How to reach level A2 in English?
We have already talked about the A1 level in English which is the most basic level of the CEFR ( Common European Framework of Reference for Languages ) , today we continue our way to the next level! If you have already studied English, if you know the basics, but you always stumble when you find yourself in a situation where you have to speak English spontaneously, perhaps you should aim for level A2 in English !
In other words, this is the level for false beginners : by progressing on the grammar points, the vocabulary and the subjects mentioned in this article, you will be able to consolidate your English basics and begin to communicate well , to feel more comfortable!
What is the A2 level in English?
Levels A1 and A2 correspond to the beginner level and even if level A2 is still considered only as an elementary level, it is an excellent objective to set!
At this level, we are a basic user but a user all the same! We already know the basics of grammar, the essential vocabulary and the most common linguistic structures. At this level, one can survive in English . We’ve already taken our first steps and are ready to run, play and enjoy the language – like a child full of energy and curiosity!
This is what we look like at level A2!
What does level A2 contain?
In this section, you will find all the information about the A2 level and the skills you need to acquire to reach it. Since you already had an introduction to the main grammatical points at level A1 , now you need to diversify and enrich your vocabulary in order to familiarize yourself with more everyday topics! The following lists can also be used as a checklist to check if you have already studied everything you need for level A2!
What skills for level A2?
According to the CEFR, this is what one should be able to do:
- Understand isolated phrases and frequently used expressions related to immediate areas of priority (eg, simple personal and family information, shopping, familiar surroundings, work).
- Communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring only a simple and direct exchange of information on routine topics.
- Describe with simple means his training, his close environment and evoke subjects which correspond to immediate needs.
As you can see, after reaching this level, one is already able to say a lot of things in English !
What is the meaning of level A2 in English?
What grammar ?
The grammar points you need to learn for A2 are very similar to those we saw in the A1 article , but they now need to be looked at in more detail:
| In English | In French |
|---|---|
| Understanding and using numbers (Ordinals) | Understand and use ordinal numbers |
| Understanding and using prices | Understand and use prices |
| Telling the time (Dates) | say the date |
| Telling the time (Setting a date) | Set a date (agree on an appointment) |
| Greetings | Greet |
| Giving personal information | Give personal information |
| Describing habits and routines | Describe their habits and routine |
| Describing people | Describe a person |
| Describing things | Describe objects |
| Requests | Ask for something |
| Hints | make a suggestion |
| Advice | To give advice |
| invitations | Invite someone |
| Offers | Make an offer |
| Arrangements to meet people using -ing | Arrange a date with someone using – ing |
| Obligations and necessity | Obligations and Necessity _ |
| Describing places | Describe a place |
| Describing past experiences and storytelling | Talking about past experiences and storytelling |
A point of grammar that comes up constantly are the modals :
revise and practice them as much as possible!
| In English | In French |
|---|---|
| Linkers (sequential, past time) | Link words (logical and temporal connectors) |
| Requirements | The imperative |
| Question forms | Interrogative forms |
| Wh-questions in the past | Questions in Wh in the past tense |
| Simple present | The simple present |
| Present continuous | The present continuous / progressive (in Be + V-ing |
| Past simple (to be) | The past tense of to be |
| Past simple (regular verbs) | The past tense of regular verbs |
| Past simple (irregular verbs) | The past tense of irregular verbs |
| Past continuous | The past continuous/progressive (in Be + V-ing) |
| Used to | Using used to to describe a past habit |
| going to | The construction and uses of going to |
| Present continuous for the future (arrangements) | The present continues to make plans for the future |
| Future time with will and going to | The future with constructions in will and going to |
| Basic use of the present perfect | The basics of the Present Perfect |
| Gerunds and verb + -ing or infinitive after like / want / would like | Gerund and verbs + -ing or infinitive after verbs like / want / would like |
| To + infinitive to express a purpose | To + infinitive to express a goal |
| Verb + to + infinitive | Verb + to + infinitive |
| Zero and first conditional | Conditionals of types zero and 1 |
| Pre-teach or review the particles, using the verb to be as an example | The basic particles, used with the verb to be for example |
| Common phrasal verbs | The most common phrasal verbs |
| Can/could (Functional) | Express permission with “can/could” |
| Might, may | The “might, may” modals |
| Possibly, probably, perhaps | Possibly, probably, maybe |
| Must and must not | Must and must not modals |
| Have to | The modal verb have to |
| Should | The modal verb should |
| Countable and uncountable (More practice with much and many) | Countable and uncountable nouns (go further with much and many ) |
| Advanced personal pronouns | Advanced personal pronouns |
| Possessive ‘s and s’ | The possessive case: ‘s and s’ |
| possessive pronouns | The possessive pronouns |
| Prepositions of time (on/ at/ in) | Prepositions of time (on/ at/ in) |
| Prepositional sentences (time and movement) | Prepositional expressions (of time and movement) |
| Zero article with uncountable nouns | The zero article with uncountable nouns |
| Articles with countable and uncountable nouns | Items with countable and uncountable nouns |
| Basic determiners (eg any, some, a lot of) | Simple determiners (any, some, a lot of) |
| Wider range (eg all, none, not (any), enough, (a) few) | More determiners (e.g. all, none, not a(ny), enough, (a) few ) |
| Demonstrative adjectives | Demonstrative adjectives |
| Adjectives ending in -ed and -ing | Adjectives in -ed and -ing |
| Comparative (use of than) | Comparatives (the use of than ) |
| Superlative and use of the definite article | Superlatives and the use of the definite article |
| Adverbs of frequency | Adverbs of frequency |
| Simple adverbs of place, manner and time | Simple adverbs of place, manner and time |
| Very basic intensifiers | The most common intensifiers |
| Basic intensifiers (quite, so, a bit) | Common intensifiers (quite, so, a bit) |
These grammatical categories are taken from the British Council and EAQUALS website .
