Talk to us about your course
Course formats for adults
Four course families sit at the centre of what we teach: General English, Intensive English, English for Work and English for Academic Purposes. Each covers the same four skills but weights them differently and asks for a different amount of your week. This page is here to help you choose between them, not to sell you the longest option.
Ask what you want English to do for you in the next six months. Better day-to-day conversation, a promotion, a university place and an exam certificate are four different targets, and they pull the course design in different directions.
General English is the broad base. English for Work and English for Academic Purposes are specialised, and both assume you can already handle everyday English at your level. If you are not sure, a term of General English first usually makes the specialist course more useful.
Not sure which one applies to you? Ask which course fits and we will answer honestly, including when the answer is to wait a term.
Format comparison
Write down honestly how many hours a week you can give to class plus homework. Then pick the format under that number, not above it. Consistency beats intensity you cannot keep.
Broadest base
Speaking, listening, reading and writing built together, with grammar and vocabulary taught inside real tasks.
Heaviest weekly load
A morning general block plus afternoon lessons, so new language is recycled far more often in a single week.
Register and tone
Meetings, negotiations, email register, presenting, and phone calls where you cannot rely on gestures.
Study-ready writing
Essay structure, citation language, lecture listening, note-taking and seminar speaking for university study.
Fees depend on format, weekly hours and course length, and schedules change with intake. Ask us for the current options at your level before you commit to anything.
General English builds speaking, listening, reading and writing together, with grammar and vocabulary taught inside real tasks. You practise pronunciation, listening to natural speed speech, and writing that gets clearer over time.
Groups are small and classes run through the year on set start dates. This format works best for learners who can study consistently over more weeks rather than in a short burst. It is also the most common starting point for adults returning to English after a long break.
Intensive English works on one condition: you actually turn up.
If your work schedule is unpredictable, the missed hours will cost you more here than in General English. Choose it when you can attend consistently for the full course.
Intensive English keeps a morning general English block and adds afternoon lessons, giving a heavier weekly load. The adult intensive model used by UK schools often runs to around 28 lessons or 21 hours a week, and that pace is the point: more contact time, faster recycling of new language.
Afternoon sessions tend to shift focus: exam-style writing one day, pronunciation clinics or project work the next. You will meet the same language repeatedly in different forms, which is what makes the higher weekly load worth the effort.
Choose it when
You can commit to full days for the whole course without gaps.
Think twice when
Your working week moves around and you would miss afternoons unpredictably.
This course builds the language of UK workplaces: meetings, negotiations, email register, presenting, and phone calls where you cannot rely on gestures. We work on tone and structure, because accuracy without the right register still reads oddly to colleagues.
It suits professionals already using English at work, and learners preparing for interviews or a role change. Bring real examples from your job and the lessons get sharper.
Typical ground covered: chairing and joining meetings, writing to a colleague versus writing to a client, structuring a short presentation, and handling a difficult phone call.
Academic English points at university study: essay structure, citation language, lecture listening, note-taking and seminar speaking. It overlaps with IELTS preparation, since both demand formal, organised English, but it goes wider than any single test.
This course is for learners planning to study in the UK and for international students already here who need to write and present at academic standard. Check your institution's English requirement before you rely on a course to meet it.
If a university place is the goal, look at the exam preparation options alongside this course.
Every course runs on CEFR levels, so you enter at your assessed stage and move up when your work shows you are ready. If you are between levels, we will place you where the class will stretch you without leaving you behind, and we will say so if a course is not the right fit yet.
See the full CEFR pathway for how levels are assessed and what each stage covers.
Your starting point is confirmed after a short placement check, not taken on trust from a self-rating.
Fees depend on format, weekly hours and course length, and schedules change with intake. When you enquire we send the current options for your level, including start dates and what is included in the fee.
Plan enrolment and materials separately from tuition. If budget is the deciding factor, a longer General English course is usually the more economical route to the same level than a short intensive block.
If General and Intensive both look plausible, decide on hours, not ambition. If Work and Academic both apply, decide on your next twelve months: a job move or a study place.
You can also sequence them. Many learners take General English first to raise general accuracy, then move into the specialist course once the base is solid.
Still torn? Tell us your hours and goal and we will name the format we would pick for you.
Often yes, subject to a place being free in the intensive class at your level and a start date that lines up with your term. Tell us as early as you can, because mid-course moves depend on both your progress and the group's capacity.
There is a short placement check so we can put you at the right CEFR stage rather than guessing. It is not an entrance exam and it does not decide whether you may study with us, only where you start.
General English, almost always. The specialist courses assume you can already hold everyday conversations and read a short article without much struggle, so building that base first saves you from falling behind later.
No payment is taken at the enquiry stage. You send your details, we reply with a recommendation and the current schedule, and you decide from there.
Tell us your goal and available hours and we will come back with a recommendation and the current schedule. Name, surname, email and phone number are all we need to start the conversation.
48 Bedford Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DP, United Kingdom
Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM; Saturday, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Enquiries are handled under our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.