# English Main Curriculum

**Goal:** take an adult beginner from first usable speaking frames to independent everyday and workplace conversation.

This folder adapts the teaching architecture in `korean/tracks/` to English. The central contract is the same:

> **One lesson, two reusable speaking patterns.** A pattern is a retrievable frame such as `Could you ___?`, not a grammar formula such as “modal + subject + verb.” Its slots may hold words, phrases, actions, or—at an appropriate level—clauses. The learner hears the frame in context, changes its slots, and retrieves it in conversation.

## Track order

| Track | Job | Size | Recommended point of use |
| --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| [`1-core-patterns`](./tracks/1-core-patterns/table-of-contents.md) | Build the main inventory of reusable speaking frames | 72 lessons · 144 patterns | Main sequence, Pre-A1 to B1+ |
| [`2-contextual-english`](./tracks/2-contextual-english/table-of-contents.md) | Reuse and extend Core patterns in daily, travel, social, and work situations | 48 lessons · 96 patterns | Use the staged pathway and per-lesson prerequisites |
| [`3-freetalking`](./tracks/3-freetalking/table-of-contents.md) | Develop opinions, interaction, and fluency with recycled language | 24 graded launch topics · growing | Enter by topic prerequisite, from A2 |

The tracks become parallel after the opening stage. Core introduces frames in small exchanges; Contextual English combines them to complete larger situations; Freetalking retrieves them while the learner expresses genuine ideas.

## Lesson contract

Every taught lesson has exactly two primary patterns. Each must retain a stable, retrievable scaffold and use clearly bounded slots whose size and complexity fit the level. Vocabulary, expressions, grammar support, and optional sound cues may support the frames, but they do not become hidden third objectives.

1. **Hook:** hear or read a short situation containing both patterns.
2. **Notice Pattern A:** meaning first, then stable words and changeable slots.
3. **Use Pattern A:** substitute, choose, and personalize.
4. **Notice Pattern B:** connect it as an answer, response, follow-up, repair, or contrast.
5. **Use Pattern B:** substitute, choose, and personalize.
6. **Combine:** complete one realistic exchange using both.
7. **Retrieve:** close the model and say the exchange again.

Grammar has not been removed. Detailed grammar stays backstage, while a lesson may show the smallest grammar-support point needed to control its two patterns. See [`teaching-philosophy.md`](./reference/teaching-philosophy.md) for the full approach, [`curriculum-source-hierarchy.md`](./reference/curriculum-source-hierarchy.md) for the authority and provenance of scope decisions, [`grammar-coverage-map.md`](./reference/grammar-coverage-map.md) for sequencing and coverage, [`lesson-template.md`](./shared/lesson-template.md) for authoring, and [`curriculum-rationale.md`](./reference/curriculum-rationale.md) for research decisions.

## Level promise

- **Pre-A1 / early A1:** supported exchanges about self, objects, needs, time, and place.
- **A1:** routine transactions and short personal conversations.
- **A2:** connected accounts of plans, experiences, comparisons, and problems.
- **B1:** independent interaction, reasons, stories, and familiar workplace tasks.
- **B1+:** denser hypothetical, inferential, reported, and diplomatic frames that bridge toward B2.

CEFR labels are planning guides, not certification claims. Each level should ultimately be validated through recorded learner performances against explicit can-do tasks.