Cambridge English propone due versioni dell’esame B1: B1 Preliminary per gli adulti e B1 Preliminary for Schools per gli studenti delle scuole secondarie. Entrambi certificano lo stesso livello di inglese secondo il Quadro Comune Europeo di Riferimento per le Lingue (QCER), ma utilizzano argomenti e contenuti adatti agli adulti e ai ragazzi.

Dato ciò, Globally Speaking offre corsi separati per adulti e per adolescenti, pensati per preparare al meglio gli studenti all’esame Cambridge B1.

Se tu, o tuo figlio, riuscite già a capire brevi conversazioni e le principali strutture grammaticali, questo potrebbe essere il momento giusto per passare al livello successivo.

One of the biggest benefits of play in lessons is that it eliminates the fear of participating and making mistakes. Especially for shyer kids, talking and answering questions in a new language can be quite stressful. Although this is a fear that students will overcome with time, play lets them do this in a much freer and quicker way. Because their focus shifts entirely to participating in the game or winning, their anxiety drops, and they produce language much more naturally than they would on a quiz or a test.

Learning a language takes time. Many children understand English before they feel ready to speak it. This is completely normal.

Cambridge English offers two versions of the B1 exam: B1 Preliminary for adult learners and B1 Preliminary for Schools for students in secondary school. Both examine the same level of English at a regulated CEFR standard but they focus on different topics and content for adults and teens. 

Therefore, Globally Speaking offers separate adult courses and teen courses to prepare for the Cambridge B1 Exam.

If you or your child can understand short conversations and simple grammar, this could be a great level to step up to.

If you’re a beginner or lower-intermediate learner, subtitles are your best friend. They help you follow the story, connect the sounds to the words, and pick up new vocabulary without getting lost. Just make sure you’re using English subtitles, not Italian ones. If you’re reading in Italian, your brain takes the easy way out and stops listening properly.

For conversational English, nothing beats a good sitcom. I always recommend Friends because the dialogue is simple, humorous, and full of useful phrases. One of my students, Matteo, started watching it with subtitles last year. At first, he struggled to follow the jokes, but after a few weeks he was quoting Joey’s famous lines in class and even making his classmates laugh in English. That’s the power of learning through TV.

One of the biggest challenges of learning English is remembering new words. While textbooks and vocabulary lists are helpful, they can often be easily forgotten without constant revision. However, in a story, words appear in meaningful situations. Learners are able to see how they are used, the emotions that they carry, and how they connect to characters and events.

As research shows, reading English literature written for native speakers helps learners become more familiar with the types of languages they will encounter in real-life situations.This makes discovering and remembering new vocabulary much easier. For example, in one lesson where I read an excerpt of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen with a student, he learned and absorbed more new vocabulary in a single class than in weeks of traditional practice. The story gave the words life, and that made them unforgettable.

Children’s brains are amazing learning machines. From birth to early teens, the flexibility of a child’s brain is impressive. The ability to absorb a new language through sounds and patterns gives children the advantage of learning languages at a faster rate. They are able to copy accents, rhythm and intonation quickly, creating a more natural flow of pronunciation and understanding, even without conscious thought. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your child can pick up new vocabulary and expressions!

Children are also not scared of making mistakes and their curiosity helps them improve faster than adults. At Globally Speaking, we design fun activities that feel just like playing but are carefully structured to build real language skills. As parents come to pick their children up after lessons, they often tell us that their children are still singing in English on the way home.

They’re designed for students who are already comfortable at B1 level, meaning you can manage everyday conversations, describe experiences, and understand simple written texts. If you want to improve your fluency, follow films or podcasts without subtitles, or prepare for international exams, then B2 is the next logical step.