Turkey, Greece, and the United Kingdom. In addition to English Kelley also speaks A2 (Elementary) Turkish.
Pawel Kolodziejczyk
Marketing
Pawel handles the marketing, advertising, and web design for Arnhem English School. Originally from Kraków, Poland, Pawel moved to Istanbul's Kadıköy neighbourhood twenty years ago and never looked back. There he taught English at universities for many years before switching careers in 2016 to become the Marketing guru and Sales wizard that he is today. Besides native Polish Pawel speaks English at the C2 (native) level, Turkish at the B2 (Upper-Intermediate) level, and A2 (Elementary) French.