It’s never too late to learn English: turn the hourglass !
What vocabulary ?
| General A2 vocabulary | General vocabulary level A2 |
|---|---|
| food and drink | food and drink |
| Things in town, shops and shopping | City elements, stores and shopping |
| Travel and services vocabulary | Vocabulary of travel and services |
| Objects and rooms | Objects and rooms in the house |
| Adjectives about personality, description, feelings | Adjectives related to personality, physical description and feelings |
| Hobbies | Hobbies |
| Vacations and holidays | Holidays and celebrations |
| Work and jobs | Work |
| Shopping | Shopping |
| Leisure activities | Relaxation activities |
| Education | education |
| Common errors (English) people make | Common Learner Mistakes (Francophones) |
| Tongue twisters | tongue twisters |
| Health | Health |
So, of course, that’s a lot! That doesn’t mean you’ll know everything at your fingertips, but that you can already place simple (and useful!) sentences in each category (we’ll see examples below). See these lists as a way to organize yourself in English.
Travel in English!
What subjects?
We’ve put together the best resources for you to get started with A2 level topics . Just click on a topic if you’re not sure how well you know it. You will find resources in English and Hindi!
| The individual | The people |
|---|---|
| Personal particulars | Talking about oneself |
| Appearance | The appearance |
| Clothing | Clothes |
| daily routine | Daily life |
| partnership | Relationships |
|---|---|
| Family | Family |
| Relative | Relatives |
| Friends and acquaintances | Friends and acquaintances |
| Classmates/colleagues | Classmates and colleagues |
| Family | Family |
|---|---|
| Family members | Family members |
| Family occasions/celebrations | family celebrations |
| Place of living | Living spaces |
|---|---|
| house/flat | The house and the apartment |
| Furnishing of the living-room /bedroom | Living room and bedroom furniture |
| Kitchen furniture, gadgets | Kitchen appliances and accessories |
| The street, the town | The street, the neighborhood, the city |
| Sharing the housework | Sharing household chores |
| traveling | Travel |
|---|---|
| Means of transport | Methods of transportation |
| Time table/information | Schedules and information |
| Buying tickets (bus, train, plane) | Buy a ticket (bus, train, etc.) |
| Travel documents | Travel documents |
| Shopping/Shops | Shopping |
|---|---|
| Shops | The stores |
| Special shops | Specialized shops |
| Electronics | electronics |
| Markets | At the market |
| grocery store | The grocery store |
| Clothes shops | Clothing stores |
| Departments in a shopping center | department store shelves |
| Communication/keeping in touch | Communicate, keep in touch |
|---|---|
| Post (letter, postcard) | By post (letter, postcard) |
| Telephone/fax | On the phone, send a fax |
| Text messages, emails | Write a text, an email |
English-speaking customers can be boring!
