High Flyer English

MY MISSION.

All too often, learners of English reach B2 level with a sound grounding in grammar, but cannot speak fluently. To achieve C1 fluency, requires a vast knowledge of LEXIS. Lexis is more than individual words - it's clusters of words that are frequently used together - Lexical Chunks. They include collocations, idioms, phrasal verbs and set expressions. Being able to effortlessly bring these to mind in conversations is what constitutes fluency.
My MISSION is to demonstrate these in action by using examples of how they are used in conversations - in context . Of course, grammar is important, but as Michael Lewis said in his book, 'The Lexical Approach' (1993), "Language is grammaticalised lexis" - not lexicalised grammar!
What set me off on this mission? Over twenty years of teaching English and as a Teacher Trainer with the British Council, witnessing how little attention is devoted to the use of Lexical Chunks.

My mission on this channel is to set this right.

High Flyer English

At C1/C2 Level, vocabulary - or rather lexis - plays a more important role than grammar. If you are taking the Camrbridge C1 or C2 exams you will discover this in the Reading and use of English sections. Vocabulary plays a predominant part. Sure, grammar features too, but at C1 level especially, if you have already attained B2 Level, you know most of the grammar you need to know to pass the C1 exam. What you need is an more expansive knowledge of vocabulary - probably about twice as much as at B2 level. Here I am talking about individual words. You'l will need to know the different parts of speech of a word, for example. Taking the word 'expansive' in the image below, which is an adjective, you will need to know the verb form, the noun, the adverb. For other words, you may need to know the negatives, the prefixes and suffixes. I mentioned 'lexis' earlier. What I mean by that is that it's not just indivual words you need to know, but groups of words - what we call 'lexical chunks' which include collocations, phrasal verb, idioms and other expressions - which may or may not be idiomatic.