Documenti di Didattica
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Level 1
January 2011
Information within this document is from the Council of Europe Waystage specification.
© Council of Europe
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PTE General Level 1 is designed to be aligned to Level A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages developed by the Council of Europe also known as ‘Waystage Level’. The following represents the range
of functions and notions that learners should be able to use to function effectively and efficiently at this level. The
information has been reproduced with permission from the Council of Europe (reference DC/198/SL/CP dated 14
December 2010) from the Waystage 1990 specification (© Council of Europe, 1991). The full description has been
published by Cambridge University Press and is also available on the Council of Europe website:
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Waystage_CUP.pdf
Language functions
The Learner CAN impart and seek factual information
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The learner CAN express and find out attitudes
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volitional emotional moral
• expressing wants, desires • expressing pleasure/ liking • apologizing
– I’d like… – NP + be (very) nice – I am (very) sorry!
– I want… – NP + be (very) pleasant – Sorry!
– May I have + NP (please)? – I like + NP (very much) – I am so sorry!
– I love…
• enquiring about want, desire • granting forgiveness
– Would you like…? • expressing displeasure/ dislike – That’s all right
– Do you want… – NP + be + not (very) nice – It’s all right now
– What about…? – NP + be + not (very) pleasant – It doesn’t matter (at all)
– I don’t like + NP (very much)
• expressing intention • expressing approval
– I hate…
– NP + be going to… – Good!
– NP + will/‘ll… • enquiring about pleasure, liking, – That’s fine!
displeasure, dislike
• enquiring about intention • expressing appreciation
– Do(n’t) you like + NP?
– Are you going to…? – (It’s) very good/ nice
– Would you like…?
– Will you…?
• expressing regret
• expressing hope
• expressing preference – What a pity!
– I hope + so
– I(‘d) prefer + NP – It’s a (great) pity!
– I (do) hope + that clause
– I(‘d) like + NP – I’m (so/very) sorry if…
– I’d rather…(than…) • expressing satisfaction
• expressing indifference
– I’d rather not (…) – This/That is very good/nice
– It doesn’t matter
• expressing dissatisfaction – I don’t mind (+ if clause)
– I don’t like this/that
• enquiring about satisfaction
– Do you like this/that?
– Is this all right (now)?
• expressing disappointment
– What a pity!
– That’s a (great) pity!
• expressing gratitude
– Thank you (very much)
– That’s very kind of you
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The learner CAN get things done (suasion)
• suggesting a course of action • accepting an offer or invitation • warning others to take care or to
(including the speaker) – Thank you refrain from doing something
– Let’s… – Yes, please – Be careful!
– Shall we…? – That’ll be very nice – Look out!
– We could – All right – Don’t…
– What about…? – Mind…!
• declining an offer or invitation
• requesting others to do something – No, thank you • offering assistance
– Please, …please – I’m afraid I cannot – Can I…?
– Will/would/could you…? • requesting assistance
• enquiring whether an invitation or
– Would you mind…? – Can you… , please?
offer is accepted or declined
• inviting others to do something – Will you…?
– Would you like to…?
• advising others to do something
– What about…?
– You should…
– Why don’t you…
General Notions
General notions for Breakthrough with recommended exponents
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quantitative • age • capacity/incapacity
• number – I am…(years old) – NP + can(not)…
– singular/plural – how old + be + NP?
• importance
– cardinal numbers up to four digits – new, old, young
– (not) important
– ordinal numbers up to two digits – adult, child; month, year
– another • abnormality
• physical condition and actions
– about – strange
– all right, dead, ill, well
• quantity – to break, to cut, to hurt, to die, • facility/difficulty
– all, a lot of, (not) any, enough, to repair – easy, difficult
(a) few, (a) little, many, more, most, • accessibility mental
much, no, some, half – to close, to open • reflection
– a bottle/cup/glass/piece + of – closed/open – to believe, to be sure, to be certain
• degree • cleanness – to hope, to know, to think, to wonder
– comparative and superlative of – to clean, to wash • expression
adjectives and adverbs in vocabulary – clean – to ask, to forbid
– enough, too…very, a little, much
• material – to say, to speak, to talk, to tell,
– almost, quite
nouns and adjectives to thank, to write
– rather
– gold, leather, nylon, plastic, noun
qualitative paper, silver – question
• physical nouns
relational
– wood, wool
• shape – made of wood, made of wool • spatial relations
– round, square
• fullness • temporal relations
• dimension – empty, full (of ) • action-event relations
– see dimension section above – to fill
• agency
• moisture, humidity
evaluative – agent as subject
– wet, dry
• value, price – agent in by adjunct (passive)
– to dry, to make wet
– How much + be…? • objective/ factitive
• visibility, sight – to be – objective as object
– NP + can(not) see + NP – price – object as subject of passive
– to look – cheap, expensive – factitive as object
– to look at
• quality – factitive as subject of passive
– light, dark
adjectives • dative
• audibility, hearing – bad, worse, worst; good, – dative as indirect object
– NP + can(not) hear + NP| better, best – dative in to adjunct
– to listen, to listen to – fine
– noise adverb • instrumental
– loud – well – instrumental in with adjunct
• taste • acceptability • benefactive
– nice – that’s all right/fine – benefactive in for adjunct
• texture • adequacy/inadequacy • place
– hard, soft, strong – NP + be all right • time
• colour – NP + be (not) enough
• manner, means
– blue, black, brown, green, grey, • desirability/undesirability – in this way, like this
orange, red, white, yellow – to like – badly, fast, hard
– light, dark
• correctness/incorrectness – how?, quickly, slowly, well
– better, right, wrong
– to be right, to be wrong
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contrastive relations – of adjuncts, with adjuncts, – because + sub-clause
• equality/inequality without adjuncts
• effect
– (not) the same (thing) – to have (got), to get, to give,
– then…, so…
– different (from), else, other, another to keep
• reason
• correspondence, contrast in addition logical relations – Why?