Learn to respond to them in English .
| Services | Services |
|---|---|
| Free time activities | Activities in his free time |
| Guests | The guests |
| Cinemas | At the movie theater |
| Theaters | At the theatre |
| Museums | At the Museum |
| Gigs | Concert |
| Time/weather | The weather, the seasons |
|---|---|
| Seasons | Seasons |
| Weather | Weather |
| Rainy weather, winter weather, snowing | Rainy weather, winter, snow |
| Health/illness | Health |
|---|---|
| At the pediatrician’s | At the pediatrician |
| At the doctor’s | At the doctor’s |
| At the dentist’s | At the dentist |
| Some common illnesses (flu, cold) | Common illnesses (flu, cold) |
| Medication | Treatments |
| At the chemist’s | To the drugstore |
| Sport | Sport |
|---|---|
| popular sports | popular sports |
| Soccer | Football |
| Athletics | Athleticism |
| doing sports | Play sports |
| Sports and hobbies | Sports and leisures |
| Media | The media |
|---|---|
| Television | television |
| Radio | The radio |
| Newspapers | Newspapers |
| Magazines | Magazines |
Use the media wisely:
go from couch potato to bilingual in English !
| Hobby | Hobbies |
|---|---|
| Reading | Reading |
| listening to music | Listen to music |
| Computer games | Video games |
| The candidate’s favorite pastime | Talk about your favorite hobby |
| Studying/working | studies and work |
|---|---|
| Subjects | The subjects |
| Popular occupations | Common trades |
| Workplaces | Work place |
| Colleagues/School-friends | Colleagues or classmates |
| Daily routine at home/at work | Daily routine (at home and at work) |
Topics are taken from the ECL website .
If you want to take an exam, chances are you will have to talk about one of these topics in the speaking test . The resources here are quite detailed while you are only required to survive in English and not be fluent. So if you are learning English on your own , you also need to decide which vocabulary will be useful to you at this stage of your learning. Wasting time and energy learning endless vocabulary lists is a common mistake to avoid !
Our advice: focus on 2-3 subjects that speak to you , they will serve as a springboard for you to speak English fluently.
How to reach level A2 in English?
The long lists of new words will probably scare you, but don’t worry! On this blog, we always try to show you how to learn vocabulary in an efficient and intelligent way . What you can do is combine the resources found in the previous category with the FrequencyList.com site to identify the most common words and, thus, which ones you will need to reach level A2!
At this point, no need to learn vocabulary beyond the 2000-3000 most used words, unless they belong to your daily life (not everyone is a specialist in organic chemistry!)
How to pass the A2 level in English?
Method to reach level A2
It’s still a lot of work and we don’t always have time to classify all the vocabulary and grammar, huh! So if you’re looking for a method that has done the work for you, i.e. identified the vocabulary and grammar needed for each level, check out Click & Speak ! This English training teaches you pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar by level, in an effective and fun way. Because it’s based on the CEFR , you’ll be able to measure your progress and always know what to do to get to the next level. But beware ! – it’s addictive.
How long to reach level A2?
What do you say when you are asked the question: How long have you been learning English? We often tend to say maybe 5 years , 1 year or a few months , but something that might surprise you is that the most effective way to measure the time it takes to learn a language is not in years but in hours !
To reach level A2 in English, a language relatively close to French, you will need around 180-200 hours of study from scratch.
If you already have an A1 level of English and are aiming for the A2 level, you will need about 2 months (between 80 and 100 hours) of study with the Click & Speak training . And if you are starting from scratch, it takes about 4 months (to reach between 180 and 200 hours of experience) in total to reach level A2!
Resources for level A2 in English
Listening in English at A2 level
Here are six A2 level example sentences taken from Click & Speak , to give you a clearer idea of what to expect at this level:
- He wears a tie to work every day. = He wears a tie to work every day.
- They’ve got a twelve-year-old kid. = They have a twelve-year-old boy.
- There’s something wrong with the system. = There is a problem with the system.
- Uh, excuse me. Could you take a picture of us? = Uh, excuse me. Could you take a picture of us?
- Let’s just get rid of it, okay? = We get rid of it, that’s all. OK ?
- I’m sorry. Could you say that again? = I’m sorry, could you repeat?
Written comprehension level A2
One of the components of the A2 English exam is the written comprehension test . Here are some sites that will allow you to practice it:
- British Council
- Exam Français
- Test-English
Reading in English is also a great way to progress!
Lack ofWritten comprehension in English!
A2 level test?
It’s completely normal not to always know what your exact level is! Something you can do to see if you are at level A2 or not is to take a free mock exam of that level as well as some exercises! If it seems very hard or very easy, it may be worth reviewing level A1 first or moving on to level B1.
Reaching level A2 in a language is a serious goal and once you master it you will be able to get by in most common everyday situations in any English speaking country!
For example, I was aiming for level A2 in Spanish and I was very happy to be able to communicate, talk a little about myself, order at the restaurant , ask simple questions and understand the answer during my last trip to Spain.
So I’m sure you too will be very happy and have a real sense of achievement once you achieve it in English!
Good luck for level A2, I’m sure you’ll soon realize your progress!
And if you can already talk about all these topics, if you understand the example sentences and the videos without any problem, then maybe it’s time to aim for level B1 in English !