Upper Intermediate Season 1

This pathway is for students on the cusp of advanced, but want a bit more grammar review.

Upper Intermediate

Curriculum

Upper Intermediate Season 1

	Title	Topic	Function	Grammar	Vocabulary	Cultural Insight
#1	The English Interview	phone interview	Answering questions in a formal setting	Irregular adjectives in comparison	politics to graduate intimately legislative Senators Representatives previous dedicated	Interviewing for a job
#2	English Internships for All!	future plans	Discussing Future Plans	Future Continuous with "going to be _____ing "	afterwards internship committee coincidence congressperson Capitol Hill townhouse roommate Georgetown to crash	Summer internships, starting a career in Washington, D.C.
#3	The Hunt for A Good American Apartment	apartment hunting	weighing pros and cons and making a decision	Using constructions like "On the plus side", "On the other hand" to discuss the pros and cons while making a decision	upscale price range affordable run-down The Metro to cut down lead bed-bug paranoid	Hunting for an apartment and getting a roommate.
#4	Greeting Your American Boss	first day at an internship	getting to know someone in a professional setting	Formal titles	to report cubicle to settle in sir ma'am by the way first-name basis to drop	Formality (or lack there of) in the American workplace
#5	Getting Mugged in the US	mugging	talking to law enforcement	Using past continuous and simple to talk about past occurrences	incident to grab to identify line-up to mug to get mugged muscular to ditch card aware	Crime in America, safety at night
#6	Are you Directionally Challenged in the US?	coffee run	giving and receiving directions indoors	Direction words used to give directions indoors	restroom buck hallway escalator vending machine to pick up black dozen	Coffee runs (made by interns)
#7	Are you a Slave to American Coffee?	habit of drinking coffee	making small talk in a formal setting	Using nothing vs. anything	influence absolutely dependency caffeine to accomplish zombie to get hooked to operate	Coffee culture as an essential part of work in DC
#8	The White House is Meeting with the Capitol to Talk about Wall Street	staying busy	talking using metonyms	Negative and Positive Conditional Structures	to ask out hearing to sneak in the Library of Congress Congressional Research Service annoying to whine K-Street Wall Street the White House	Lobbying in Washington, D.C.
#9	Happy Hours for Happy Days in the United States	happy hour after work	gossiping, talking about politics	Using noun clauses as objects "He says anything voters want to hear"	happy hour frat-boy the State of the Union to be re-elected flip-flopper pro-choice spineless poll Republic	Gossiping about politics and the Happy Hour culture of Washington, D.C.
#10	English Pickup Lines	asking someone out	Using polite language to ask someone out that you don't know well	Adverb Clauses to express conditions (with conditional tense)	to aid bruise inappropriate irregular adorable to wonder Eastern Market to head over	Asking someone out on a date.
#11	Are you Running Late in the United States?	mistake at work	constructing sentences while apologizing, making excuses	Using consecutive statements to indicate reason without the use of connectors like "because" or "since"	memo to prepare briefcase distracted vigilant to err idiot excuse	-how to express your guilt and apologize in America while explaining what caused your mistake.
#12	How a Bill Becomes a Law in the US, Part 1	new bill	talking about politics, learning about legislative process in the US	Using Passive voice to emphasize the object of action in speech.	bill bipartisan earmark chairman to amend ranking member gridlock to veto extension pay-roll tax cut	Political gridlock and earmarks.
#13	Making Tough Choices in the US	gun control	reporting speech	Using the active voice	ball strike bases outfield/infield	-attending the national pastime of the US
#14	American Date Night	going on a date	talking about your hopes and dreams	Use of "wish" versus use of "hope"	dolled up to ask out World Bank brief dud to kid successful	-getting dressed up and ready for dates, what American women look for in guys
#15	American Date Night, Part 2	going on a date	Conversation to use on a first date.	Perfect tenses review: Past perfect continuous, Past perfect, present perfect continuous, present perfect	creepy apologize to misjudge witness originally alumnus the school of hard knocks cop academy	-first date conversation, asking about people's geographical and professional/educational background
#16	Do American Media Pundits Rub you the Wrong Way?	views on the media	talking about the media, using negative prefixes to change adjective meanings	Negative prefixes for adjectives	talking head debate unproductive uninformative Beltway jargon to foster legitimate unappealling commentator irresponsible immature impartial even	-cable news chanels -debate in the media
#17	How a Bill Becomes a Law in the US, Part 2	new bill	learning about legislative process more	"Intensifying" adjectives	utter override cynic complete pipedream absolute pipe drea	-what happens to laws when they are vetoed
#18	Take a Tour of Washington, D.C.	sightseeing	planning a trip to show someone around a city	Using "to have" as a modal verb	tour guide Smithsonian superb presidential monument memorial the Pentagon the Navy	D.C. Tourist culture
#19	Hitting the Dusty American Campaign Trail	campaign managing	delivering exciting news to a friend	Future Real Conditional with "If" and "When"	district conservative moderate to unseat incumbent campaign manager unemployed opportunity resume	-electoral politics, campaign manager
#20	At the Heartbreak Motel in the US	breaking up	learning how to break up / be broken up with in English	Inversion (Irregular verb placement)	sight matter miserable argument over hug	-breaking up
#21	Do You Need to Escape from your American House?	hanging out	talking about future plans	Phrasal verbs (concentrating on "get")	club to break up low-key get out get over get in get off to be packed	-making plans for the evening
#22	An Unexpected English Call	leaving a message	expressing regret, talking about hangovers	Using modals in the past tense- "You shouldn't have drank so much"	hangover splitting Tylenol rough to pass out to snore tendency	-helping a sick friend
#23	American Politics as Usual	new bill	delivering exciting news to a friend	Future Real Conditional with "If" and "When"	district conservative moderate to unseat incumbent campaign manager unemployed opportunity resume	-electoral politics, campaign manager
#24	A Long-awaited American Reunion	election results	predicting the future, talking about expected results	Similes and metaphors to express strong feelings	pins and needles rush election to be at stake nerd good shape nationally bellwether majority toss up	-teasing as an indication of friendship -attending an election night party
#25	English Congratulations are in Order!	celebrating	expressing joy, using multiple adjectives	Order of adjectives	to call race relieved pumped	how to celebrate a big victory