Introduction

To the student
This book will help you learn more than 2,000 words and phrases, and you can use it without a teacher. There are 100 units in the book. You can study them in any order, but the first four units have information about vocabulary that will help you with your learning.

After you do the exercises, you can check your answers in the Answer key at the back of the book. You will also find possible answers for most of the Over to you exercises.
The Index at the back of the book has all the new words and phrases from the units, with a phonemic transcription to help you with pronunciation. If you have the edition with the ebook, you can listen to the  pronunciation of all the new vocabulary, and there are more practice exercises as well. see p262 for more information about the ebook.
It is a good idea to have a dictionary when you use the book. sometimes you may want a bilingual dictionary, so you can find a translation; sometimes the book asks you to use an English dictionary for an exercise.  You also need a notebook when you are studying. The study units 1–4 in this book will give you ideas and information to help you to use your notebook and become a better learner. I hope you enjoy using this book.

To the teacher
This book can be used in class or for self-study. It is intended for learners at the upper A2 level and B1 level on the Council of Europe scale, and teaches more than 2,000 words and phrases. The vocabulary is organised around common everyday topics, but also contains units on different aspects of language such as phrasal verbs, uncountable nouns and link words and phrases. These units provide key information  about lexis, but also help to ensure that learners are exposed to the most important vocabulary for their level. The first four units are dedicated to aspects of vocabulary learning such as record keeping and  dictionary use. The book has been written so that units can be studied in any order, but I recommend you look at these four study units first, as they provide learners with important advice about vocabulary learning  in general.
Throughout the book, vocabulary items have been chosen for their usefulness in a wide range of everyday situations, and this task has been made easier by having access to the English Profile (EP). Forming part  of a large research programme sponsored by the Council of Europe, the EP helps teachers and students identify the words or phrases that a learner can be expected to know at each level of the Common  European Framework. The words and phrases have mainly been selected using the Cambridge Learner Corpus, examination wordlists and classroom materials, and in this book the main focus is on words and  phrases at the upper end of the A2 level and across the B1 level. 
Much of the new vocabulary (on average about 25 items per unit) is presented through different types of text, and then explained immediately after the item appears, or in a separate glossary below the text; some  words are presented in tables or lists, and contextualised in sentence examples; some of the new vocabulary is presented in pictures and diagrams. 
The new vocabulary is then practised on the right-hand pages through a wide range of exercise types. These pages generally progress from easier to more difficult exercises, with items often tested receptively  first, e.g. through a matching or grouping exercise, before moving on to more challenging productive exercises such as gap-fill texts or sentence transformations. In many units, the final exercise is called Over to  you. This indicates a personalised exercise, in which learners have an opportunity to use some of the new vocabulary to talk about themselves, their lives and their country, and sometimes to express their own  personal opinions. These make ideal classroom speaking activities for pairs or groups, but many of the exercises on the right-hand page can be adapted for speaking practice. For example, where there are short  question and answer dialogues, students can first  read the dialogues out loud, then one student can ask the questions, and their partner has to respond appropriately using target vocabulary from the unit, but  without referring to the book.
There is a comprehensive Answer key at the back of the book, as well as an Index of all the vocabulary taught with a phonemic pronunciation guide and a unit reference to where each item appears.