to the exponents of equality/ • conjunction – because + sub-clause
inequality above – and, but, also, too
– like • purpose
– together
– comparative degree + than – to
– pair, group
• condition
possessive relations • disjunction
– if + sub-clause
• ownership, possession – or
– possessive adjectives (my, • focusing
• inclusion/exclusion
your, etc.) – about
– with, without
– possessive pronouns (mine, – only
– also, too
yours, etc.)
– genitive singular of personal nouns • cause
– Why?
deixis
• definite
non-anaphoric
personal pronouns, subject forms and object forms
possessive adjectives my, your, etc.
possessive pronouns as complement (as in: This is mine)
demonstrative adjectives and pronouns this, that, these, those, such
definite article the
interrogative pronouns who, what, which
interrogative adjectives whose, what which
anaphoric
personal pronouns (subject forms and object forms)
possessive adjectives
possessive pronouns as complement (as in: You take it, it’s yours)
demonstrative adjectives and pronouns
relative pronouns
definite article the
adverbs: here, there, now, then, so
propword one
• indefinite
indefinite article a, an
indefinite pronouns someone, (not) anyone, nobody, something, (not)…anything, nothing,
everything, all (as in: I want all of it), some (as in: some of them went
home), it (as in: it’s raining),
adverbs everywhere, (not)… anywhere, somewhere, nowhere, sometimes,
never, always
semi-deictics person (as in: there are five persons present
people (as in: there were many people present)
thing (as in: what do you call that thing?)
to do (as in: What are you going to do tonight?)
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Themes and specific notions
The personal domain
personal identification
The learners CAN say who they are, spell their name, state their address, give their telephone number, say when and where they
were born, state their age, sex, say whether they are married or not, state their nationality, say where they are from, what they do
for a living, describe their family, state their religion, if any, state their likes and dislikes; elicit/understand similar information
from others.
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house, home and environment
Learners CAN describe a house or flat and the rooms in it, refer to furniture and bedclothes, services and amenities, describe
regions (particularly the one where they themselves live); obtain/understand similar descriptions and references from others;
exchange views on these matters.
daily life
Learners CAN describe their daily routines, at home and at work; obtain/understand similar information from others; exchange
views on these matters.
• at home • at work
– to get up – to work
– to have breakfast etc. – working hours
– breakfast – holiday(s)
– lunch – to be free
– dinner – days off
– coffee – colleague
– tea – to earn
– to make – tax(es)
– to wash up
– to clean
– to go shopping
– to go to school
– to go to work
– to come home
– to go to sleep
– to go to bed
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free time, entertainment
Learners CAN say when they are free and what they do in their spare time particularly with reference to hobbies and interests,
public entertainment, sports and reading; obtain/understand similar information from others; exchange views on these matters;
make use of entertainment facilities.
travel
Learners CAN use means of public transport, obtain tickets, refer to means of private transport, make use of the road traffic system,
refer to holiday trips, make use of accommodation facilities for travellers, refer to travel documents; talk about these matters and
activities with others.
12
shopping
Learners CAN use shopping facilities, particularly obtaining foodstuffs, clothes and household articles, pay for things bought:
exchange information and views on these matters.
13
services
The learners CAN refer to, inquire about and make use of postal services, telephone and telegraph, bank, police, medical services,
car maintenance services and petrol stations.
places
Learners CAN ask the way and give strangers directions.
language
Learners CAN refer to foreign-language ability and deal with problems of understanding and expression.
weather
Learners CAN obtain relevant information from a weather forecast and exchange information and views on weather conditions.
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