The EFL school pathway: 2, 3 or 5 lessons a week.
Each level is designed as 36 weeks of three 60-minute lessons. Many schools have fewer, or more, lessons than that. These timetables show how to fit the course to your school, how to run it with big classes and one board, and how to plan for a school with around a thousand pupils.
These timetables are our own suggestions, built from the structure of the levels. They have not been tested across many schools yet. Treat them as a starting point and adjust after the first review week.
Three lessons a week: the design
Every level has 36 weeks and 108 lessons of 60 minutes: 108 hours a year. Lesson A is vocabulary, listening and speaking with the week's main grammar pattern. Lesson B is reading, spelling and building written sentences. Lesson C is conversation, games and review, finished with a mini-project. Weeks 12, 24 and 36 are review and assessment weeks. Use this timetable if you can.
Two lessons a week
That is 72 lessons, or 72 hours, a year. Keep lessons A and B whole and fold the best of lesson C into the last ten minutes of each: a game, a pair conversation, and the week's mini-project spread across the term.
| Lesson | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Lesson 1 (A) | Vocabulary, listening, speaking and the week's grammar pattern. Last 10 minutes: pair conversation game from lesson C. |
| Lesson 2 (B) | Reading, spelling and written sentences. Last 10 minutes: review game and the next piece of the term project. |
| Review weeks | Weeks 12, 24 and 36 stay as review and assessment. If you must save time, shorten them to one lesson plus the project presentation. |
| Homework | Reading log and the week's free practice page, 10 minutes. Not essential if children have no device. |
Over time, a level will take about a school year. If you cannot keep up, do not skip the review weeks: repeating a week is better than missing the basics.
Five lessons a week
That is 180 lessons a year: the three core lessons plus two for practice strands, so each skill gets its own time.
| Lesson | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Monday (A) | Vocabulary, listening, speaking and grammar pattern. |
| Tuesday (B) | Reading, spelling and written sentences. |
| Wednesday | Phonics and reading practice (Levels 0 and 1) or reading for fluency and listening (Levels 2 and 3). |
| Thursday (C) | Conversation, games and review, with the mini-project. |
| Friday | Writing workshop with a model text, a planning frame and a checklist, or handwriting and typing on rotation. |
If your periods are 40 minutes
Many schools run 40-minute periods. Plan each lesson as three blocks: 5 minutes of review and warm-up, 25 minutes of main task, 10 minutes of pair practice or game. Use the weekly plan as a menu: lesson A material in one period, lesson B material in the next, lesson C material in the third. With only two periods a week, follow the two-lesson timetable above and expect each level to take longer than a year.
Large classes and one board
The weekly plans are written to work with one board and no devices. Choral first, then pairs; everyone speaks in every lesson; check five children closely each lesson rather than all fifty once a term. Our full guide has routines, a 60-minute lesson plan for 40 to 60 children and zero-cost materials.
Planning for a school of about 1,000 pupils
A whole-school rollout is mostly a matter of grouping and routine. Here is one way to organise it.
- Group by what children can do. Put the youngest pupils on Level 0 and the others on Level 1, 2 or 3 according to a short check, not strictly by age.
- Check a sample, not everyone. In each class choose six children (two who are strong, two in the middle, two who struggle) and run the placement check with each one. Start the class at the level that fits the middle pair. Use the supported and extension tracks on the level page for the rest. The placement tool is for one child at a time, so it cannot check a thousand children quickly.
- Train by level, not by class. One teacher per level can learn that level's lesson format, and then coach colleagues.
- Print first. Where the internet is slow or unreliable, plan on printed materials: worksheets from the lesson plans, flashcards and activity packs. Offline packs of printable files for each level are planned on the printables pages.
- Use the review weeks as a calendar. Weeks 12, 24 and 36 give three moments a year to compare classes and move children between groups.
- Keep a simple record. One page per class: level, week, and three notes after each review week.
Exams
The levels follow the Cambridge Young Learners and A2 Key for Schools to B1 Preliminary progression, so they make good checkpoints. See the guide for formats and preparation, and the exam-style listening practice when it opens.
Starters, Movers and Flyers explained · Exam-style listening